Project Staff
 

Outi Benson

has worked at the research department at SANE since 2005. Her current post is Research Manager. Since graduating from University of London (Birkbeck College) with an MPhil in Philosophy, she has worked in the area of mental health research. Her main focus is on the subjective experience of mental health problems and how service user insights can be combined with philosophical theory and used to inform the science of psychopathology and care development.

She has one foot in London and the other foot in Oxford, where she lives with her partner Tom, baby son Oskar, and their two cats, Kissa and Bea. And the numerous other creatures the cats dragged in.

Susanne Gibson

has been a member of the research department at SANE since the beginning of 2010. She has a PhD in Philosophy from Cardiff University and before joining SANE she worked as a teacher and researcher in higher education, with a special interest in medical and professional ethics. Her interest in mental health is informed both by her academic background and by her experience of working as a volunteer counsellor for RELATE.

Susanne has recently moved to London from the north-west of England and is looking forward to spending some of her free time visiting her favourite galleries.

Sarah Brand

joined the SANE research team in January 2010 after 6 months volunteering at a Buddhist Centre in London. Before this she spent a few years working and travelling abroad, learning about Eastern Philosophy and Western Psychology. Sarah completed a PhD in Cognitive Psychology at UCL in 2007 and has worked as a Research Psychologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital and a Post-doctoral Researcher at Melbourne University.

Sarah spends her free time discovering her best local eating places, painting, drawing, and seeing friends and family. She also gets out of London when she can and is often spotted tramping across the English countryside.

Gareth Owen

Gareth joined the SANE research team in June 2011 to work on the New focus for suicide prevention study. He is based at the Peninsula College of Medicine at the University of Exeter where he is a member of the mental health research group. Gareth is currently involved in projects investigating public involvement in suicide prevention; recognising the early signs of dementia; and the experience of ageing with HIV.

 Before completing a PhD in sociology, Gareth worked for many years as a medical social worker in London, where he particularly specialised in HIV/AIDS and end of life care. His research interests include the sociology of emotions; interpersonal interaction; gender and sexualities; and the lived experience of health and illness.

Dividing his time between London and a little cabin on Dartmoor, Gareth likes to spend his free time travelling and walking across the moors with his dog called Bess.