Julia Kim | Our Trustees

Julia's values and experience

What skills and experience do you bring to your role?

"I can provide a young person’s perspective to the board and share my views based on my lived experience, with interest in mental health support and anti-racism work in schools. My background in engineering has taught me analytical and problem solving skills that I can bring to the board, critically approaching each and raising useful questions to ensure that we support the young people in the most efficient and effective way."

Which of our values do you relate to most, and why do you think it’s an important value for us?

The value I relate the most to is 'we celebrate what makes you, you'.

"Growing up, I wish I didn’t have to go through struggles I experienced, and there were things about myself that I did not like. But now, the perspective has changed. These difficult experiences I had experienced made me who I am now – which I feel is a better version of myself, being able to truly understand more people.

It's important at YoungMinds that we encourage young people to embrace who they are, and support young people who are going through hard times that even if it might not seem like it now, they have unlimited potential to do anything and are 'good enough' as they are right now."

About Julia

We celebrate what makes you, you. What three words describes you best?

Caring
Open-minded
Analytical

YoungMinds staff all wearing yellow for #HelloYellow 2023, posing with their hands in the air.

What do you do to switch off and take care of your mental health?

I switch off by going on spontaneous trips and walks with my favourite music playing in my earphones. I enjoy cooking for my friends and family.

What is a Trustee?

Our Board is made up of 12 amazing volunteers who bring a huge commitment to our cause, some with own and family lived experiences of mental health needs, as well as a wealth and diversity of experiences and skills. They expertly oversee the charity under the leadership of Caroline Hope, our Chair of the Board.

The role of trustees is to share their knowledge, skills and expertise, as well as give up some of their time unpaid as volunteers, to help us achieve our mission: to make sure all young people get the mental health support they need when they need it, no matter what.

They help us to enhance our three main strategic programmes:

Never alone: Helping young people to look after their own mental health.
Someone to turn to: Making sure young people have adults around them who can really help.
Powerful young voices: Building a youth-led movement to make sure mental health support is there for anyone that needs it.

Our Trustees oversee everything we do, from setting our strategy to being responsible for our work and finances, in line with the key duties as set out by the Charity Commission. They empower our CEO and Senior Leadership Team to take responsibility for the day-to-day running of YoungMinds, but they are the final decision-makers with ultimate responsibility for our success or failure. The Board are supported by the Senior Leadership Team, our wider Leadership Group and our Youth Panel; a group of 14 young people directly involved in our governance and strategy.