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The Board of the Health Improvement Commission are delighted to announce that Rachel Copeland BEM will join as a Director of the Charity.
The Commission was formed in October 2018 and aims to enable, empower and encourage healthy living in Guernsey and Alderney. The Commission delivers a range of actions from the States’ Healthy Weight and Substance Use Strategies as well as the Bailiwick Social Prescribing scheme. Common in all of this work is the need to address health inequalities and Rachel’s appointment will add strength and expertise in this area.
Rachel trained as a children’s nurse in Manchester and as a midwife in London, and became a health visitor in 1993. Rachel worked in several disadvantaged communities in Guernsey and developed and led the Guernsey Parents’ Partnership. She has a keen interest in supporting families, especially those whose voices are seldom heard and is passionate about addressing health inequalities. Rachel is one of the founders of Bright Beginnings Children’s Centre which supports families in developing the crucial relationship between infant and caregiver in the first 1001 days. In recognition of her ongoing commitment to supporting vulnerable families locally, in 2020 Rachel was awarded a BEM in Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday Honours List.
Stuart Falla CBE, The Commission’s Chairman said:
‘In expanding the Board we were seeking to diversify our knowledge of and impact on health inequalities, as this is a topic that cuts across all of our work. Rachel’s extensive knowledge in this area, as well as her experience as a Director of a number of local charities will be of great value to the Commission in the future’
On her appointment to the Commission Board, Rachel said:
‘I am delighted to be joining the Board of the Health Improvement Commission, and to be supporting the work around health inequalities, which is an area of particular interest to me from thirty years work with island families and communities.’
