Our Chair, Amanda Smith
Amanda is the Clinical Director for The Employee Resilience Company, providing psychological support services for over 2 million public and private sector employees. A Psychotherapist and EMDR / Brainspotting trauma specialist by background, Amanda has worked within senior clinical leadership roles in the NHS, with partnership management across Mental Health, Acute, Specialist and Community Trusts.
Amanda is an experienced mental health trainer, workplace mediator, TRiM trained critical incident responder and CBT life coach. Having sat within the Executive Committee and Board of EAPA (The Employee Assistance Professionals Association) for over 15 years she has written regular articles for national press, professional journals and contributed to writing the EAPA buyers guide and EAPA standards, the professional guidelines for clinicians and individuals working within the field of employee health and wellbeing. She currently sits within the Project Board for APPTS (The Royal College of Psychiatrists and The British Psychological Society) accreditation scheme for psychological therapies.
Amanda contributes to professional development, teaching, research and the wider health and wellbeing agenda, and is An Honorary Associate of The University of Salford. With over 25 years clinical practice, training, and leadership Amanda has a strong desire to support individuals to remain healthy and well both within the workplace and wider community.
Our Board
Circle Steele
Circle Steele is Chief Executive Officer at Wai Yin Society, and a member of various other boards, organisations and trusts. She is consistently championing cultural diversity on behalf of Chinese and other ethnic minorities in Greater Manchester. She was pleased to receive an invitation from Her Majesty to attend a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in 2008 to acknowledge the contribution she had made to society. Circle is both committed and passionate about the communities she serves and, her extensive experience in the community will allow her to positively contribute to the strategic vision of Healthwatch.
Charles Kwaku-Odoi
Charles is Chief Officer of the Caribbean & African Health Network (CAHN). He is also a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Greater Manchester. Charles was named in the Health Service Journal as the 50 most influential Black Asian and Minority Ethnic people in health in the UK (October 2022). Charles is a great advocate for equity and fairness across a range of important health and well-being issues for people of the Caribbean and African Diaspora.
Paul Hughes
Paul was formerly a member of the Manchester People First Board.
Mike Taylor
Mike is the commercial Director of EMERGE Recycling who are a registered charity which exists to improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of local people, first and foremost in Greater Manchester. They do this by promoting the understanding and practice of the real ‘3Rs’ of sustainable resource and waste management – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. EMERGE Recycling want to create a world in which the real 3Rs are second nature, people cherish and innately value resources, nobody goes hungry and food is used for good rather than being wasted.
Toni Hanlon
Toni is a Deaf Advocate and Support Officer at Manchester Deaf Centre where she has worked since 2016.Toni enjoys meeting new clients and providing advocacy support to the deaf community in Manchester. Toni said 'I am very keen to promote deaf awareness and achieve equal access to all health services for deaf, hard of hearing and blind people'.
Hiren Vora
Hiren is the President of Jain Samaj Manchester who are registered charitable organisation. In 2023, they celebrated their 50th anniversary. Jain Samaj Manchester are dedicated to fostering spiritual growth through a variety of enriching activities. Jain Samaj offers transformative workshops and community events that focuses Jain religion to encourage spirituality, mindfulness, and self-improvement. Participants engage in meditation, yoga, and interactive discussions, all aimed at cultivating inner peace and connection with others.
Future Board meetings
Our Board meetings are open to the public. These meetings take place on the 2nd Tuesday of every other month. These meetings are held online on MS Teams as to make them accessible for all parties.
If you wish to attend these meetings going forward, please get it touch through our email address info@healthwatchmanchester.co.uk and reference Upcoming Healthwatch Manchester Board Meeting in the subject box.
Following this, we will send you a Team link via email which will also include the option for you to send send a question to us directly which will be discussed during the meeting.
Past Board papers
We make the papers for our public Board meetings available online. We also publish a summary of what was discussed. Check out our past meetings to read more.
