How lived experience shaped new CEO’s goals

The Design in Mental Health Network recently appointed its first ever CEO. A former service-user who has worked with mental healthcare providers, managed her own businesses, is a filmmaker and lecturer, a passionate campaigner, and has delivered both peer worker support and co-production training, Hannah Chamberlain recently spoke to The Network’s editor, Jonathan Baillie.

Hannah Chamberlain received her secondary education at St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith from 1984-1991, gaining ‘A’ levels in English, Latin, and Greek. During her time there, she explains that some of her notable milestones included joining the debating team, winning a flower arranging competition, and travelling to Dublin to represent Chile in the Model United Nations debate. She went on to study for, and gain, a BA in English Literature at Oxford University, where she also developed her skills in photography and film-making, joining  the associated University societies, and gaining considerable enjoyment from both these ‘extra-curricular’ interests. It was while at the University that she first experienced mental health issues. She said: “My extended essay on Coleridge had to be completed three times, as I had to take a break from Oxford due to my first and second episodes, and, during the last two, was not allowed ‘within four miles of Carfax’, so couldn’t access the Oxford libraries. I was one of the last generation to hand-write their essays, since back then the Internet didn’t exist. I completed  half my Finals in the Oxford Examination Schools, and half in the Warneford Hospital near Oxford.

A passion for film