Dr Sarah Hughes

Dr Sarah Hughes is the CEO of Mind.

Sarah has worked in mental health and criminal justice for 30 years, and was formerly Chief Executive of the Centre for Mental Health, an independent UK mental health charity which is dedicated to eradicating mental health inequalities and fighting injustice by changing policy and practice. Having initially trained as a social worker, Sarah has managed a range of innovative community and secure services. She also led the research and evaluation of the pioneering First Night in Custody project in Holloway Prison which saw the roll out of these principles across the prison estate supported by the Cabinet Office.

In recent years, Sarah has led CPSL Mind, an organisation known internationally for values led practice and high impact campaigns including Stop Suicide and StressLess. After completing her master's degree in understanding organisations, Sarah is undertaking a professional doctorate with the Tavistock and Portman Centre, studying women, resilience and leadership.

She writes a blog and has written many guest pieces for various platforms. Sarah also hosts a regular vlog about mental health and wellbeing. Sarah undertakes a number of speaking commitments around the world and is part of the global mental health network.

Sarah also holds a number of trustee and board roles for organisations such as Agenda Alliance, Association of Mental Health Providers, the Football Association and City Mental Health Alliance. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Salzburg Global, Zinc Academy and the Mental Health Collective. In 2019 Sarah also joined the prestigious Sciana Health Leaders Network.

Sarah is passionate about mental health and believes it is possible to achieve equality by drawing on the extraordinary evidence we already have about what works and paying careful attention to people’s lived experience. 

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