Nigel Henderson, Chief Executive, Penumbra

Nigel has worked in mental health in Scotland since 1979. He is qualified as both a mental health nurse (RMN) and general nurse (RGN).

After working in the National Health Service and for two other mental health charities, Nigel joined Penumbra (www.penumbra.org.uk) in 1991. In 1999 Nigel was appointed Chief Executive of Penumbra, which is one of Scotland’s most innovative mental health organisations. During this time Nigel has been a founding partner of both ‘see me’, Scotland’s anti stigma campaign www.seemescotland.org and The Scottish Recovery Network www.scottishrecovery.net . Nigel was a non-executive Board member of NHS Health Scotland (2003-2011) and the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (2011-2017). From 2014-2018 Nigel was President of Mental Health Europe (https://mhe-sme.org/) and is now a senior policy advisor to their Board.

Nigel has been a member of many national programme boards and working groups. Currently he is a member of the (Scottish) National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group, the Distress Brief Intervention Programme Board and the Minister for Mental Health’s Strategic Delivery Board.

Mental health has become a much talked about subject in public life and the media.  Whilst much has changed for the better in the provision of support for people who experience emotional distress or mental ill health, Nigel believes we can still do more to ensure a timely, connected, compassionate response to people’s needs.