Who We Are

Chief Executive Officer

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Alicia Potter (nee Lawrence) has led Herefordshire Mind as CEO since 2018 and joined Mind with considerable experience of operating successfully within Charity, Mental Health, Volunteering and Housing settings. Alicia brought to Herefordshire Mind Significant Leadership, Fundraising and Human Resources experience and her own lived experience of mental health challenges throughout her life.

Alicia has a passion to always maintain the heart in all we do, keeping people at the centre and ensuring that we deliver effective and safe services across the county.

Chair of Trustees

Sue is Chair of the Board of Trustees at Herefordshire Mind, where she provides strategic leadership and oversight. A qualified doctor who specialised in psychiatry, Sue has extensive experience across the NHS and private practice.

After retiring in 2017, she returned to frontline work during the COVID-19 pandemic as a Consultant Psychiatrist in a Community Mental Health Team. Her close collaboration with Herefordshire Mind during this time inspired her to join the Board. Sue is committed to supporting the charity’s ongoing impact in improving mental health and wellbeing across the community.

Trustee

Hannah grew up on a family farm in Herefordshire, before training as a veterinary surgeon. She worked in clinical practice for over 20 years, as a partner in rural practice between 2007-22. Having experienced first hand the demands of living and working in a rural community, Hannah came to understand the importance of effective, accessible mental health support. She now works in non-clinical veterinary roles, following completion of a MSc in psychology and training as a coach.

Now that she is working outside clinical practice, Hannah joined the board of Herefordshire Mind as a way to contribute to her local community.

Trustee

Paul has lived experience of mental ill health, sexual abuse and bereavement by suicide. Inseparable from those experiences he has developed a career in sociology and politics. Holding a PhD in Social Constructionism and having lectured and researched at Imperial College London, Oxford Brookes University, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Sheffield.

Paul studies who in society gets listened to and believed, and who gets ignored. He looks at how people in power often present their views as facts, even when those views may benefit some people and leave others out.

Trustee

Adrian was a school teacher and youth leader for many years, following which he worked as a counsellor and group facilitator for adult education, GP practices, and privately. His long term interest in mental health led, in 2000, to a Masters in Social Work, specialising in the recovery approach.

He joined Herefordshire Mind in 2003; retired in 2016; and became a trustee in 2017. He supports his own wellbeing through personal therapy, meditation, yoga, t’ai ji, mountain climbing, gardening, green politics, and being part of a vibrant local community where he lives in the Kington area.

Trustee

Kerry is a qualified accountant with over 30 years’ senior-level experience in the automotive and packaging sectors, including international roles in Belgium and Germany. She served as Chief Financial Officer of Zytek, where she led Finance, HR, Legal and IT functions across the UK and USA.  Kerry brings expertise in restructuring, acquisitions, integration, and securing State Aid support.

Originally from Chester, Kerry studied Economics and International Politics at Aberystwyth University and has lived in Herefordshire since 1996. She was also a founding member of the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, serving as Vice Chair from 2014–2017. More recently, she has chaired the Birmingham City Council Green Bridge and HS2 Supply Chain grant panel.

Trustee

After over 40 years in the NHS, Alan retired following a career which included managing mental health hospitals and pioneering an early community mental health team in 1977. His final role involved developing the business case for Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Since retiring, Alan has served as a Trustee for several West Midlands care organisations, joining Herefordshire Mind in 2018. He holds a number of health qualifications alongside a Master’s in Industrial Relations and HR Management. Additionally, he served as a Justice of the Peace for 34 years

Trustee

Katy Stones joined the Board of Herefordshire Mind in 2023. Following a career in senior leadership, strategy and organisational development across a range of international organisations, she is now undertaking postgraduate training in psychodynamic counselling at the University of Oxford.

Katy also volunteers as a listening volunteer with the Samaritans. She is passionate about the importance of compassionate listening and accessible mental health support within local communities. She brings experience in governance, organisational development and service improvement, together with a strong commitment to supporting Herefordshire Mind’s work across the county.