Our team and values
Lisa Weaks
Director
Healthy Communities Partnership
Before becoming a full-time consultant, Lisa was Assistant Director and Head of Third Sector at leading health think tank, The King’s Fund. She was involved in developing and leading a range of funding programmes, research projects and strategic partnerships to support community health and wellbeing. Lisa is currently a King’s Fund Senior Associate, where she leads the GSK IMPACT Awards, a flagship corporate partnership grant and leadership programme for health and wellbeing charities, involving teams of assessors, trainers, communications specialists, and a network of over 160 community leaders. Creating better health and wellbeing for all people and communities drives Lisa’s work. Through her experience of grant making and strategic health programmes, she set up the Healthy Communities Together programme, a multi-million-pound strategic partnership between The King’s Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund, providing funding and support to maximise collaboration and partnership working across sectors to address health inequalities. Through her consultancy she scoped, set up and now leads the Philip and Connie Phillips Foundation, a grant making charity supporting community wellbeing in Kent. As an active volunteer, Lisa Chairs a small grant making charity, was Trustee / Vice Chair of the Mrs Smith and Mount Fund for almost ten years (where she instigated a new health fund) and has been a regular Foodbank volunteer in Southeast London since 2019.
John Poyton OBE
Senior Associate
John is a system leader with a strong track record of collaboration across organisations and sectors to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities. After 20 years as Founder/ CEO, he recently stepped down from award winning charity Redthread. Its mission is to support young people to live healthy, safe and happy lives by integrating trauma-informed youth work into the health sector. A social entrepreneur at heart, John pioneered teachable moment interventions across primary and secondary care, driving the development of trauma informed models to tackle violence affecting young people and their mental health, leading complex teams working across acute trusts. John founded the UK’s first Hospital based Violence Intervention Programme in 2006, and went on to scale the innovation across three cities and 13 hospital partnerships. John also co-founded The Well Centre in 2011, a nationally recognised example of Primary Care best practice, removing barriers and improving access for young people, to improve their physical and mental health. As a Thought Leader John has supported and advised NHS trusts, Anchor Institutions and government departments on how to embed and scale up work. In the Queen’s 2019 New Years’ Honours John was awarded an OBE for services to victims of violence. John is now working as a full-time consultant to pursue his passions for innovation, policy and thought leadership, to support systemic change to create healthier, safer and happier communities for all.
Rosie Hurwitz
Programme Co-ordinator
Rosie oversees the grants administration for the Philip and Connie Phillips Foundation. She is the first point of contact for all grant seekers, manages the website and database, plus shares the impact of the Foundation's work through a range of social media channels. Rosie's background is in customer service and digital content creation, with her degree in English Literature.
We also collaborate with other Partners / Associates with a diverse range of experience across the voluntary sector and health system
Why we do this work
We are passionate about addressing health inequalities and supporting community health and wellbeing.
Health and wellbeing charities are a vital part of the health and care system, and work with some of the most disadvantaged and marginalised communities. As the cost-of-living crises deepens, the need for targeted funding and support packages for this sector has never been more acute.
At the same time, the health system in England is grappling with funding and workforce issues, whilst starting to implement a new set of health reforms. These include a focus on addressing deep-rooted health inequalities and supporting people to keep well. Making the reforms work will require organisations and sectors to work differently, and together, to create lasting change.
This can make it is a challenging time for many leaders who are passionate about supporting people’s health and wellbeing. You may be a funder, a commissioner, a provider of services or a business, and we can offer a range of services to support you.
How we work
As a leader, balancing your motivation to do excellent work, with the assets at your disposal and the constraints within which you work, are a key part of any task. Part of our job is to make sure we fully understand your context and pressures, what you want to achieve and what could get in the way of success.
We bring our experience and track record of developing and delivering successful work; but we are also there to offer support and advice, to work alongside you, to ask questions and to co-create ideas and solutions.
What we bring
A detailed understanding of grant making, health and care policy, and how it relates to communities.
A strong value base to combat marginalisation and inequality and create better health and care for all people and communities.
Senior leaders with experience of working in complex environments involving multiple stakeholders, in areas of high impact/pressure.
An understanding of how to develop national communications plans
and messages to maximise influence and reach.
Innovators and thinkers, who can develop ideas and solutions, and deliver or help scale up work.
Strong networks and reach into different parts of the health system.
Expertise, energy, rigour, and
very strong track records
of success.