Published: 18/07/2001, Volume II2, No.5814 Page 30
The ever-changing work environment and the chance to develop other people working in the mental-health sector appeal to Martin Brown. He talks to Ann Dix
Name: Martin Brown
Job: Chief executive of the Northern centre for mental health, on secondment from the Department of Health.
Salary: Not less than£80,000 Describe your job: I run the Northern centre for mental health and liaise with mental health stakeholders (trusts, primary care trusts, strategic health authorities, local authorities etc) in the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside. We employ 23 people, with a turnover of£1.3m.
There is the chief executive stuff - budgets, people, buildings - but I also enjoy being part of a team that responds to requests for help. I get involved in project work, meeting staff, users and carers, and things like a major national exhibition of art by mental health service users.
One of the best parts is developing people. So many working in mental health lack confidence, and a big part of what we do is to say: 'You're doing great, keep up the good work.' I also travel - We have worked in Leicester and reviewed mental health services for the Ministry of Defence.
What do you like most about your job?
It is something different every day - new people to meet and work with, new problems to resolve.
What was your career path?
Unconventional. I started as a laundry assistant in a large mental hospital. Then I trained as a mental health nurse, before working in a day hospital and as a community psychiatric nurse.
After that, I trained as a behavioural nurse therapist at the Maudsley Hospital, then a nurse teacher, and returned to the Maudsley to teach.
I moved to the Royal College of Nursing as assistant adviser in psychiatric nursing, before becoming director of nursing at Tooting Bec Hospital. It was the hardest job I've done, as I had no experience of being a nurse manager and it was a desperate hospital needing radical change. I think I made more mistakes than is permissible.
But I got through, with help from a lot of people.
I learned you can't do it all by yourself.
I did a spell as general manger at St Clements Hospital, in Whitechapel, then returned to Lambeth to run their elderly services, probably the job I enjoyed the least. I joined Riverside as chief nurse in the mental health unit, but spent a time working with Louis Blom-Cooper on the Ashworth inquiry, and didn't make the impact I should have. When a chance came to join the DoH as a nurse I jumped at it. Four years later in 1996, the opportunity came to lead a new mental health section in the NHS Executive. I passed a promotion board, and became branch head, responsible for mental health policy in England before moving to the NCMH in 1999.
What was it like moving from nursing to the civil service?
A culture shock. I spent the first three weeks thinking I had made a big mistake, but then you get involved, you start to contribute and things snowball. People will tell you I am not short of opinions, and I just can't keep my mouth shut. I grew into the civil service, and came to love the job and the people. I come from a family of public servants - my father, mother, two uncles and one cousin were all civil servants and a great grandfather was in the ministry of health.
What are the biggest challenges facing you over the coming year?
Keeping NCMH at the forefront of development centre activity, increasing our influence and making sure everything we do is as good as, if not better, than the last thing.
What's been the high point of your career Working to deliver a mental health strategy and the national service framework. I was in post as DoH mental health lead before the change of government in 1997, and adapting to new styles of working while delivering a huge agenda was fantastic, if a little scary. But somehow we did it.
And the low point?
At Tooting Bec during the nurse regrading exercise, the night staff went on strike. I felt a failure - it could have been prevented if I would been more astute. I would taken a fixed position too early, and hadn't allowed myself an escape route to concede to gracefully. I had to settle in the end, and it soured relationships for a long time.
How do you relax?
I cook, travel (particularly to old battlefields; they're so atmospheric), follow Fulham FC, watch cricket and dream of a life in the sun by the sea.
Where do you see your career going?
Who knows what fate has in store?
What's your best piece of career advice?
First, learn to follow before you aspire to lead.
Second, every career has the doldrums; just because you can't do, or do not like, the job you're in now, doesn't mean you can't do another. Third, believe in yourself.
Just the job
Title: Mental health managers
Who are they? Fairly equally split between those with a service background (eg nursing, social services, occupational therapy, psychology) and those from management.
Salary: Anything from around 30-40k for a locality manager to as much as 100k for a chief executive.
Distinguishing features: A small, some say tribal, community of self-selecting, self-motivated people with a strong sense of vocation.
Prospects: A fast-moving career with decent salaries for those happy to stay in mental health. Not the right move for those aspiring to become chief executive of an acute trust.
No comments yet