Runa Uddin- Training and Consultancy Manager – Mind
Runa has been delivering within the mental health space in various roles for the last 5 years. She is currently working for Mind managing the Training and Consultancy team, a role that excites her as she is driven by her passion and values around empowering people to take leadership of their varying lived experiences of mental health and wellbeing as compassionately as possible.
Deeply experienced and qualified in delivering training session, workshops, group facilitation, and public speaking including speaking about her lived experience of mental health problems, running webcasts and panel moderation. Runa is also a qualified First Aid in Mental Health Instructor as well as Safeguarding Vulnerable Children and Adults Instructor training and certifying learners in Levels 1-3 FAA respectively.
Runa’s early career involved working with victims of crime who were vulnerable and traumatised. Her contribution was recognised by Lambeth Metropolitan Police Service who awarded her the Borough Commanders Commendation in June 2007. From 2009 Runa went onto expand her expertise around victimisation to a more strategic and wider reaching one by managing teams and services to deliver services and then later winning and managing externally funded programmes and projects around service provision for people affected by crime.
Runa’s journey led her to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion where she chaired the BAME Network progressing onto chairing the overall Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Network. In 2015 Runa joined Mind’s Blue Light Programme to develop and deliver a framework and commissioning process to award four regions of the country to pilot first ever Blue Light Networks in the country.
Runa continued to work in the mental health space by joining Time to Change – a leading anti-stigma campaign with a simple premise – “Changing how everyone thinks and acts about Mental Health”. During this campaign, Runa experienced a breakdown of her mental health and it was this experience that inspired Runa to create a sustainable programme around mental health and wellbeing; focussing on learning, connecting and sharing amongst Champions delivering anti stigma activities. Runa has since developed, delivered, and facilitated training sessions to many organisations both face to face and virtually, runs monthly webcasts and develops relevant content for resources, or toolkits. Runa is also consulted by employers around developing internal champion / peer support networks in accordance to their business model.
Her contribution to the mental health field was also recognised resulting in an invitation to a reception at Buckingham Palace on World Mental Health Day 2017 along with other influential figures in the mental health field in recognition of the work he had done to date.
Runa’s vision now is to help people individually or as part of an organisation to understand how their mental health is intrinsically linked to their potential to become who they authentically are and contribute to their lives and the world meaningfully.