Staff Team                                                                                                              

Brendan Rooney - Initiative Director

Brendan has been our Initiative Director of HealthynHappy Ltd since 2003 and Chairperson of the Scottish Healthy Living Centre Alliance since 2009. He completed his management studies in 2010 achieving a Masters in Business Administration, is a Registered Mental Health Nurse and has trained in Counseling and Reflexology.He has had a lifelong commitment to volunteering and started volunteering when he was16 years old involved in helping local youths, older people and in a befriending/walking service with visually impaired adults. He has carried on wide variety of volunteering activity ever since, including being a Volunteer Director for two mental health charities.Previously, Brendan set up and managed the Three Towns Healthy Living Initiative in North Ayrshire and worked with Scottish Assoc. for Mental Health for 11 years as a Project Manager in various adult mental health services after leaving the NHS as a Registered Mental Health Nurse. Brendan has been a practicing Reflexologist since 1991 along with several other holistic therapies and has an array of personal interests from sports to hosting a world music radio show on Camglen Radio.

Jane Churchill - Assistant Director

Jane has been with Healthy n Happy since May 2006 and has worked in the voluntary sector for 15 years having previously set up a web design company, worked in ice-cream and chocolate factories and given birth. Jane has a PGC in Management in the voluntary sector and a Diploma in Leadership in Public Services.  Jane previously worked within the Volunteer Centre network in North Ayrshire building up an expertise and understanding around volunteering which she has always had an interest in. Jane also worked at the Three Towns Healthy Living Project where an interest for community led health improvement developed.  Jane enjoys an adventure and is either just back from somewhere interesting or about to go, unfortunately this usually involves a trip to the hospital in whichever country she happens to be in.

Stan Middleton - Administrator

Born: January 1953, Durham City, County Durham (Land of the Bishop Princes)

Commenced Work with CHI: 10 November 2003

Previous Employment: Royal Navy, Chief Petty Officer Writer (1968 to 2003)

I was born and bred in God’s Country (County Durham) and spent my early years fishing, walking and scouting.  I joined the Royal Navy as a Junior Assistant Writer in May 1968 at the ripe old age of 15.  Throughout my career I served in a number of warships and a merchant ship taken up from trade during the Falklands Conflict.  I have also served abroad in Singapore, Malaysia and Italy.  During my career I have visited over 100 countries and on my last ship (HMS Newcastle) visited 27 countries over a nine month deployment. I also took part in disaster relief work in Montserrat following a volcano eruption, disaster relief in Naples following a large earthquake in 1983 and assisted in the rescue of 150 starving Cuban refugees, adrift on a broken down rusty tramp steamer 300 miles off the coast of Cuba. Unfortunately, in 2003 the Lordships of the Admiralty considered me too old to be in the RN and I was retired in 2003.

Prior to leaving the RN I moved to Paisley and now have lived there for 13 years.  It took some time to get used to being at home every night and traveling daily to and from work and of course to settle into the less organized and less disciplined work of a civilian.  I am still winding down to this stage and it gets easier every day as I grow older.

On joining the CHI or the Healthy Living Initiative as it was then called I became employee number two joining a few weeks after Brendan.  Together we set up the systems and procedures and got the CHI office spaces up to the excellent standard that they are in to date. 

Since those early days the Initiative has grown and grown and my role has changed with this growth.  I tend nowadays not to push paper but spend most of my time manipulating figures, budgets and accounts.  I also have responsibilities as Health and Safety Officer, Data Protection Officer and Office Manager.  With such a heavy workload I rarely get time off, however, when I do I enjoy pottering about in the garden and watching Dunfermline Athletic lose again and again.

Joy Mitchell - Senior Development Officer 

                    Mental & Emotional Health & Well Being 

I became involved in working in communities through volunteering - being an Office Bearer for a Housing Cooperative, helped establish a Credit Union, local community newsletter, and community Library.  In my career I have worked in personal development, health improvement, and learning, with stress management and confidence building always at its heart.  Establishing the successful CHI Stress Management Service is and will remain one of my most proud and cherished professional and personal achievements.  I have recently completed a management qualification which I hope to use more fully.

    Jan Taylor - Development Worker 

     Diet & Healthy Eating,Fitness & Exercise 

I have worked with voluntary organizations in Cambuslang and Rutherglen

for almost 20 years. I pride myself on living and working in the same area

giving me the great advantage of knowing what works in my own community.

I have built up great links with schools, nurseries, partner agencies and local

communities and I am passionate about community health and wellbeing. 

I am dedicated to my family and a very proud gran of Ciaran aged 6 months. 

Veronica MacLeod - Development Worker  

                          Alcohol Prevention & Education 

Tam Curry - Camglen Radio Co-ordinator

I joined the team in 2006 and have been coordinating Camglen radio since 2008. I've been fortunate over the years to have had a range of professional experiences which has included being an RAF electronics technician, a youth worker, a media trainer, sound engineer, young carer’s resource worker and also a bar tender. I've found that each of these experiences help me in my role at Camglen (apart from the latter!)

I've got a passion for working with people of all ages, ability and background; sharing skills & knowledge to empower people - I also enjoy learning from others. I love technology, music, sports, driving and being a Dad."

Caroline Graham - Volunteer Co-ordinator

My name is Caroline and I am the Volunteer Coordinator with CHI. I support all the volunteers and do my best to offer ALL local people the opportunity to be involved in our inclusive community programmes. I have worked within the voluntary sector for 10 years and I enjoy helping to make a difference in people’s lives. I also volunteer my time with other charities based in Glasgow - Waverly Care, African Health Project and AYDAP (African Youth Development Action Project) I enjoy singing and I am a member of the Glasgow Gospel Choir. I also enjoy arts and crafts and making things! and spending time with friends and family.

Martin Shields Project Worker - Camglen Radio

I joined the CHI team as a volunteer in the summer of 2009. I had recently recovered from a long term illness, so getting the opportunity to volunteer with Camglen Radio was the perfect motivation for me to get back on my feet again. I joined the staff team in October that year as Project Worker with Camglen Radio. I have a wide ranging teaching, training and facilitating background across various industries and sectors so the chance to put this to good use in the voluntary sector was something new and exciting for me. My main role with the organization has been focused on delivering radio based accredited SQA training to a wide range of local people as well as informal training to our volunteer team. I love to travel and sing although not necessarily at the same time! 

Alison Stell - Project Worker 

                    Mental & Emotional Health & Well Being

Bernie Strachan - Admin Support Officer

I have been with the Community Health Initiative and formerly the Cambuslang

Health & Food Project since 2002.My duties as well as the usual wide

variety of administration duties to support the management and development

staff, include helping support the development of Healthynhappy Enterprises

with a focus on co-ordinating the hires etc of the HealthynHappy Shake

Machine and administration duties to help support the current SMS Health

Tips Service and the volunteer run Fruit Barras.

Lesley Mooney - Admin Support Officer

                    Mental & Emotional Health & Well Being 

I started out with CHI as a sessional worker in August 2004 doing some consultation work, firstly with CROP (Cambuslang and Rutherglen Outreach Project), then with the Alcohol Prevention & Education Programme with the findings producing the Tell Us More About Alcohol document, and then as part of the consultation team working with the local Health Improvement Team to produce the Working Together document.

In January 2005 I became a part time staff member as Admin Assistant based within the Mental & Emotional Health & Wellbeing (MEHAW) programme.  My post is now full time, with which along came a job title change ‘Administration Support Officer’ Most of my time is spent assisting/helping with the MEHAW programme and the rest is split between administration support to our Healthy Mums programme, attending Public Partnership Forum meetings and attending our Research & Development sub group meetings. 

Lindsay Naughton - Admin Assistant 

My career at Cambuslang and Rutherglen Community Health Initiative began as a Future Jobs Fund Placement. Toward the end of my six month placement I was offered a permanent role, which I was delighted to accept. I am very proud to have been accepted into the organization.My role as an administrative assistant is varied and includes all aspects of accounts, such as processing the banking; providing administrative support for the management and development team and providing administrative support for Scottish Healthy Living Centre Alliance.