Amanda Townsend

Biography:

I am a creative and inspirational educator and entrepreneur; who has trained
a range of people in life-saving Mental Health First Aid skills within workplaces, schools and communities.

As a humanitarian, my career began as a secondary mathematics teacher and pastoral leader, but after 10 years she experienced an episode of burn-out. Through embarking on a profound recovery journey and becoming a Youth MHFAider in 2019, I felt compelled to turn my pain into purpose by inspiring others through the delivery of MHFA training both online and in-house.

Fortunate enough to train learners across a mix of organisations including the NHS, Metropolitan Police, The Army, Pheonix Place Girls Schools, Mother and Baby Units, Prisons, to name a few, I believe that mental health education should be accessible to all, and have made it my survivors mission to positively impact more lives through the launch of a user-friendly and streamlined digital solution… Pharus Training Ltd emerged as a dynamic solution addressing critical challenges within the NHS and the broader UK health and social care system.

Our solution aims to reduce manual administrative processes for MHFA Instructors, enabling them to focus on delivering vital education and therefore reducing the number of casualties needing mental health first aid.

Whether connected to my ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, height or gender; as an entrepreneur unconscious bias has naturally come with the territory but thankfully, I am equipped with a pastoral leadership foundation and simply see these encounters as opportunities to educate and empower.