Staff and organisational chart

Helping Groups to Grow Staff

Kevin Fisher, Chief Executive, Helping Groups to Grow

Kevin Fisher working with a committed group of trustees and substance misuse professionals set up Helping Groups to Grow in 2008. His background is in social work, youth justice and probation and prior to taking on his current role was responsible for the role out of drug services for substance misusers in the criminal justice system across Dyfed-Powys.

Hector Walker, Counselling Psychologist, Pathways to Recovery. 

Having spent 14 years working in mental health psychology services in the NHS in Powys and Pembrokeshire Hector was invited to join Helping Groups to Grow as a consultant in 2010.  He has continued with Helping Groups to Grow primarily involved in the planning, co-ordination and development of the Pathways to Recovery programmes.

Kim Johnson, Service Co-ordinator, Pathways to Recovery

I joined Helping Groups to Grow in 2009, as Co-ordinator of the Pathways to Recovery group programme.

I am a registered occupational therapist and have worked in healthcare throughout my career.  Most of my work life has been spent in the NHS, in primary and secondary mental health services.  I gained an MSc in Effective Community Care for People with Mental Health Problems in 2004.

I have also worked as a teacher and trainer in mental health practice and contributed to a practical guide for developing evidence-based mental health services in the UK.

Val Taylor, Service Co-ordinator, Counselling Service

I co-ordinate the Helping Groups to Grow structured counselling service.  Formerly a teacher, I decided to make a career change, completed a Psychology degree in 2002 and subsequently trained as a Psychodynamic Counsellor in West Sussex where I worked voluntarily for a large counselling service and was also a member of a consortium of private practitioners covering the West Sussex area.  I moved back home to Wales in 2007 to further develop my career in counselling and began working for Helping Groups to Grow in March 2010.  I am an accredited counsellor and qualified supervisor with a particular interest and expertise in counselling children and young people.  I firmly believe that, in order to be effective, a counselling service should be of the highest quality and needs to be flexible and adaptable to match the needs of the different service users and agencies it serves.  I also believe that it should be accountable for its work and have developed the use of the Clinical Outcomes Routine Evaluation (CORE) tool to help monitor the counselling service.