James Sutherland

National Specialist Advisor on Community Mental Health Transformation

NHS England

Biography

James Sutherland is the Integrated Change Programme Director at Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and serves as the National Specialist Advisor on Community Mental Health Transformation for NHS England. He currently leads the Sheffield Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre pilot (one of six national sites) bringing together mental health teams, primary care, and voluntary sector partners to develop a new neighbourhood-based model of mental health support.

With more than 20 years’ experience in the mental health field, James has worked across operational, commissioning, and national advisory roles. As the former commissioning lead for drugs and alcohol strategy in Derby, he successfully transformed a historically underperforming system into one of the best-performing services in England, working in close collaboration with Public Health England and local authorities across the East Midlands. He also has a strong background in data design and analysis, having developed a national process to align outcome measures with operational performance metrics.

Earlier in his career, James founded and directed a social enterprise dedicated to mental health training, education, and meaningful activity. He has contributed to several HM Government cross-party working groups, including those focused on addictions to prescribed medications, and remains actively involved in local, regional, and national forums driving mental health transformation.

James is also a passionate advocate for openness around mental health. Drawing on his own lived experience with anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), he champions empathy, inclusion, and person-centred care, reminding others that mental health challenges should never define who we are, but rather deepen our understanding of one another.