Gill Green | STORM Skills Training CIC

Gill's Story

Meet STORM^® Director and Co-founder Gill Green

Leaving home at the age of 16 to avoid a backlash for coming out as Gay, Gill’s career journey can be marked more by fortunate opportunities than by design. One thing is for sure, the experiences she has had, and the people she has met along the way, have been instrumental in her succeeding at everything she has achieved.

It was whilst she was working with children who had Learning Disability that she first thought about a career in Nursing, at least until such a time that she was able to rejoin the path to University. However, during her training in this field, she became aware of a number of people who also had mental health problems, but who were not receiving the care that they needed.

Soon after qualifying, she retrained as a dual qualified mental health nurse with the intention of returning to Learning Disability services. Fate took her down a different route and she remained working in mental health eventually becoming a Sister working on an acute ward and in the community. During this time, she completed the first of her degrees part-time, a BA(Hons) in Social Studies that helped to provide a social and philosophical perspective to her clinical experience of mental illness.

Many patients Gill supported often expressed that life was so hopeless for them that they thought about ending their life. Gill, like many others, felt ill-equipped to respond to and effectively support the people she was trying to help. not knowing what to do, or if she was doing the right thing, was quite frightening. A chance job advertisement in a National paper for a Trainer and Researcher on a University study brought Gill and STORM^® together in 1997. The 12-month project was an opportunity to learn new skills to take back to clinical practice. Fate too played a hand in what happened next. Professor Linda Gask interviewed Gill for the job, the first meeting of what would eventuate into a long and successful partnership – the meeting of the founders of STORM^® Skills Training CIC.

Gill, likes to think that much of the success of STORM^® comes from the excellent training model, however, we know it has been her passion, commitment, vision and innovation that has taken a University project and turned it into an independent and global social business that is having a positive impact, not only in suicide prevention, but around social change for mental well-being.

Gill has received a number of recognition awards from UnLtd over the years for her work creating a successful social enterprise. The first award she received, the “Dare to be Different” in Higher Education in 2010, was the milestone that introduced Gill to Alf Hill and his business acumen.

Dr Gill Green, is the glue, bringing together all the pieces of STORM^® Skills Training CIC.