Meet the team

Team Head

Niall O’Reilly

Director of Research and Innovation

Gary Johnston

Over 30 years’ experience in both Australia and the UK in assisting rehabilitation / vocational services achieve strategic quality improvements, increased service user outcomes and overall growth objectives. Gary is a visiting lecturer at various universities and an active member of the WHO European Mental Health Coalition, focused on developing leadership within mental health systems, supporting mental health transformation and improving mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Head of Delivery

Amelia Willett

Amelia joined as an IPS Grow Lead in October 2021 and then moved into the role as Regional Manager in June 2022. Amelia started her IPS career in Australia before relocating to the UK where she managed IPS teams in East London.

Head of Workforce & Engagement

Tina Latimir-Jones

Tina has experience working across the healthcare and private recruitment industry in both a marketing and recruitment capacity.

CRM Project Manager

Gareth Hayes

Gareth was the regional IPS Grow manager for the Midlands and the East and has an extensive background supporting people with substance misuse experiences, mental health issues or disabilities to find meaningful and lasting work. He has now moved on to leading our CRM management.

Workforce Manager

Mairi Fraser

Mairi has over 17 years’ experience of working within employability, including 8 years of working directly with the IPS model of support. She has worked as a Service Manager across a variety of cohorts with multiple teams- such as drugs and alcohol services, serious mental health and IAPT. Mairi has delivered a number of IPS randomised controlled trials and also recently spent 2 years supporting OHID with the national expansion of IPS in treatment services. Her own interests include running (jogging!), playing the piano, and spending time with my family.

IPS Grow Regional Manager - North

Nosheen Zabir

Nosheen is the IPS Grow Regional Manager for the North. She joins the team with an extensive background of working in the NHS, supported employment and 7 years’ experience as an IPS Team Lead in Bradford.

IPS Grow Regional Manager - South

Marina Frias Padron

Marina joined Social Finance as one of the IPS Grow Regional Leads for London. Prior to this, she spent 4 years in IPS as an Employment Specialist, SES and Service Manager in both SMI and Drug & Alcohol services.

Senior Workforce Lead - South

Julia Stapleton

Julia started working for Social Finance and took on the role of IPS Grow Lead for London in March 2019. Her journey with Individual Placement and Support services began in 2005 as an Employment Specialist for the pioneering South West London and St George’s Trust.

IPS Grow Lead - Southwest

Jan Hadfield

Jan joined IPS Grow in March 2021 as the Regional Lead for the South West England. Jan has worked in supported employment since 2015. Jan was the IPS Grow Business Manager, but now has moved back to her original love as a regional lead for the Southwest.

IPS Grow Lead - Southwest

Flippa Watkeys

Flippa has been working in the NHS in mental health in a variety of roles for over 30 years. More recently, she has been setting up and leading an IPS service in Plymouth. Flippa has a clinical background as an Occupational Therapist and has also worked in strategic level posts.

IPS Grow Lead - Southeast

Adam Hodgkin

Adam has over 20 years‘ experience in supporting people into employment, including 12 years of working in IPS in a variety of roles including employment specialist, team leader and service lead overseeing multiple employment contracts covering serious mental health and drug and alcohol services across Sussex.

IPS Grow Lead - London

Laura Chisholm

Laura joined IPS Grow in November as a Lead in the South team. She has 5 years of experience in IPS, from Employment Specialist to Service Manager, and has also worked as a Service Manager for a Personalised Care team in South West London.

IPS Grow Lead - Midlands

Mathew Clarke

Mathew is IPS Grow Lead for the Midlands. He has worked in the delivery of IPS and supported employment services since 2015.

IPS Grow Lead - Midlands

Adele Marshall

Adele joined the IPS Grow team in April 2020 as the IPS Grow lead for the Midlands and has been working in supported employment since 2001 which began with Enable in Shropshire.

Senior Workforce Lead - Midlands

Joanne Barber

Joanne joined Social Finance in March 2021 as the IPS Grow Regional Lead for the East of England and has been supporting people into employment for the past 3 years within the West Midlands To learn more about Joanne, Click here: https://ipsgrow.org.uk/resource/spotlight-on-joanne-barber/

IPS Grow Regional Manager - Midlands

Laura Baines

Laura is an IPS Grow Lead for the North West. She has 9 years’ experience in supporting people into work, and 3 years’ experience of Supported Employment delivery. Laura joins us from Blackpool Council where she worked as a Team Lead for 2 Employment Teams delivering IPS within both an SMI, and a Substance Misuse setting.

IPS Grow Lead - North West

Joss Hardisty

He has over twenty years’ experience of supporting people with mental health issues to find work and was part of the team that implemented the UK’s first IPS services at South West London & St. George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.

IPS Grow Lead - North East & Yorkshire

Georgia Saxelby

Georgia is the IPS Grow Lead for North East & Yorkshire. Prior to this, Georgia spent 3 years working as an Employment Specialist, Team lead and Performance Manager in North East Trailblazer.

IPS Grow Lead - North East & Yorkshire

Yasmin Begum

Yasmin is an IPS Grow Lead for the North East & Yorkshire. She has over 6 years’ experience in Supported Employment including working as a Team Lead for an Employment Team consisting of IPS, Retention as well as Training and Education Specialists.

IPS Grow Lead - Southeast

Tracy Elsdon

Tracy has been supporting people into employment for the past 25 years within the West Midlands. Tracy’s experience includes working on various Government welfare initiatives such as New Deal programs and serving as an Incapacity Benefit Specialist. Tracy’s recent role at Shaw Trust has fueled her passion for Individual Placement and Support (IPS), and she is excited to join Social Finance to further promote IPS as the best support for individuals with health issues and disabilities.

IPS Grow Lead - Midlands

Kate Allsopp

Kate’s role here at Social Finance is IPS support lead and she works with the IPS Grow Team. Kate has worked as a Senior Employment Specialist with one of the new drug and alcohol sites and previously as an Employment Specialist with the NHS in secondary mental health services.

Marketing Executive

Lola Olowofela

Lola joined as an IPS Grow Analyst in October 2023 and has been at Social Finance since 2021. Since starting at the organisation, she has been on projects focusing on LGBTQ+ Young people in care and projects assisting those with severe mental health problems accessing meaningful work. Lola has worked with charities assisting young people in lower-income areas before joining Social Finance.

IPS Grow - Senior Analyst

Karuna Menon

Karuna joined the IPS Grow team in 2023. Prior to this, she spent three years at a New Delhi-based nonprofit working in project and stakeholder management.

IPS Grow Lead - East

Leah Richardson

Leah has worked in mental health for over 15 years with experience of working in both SMI and primary care services.  She joins the team with 8 years direct experience of IPS delivery including working within a Centre of Excellence.  Leah has experience of working in IPS in a variety of roles including employment specialist, team leader, service manager and Director of IPS for a London charity.

IPS Grow Lead - London

Holly Newton

Holly joined IPS Grow in 2024 as a Regional Lead for London. Holly has 7 years experience in supported employment, including 4 years experience as an IPS Team Leader for SMI at South London and Maudsley NHS.

IPS Grow Lead - East

Vicky Brown

Vicky joined Social Finance in January 2025 as an IPS Grow Lead for the East of England. Vicky’s experience in IPS comes from drug and alcohol services in Essex, wherein she worked as both an Employment Specialist and Senior Employment Specialist.

Senior Workforce Lead

Joe Buckman

Joe joined IPS Grow in December 2024 as a Senior Workforce Lead. Before starting at IPS Grow, Joe worked as an Employment Specialist and a Team Leader across multiple IPS teams within South Yorkshire and Derbyshire. Joe is working to support services to expand IPS provision. His own interests include time out in the hills, puzzles and reading.

Analyst

Kowsar Ahmed

Kowsar joined the IPS Grow team in January 2025 as an analyst. Prior to this, she worked on research and evaluation projects for children and young people’s services. She has previously conducted research on SMI cohorts social outcomes’ in specialist supported housing services.

Workforce Lead - South/East

Tomi Ayeni

Tomi has a background in mental health support and recruitment. He has worked in forensic mental health, supporting individuals facing complex challenges, and as a Recruitment Consultant in a London-based mental health non-profit charity, managing the recruitment and onboarding process across various roles, with a focus on hard-to-recruit areas.

IPS Grow - Analyst

Shahrukh Mubashir

Shahrukh joined Social Finnane in January, 2025 as a data analyst with IPS Grow. Shahrukh helps IPS teams across the country use IPS Grow’s flagship reporting tool alongside pulling together insights that support the work of our delivery team and for our statutory reporting. Prior to Social Finance, Shahrukh has worked in data related roles in a variety of sectors including charities, universities as well as the commercial sector.

IPS Grow Lead - North

David Venables

David joined the IPS Grow team in December 2024 as a Regional Lead for the North. Prior to this David worked as a team leader and service manager for IPS services within SMI and Primary care in South Yorkshire for 4 years. Before this he was a manager in the drug and alcohol sector for over 8 years. In his spare time David loves walking his two Labradors in the peak district and playing board games with friends.