The Staff Team is led by Clare Allison as the Service Director. She is responsible for the day to day running of the organisation, basically, looking after the finances, staff rotas, service delivery and future planning. Clare has had a variety of different roles including research scientist, mediator, advocate and family support team manager and is trained in Family Therapy and systemic practice. Clare is the registered Care Manager for the Housing Support Service.
I became the Service Director in April 2021 and one of the reasons I wanted to work for the Blide Trust, apart from my interest in working alongside people who experience mental health difficulties, was because of its ethos, it's positive reputation and the genuine affection that the Orkney community has for the place, the people and the work that we do.It’s a real privilege to be involved in the day to day running of the organisation as well as being part of shaping the future direction of the Blide and to do so with the support of the Board of Directors, the talented and dedicated staff team and of course all of the Blide members.
She is ably assisted by Sandra Tait in her role as Senior Mental Health Support Worker. She brings more than 20 years of experience in working with people with lived experience of mental ill health. She started work at the Blide in housing support and continues to give one to one support, heading up our Distress Brief Intervention Service and supporting people with her SMART Recovery Training.
Nick Lovick is our new mental health support worker and is also coordinator for the Therapeutic and Active Blide Services organising out and about trips, therapeutic craft groups and physical activities for Blide members.
Our Young People project, supporting people aged 16 to around 30, started in 2022. In April 2025 we were delighted to receive grant funding from the Robertson Trust to extend this successful project for a further three years.
The project is for Young People who are Care Experienced as well as those who spent periods in their childhood an the ‘edge of care’ or had significant adverse childhood experiences.
We have two Young Person workers, Jaden-Marie Browne and one vacant post that we hope to fill very soon.
Paul Graves is our Drop-in Coordinator. He supports members wanting to get involved with the upkeep of the Blide, including our vegetable garden in our weekly gardening group through different purposeful projects as well as being about the building to meet any individuals who come to the building to learn more about, or access, support from us.
Tanya Wood is our new Befriending Co Ordinator. She joined the team in August 2023. She has previously worked in several different care sectors throughout Orkney. Since starting she has been working on a small information handbook that is now complete. This can be foundin the Befriending section of this website.
Eve Shepperson is a vital member of the team providing administration support for the whole organisation. Eve works alongside Clare to keep the accounts in order. She is keen to support people who come to the Blide and will help them with some tasks and with open days.
Our catering team provide Coffee, Tea, soup and home bakes in the kitchen of our Haven Cafe.
Carol Majendie is the Saturday drop in worker, she also runs the cafe on this day.
