Membership and Management
Participation
To participate in iBUG, service users can choose their own level of involvement and commitment.
Members can aim to become directors or consultants to our partner organisations, the Royal Holloway University College London and the Middlesex University. Participants can join us to publish their work in the ‘iBUG Influence Magazine’ and occasionally contribute or seek advice: we welcome any level of engagement. We do have monthly Business Meetings to which all service users are welcome to attend.
To become a member, please contact us.
The Management
The Board
The iBUG Board is made of three Directors, two Assistant Directors and a Company Secretary, namely:
- Peter Jones, Chair
- Suzy Lee, Vice Chair
- Philip Fox, Director
- Shirley Scott Norton, Company Secretary
- Laura Talanti, Projects Manager and advisor to the Board
iBUG has a Projects Manager, Laura Talanti, who is the only paid member of staff.
You can find out more about the management and the individual profiles below under the Introductions heading.
Volunteers
iBUG has Volunteer Project Workers who greatly contribute to the success of the organisation. iBUG values its volunteers: we provide a safe environment where you can gain work experiences, develop skills and knowledge. We provide in-house training but as part of individual development programmes: we also fund placements in courses.
To find out how to volunteer, please contact us.
Introductions
Peter Jones, Chair
Peter is the co-founder of iBUG and has been the chair of the organisation ever since. Peter laid down the foundations of service user involvement in the commissioning and monitoring of mental health services in Islington and fought hard to achieve success in the implementation and provision of such services. Peter has been an advisor on service user involvement and service user perspectives at The Royal Holloway, University Of London PHD Clinical Psychology Course.
He is also an adviosor to Middlesex University on the recent EMILIA courses and at various other nurse registration and postgraduate degree courses.
Shirley Scott-Norton, Company Secretary
Shirley is the iBUG company secretary, and has been since iBUG decided to become a company.
Shirley does a lot of work facilitating and delivering workshops for mental health and drug and alcohol service users and staff on Service User Involvement. In 2005 Shirley and her husband Richard won the then Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust 2005 award for their contribution to service user involvement.
Shirley was also nominated for an EPIC (Exceptional People in Camden) award in 2008 for her contribution to community safety, (which is for her involvement with drug and alcohol service users). Shirley came second and was highly commended by the judges.
Shirley is also a lead on a drugs misuse prevention campaign. She visits schools and talks about her experiences of substance misuse to warn teenagers about the dangers of the use of substances.
Suzy Lee, Director
Suzy has been a director of iBUG for two and a half years. Suzy is the project manager of the Patients Council Project. Suzy attends the Women's Forum at Highgate Mental Health Centre, the Black Women's Forum and the Women's Strategy Group at Drayton Park. Suzy is also a management committee member at MIND.
Philip Fox, Director
Philip was appointed as an Assistant Director in December 2008 and became a Director in March 2010.
Philip has been the minute taker of our Business Meetings for two years, attends numerous meetings on our behalf and contributes regularly to our newsletter. This is how he writes about taking on the role of an Assistant Director:
“I am very happy that my efforts have been appreciated, I can now accept commitment and responsibility without fear and much of my self-worth has been re-established through making a worthwhile contribution to society. I shall no doubt continue to make further progress as I have all the help and encouragement I could wish for from my fellow directors and team mates."
Laura Talanti, Projects Manager
Laura started working for iBUG in February 2010 and took over the role of Projects Manager in June 2010.
Laura has a BA in International Media and an MA in Gender and Culture (Sociology). She has brough her creativity and her experiences of working with vulnerable people to the organization. She has worked in the charity sector and also does volunteer work for several charities. She has experience of working with refugees/asylum seekers, people affected by HIV, homeless people and bereaved clients. She has also recently completed a Certificate in Psychodynamic Counselling and hopes to go onto to train to become a psychotherapist.
