GMI Partnership | Who we are

As well as being a member of the GMI Partnership Steering Group, Greg is also Director of Outreach and Community Development at the Metro Centre. Greg has been in this role since 2005, having relocated from Sydney, where for many years he led a HIV prevention service in Sydney. Greg has worked in HIV prevention and sexual health promotion for over 20 years. Also a practicing historian, Greg has a keen interest in the history of responses to sexually transmitted infections in both Australia and the United Kingdom.

Sona joined the GMI Partnership in September 2008 and is African born, Portuguese raised.

She qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in Portugal, mainly focused in Psychodynamic and Person Centred Models. In she Portugal worked primarily with terminally ill children and their families as well as with drug and alcohol addiction within the community. She came to London in 1998 and completed an MSc in Counselling Psychology as well as a qualification in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. In 2000 Sona set up a Portuguese/Spanish speaking counselling service that provided counselling for different GPs and health centres and alongside this was also providing therapy to refugees and asylum seekers across Lambeth. Prior to joining GMI Sona worked within the private sector as a Senior Psychologist in a medium secure adolescent unit. Although Sona misses Portugal terribly, London has become a comfortable home and GMI a family.

Esther joined the GMI Partnership in February 2009 a Counselling Team Leader.
She qualified as a secondary school teacher and worked in that field for some time going on to train as a Registered Mental Health Nurse during which time she qualified in Cognative Behavioural Therapy (CBT).She then moved on to be the first Black woman to train at the Nightingale School of Nursing , where she qualified as a Registered General Nurse and a Registered Midwife. From there she set up the Community Mental Health Nursing Services in South East London where she was responsible for supporting long term mental health patients from Bexley Hospital into community living and work.
After this, Esther moved on to be Senior Principal Sister at the Home Office, with responsibilities for re-organising health needs and services for all female and youth prisons in England and Wales. After 10 years in this role she moved on to the post of Specialist Nurse counsellor for 3 London Boroughs, setting up support services for pregnant women who where HIV Positive and had substance misuse problems. Prior to coming the GMI Partnership Esther worked as a counsellor with Gambling Addiction.

She is qualified as a Clinical Supervisor and has experience in Integrative Behavioural Models, Person Centred Models and Psychdynamic Models of counselling.

Robert joined the GMI Partnership in January 2009 as the Mentoring Supervisor and leads on this workstream. He graduate of the University of Gdansk (Scandinavian Studies) which was completed in Poland and Sweden and postgraduate studies at the Technical University of Gdansk. On moving to London he has gained experience of working for such LGBT organisations as PACE and then the London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard (LLGS) as their Volunteer Co-coordinator. He is also in the process of becoming a Trustee in a mental health charity in London.
Robert has lived in a number of countries and his passion is learning languages and exploring different cultures and during his free time he is a keen cook.

Prior to joining the GMI Partnership as the Health Trainer Supervisor, Michael lived in Vancouver, Canada, where he worked an HIV Educator for several years. Michael’s work as an Educator focused on the development and delivery of specialised curriculum on HIV/AIDS, sexual health and related issues. He facilitated workshops with a range of audiences, including those recovering from addiction, gay men and MSM, other service providers, and university and college students. Michael’s main areas of work included drug use and harm reduction and gay men’s sexual health. In addition to these, his current interests include international HIV policy and broader health promotion issues.

Michael previously lived in London where he completed his MSc in Health Promotion at King’s College London. He is excited to return to the UK, and looks forward to his work with the GMI Partnership.

Stephen joined the GMI partnership in June 2008 and has worked in health promotion since 2000. He was previously employed by the Healthy Gay Living Centre working within the LADS outreach team and later moved to THT as a Health Promotion Officer. He has vast experience of working with MSM in various settings including developing and delivery a service for MSM in Wandsworth and Brixton prisons.
In addition to his work at GMI, Stephen facilitates workshops around Sex, Drugs and HIV and has volunteered for the Westminster Drug project.