Our Board

Mike Harris is a Consultant Psychiatrist who has spent most of his working life in Nottingham as a general psychiatrist, a forensic psychiatrist, medical and operational director and chief executive.

He has been chair of Improving Lives since it was formed as a charity in 2012 and has previously been chair of Nottingham Mind.

Mike is also a trustee of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and a trustee and non executive director of St. Andrews Healthcare.

Ruth joined the Improving Lives Board in August 2020.  She retired in 2018 after almost 40 years working in the public sector, predominantly in finance in the NHS.

She was a Director of Finance in NHS organisations across Nottinghamshire for over 20 years and was Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for 4 years until her retirement.

Ola has lived in Nottingham since 1987. He has been in his current post as a consultant psychiatrist  at Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust since 1993.

With 2 children there is very little free time but he does regularly play tennis with enthusiasm rather than skill.

Kayleigh joined the Board in March 2024 as a Legal Trustee.  

She completed her Law Degree and Master’s in Law at Nottingham Trent University where she now supports students through volunteering as part of their Alumni Scheme. She is an advocate for raising awareness of mental health and is very proud to assist Improving Lives. 

Kayleigh is a qualified solicitor who worked in medical negligence for two years. She currently works as a Senior Crown Prosecutor for the CPS in Nottingham where she has been since July 2024

Ben first got involved with Improving Lives while studying Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. He went from volunteer, to support worker, before leaving to London to begin a career in Human Resources.

Ben really enjoyed his time working with Improving Lives; “the staff all do wonderful work and the service users were all great to work with too”. In fact, Ben enjoyed it all so much that he couldn’t help coming back as a board member.