Trustees and Patron
Since 2010 Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins has been our patron at Respond. In the same year she was appointed an Independent member of the House of Lords where she speaks on mental health and disability issues. She is also Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability at St George’s University of London and Honorary Professor of Spirituality, Theology and Health, University of Durham.
She currently chairs the BMA Board of Science and is Executive Chair of Beyond Words which publishes picture books with an international reach to help people with communication disabilities explore and share life events, relationships and wellbeing.
She was appointed a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in 2014, and Chairs the Scientific Advisory Group of the Centre for Child Protection, Gregorian University, Rome.
Previously she was President of both the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Medical Association.
She has four children, two of whom are disabled, and four grandchildren and lives in Surrey.