Workplace Wellbeing Academy
Meet the Team
Meet the Team
Bill Cunningham – Director
Psychologist | Mental Health Educator | Workplace Wellbeing Specialist
Bill has been delivering stress and mental health awareness training across the UK and Ireland since 2004. As one of the first certified Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) instructors in England, he has had the privilege of empowering diverse audiences—from corporate teams to community groups and public sector professionals—with the tools to foster mental health and wellbeing.
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From 2009 to 2017, he served as a National Trainer for MHFA England CIC, leading the training of 30 cohorts of new MHFA instructors to extend the impact of mental health education in workplaces and communities.
His expertise includes developing evidence-based training programs grounded in Cognitive Behavioural Theory, Mindfulness, and Positive Psychology to equip individuals with proactive strategies for promoting positive wellbeing. These programs have been tailored for organisations such as the NHS and the armed forces community.
Between 2017 and 2019, he worked for Saint John of God Hospital in Dublin, the licensed provider of MHFA in Ireland. As National Trainer, he not only delivered training across Ireland but also designed the MHFA Ireland instructor training program and materials. Notably, he led a program for An Garda Síochána (Irish police), many of whom advanced to become MHFA instructors. he continues to collaborate with MHFA Ireland as an Associate Trainer.
At the Workplace Wellbeing Academy, which he co-founded, he has developed and adapted accessible training materials in partnership with organisations such as the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. His work is driven by the belief that everyone deserves access to practical, inclusive tools for enhancing mental health and wellbeing.
He is a member of the British Psychological Society, the Psychological Society of Ireland, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Glen Ridgway – Director
Glen’s journey into mental health and wellbeing advocacy began with his own recovery following a breakdown in 2008. Using this experience as a foundation, he went on to design and implement his employer’s global Mental Health Matters strategy. This included developing comprehensive training materials, such as a full-day course promoting mental health awareness, and building a community of over 1,500 positive mental health champions worldwide.
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As a Divisional Director of the global HSE team, Glen travelled extensively across North and South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East to support the delivery of the strategy. During this time, Glen’s greatest revelation was that mental health is a universal issue affecting all communities. While delivery methods may vary, the core message remains the same: investing in mental health and wellbeing benefits individuals and organisations alike.
Glen is also a founding father of Safer Highways and a key architect of the first-ever sector-wide mental health survey, which assessed the highways industry’s implementation of the Stevenson-Farmer Thriving at Work report.
His client portfolio includes organisations such as the Palace of Westminster Restoration & Renewal Project, Safer Highways, Applied Driving Technique, City & Guilds (UK), Hope for Children, Charity IT Leaders, and others who value Glen’s discretion and expertise.
With years of practical experience in delivering mental health and wellbeing strategies, Glen specialises in creating sustainable, long-term change that helps organisations thrive while enabling employees to flourish every day.
Iain Smith – Director
Iain has a proven track record of enhancing individual, team and group performance at executive, leader and manager level.
After a long career in transport, he moved into consultancy where he has worked as a consultant for many companies as well as in a number of other sectors including transport, education, forestry, pharma and local government.
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Iain has an energetic and innovative change agent who brings a personable, engaging and honest communicative approach to each project. With more than 30 years in the L&D field he understands how to align training programmes with the specific need of clients. Allied to this he understands the fundamentals of how to engage with staff at all levels to ensure maximum participation. He has the theoretical knowledge and practical experience to ensure training and development programmes achieve long term, sustainable success.
Shireen Ali-Khan – Associate
Shireen Ali-Khan has 20 years’ experience in communications, engagement and change. Working with many of the UK’s major infrastructure programmes, she has built relationships with a wide range of stakeholders including business, employees, educational establishments, charities, and community groups.
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She is passionate about understanding human behaviours and motivations which has been integral in developing others to thrive. Her people first approach, authenticity and holistic style makes Shireen stand out from the crowd. The impact she has had on the programmes she has worked on has ensured sector wide legacy for example, the work of the Crossrail Community Investment Programme, which saw activity from all contractors across the entire route supporting a range of vulnerable community groups. Shireen led on communications and wellbeing for several organisations during the Covid 19 Pandemic, ensuring staff were supported and engaged with throughout and has recently launched the Muslim Mind Collaborative, an evidenced based programme which brings together faith based and national mainstream mental health organisations to develop a Muslim focused strategy to mental health and wellbeing.
Her interests extend into leadership, development, intersectionality, trauma, psychology, productivity and habits. She has advised on emerging risks and threats in this area, and championed the escalation of mental health up the leadership agenda.
Some of Shireen’s previous clients include:
- Transport for London
- Tideway
- High Speed Two
- Crossrail
- Royal Academy of Engineering
- Institute of Engineering and Technology
- Muslim Mind Collaborative
Shireen is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and Association of Project Managers
Tree Hall – Associate
Finding out that she is AuDHD (autistic and ADHD) at 48 changed the way that Tree viewed herself and her place in the world. Armed with this new understanding, she began therapy to unpick years of masking and give herself permission to be her authentic AuDHD self. Tree uses her lived-experience to help foster greater understanding and inclusivity of neurodivergence, helping to make the workplace an accessible space where neurodivergent colleagues can thrive alongside their neurotypical peers.
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After 16 years as a highly successful fundraiser and marketeer, delivering major events and fundraising programmes for organisations including Asthma UK, The Outward Bound Trust, St John’s Hospice and Action for Children, Tree took a career break after having children and established herself as an Ofsted registered childminder. Finding out that both of her children are neurodivergent was the catalyst for seeking her own diagnoses. Tree uses her first-hand experience of navigating the challenges that education, healthcare and life present for neurodivergent children, and her own experiences as an AuDHD adult, to inform her advocacy and training.
She now balances her work as a neurodivergent advocate and trainer, with her role as CEO of Charity IT Leaders, and family life with two children, her husband and two cats.
Kai-Nneka Townsend – Associate
Kai-Nneka is a dedicated Leadership and Burnout Consultant whose primary mission is to empower leaders and their teams with the resilience and stress management strategies necessary to foster a sustainable and thriving work environment. She specialises in helping leaders recognise and mitigate the risks associated with workplace burnout through tailored workshops, one-on-one coaching, and evidence-based interventions.
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Her approach intertwines the latest research on resilience and stress with practical, actionable techniques that can be seamlessly integrated into daily work life. By equipping leaders with these tools, she helps them enhance their own resilience and support their teams to perform at their best without sacrificing employee well-being.
Kai-Nneka is also a certified DiSC® Practitioner, providing organisations with a personal assessment tool to help improve teamwork, communication, and productivity in the workplace. Her work ignites cultural change and inspires lasting behaviour changes that positively shape their workforce.
Natalie Treacher – Associate
An experienced trainer and health promotion specialist, Natalie has 10 years experience as a manager in mental health social care. She has also worked as a teacher and vocational assessor of metal health and social care in Further and Higher Education since 2012. A Mental Health First Aid Instructor since 2009, Natalie has recently worked as National Training Lead (Adult & Workplace) for MHFA Ireland where she developed products including bespoke programmes for corporate clients and systems for initiating and supporting networks of MHFAs/peer supporters.
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Natalie has worked in mental health promotion and support projects with young people, families, communities and organisations in the UK and Ireland. She has a special interest in employee engagement, listening, communication and leadership skills and has recently supported a programme to promote the health and wellbeing of shift workers. Natalie is holistic in her approach to supporting and coaching ways to wellbeing and is certified as a coach in running fitness, nutrition and sleep.
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