Our Team
Staff
Alaina Heath (she/her) joined NSUN in 2022. She is Synergi’s Project Officer for the Remembrance As Resistance workstream, which archives and celebrates organising and activism at the intersection of racial justice and mental health.
Alaina is based in Sheffield. She has a background in grant writing for community organisations celebrating BPOC and migrant cultures creatively through arts and education, and a Race and Resistance history master’s degree from the University of Leeds. Alaina is passionate about resisting the erasure of our histories due to her belief that we can connect and resonate with social justice movements of the past as we continue to build on them in the present.
Alaina works on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and can be contacted at alaina.heath@nsun.org.uk
Debbie Solomon (she/her) joined as Synergi’s Director in late 2023.
She has worked in the non-governmental sector for over 20 years initially in mental health settings before moving to the international development sector. For the last 10 years she has worked for ARTICLE 19 (A19), an International Freedom of Expression organisation. Whilst there, she played a key role in management of large grants and programmes, reporting and compliance of projects and programmes (both A19 teams but also local partners) on freedom of expression, including those that advocated for women and/or LGBTQ+ rights.
Prior to joining Synergi, she was the Deputy Executive Director at Media Diversity Institute (MDI), which works with the media to encourage accurate and nuanced reporting on race, religion, ethnic, class, disability, gender and sexual identity issues in media landscapes around the world.
Debbie currently volunteers with Black Cultural Archives, Black Pride and the Victoria and Albert Museum. She is a trustee at METRO which proves health, community and youth services across London and South East
Her other interests include running, hiking, yoga. Pilates, eating out and baking!
Debbie works Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. She can be contacted at debbie.solomon@nsun.org.uk
Jessica Pons (she/they) joined as Synergi’s Programme Manager at the end of 2022.
They have worked in mental health settings for over a decade, both within mainstream and radical spaces. They have worked in crisis houses, enabling alternatives to hospital admission; and have developed Hearing Voices peer support groups in community settings, prisons, immigration removal centres and hospitals.
Now based in Manchester, she is an integrative psychotherapist practicing within a socio-political framework. She enjoys working with groups and writing training workshops all with the underlying values of community development, anti-oppressive intersectional practice, and a pluralistic framing of distress. They are a trustee at the UK network of the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS UK).
Jessica works on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and can be contacted at jessica.pons@nsun.org.uk
Sophia Cann (she/her) joined as Synergi’s Social media and Communications Officer in early 2024.
She has worked in the Creative and Cultural Industries since graduating from SOAS University in 2019 with a Bachelor of World Philosophies. Sophia is passionate about championing the voices of Black and Global Majority folks especially young emerging talent by supporting them to access opportunities into the arts sector through mentorship and application support.
Sophia is conscious of using her own lived experience growing up away from her Latin American community to inform her compassion and understanding for other people who may feel alone and isolated from aspects of their identity. This has also informed her approach as the founder and host of her own show Somos The Podcast that platforms and archives the intergenerational creative voices from the UK Latin American diaspora.
Additionally, Sophia enjoys Pilates, painting and cooking new recipes!
Sophia works Monday to Thursday and can be contacted at sophia.cann@nsun.org.uk
Azania (she/her) joined Synergi as the Grant Officer in May 2024. Her role in the team is to support the delivery of the grants programme and solidarity fund.
Based in Manchester, Azania’s background is in grant fundraising and project development. She works with grassroots and user-led groups on mental health, racial justice, arts and culture projects.
Azania holds a BA in marketing and recently gained a counselling qualification. She is passionate about lived experience initiatives and spent years volunteering as a peer support worker. Her lived experience informs her compassionate and community-focused approach, and she is dedicated to uplifting and supporting those working towards radical systemic change.
Outside of work, you’ll probably find Azania at a gig, a play, or down an obscure internet rabbit hole.
Azania works Monday to Thursday and can be contacted at azania.mcfarlane@nsun.org.uk