Meet the Leadership Team

Anna is a trained Mental Health Nurse with more than 27 years’ experience working in health and social care. She was part of the original team who established Creative Support in the early 1990s to help settle people moving from long-term placements at institutions into their own homes in the community. She has been Chief Executive Officer of Creative Support since the organisation was established in 1991. Anna also has significant experience of business development, financial management, training and operational management.

Julie is a qualified social worker and has worked for Creative Support over 25 years across a broad range of roles. Julie is currently a Service Director for Bolton, Blackburn and Cumbria Services and has corporate responsibility for the HR and recruitment teams.

In her personal life Julie is an active mother of a teenage son who is a keen horticulturalist and who shares his knowledge and love of plants with her each day. She particularly enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, gardening and horse-riding.

Sam is a qualified youth and community worker. She started her career in community development, 27 years ago, and has worked extensively in the fields of domestic abuse, women’s equality, social inclusion, homelessness, mental health and addiction services.  Sam worked for ten years in Ireland and has also worked in Eastern Europe and Central America. She joined Creative Support as a Service Director eight years ago.

Sam has spent her whole career working for not-for-profit organisations and is passionate about the sector. She takes pride in her role at Creative Support promoting good governance, strategic planning and a positive culture of risk management. She is responsible, primarily, for the quality department and reports directly to The Board on service quality and practice issues. She oversees the quality team, internal finance audit team, out of hours and duty manager service, marketing department, reception and administration at our head office in Stockport.

Sam has operational responsibility for the South Manchester Mental Health Services, Homeless Services in Halton, Learning Disability Services in Sheffield, North Lincolnshire and in North East Lincolnshire. She also supports our newly re-launched national co-production service-user hub, The Creative Together Centre, in central Manchester.

In her personal life Sam is an active mother of a young son who she says teaches her something new every day. She particularly enjoys outdoor activities such as camping and hiking. Sam is also passionate about community involvement and enjoys charity fundraising through car boot sales and fairs. She is involved in an annual community picnic promoting local diversity and community spirit.

Leigh has worked for Creative Support since 2002. She completed a Health and Social Care diploma at college and then joined Creative Support at the age of 18 as a support worker.

At 19 Leigh was promoted to Senior Support Worker with Bury Community Services where she ran a service for people with mental health needs. She continued on a career development pathway and worked through various management roles within Creative Support whilst the organisation supported her through training to become a social worker.

She now oversees a diverse portfolio of services across the Midlands and the North West which includes Community Services, Supported Living Services, Day Services, Respite Services, Extra Care Services and Residential Services.

Leigh has an active family life which she says keeps her on her toes! She likes nothing more than long family walks with the dog and watching a good box set when she gets the chance.

Mahip is the Director for London and Essex, currently overseeing services in Camden, Barnet, Wandsworth, Tower Hamlets, Bromley, Brent, Thurrock and Braintree. These services support older people, people with a learning disability, mental health conditions and complex needs.

Outside of work, Mahip enjoys travelling and has visited countries on 6 continents (Antarctica is next). He is a keen runner and in recent years has also found a love of mountain climbing.

My name is Jonathan Keane, Service Director at Creative Support. I have worked at Creative Support for 11 years and have enjoyed a very exciting career working with adults with learning disabilities, autism and mental health needs. I am a qualified social worker and practice supervisor also.

I have a great team of dedicated managers who work very hard to ensure the lives of the people we support are filled with meaningful experiences!

I love playing music in my spare time and the occasional live performance with my seasoned rock band!

Lyndsey has worked in health and social care for over 10 years and has been with Creative Support, in various roles since 2014. She has a degree and is working towards a Masters in Senior Leadership. She also has a Level 5 in Health and Social Care.

Lyndsey currently works with a number of registered managers to support the ongoing quality development of services registered with CQC (Care Quality Commission) as well as having responsibility for a number of housing related supported services.

Lyndsey is responsible, primarily, for services which support service users with housing issues, predominantly those with mental ill health or those experiencing homelessness  and needing support with drugs and alcohol misuse. She works across North Lincolnshire, Doncaster, Derby, Sheffield and Birmingham.

In her personal live Lyndsey has a son who she loves to spend every possible minute with. She also loves walking, running and being outdoors. She has a horse, and has ridden for most of her life, and has a very excitable Spaniel. Lyndsey is a huge music fan and enjoys going to concerts.

Ray started his career 28 years ago working as a care assistant in a nursing home supporting people at the end of life and also supporting older people with dementia and their families.

He has always been passionate about promoting dignity, equality and diversity within all care settings. As his career developed he worked in several different areas including mental health, learning disabilities and younger people with physical and mental illness. Ray completed several qualifications and moved in to service management. He then became interested in teaching and assessing healthcare staff.

He joined Creative Support 15 years ago as full-time trainer and assessor. As the organisation grew and developed so did Ray’s role. He now leads on our staff learning and development programmes. Ray is very proud to have national organisational responsibilities relating to staff engagement, learning and development programmes, Information Governance, our Investors in People accreditation, our Stonewall Equality Index and LGBT+ Network.

He has completed a Doctorate in Health and Social care at Chester University, which he hopes will make a positive difference not only to our organisational staff training and development programmes but also to the perception of Health and Social Care nationally and improve staff engagement and levels of care for all service users.

In his personal life, Ray is involved in several steering groups related to positively changing the perception of the third sector in Health and Social Care from a recruitment/retention and engagement point of view. He is happily married to a pianist and church organist. Ray also enjoys running, going to the theatre and promoting the rights of the LGBT+ community in Greater Manchester.

I have worked for Creative Support since 1996. I undertook my Mental Health Nurse training at Edge Hill University and joined Creative Support as a Support Co-ordinator to work within a Resettlement service.

I then worked as a Deputy Manager in Tameside managing a mental health outreach service after which I moved to the Northeast for six months to open Creative Support’s first service outside of Grater Manchester. Following this secondment I continued with my career in the Northwest managing a range of service for people with mental health needs, learning disabilities and older adults.

During my time with Creative Support I have developed a number of services including supported accommodation, day services, community support services and Extra care services. Through Creative Support I have undertaken a number of  post registration courses through Manchester University and Edgehill University.

I currently manage a wide range of services across the Northwest, West Yorkshire and West Midlands including Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Telford..

I have two children which keep me very busy at home. I enjoy music including concerts and festivals, walking, reading and gardening.

Richard began working in health & social care in 2005 as a support worker for adults with a learning disability in Chorley. Richard then trained as a Social Worker in 2011 and worked in children’s services in St Helens for 4 years. After that he began working with Blackpool Councils Adults Learning Disability Team during which he became a qualified Best Interest Assessor, Practice Educator and Approved Mental Health Professional alongside managing both health and social care professionals.

Richard joined Creative Support as a Service Director in 2024 and has responsibility for services in Blackpool, Morecambe and parts of Cumbria.

In his personal he enjoys spending time with his family who keep him very busy. Richard is a big football fan and supports Liverpool FC.

Leanne has worked in health and social care for around 16 years starting her career as an agency worker and the years that followed worked in various roles leading to management roles. Leanne has been with Creative Support since 2019 and whilst being with creative support Leanne has been in various roles and has a Level 5 in Health and Social Care.

Leanne is primarily responsible for Learning Disability Services (Supported Living )working with a number of registered managers across Doncaster, Sheffield, North Lincolnshire and in North East Lincolnshire to support the ongoing quality development of services registered with CQC (Care Quality Commission) 1 year after Leanne started with Creative Support, Doncaster Supported Living achieved CQC Outstanding rating in all 5 domains. Leanne enjoys leading large teams to achieve excellent outcomes for the service users, staff and the managers within the region.

Outside of work, Leanne enjoys spending time with family and friends and has a love for travel.

Coming soon…