Linda Seymour (BA, MA)

Linda has been Head of Policy at SCMH since June 2006. Previously (2002 - 2006) she was Policy and Research Development Manager at mentality @ the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health. As Head of Policy she ensures that the staff teams are informed about mental health policy and other public policies as they affect the lives of and services for people with mental health problems.

During her professional life, Linda has worked across the breadth of health promotion and public health in policy and research roles e.g. in tobacco control at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) (1980-85) and at the Health Education Council (HEC) (1985-88). She was a key member of the national research team that evaluated the Health Education Authority's Health at Work in the NHS programme (1994-99). She is an experienced trainer and worked for five years with the Public Health Resource Unit (PHRU) at Oxford Health Authority delivering workshops on critical appraisal skills, assessing the rigour and reliability of quantitative and qualitative research.

She completed a Masters Degree in Health Studies from Brighton University in 1998. She was a Research Fellow at the University's Health and Social Policy Research Centre (1998 - 2002).

She has served as a Board level Director in the NHS on three occasions: at East Sussex Health Authority (1993-96), at South Downs Health NHS Trust (1998-2002), a community, mental health and learning disability service provider and at Sussex Partnership NHS Trust (2007), a mental health and learning disability provider.

Recent publications

Lockett H, Seymour L and Pozner A (2008) About Time: Re-commissioning day and vocational services. (SCMH, 2008)

Seymour L, Khanom H, Rutherford M and Samele C (2008) The Community Order and the Mental health Treatment Requirement. Journal of Mental Health Law.

Seymour L and Rutherford M (2008) The Community Order and the Mental health Treatment Requirement. Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.

Seymour L and Morris B (2007) Improving access to primary care. Mental Health Today. September 2007. pp. 33-35.

Seymour L (2007) Health, wealth and the pursuit of happiness. The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. 127:2.

Samele C, Seymour L, Morris B et al (2006) Closing the gap. Health Inequalities in primary care of people with mental health problems and learning disabilities. Report for the Disability Rights Commission’s Formal Inquiry.

Seymour L and Grove B. (2005) Workplace interventions for people with common mental health problems: A systematic review. London. British Occupational Health Research Foundation.

Seymour L and Gale E. (2005) Even Elders Get the Blues. Mental Health Today. February 2005. pp. 29 – 31.

Adshead F, Leibowitz J , Hahne. S and Seymour L (2004) Supporting Implementation of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy: A Public Mental Health Approach. Mental Health Review. 9 (3): 24 - 27.

Seymour L and Tidyman M (2004) Promoting mental health: A resource for spiritual and pastoral care. London: mentality/NIMHE/Church of England.

Seymour L (2003) Not all in the mind: Physical Health of Mental Health Service Users. Radical Mentalities – briefing 2. September 2003. London. mentality

Contact Details

Tel: 020 7716 6758

Email: linda.seymour@scmh.org.uk