Head Office Team
Ellen O'Donoghue
Ellen is Chief Executive Officer at James’ Place and co-chair of the National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA). This follows her work as Head of Programmes at the Royal Foundation. Ellen was previously Director of Health Promotion Programmes at the Movember Foundation, leading on global programmes to improve men’s health. Prior to that she headed up the strategy and planning team for Public Health England’s world-leading behaviour change campaigns. She launched the strategic communications agency The Ladder Consultancy and set up and led the social marketing team at Forster Communications, working with clients including the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and the King’s Fund. Ellen has been a governor of three schools, and a Trustee of a children’s heart charity and a drugs and alcohol charity. She recently completed her term as a member of the Mayor of London’s Child Obesity Taskforce and is now a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Group on Child Obesity.
Jane Boland
Jane is the Head of James’ Place Liverpool and Clinical Lead at the organisation. An expert in suicide prevention, Jane has developed our therapeutic model and has recruited and trained the team who deliver our unique and innovative therapy to men in suicidal crisis. She is responsible for ensuring that all our clients experience the welcoming and warm approach that is key to our success.
Rosie Barrett
As Expansion Manager, Rosie is responsible for managing the set-up of new James’ Place centres, expanding our vital work into areas where it is needed most. Rosie has a background in social care and has worked in both accommodation and community-based services, delivering support to those experiencing a range of issues including homelessness, substance addiction and mental health problems. At the beginning of 2021, Rosie joined James’ Place as the London Centre Manager, where she set up and managed the day-to-day operations at the service, before moving into the Expansion Manager role in Summer 2022.
Amy Swart
Amy has spent over fifteen years in the charity sector as a relationship fundraiser and in other leadership roles. She has raised vital funds for various charities including NSPCC, CARE International, Young Lives vs Cancer, WaterAid and, most recently, Fight for Peace. She is passionate about sharing the stories of those who the charities exist to support alongside those that make the work possible through their generosity.
Gemma Matthews
Gemma has 16 years' experience in managing communications for a range of small and medium sized health charities including Cystic Fibrosis Trust, British Dupuytren's Society and legal mental health charity LawCare. She joined James' Place in November 2022 and her role is to create, develop and implement the charity's communications strategy.
Alex Abberton
Alex has over thirty years’ experience within the voluntary sector and has worked with a wide variety of charities including SCOPE, Coram Life Education and Homestart. She became involved with James’ Place just prior to the first centre being opened in Liverpool after the loss of her son, Finn, to suicide in 2017. She organises the James’ Place Art Project and also works as the Fundraising Manager for London.
Georgie Padley
Georgie graduated from the University of Southampton, where she read law, in 2021. Since then, Georgie has built up fundraising and comms experience through working for charities such as Cancer Research UK, Movember and Teenage Cancer Trust. Georgie was inspired to get into the charity sector after the loss of her Dad, Tim, to suicide in 2020. Off the back of this loss, she began fundraising for the men’s health charity Movember and volunteered as a community ambassador for the charity. It is this tragic loss which sparked Georgie’s interest in James’ Place and the important work they’re doing to support men in crisis as well as to prevent families, like hers, from experiencing such a devastating loss.
Ruth Sheeran
Ruth has over 20 years’ operational, finance and payroll experience in the commercial sector working in a variety of SME’s and larger organisations. She has previously volunteered for charities including providing catering at a lunch club for Age Concern and worked with the Samaritans for a number of years. Ruth is delighted to be part of the team at James’ Place supporting the operational and finance function of the charity.