NHS APA Conference 2025: Our speakers

Here’s your at-a-glance round-up of the fantastic line-up of speakers joining us at this year’s NHS APA Conference 2025.

Mel Ball, Director for Lived Experience at the Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust (MPFT), is our morning keynote speaker. Mel Ball started her career within therapeutic communities as a peer worker. She's gone on to work in a diverse series of services across CAMHS, adult inpatient units, and high security services. Her experience spans voluntary and community work in addition to her NHS organisation work and university teaching posts. Her particular focus on lived experience includes several published pieces of work and heading up a Lived Experience Workforce in the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

Mel's live panel members are Ben Parker and Darren Murinas.

Ben Parker is an Advanced Lived Experience Practitioner within the Addictions Directorate at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL). Ben began his career as a Peer Worker in addictions and has since held roles as a Group Facilitator and Outreach Recovery Worker. In his current position, Ben oversees and supports all Peer Workers and co- leads service user involvement across the directorate. As a member of the Addictions Senior Management Team, Ben ensures that the lived experience voice is embedded in every aspect of the service’s work.

Darren Murinas is Chief Executive of Expert Citizens CIC, also a trustee of the Lankelly Chase Foundation and Together Active, Chair of the Changing Futures project board Stoke-on-Trent and Independent Chair of the Multi-Agency resolution Group (MaRG). He has been working with local and national media outlets such as BBC Radio Stoke, BBC radio Hereford and Worcester, BBC Radio four listening project, Victoria Derbyshire show, the Guardian and the Huffington. Recently he also spoke at a TEDx event hosted by the University of Staffordshire. Darren is a national facilitator working with organisations like MEAM, Homeless Link, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Virgin Money Foundation, The Centre for knowledge and equity and many more where he is recognised as an expert in Co-production. He has worked alongside others over the last 10 years to bring in over £20 million worth of investment for people experiencing severe multiple disadvantage in Stoke-on-Trent. He is also a national speaker, using his own experience of severe and multiple disadvantage to challenge stereotypes and the traditional narrative, dispelling the myth that people experiencing some of the toughest social issues of our time are making a ‘lifestyle choice’. Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, OBE, of the CNWL trust and the National Advisor on Gambling Harms, is our afternoon keynote speaker. Professor Bowden-Jones is the founder and director of the National Problem Gambling Clinic which in 2008 was the first service within the NHS to treat gambling disorders. Since then, she has also become founder and director of the National Centre for Gaming Disorders. Her work has led to 15 national clinics being developed from the National Problem Gambling Clinic. 

Henrietta's live panel members are James Austin and Michael.

James Austin is a deputy director in NHS England's mental health programme, responsible for implementation of treatment elements of the gambling levy in England. James has worked at national, regional and local levels in the NHS as well as within the VCSE sector. He brings broad experience across a range of areas including mental health, cancer, primary care, data and digital to his current portfolio.  

Michael lived with a gambling problem for over 10 years but was in complete denial about the impact gambling was having on his life and those around him. He finally sought help in 2024 when his world came crashing down and he lost everything that was important to him – his partner, family and home they lived in together and at 39 years old had to face the reality of starting life again under a burden of financial debt, physical and mental challenges - all caused by his gambling. Finally the truth was out but far too late and the impacts of his hidden addiction didn’t just affect him. That wake up call led Michael to tell everyone close to him about his situation and start his successful journey towards recovery, supported by the NHS gambling clinic, psychologists, friends and family members. Michael now spends his time trying to support people before it’s too late, highlighting the impact of gambling on affected others and focusing on the stigma that stopped him seeking help sooner, when there were many opportunities that shame, guilt and perceived judgement from others stopped him from doing so.

Dr Elena Cama is a mixed-methods Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research in Health at the University of New South Wales. Her work includes a national study into novel stigma reduction invention among health workers, combating discrimination targeting people who are affected by blood-borne viruses. 

Dr Hannah Carver is the Associate Professor in Substance Use. She is a co-director of the Salvation Army Centre for Addiction Services and Research at the University of Stirling, and focuses her study on where experience with addiction, homelessness and mental health meet.

Dr Kelly Charge is a Clinical Psychologist at the National and Specialist CAMHS Adolescent At-Risk and Forensic Service, where she acts as dual diagnosis lead. Her background as a substance misuse specialist covers community and inpatient settings.

Navi Dhesi is the founder of No More Pretending, a non-profit organisation that is dedicated to experience with alcohol addiction in South Asian communities. He creates spaces for families and individuals alike to heal via advocacy and culturally-tailored support.

Dr Emmie Neophytou is a practitioner psychologist for the Adolescent At-Risk and Forensic Service within South London. Assessment and intervention techniques are evidence-based and focus on the intersection of abuse and mental health difficulties. 

Tessa Parkes is Co-Director of the Salvation Army Centre for Addiction Services and Research at the University of Stirling. Her background spans working within social care, health and homelessness sectors, and she is the leader of a randomised controlled trial on peer worker effectiveness within substance use and homelessness support.

Carla Treloar is a Scientia Professor with the Centre for Social Research in Health. Her focus is on the fields of hepatitis C and injecting substance use, with an eye for how these issues are considered in a sociopolitical or legal lens.

Nick Wyrill has led the Mid-Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust's Substance Care Team since 2022 as a Patient Service Manager. He works with multidisciplinary teams to provide compassionate, patient-centred care, especially in acute and emergency settings.

Dr James Morris is a research consultant, behaviour change specialist, trainer, and a Visiting Scholar in the Psychology department at London South Bank University

Mark Prest is a British curator, recovery activist, and founder of Portraits of Recovery (PORe), the UK’s only international visual arts charity dedicated to living and lived experiences of substance use and recovery.

Dr Adele Stevens is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist specialising in trauma, including PTSD and complex PTSD, with expertise in working with ex-military personnel. She has extensive experience across a range of specialist NHS trauma services, providing clinical leadership, supervision, and service development, as well as teaching within NHS and academic settings.

This year's member panel are Peter Keeling, Policy and Development Manager at the NHS APA, Ben Metcalfe of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and is the Lead for Manchester’s Dual Diagnosis Liaison Service, Sarah Stacey Consultant Clinical Psychologist for Inclusion, Adrian Brown Alcohol Nurse Specialist and Psychiatric Liaison at CNWL, and Paul Evans Operational and Development Lead at Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. 

The Women’s Strategy; Sophie Williams, Sam Wright, Jade Groves, Emma Cormack, Abbie Maynard. Led by Inclusion Community Drug and Alcohol Services and partners, works to make treatment more accessible, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of all women. Recognising the unique barriers women face — including stigma, trauma, caring responsibilities, and safety concerns — the strategy is co-produced with lived experience and focuses on creating safe spaces, improving accessibility, and offering tailored support. Its goal is to ensure every woman feels heard, valued, and empowered to engage in recovery and wellbeing.