Fiona Venner

Fiona Venner is the Director the Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service, which provides out of hours services to people in acute mental health crisis, as an alternative to statutory services. Fiona has worked in mental health since the early 90s, always in the voluntary sector and mainly in acute settings.

She worked with homeless people with mental health problems in London, before returning to the north to work at 42nd Street in Manchester, a young people’s service where she managed their suicide and self harm project. Fiona has been in Leeds since 2001, first as the Deputy Chief Executive of Leeds Mind and then in her current post since 2005.

Fiona has been a Volition Director since 2005. She feels Leeds has a particularly vibrant voluntary sector and Volition has a key role in raising its profile and supporting collaboration. Being a Director is also a great way to keep in touch with what is happening within mental health, which is a particular challenge for smaller organisations.