Who We Are

Lucy Katherine Coote Trustee | Community Ambassador, Trainer, and Bereavement Support Facilitator

Lucy Coote works for Rosedale Funeral Home as a Community Ambassador, Trainer, and Bereavement Support Facilitator with over fifteen years of experience in the funeral industry. She specialises in supporting the bereaved as well as offering specialised support for those bereaved by suicide, facilitating support groups that has helped hundreds of families navigate loss.

A Mental Health First Aid Trainer for MHFA England, Lucy is passionate about breaking the stigma around mental health and empowering communities with the skills to support those in need. As well as serving as a trustee for Hope After Suicide Loss and Waveney Enterprise she is actively involved in the Norfolk SPIG and Norfolk and Waveney Suicide Awareness Partnership.

ASIST trained and a member of Compassionate Communities, Lucy developed a specialised training programme for professionals supporting suicide-bereaved families. Her work ensures timely, effective support that saves lives by connecting the bereaved with the right resources. In 2019, Lucy became an ambassador for At a Loss, a national signposting charity, further championing access to bereavement support across the UK.

Revd Canon Chris Copsey | Trustee

Chris has been a primary school teacher, Parish Councillor and Chairman of Governors for a large infant and nursery school and is Mum to three adult children with 7 grandchildren between them.

Before ordination as an Anglican Self Supporting Minister in 2007, she was a licensed lay minister for 9 years across 7 rural parishes.

She has been at the Minster Church in Kings Lynn since 2008 whilst working as Chaplain to Norfolk County Council from 2007-2014, before moving to a chaplaincy with the Matthew Project for 3 years.

In 2011 Chris was licensed by the Bishop of Norwich as Chaplain to the Norfolk Coroner, a unique chaplaincy in the UK. She provides pastoral care to those attending inquests, particularly families.

Chris is Chair of the Norfolk and Waveney Suicide bereavement Support Parnership and is coordinator for the Norfolk Justice Forum.

She arranges an annual service of remembrance for those bereaved by suicide at Norwich Cathedral and Kings Lynn Minster.

She was installed as an Honorary Canon of Norwich Cathedral in November 2017.

Chris with husband Graham is a passionate follower of rugby and they are season ticket holders with Leicester Tigers.

Dan Pennock | Trustee

Dan has an adult son who lives in Cornwall and an adult daughter who lives in Bristol. Babysitting duties for his four grandchildren are therefore necessarily minimal due to geography!

Dan spent most of his working life in the commercial sector with a stint as a NHS Complaints Advocate and a spell with the Health and Social care watchdog for Suffolk after the financial crisis of 2008. As retirement loomed he commenced volunteering in the health and social care sector. First was as a Samaritan for seven years followed by supporting the creation and early years of Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide in Suffolk. Dan was a Trustee for Suffolk User Forum for a number of years.

Currently Dan is an elected public Governor for Suffolk within the mental health Trust (NSFT), co-chair of the Swan Surgery Patient Participation Group and sits as a member of the Suffolk County Council Suicide Risk Reduction group. He is also trained in the Mental Health Act and chairs hearings of lay persons who sit to determine whether people should continue to be Sectioned under the Act. Dan is also appointed as a Patient and Public Voice representative working on an ad hoc basis within specialist mental health commissioning for NHS England.

When not engaged in all of the above Dan devotes too much time to Toby the cocker spaniel and not enough time to his allotment. A modest enthusiasm for real ale completes the picture.

Ken Donaldson | Trustee

Ken Donaldson comes from a Scottish heritage, moving to England in mid-childhood.

His life story includes business training followed by twenty years in senior management positions across four sectors of industry. This included three years working in Nairobi, Kenya; running two charities (Crossroads Counselling in Tower Hamlets and Talitha Koum in Witnesham, Ipswich); many years with Spoils Kitchen Reject Shops; house building and printing. Ken was also a house husband to two daughters for several years and has had extensive church leadership experience.

The last 25 years have seen him move into the therapeutic and coaching world and Ken is a long-standing registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, a qualified couples practitioner, Life Purpose coach and a qualified clinical supervisor of psychotherapists. He holds an enhanced DBS certificate and has several thousand hours of experience behind him as well as being the co-director of a counselling training company. He works as a consultant with other charitable enterprises and CICs locally and globally.

Ken has two daughters, two step-sons and is married to Susie. Interests include current affairs, walking his Goldendoodle dog, golf, birdwatching, travel and spending time with his grandchildren.

Gary Page | Trustee

Gary was born in London, grew up in Barking and Dagenham and studied History at Cambridge University. After University he worked for 22 years in Banking, predominantly at ABN AMRO Bank, before leaving the City in 2008.  In 2009 Gary moved to Suffolk 

Since leaving the City Gary has held a number of Non-Executive Director and Trustee positions in the charitable, public and private sector. He chaired the Board of Trustees for the Ian Mikardo Charitable Trust which supported a School providing secondary education for boys with Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Tower Hamlets and spent 6 years as Chair of the Board for the Hoffmann Foundation for Autism which provides services for adults with autism. 

Between 2012 and 2018 he was a Board member of the Mental Health Trust in Norfolk and Suffolk (NSFT) firstly as a Non-Executive Director and for the last 5 years as Chair. Gary was a Member of the Supervisory Board of one of Europe’s largest sustainable banks, Triodos Bank N.V. for two years and in March 2019 he stepped down to take up the position of Chair of the Banks newly formed UK subsidiary, Triodos Bank UK Limited. He is also a Non Executive Director at the Student Loans Company, Scottish National Investment bank and sits on Employment Tribunals in East Anglia. 

Gary has two children from a previous marriage and his interests include current affairs, gardening, travel and cooking.

Hazel McTigue | Support Worker

I was born in Suffolk but my family background is in Norfolk and farming. Currently, I am living in Suffolk with my Partner and two dogs. As a mother of three grown up children, nanny to four grandchildren life can be quite hectic.

I live near the coast and enjoy the outdoor life particularly water sports and sea swimming, A volunteer for the Felixstowe coastal patrol, regular walks with my dogs in the countryside, and camping at every opportunity keeps me busy.

Before my role as a Support Worker, I was a fully qualified hairdresser and enjoyed being creative and meeting new people of all ages.

After tragically losing my brother to suicide I joined the charity HOPE to support other survivors with compassion and empathy. Since joining HOPE I have completed the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST). 

I have qualified at Level 3 certificate in counselling studies with the Counselling & Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB) who are British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BCAP) approved and regulated.

Vicki Chapman | Trustee

Vicki is a true East Anglian, having been born in Ipswich and lived in Suffolk all her life. A farmer’s daughter, Vicki left her agricultural roots behind to work in the insurance industry for Willis Towers Watson (both in Ipswich and London), where she has remained for almost 40 years. In her day-to-day role, Vicki deals with charity and corporate social responsibility – an area that her company is focusing on more and more. In addition to her day job, Vicki is a Council Member for the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ipswich, Suffolk and North Essex – which keeps her very busy!

Her farming roots have instilled a love and awareness of the countryside and Vicki is at her happiest walking her dog around the many footpaths in her village and watching the seasons change.

She enjoys road running and has completed the Great North Run 9 times and completed her 10th half marathon in 2019 when she took on the Great East Run. Classic cars are another passion and her ambition is to buy herself a Morgan when she retires and to re-visit her love for art, drawing and painting; which she has largely abandoned since she left school.

Vicki’s husband of 32 years, tragically took his own life in February 2014, so she is a suicide survivor herself; and has experienced first-hand the trauma and shock of suicide bereavement and the impact it has on those that are left behind. In becoming a Trustee of Hope After Suicide Loss, Vicki hopes that she can go some way to help other suicide survivors on their challenging journey.

Paul Rowlands | Trustee

Paul Rowlands works for the mental health charity Norfolk and Waveney Mind, managing the REST Aylsham support hub and the Telephone Support Line Services. He joined Norfolk and Waveney Mind in 2021 in the Suicide Bereavement Service as a Support Worker, supporting survivors during 1:1 sessions and facilitating suicide bereavement support groups. After a few months in post, Paul was promoted to Manager of the Suicide Bereavement Service which enabled him to expand the service offering and increase awareness of the service through a variety of channels including the Norfolk and Waveney Suicide Awareness Partnership.

Outside of work, Paul has been a Samaritan Listening Volunteer for over 10 years, supporting callers through telephone, online chat and face to face visits. In addition to his role as a Listening Volunteer, Paul is also an active member of the Norwich Samaritan Training team and mentors new volunteers to the service. Alongside Samaritans, Paul has also been a Therapeutic Volunteer for the children’s bereavement charity Nelson’s Journey for several years.