Core Team
John Salter
Founder
He got suicidally depressed while studying neuroscience at UCL. Rather than do something sensible like talk to a therapist, he read a bunch of science papers and used their findings to treat himself. Did it spark his passion for mental health? Perhaps so. Is this an effective way to treat yourself? Definitely not.
​
John has led Overcome from just an idea, to where it is today. He's responsible for our big-picture strategy, and forming partnerships with other orgs.
Helen Hayward
Head of Operations
Helen is a management wizard; she single-handedly managed 65 volunteers to conduct 10 systematic reviews over just 4 months. She graduated top of her class in Psychology from Loughborough University. Her dissertation was so good it was considered publishable without even needing edits. Her superivisor offered her a PhD Studentship on the spot. She turned down this and several job offers from other prestigious organisations to work at Overcome (a decision she regrets to this day).
​
She's responsible for designing and maintaining the systems that keep Overcome, and its studies, running smoothly.
Vincent Shaw
Chief of Operations
Overcome’s “resident Boomer”, Vince’s interest in mental health developed through years of supporting family, friends and colleagues struggling with stress and mental illness. He’s managed people at BMW, Rolls Royce, Eon. He’s probably quite good at it as he was named a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Management.Vince's main role is in helping us develop our skills and make tough decisions under challenging circumstances.
Julieta Donadini
Queen of HR
A recent addition to our team, Julieta's been a key component in the HR department since she's started. She's a Psychology student at the University of Exeter who has decided to take on a placement year with us, possibly her biggest challenge to date.
Being Argentinian, she deeply resonates with our goal to provide free mental health treatment to and low and middle-income countries - or so she said in her interview. In any case, her work thus far has been top-notch.
She's responsible for carrying out any sort of admin tasks the rest of the core team need doing, for handling or helping out with recruitment, and just looking out for other Overcome volunteers.
Angel Au
Co-Founder
Angel is a bit of a freak. She somehow juggles a full-time job as a Crisis Support Worker, a full-time MSci Psychology student at UCL, while doing 10x more at Overcome than our average volunteer.
How does she do it? Nobody knows.
She's also the chair of the British Psychological Society's Student Committee, the founder of three different student-led organisations, and president of both UCL's Psychology Society and Mental Health Society.
​
She's depicted to the left accepting the Bright Network's Wellbeing Award for Student of The Year.
Blasts from The Past
Dominic Oliver-Ray
Dominic co-founded Overcome. Among many many other things, he created partnerships between Overcome and huge organisations like the WHO and UN.
Salman Maqbool
Salman was instrumental in our big-picture strategic planning. He worked on the prototype counselling model that evolved into what we do today.