Meet The Team
Jayne Laidlaw
Chief Executive
Jayne joined Bipolar Scotland as our CEO in February 2023.
Ashley Mcwilliams
Head of Fundraising
I head up the fundraising function within Bipolar Scotland which includes applying to Trusts and Foundations, devising a fundraising strategy, targets and identifying ways of diversifying our funding.
Maja Mitchell-Grigorjeva
Impact & Development Manager
I’m responsible for the delivery of our Bipolar Scotland services, and manage our front-line staff. My role also involves demonstrating the impact of our services and developing relationships to increase our influence and reach. I’m always excited to collaborate with our staff, volunteers and members to develop new services that will make a positive difference to the lives of people with bipolar.
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Kirstin Innes
Communications and Engagement Manager.
My remit is to increase awareness of the issues faced by people living with Bipolar Disorder in Scotland with a view to reducing stigma and encouraging positive change across Scottish society, and also to help our membership communicate, grow and flourish. I manage Bipolar Scotland’s online presence and handle press, marketing and publicity for the organisation, as well as editing our bi-monthly magazine On The Level.
Aimee Russell
Fundraising Officer
I joined the team in January 2023.
My role is to engage with the community to raise funds and awareness of Bipolar Scotland. I arrange community events, recruit volunteers and fundraisers to support fundraising. I can assist in supporting anyone who wishes to fundraise for Bipolar Scotland.
Hazel Muir
Training Facilitator
My focus, along with my colleague Kerry, is to further develop and deliver our self-management training. We will be offering this training free, exclusively to Bipolar Scotland members, in short online sessions, or you could attend one of our two-day face-to-face training courses, which will be planned throughout the year in various locations.
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I have worked mainly in the third sector; I have a background in training and self-management and a good understanding of mental health and wellbeing.  I am delighted to now be part of the Bipolar Scotland Team and looking forward to welcoming our members to the self-management training
Kerry Adam
Training Facilitator
Kerry is one of our Training Facilitators and, along with Hazel, creates and delivers both Self-Management and Friends and Family courses to Bipolar Scotland members. Kerry has a background in Higher and Further Education and has worked extensively in Community Education – particularly with learners who live with mental health challenges and the Refugee and Asylum Seeker communities in Glasgow East. Kerry lives with Bipolar 1 and hopes her personal knowledge of Bipolar can help course participants to open up about their experiences knowing they’ll be understood.Â
Sam Christie
Peer Worker
I’m really excited to be a part of the new Beyond Diagnosis service from the beginning, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in 2010 and really believe in the power of shared experience. It’s a real privilege to be able to use my lived experience to empower and support others.
Richard Blass
Peer Worker
As a Peer Worker I believe that together we can work towards recovery. I enjoy helping Peers get back on track and on with their lives and realising ambitions and goals set by themselves. Small steps lead to big ones.
Jayne Laidlaw
Chief Executive
Jayne Laidlaw is our CEO.
Ashley McWilliams
Head of Fundraising
I head up the fundraising function within Bipolar Scotland which includes applying to Trusts and Foundations, devising a fundraising strategy and targets and identifying ways of diversifying our funding.
Maja Mitchel-Grigorjeva
Impact & Development Manager
I’m responsible for the delivery of our Bipolar Scotland services, and manage our front-line staff. My role also involves demonstrating the impact of our services and developing relationships to increase our influence and reach. I’m always excited to collaborate with our staff, volunteers and members to develop new services that will make a positive difference to the lives of people with bipolar.
Sam Christie
Peer Worker
I’m really excited to be a part of the new Beyond Diagnosis service from the beginning, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2010 and really believe in the power of shared experience. It’s a real privilege to be able to use my lived experience to empower and support others.
Richard Blass
Peer Worker
As a Peer Worker I believe that together we can work towards recovery. I enjoy helping Peers get back on track and on with their lives and realising ambitions and goals set by themselves. Small steps lead to big ones.
Leah Kurzepa
Peer Worker
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around ten years ago, and in my role I work with people who might be struggling to come to terms with their recent diagnosis, to help them into acceptance and a better understanding of what having bipolar means for them.
Our Board of Trustees
Mark-Paul Buckingham
Chair
MP is a self-confessed engineer, with a Phd and degree in mechanical engineering. He has created and grown a number of companies in his career. He is currently Managing Director at Xi Engineering Consultants, specialising in the production of Digital Twins.
MP is active on a number of Company boards as well as Chair at Bipolar Scotland. He enjoys growing organisations ensuring that they deliver and flourish.
Gordon Johnston
Vice Chair
Gordon Johnston was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2007 and is active in several voluntary sector mental health organisations. He is Chair of VOX (Voices of Experience) and Vice Chair of Bipolar Scotland.Â
Gordon also carries out paid consultancy work for several third sector mental health organisations, mainly in the areas of policy development, community engagement and organisational development.Â
Helen McGinty
Treasurer
Helen McGinty is a Principal in private practice, at Helen McGinty & Company. She provides advice and representation primarily in the fields of Mental Health and Incapacity law, to clients with mental health issues and their carers.
She is also a legal member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland, and a mentor for new legal members of the Tribunal. Helen is the Treasurer of Bipolar Scotland, and a Trustee of the charity.
Victoria Reid
Trustee
My background is research and teaching. I was a lecturer in French at the University of Glasgow and specialised in early 20th-Century literature. I have lived in Germany, France and England also. My bipolar diagnosis in 2015 brought me to a Bipolar Scotland support group and I became a facilitator for the Glasgow West group in 2018. I have participated in various bipolar-related studies and I’m on the advisory panel for ‘A ketogenic metabolic therapy for bipolar disorder’.Â
Anne Fearfull
Trustee
Anne is a former academic who holds a PhD in Organisational Sociology (UMIST). Anne’s interests have always been related to interrogating issues of inequality, primarily in the contexts of gender, race, and ethnicity. Since experiencing her own mental health challenges, resulting in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder over a decade ago, those academic interests been extended to include speaking truth to power around ignorance of the impact on people of mental health conditions, and/or discrimination towards them.
Mark-Paul Buckingham
Chair
MP is a self-confessed engineer, with a Phd and degree in mechanical engineering. He has created and grown a number of companies in his career. He is currently Managing Director at Xi Engineering Consultants. MP is active on a number of Company boards as well as Chair at Bipolar Scotland. He enjoys growing organisations ensuring that they deliver and flourish.
Gordon Johnston
Vice Chair
Gordon Johnston was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2007 and is active in several voluntary sector mental health organisations. He is Chair of VOX (Voices of Experience) and Vice Chair of Bipolar Scotland. Gordon also carries out paid consultancy work for several third sector organisations, mainly in the areas of policy development, community engagement and organisational development.
Helen McGinty
Treasurer
Helen McGinty is a Principal in private practice, at Helen McGinty & Company. She provides advice and representation primarily in the fields of Mental Health and Incapacity law, to clients with mental health issues and their carers. She is also a legal member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland. Helen is the Treasurer of Bipolar Scotland, and a Director of the charity.
Helen McGinty
Treasurer
Helen McGinty is a Principal in private practice, at Helen McGinty & Company. She provides advice and representation primarily in the fields of Mental Health and Incapacity law, to clients with mental health issues and their carers. She is also a legal member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland. Helen is the Treasurer of Bipolar Scotland, and a Trustee of the charity.
Victoria Reid
Trustee
My background is research and teaching. I was a lecturer in French at the University of Glasgow. My bipolar diagnosis in 2015 brought me to a Bipolar Scotland support group and I became a facilitator for the Glasgow West group in 2018. I have participated in various bipolar-related studies and I’m on the advisory panel for ‘A Ketogenic Metabolic Therapy for Bipolar Disorder’.
Helen McGinty
Treasurer
Helen McGinty is a Principal in private practice, at Helen McGinty & Company. She provides advice and representation primarily in the fields of Mental Health and Incapacity law, to clients with mental health issues and their carers. She is also a legal member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland. Helen is the Treasurer of Bipolar Scotland, and a Director of the charity.
Anne Fearfull
Trustee
Anne is a former academic who holds a PhD in Organisational Sociology (UMIST). Since experiencing her own mental health challenges, resulting in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder over a decade ago, those academic interests been extended to include speaking truth to power around ignorance of the impact on people of mental health conditions, and/or discrimination towards them.
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