Lourdes has a background in Counselling and Psychotherapy and is Head of Suicide Prevention at Rethink Mental Illness where she led a pioneering Suicide Prevention Programme in partnership with the North West London ICB, recently winning the HSJ Best Mental Health Partnership with the NHS Awards 2024.  Lourdes previously worked for Macmillan Cancer Support addressing health inequalities evidenced in the Mind the Gap report, leading programmes like the campaigning Raise Your Voice toolkit and evaluation through ethnography included in the GP guidelines for good practice. Whilst at St Joseph’s Hospice she set up the first volunteer led project for people with dementia and provided Namaste Care masterclasses to other health care professionals.    Lourdes also set up and managed the award-winning Islington Bereavement Service winning the National Council of Palliative Care’s Bereavement Project of the Year (2017). Lourdes is passionate about co-creating with communities, shifting power,  tackling health inequalities, eating samosas and yoga.