My name is Vanessa Williams, and I am the Patient and Public Engagement & Impact Coordinator for the Breaking Down Barriers Project.

I am person-centred therapist with experience working with many vulnerable adults and young people from diverse communities, supporting group work and one to one sessions. My previous role involved supporting a project called Reclaim as the Therapeutic Support Coordinator. This service was a 3-year lottery funded project, that supported adults with adverse childhood trauma into long term one to one therapy, with a new concept of signposting and supporting their journey, both inside and outside the therapy room. I created reporting tools to show the impact and engagement of those entering the service, to capture changes in their life and mental wellbeing. Facilitating focus groups to reflect on their journey and using the voice of those people with lived experience of accessing health & community services to ensure better engagement.

I also previously worked in the social prescribing Leeds network, supporting people that were frequently accessing their GP with non-medical related issues. This included linking those individuals with a range of local community services to improve social, emotional, and mental wellbeing.

My passion is to ensure every voice is heard and create meaningful changes that have an impact on the relationships built between health organisations and those affected by health inequality. Using my experience of working in the third sector, community work and my own lived experience, to ensure the voice of all those from marginalised and diverse communities are heard and to overcome these barriers.

I am really looking forward to being part of a team and organisation that support those, who are focused on making services accessible for everyone no matter the diagnosis, disability, or socio-economic status.