Mental Heath Matters - governance review

Mental Health Matters (MHM) is a national charity with more than 40 years’ experience delivering high-quality mental health services across the UK.

In recent years, MHM has experienced significant transformation: under CEO Jane Hughes, the organisation’s turnover has more than doubled from £12.5 million to nearly £30 million, and its workforce has grown to almost 700 staff.

This rapid growth, coupled with a nearly complete board turnover due to term expirations, prompted Jane and her team to evaluate MHM’s governance structures. Another prompt for the review was that, despite conducting annual internal reviews, the charity had never undertaken a fully independent governance review.

Why GGI?

To ensure best practice, MHM wanted an external partner with deep governance expertise. There were also some challenges around how the board and executive team worked together so Jane and her team were keen to find someone with plenty of experience in helping organisations resolve such issues.

The deciding factors that prompted MHM to choose GGI were our strong reputation, the collaborative approach we proposed, and the value for money we offered. Our proposed methodology emphasised transparency, ongoing engagement, and early communication of emerging findings—key factors that assured MHM of a no-surprises, supportive process.

Jane said: “What tipped it for us was the proposed approach—GGI made it clear we’d be kept in the loop throughout. There would be no big surprises at the end, just a thoughtful, constructive process that we’d be part of every step of the way.”

Working with GGI

Jane says the review process was thoughtfully designed and sensitively delivered. All trustees were interviewed individually, while the executive team participated in a facilitated group discussion—an approach that helped them speak openly and feel heard.

The GGI team attended board and committee meetings, conducted thorough document reviews, and maintained biweekly check-ins to keep the project on track. Both outgoing and incoming chairs were involved throughout, which helped to ensure continuity and immediate applicability of the findings.

Jane says: “It’s not just about the final report. The process itself supported the outcome—it brought people together and moved us forward as a team.”

Results

GGI’s final report was well-received across the charity. It validated areas of strength while highlighting tensions between the board’s strategic role and the executive team’s operational remit. The recommendations encouraged a more unified ‘unitary board’ approach and suggested fine-tuning committee structures, such as dissolving the workforce committee to embed its remit more strategically.

The review process itself catalysed better collaboration and alignment, with early actions already underway and the new chair prioritising key recommendations for implementation.

Jane Hughes reflected that the value of GGI’s work extended beyond the final report. The process itself facilitated cultural change and stronger team cohesion. She said: “We’ve all worked with consultants before, and even when the work is good it’s never quite as good as you’d really like it to be. But working with GGI hasn’t felt like that, it’s genuinely exceeded expectations.

“The outcome we’ve got is exactly what we needed but it's not just about the report and recommendations. It's about the process we went through to get there, which has supported us to achieve that positive outcome.

“The whole thing felt effortless, well-managed, and ultimately more impactful than we’d hoped.”