Staff
Joanne Vance
Director
Joanne joined CDHN in March 21 as Director of the organisation. She has a wide range of experience in various management and leadership roles in the voluntary and community sector in both Northern Ireland and Ireland. She holds a MSc in Economic Policy Studies and has a particular interest in Health service reorientation towards primary and integrated care. She brings over 20 years of experience of translating research and policy frameworks into practice, using participatory approaches to promote equality, diversity and social inclusion to CDHN.
Joanne's previous role was Community Programmes Manager with the Irish Cancer Society. In this position, she led multi-disciplinary collaborations to co-design, plan and deliver evidence-informed health promotion and prevention interventions with a range of vulnerable and socially excluded communities and groups. Joanne demonstrated the collective impact of building healthy communities using community development approaches and social determinants of health frameworks to address health inequalities, improve access and promote health.
Kathy Martin
Strategic Impact Manager
Kathy has worked for CDHN since 2003 in a variety of roles and is currently Strategic Impact Manager. She manages the Building the Community-Pharmacy Partnership (BCPP) Programme at an operation level and ensures that the impact of the programme is shared strategically. Kathy held the post of Training Manager with CDHN for six years and enjoyed developing community development and health inequalities training programmes which she delivered to members across Northern Ireland. Kathy began her career in CDHN as Network Development Officer and still loves to engage with members, hear their stories and support them in their work. A busy mum of four, Kathy practices Taekwondo to keep in shape and was delighted to be promoted to Black Belt in October 2018. The fact that their mum holds a Black Belt seems to keep her children in order!
Eleanor McKenna
Training & Development Officer (Elevate Programme)
Eleanor McKenna joined the team in September 2023 as Training and Development Officer working on the Elevate programme across Northern Ireland. She has a great deal of experience in planning and delivering training having previously worked for PIPS Hope and Support delivering mental health awareness and suicide prevention programmes. Before that, she worked in the Private Sector delivering online safety and wellbeing programmes to a variety of audiences. Having worked in the Voluntary and Community Sector for the past few years and building up a strong network across the Southern Trust area, she is a firm believer that local people working at community level can achieve great things. Eleanor spends a lot of time on the sidelines of various fields supporting three very sporty daughters, and has recently joined her local Social Camogie team.
Mary O'Hagan
Monitoring Officer
Mary O’Hagan has worked for CDHN for 20 years in various enjoyable roles. Mary’s current and long lived role is support worker to the Building the Community Pharmacy Partnership Programme (BCPP). She has gained great experience in her time with CDHN and enjoys her role in supporting community organisations. Mary enjoys hill walking in the Mournes near her home and the company of her grandchildren in her free time.
Helen McNamee
Research & Policy Manager
Helen is Research and Policy Manager in Community Development and Health Network (CDHN). She is the lead author of CDHN's newly launched research ‘Our Lives, Our Meds, Our Health’ Exploring Medication Safety Through a Social Lens (2023). Helen has worked in the community and voluntary sector for over 20 years and has a keen interest in community-led approaches to health, participatory research, measuring impact, and health literacy. She has developed and delivered health literacy training and sits on the Regional Health Literacy Forum for Northern Ireland.
Mary McDonald
Finance and Administration Officer/Evaluation Assistant
Mary joined CDHN in 2018 and having previously worked in the legal sector as Legal Secretary with responsibility for the overall administrative function of the practice.
Mary has five children and 11 grandchildren and, along with her job, the family keep her very busy! In her free time, Mary enjoys walking and travelling to far flung destinations - she is a bit of a dare devil and did a sky dive for her 60th birthday, raising vital funds for PIPs.
Laura Harper
Evaluation & Support Lead
Laura has worked as Evaluation Support (BCPP) for CDHN since 2009. She enjoys meeting with all the groups she comes into contact with and supporting them through their project. Her role also involves the development of measurement tools and analysing data against strategic outcomes. She has a BA Liberal Arts Degree and a Masters in Communication, Advertising and Public Relations. Laura has four children, enjoys reading and is currently in competition with her nine year old daughter to see who can finish Harry Potter first!
Stephanie Houston
Senior Training & Development Officer (Elevate Programme)
Stephanie joined CDHN in 2019 and works with communities across the Northern and Western HSC Trust areas as part of the Elevate programme. She has worked in a variety of community development roles for a number of years, building relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. Stephanie is passionate about making a difference at local level and is particularly interested in community health and wellbeing. In her spare time, Stephanie loves to travel and she is a keen reader, particularly crime fiction. Stephanie also enjoys walking for her own health and wellbeing.
Patricia Harte
Senior Training & Development Officer (Elevate Programme)
Patricia joined CDHN in March 2019 as Training Officer and is currently involved in supporting a number of projects including CDHN's health literacy work and the Elevate Programme. In 2013, Patricia completed an MSc in Health Promotion and Population Health. Prior to taking up her role in CDHN, Patricia worked for six years as Project Worker with Action Mental Health and was responsible for the design and delivery of a suite of health promotion workshops and training programmes. Patricia has extensive experience facilitating training which aims to increase awareness in relation to health and wellbeing, promote self-care, help-seeking behaviours and early intervention. Patricia enjoys walking and spending time with her ten nieces and nephews.
Marion O'Hare
Administrative / Human Resources Officer
Marion joined CDHN in January 2021 and this is her first experience of working in the community sector. She has a BA Hons Degree in International Business Studies and also spent a year studying in America on a Business Scholarship. Marion previously worked in the financial sector for 10 years and was responsible for providing financial statements to Irish and American clients. A busy mum of three, Marion enjoys the great outdoors, particularly hiking in the Mournes.
Joana Neves
Community Engagement Officer
Joana joined CDHN in July 2022 as Community Engagement Officer. Joana has previous experience of participating and running service user groups which have had a key focus on co-production and high levels of service user involvement. They have centered around using young people’s experiences and their voices in order to make positive changes for the services which they use. Joana also works as and when within children’s residential services within the HSC. She graduated from Ulster University in 2020 with a BSc Accounting and Human Resource Management and is on track to complete a MSc Strategic Accounting in December 2022. She is passionate about co-production, building up communities and promoting learning through lived experiences. Joana is a mother of one and is currently constructing a Lego city with her seven year old.
