Our trustees
YoungMinds is a registered charity. Our Board of Trustees is responsible for ensuring that the charity fulfils its objects as defined in the Memorandum of Association, and acts in accordance with the charity’s mission, aims and objectives.
Carole Easton - Chair
Carole Easton began her career as a child and family psychotherapist in the NHS. She has extensive experience in the voluntary sector having been Chief Executive of Cruse Bereavement Care, ChildLine and CLIC Sargent(caring for children with cancer). She has worked as a trainer and consultant in the UK and overseas developing helplines and children’s services. She is now Deputy Chief Executive at Changing Faces, a charity supporting and representing children and adults with disfigurements. She is a trustee of Missing People and Child Welfare Scheme which funds and builds expertise for local health and education services for vulnerable children in Nepal.
Professor David Cottrell - Vice Chair
David Cottrell was appointed Foundation Chair in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Leeds since 1994 and since 2008 he has been Dean of Medicine. He was Associate Medical Director for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in Leeds for many years and has a wide experience of the development, management, delivery and evaluation of services for children in the community. He remains an active clinician and is a UKCP registered Family & Systemic Psychotherapist.
His research interests are in the evaluation of CAMH services. He is part of a team that has recently completed an ESRC funded evaluation of the working of multi-agency community children’s teams and is joint author of a major DoH funded systematic review of effective interventions in CAMH. He is currently engaged in two large multi centre evaluations of psychological interventions for troubled adolescents.
Sunil Purohit – Honorary Treasurer
Since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in 1992 Sunil has developed his career in industry and commerce. Initially as a Senior Finance Manager in the International Exploration & Production division of British Gas plc his subsequent career has focused on the technology and professional services sectors where he has held a number of senior financial positions, including CFO of PSD Group plc and CDC Solutions Ltd and EMEA Region Finance Director of the Pegasystems Inc.
Sunil is a trustee of Action Acton, a social enterprise and development trust which promotes economic and community regeneration in Ealing and adjoining west London boroughs. He also acts as a consultant to a number of charities and overseas companies setting up in the UK. Sunil is married with three children, aged 5, 10 and 14.
Beccy Ashton
Beccy has a background in health and social care, and is currently Adviser to the Chief Executive of The King’s Fund. She began her career as a researcher and has worked in a wide range of roles encompassing mental health services, cancer services and services for older people. Beccy also spent two years working in San Mateo County, California, developing a model of integrated health and social care funding and delivery for older people. She has an MSc in Health Systems Management from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Andy Bell
Andy Bell is deputy chief executive of Centre for Mental Health, an independent national charity working to improve the life chances of people with mental health problems. He is also co-chair of the Future Vision Coalition, a group of 11 mental health organisations working to inform national mental health policy in England.
Duncan Reid
Duncan joined the board of trustees in December 2009 and has spent much of this career in the high street retail industry in the functions of merchandise planning, product procurement, marketing and store operations. He also managed the retail operation of BlindCraft, a disability organisation in Scotland, and spent five years in the Trading Division of the national charity, Scope. Most recently, he was operations director of a publishing company and key supplier to the Charity sector of Christmas cards, fundraising items and mail order products. He has a degree in Economics/ History, an MBA, and has recently re-entered full-time education to study towards a MSc in Global Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. Duncan has also undertaken work with another charity in the Youth sector specialising in developing leadership skills among university students.
Kate Marshall
Kate studied Modern History at Goldsmiths College, London, receiving her degree in 1982. Shortly after her father was posted to Canberra, Australia and Kate opted to join the family there, beginning a career in the media industry that ran to 2001 and encompassed radio, television and publishing. She joined the UK civil service in 2002 and has worked in three State departments since: Cabinet Office, Treasury and the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. She is currently working on better regulation issues with respect to employment and equality legislation, corporate governance, pensions, and health and safety. Kate holds an MBA from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (Sydney) and is currently studying Creative Writing and Literature with the OU. She and her partner live in London.