Phil is a qualified Mental Health Social Worker and prior to working in Higher Education he worked in Forensic Social Work. He first worked in HE nearly twenty years ago as a Mental Health Coordinator, which was one of the first specialist roles of its kind. For the last six years he has worked as head of Student Welfare at De Montfort University, where he designed and acted as programme director for the Disability Enhancement Programme which was described by the DfE as inspirational. He has designed the #Healthy DMU programme to establish a university wide approach to wellbeing and is optimistic it will have a similar impact.
He co-founded the UMHAN (University Mental Health Advisers Network) charity and has spoken extensively on mental health and disability related topics at numerous conferences. At the request of the DfE he wrote national guidance for DSA needs assessors in relation to mental health, and also wrote a substantial part of the DfE guidance in relation to disability, as well as contributing to the AMOSSHE guide on Safeguarding. His passions are access and inclusion, his daughters and his dog
