Ms Alexandra Schuster
Consultant Mental Health & Wellbeing
United Kingdom
Alexandra is a mental health advocate, advisor, consultant and researcher. She has leveraged her nineteen years of lived experience to deliver strategic, policy-related, service, and operational outputs across government, public, private, academic, non-profit and intergovernmental sectors. She also advocates for stigma reduction, patient autonomy and empowerment, preventative, integrative and patient-centred care at regional, national and international levels. Alexandra began working as an advocate and consultant in 2015, when she was invited to advise the British-Columbia Integrated Youth Services Initiative (BCIYSI): a pilot project that aimed to create a series of integrated, youth-centred mental health and wellness clinics across Western Canada. Over the course of four years, Alexandra advised the development, implementation, and operationalisation of the initiative, as well as the creation of Foundry’s interactive online service navigation, the Foundry Pathfinder. In 2017, she was appointed Chairperson for Foundry Kelowna’s Youth Advisory and Action Committee, leading youth involvement in mental health policy advisory and implementation. Alexandra's work at Foundry led her to speak at conferences and charity events, facilitate and participate in discussion panels and be featured in various media campaigns, including Foundry’s provincial campaign to end stigma.
Alexandra’s advocacy and advisory work has led her to her appointment on national and international committees. In 2020, Alexandra began working at the World Health Organization in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, supporting the development and implementation of the h WHO’s Special Initiative for Mental Health. In January 2021, Alexandra was appointed to the Global Mental Health Peer Network’s (GMHPN) Country Executive Committee. Soon after, she was chosen to be Regional Lead for Europe on the GMHPN’s Regional Executive Committee. Alexandra’s involvement with the GMHPN led to: her participation in lived experience consultations for the Lancet's and World Psychiatric Association’s Commission on Depression; her appointment to the Advisory Panel for the Wellcome Trust’s Mental Health Data Prize; and her participating in a panel discussion at the WHO’s Regional Technical Consultation on the Implementation of the European Framework for Action on Mental Health (2021-2025). In October 2021, Alexandra was appointed to the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Youth Advisory Council: an organisation federally mandated to support the delivery of Canada’s Mental Health Strategy. In 2022, Alexandra was one of three persons with lived experience worldwide appointed to the Lancet and MQ Mental Health Research’s Commission on COVID-19 and Mental Health.
Alexandra holds Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from Quest University with a major in Neuropsychiatry and Liberal Arts, well as an MSc in International Health Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She currently works as a Mental Health and Wellbeing Consultant at International SOS, leading the development, implementation, operation, of the company’s client and internal mental health and wellbeing strategy.
Alexandra’s advocacy and advisory work has led her to her appointment on national and international committees. In 2020, Alexandra began working at the World Health Organization in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, supporting the development and implementation of the h WHO’s Special Initiative for Mental Health. In January 2021, Alexandra was appointed to the Global Mental Health Peer Network’s (GMHPN) Country Executive Committee. Soon after, she was chosen to be Regional Lead for Europe on the GMHPN’s Regional Executive Committee. Alexandra’s involvement with the GMHPN led to: her participation in lived experience consultations for the Lancet's and World Psychiatric Association’s Commission on Depression; her appointment to the Advisory Panel for the Wellcome Trust’s Mental Health Data Prize; and her participating in a panel discussion at the WHO’s Regional Technical Consultation on the Implementation of the European Framework for Action on Mental Health (2021-2025). In October 2021, Alexandra was appointed to the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Youth Advisory Council: an organisation federally mandated to support the delivery of Canada’s Mental Health Strategy. In 2022, Alexandra was one of three persons with lived experience worldwide appointed to the Lancet and MQ Mental Health Research’s Commission on COVID-19 and Mental Health.
Alexandra holds Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from Quest University with a major in Neuropsychiatry and Liberal Arts, well as an MSc in International Health Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She currently works as a Mental Health and Wellbeing Consultant at International SOS, leading the development, implementation, operation, of the company’s client and internal mental health and wellbeing strategy.