Our people, our history - Our Ambassadors

Alastair Campbell	Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Alastair is an ambassador for Rethink Mental Illness, Time to Change, Alcohol Concern, and a patron of Maytree - the country’s only charity for the suicidal - and of Kidstime, which supports the children of mentally ill parents. He has written and presented on the subject of mental health, winning considerable praise from mental health charities and campaign groups and being named Mind Champion of the Year award in May 2009.
Russell Kane	Multi-award winning comedian, presenter, actor, author and scriptwriter Russell Kane is best known as the host of three series of BBC3‘s Live At The Electric, regular appearances on BBC1’s Live At Apollo, BBC3’s Unzipped, ITV2’s Celebrity Juice and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here...Now! Russell was nominated four times for prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards before winning Best Show in 2010. His award-winning show Smokescreens & Castles was recorded in front of his home crowd in Westcliff-on-Sea’s at the Palace Theatre and released by Universal Pictures in 2011. Famed for his critically acclaimed tours Russell has been performing sell-out shows across the globe.
Juliette Burton	As a comedian, Juliette has had total sold out runs at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2015, 2016 and 2017. She tours UK, Australia and internationally to sold out crowds. She’s presented and appeared on The One Show (BBC One), This Morning (ITV), BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals (BBC iPlayer), and more. As a writer, Juliette has contributed to Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post and the BBC News. She has a long history of mental health conditions and has been diagnosed with anorexia, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, bulimia, compulsive overeating disorder, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. She was sectioned under the Mental Health Act aged 17. She continues on an ongoing journey of recovery, is still in therapy and manages her mental health one day at a time.
Byron Vincent	Byron Vincent is a British writer, performer and broadcaster known predominantly for his theatre and spoken word performances and his work on BBC Radio 4. Byron has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and is a campaigner for issues around mental health. He recently wrote and narrated his own show ‘Hell Is Other People’ a self help guide to social anxiety for Radio Four. His debut solo show Talk About Something You Like received much critical acclaim for it’s poignant and personal exploration of the mental health system. He is a popular keynote speaker and regularly gives talks on social issues to charities, police forces, government bodies and the private sector.
Jonny Benjamin	Jonny Benjamin is an award-winning mental health campaigner, film producer, public speaker, writer and vlogger. At the age of 20 he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar, and later began making films on YouTube about the condition that have been watched by hundreds of thousands of people. His 2014 social media campaign with Rethink Mental Illness to #FindMike, the man who talked him out of jumping off a bridge when he was suicidal, when viral and led to Jonny becoming a prominent spokesperson on the subject of suicide. He has also produced and presented documentaries on BBC Three and Channel 4 on the subjects of mental health and suicide.
Neil Laybourn	Neil Laybourn has been a fitness coach and personal trainer since 2007, passionately working to improve the lives and well being of his clients largely based within London. Neil was part of the globally reaching digital campaign #findmike in 2014, coming forward as the passerby who intervened during a suicide attempt by Jonny Benjamin, six years previously during 2008. After the two men were reunited for the first time in six years by the power of social media, and deeply affected by his experience, Neil has gone on to join the charity Rethink Mental Illness as an ambassador, helping to raise awareness around suicide and de-stigmatisation of the perception of mental health through media coverage, corporate speaking events and collaborative ventures highlighting the link between physical health and improved mental health.
Rachel Kelly	Rachel Kelly was a journalist for many years, having been runner-up in the Vogue 1987 Talent Competition. She then spent ten years on The Times, where she was a reporter, feature writer and columnist, writing the paper’s ‘Alternatively Speaking’ health column. Rachel’s interest in health and therapy led her to complete the first year of training as a counsellor. A long-standing interest in poetry led her to becoming the co-founder of the iF Poems poetry app, and co-editor of IF: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility. Rachel is the author of Black Rainbow: How words healed me – my journey through depression. In the same year she was made an official ambassador for SANE and vice president for the charity United Response. She is also the author of Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness.
Dan & Nick Woodgate	Dan Woodgate, otherwise known as ‘Woody’, is from the world famous British band Madness. He and his brother, Nick, who has schizophrenia, are now in a band together called The Magic Brothers, and combine this with their other musical commitments. The two brothers have spoken out about Nick’s schizophrenia, and the impact on their relationship, as part of Rethink Mental Illness’ siblings network and our wider campaigning work. Both have generously donated to Rethink Mental Illness.
Stephanie Cole	Stephanie Cole trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has many theatre, television, film and radio performances to her name, including ‘The Fool’ in King Lear at Bristol Old Vic, Still Open All Hours, Coronation Street (for which she won the British Soap Award for Best ComedyPerformance), The Lady Vanishes, Midsomer Murders, Doc Martin, Born & Bred and Waiting for God (for which she won the British Comedy Award for Best Actress). Stephanie was awarded the OBE for Services to Drama, Mental Health and the Elderly in 2005.