GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH PEER NETWORK
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  • RESOURCES
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  • Home
  • ABOUT US
    • Board of Management
    • Global Office
    • Regional Coordinators
    • Regional Executive Committee
    • Country Leadership Committee
    • Our Mentors
    • Honorary Members
  • OUR FOCUS AREAS
    • Awareness & Advocacy
    • Lived Experience Engagement
    • Empowerment
    • Research
    • Human Rights
  • WHO WE WORK WITH
    • International Agencies
    • International Organisations
    • Research & Academic Institutions
    • Public & Private Sectors
  • OUR IMPACT
    • Annual Reports
    • Testimonials
    • Achievements
    • Our Reach
  • OUR SERVICES
  • GET INVOLVED
    • Membership
    • Committees
    • Donate
  • RESOURCES
  • CONTACT US
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OUR GLOBAL OFFICE

The Global Office is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and responsible for the day-to-day operations; project development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; sustainability and donor relations; partnership development; and coordinating the structural committees and forums.
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English,  Afrikaans

CHARLENE SUNKEL

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

​Ms Sunkel is the Founder/ CEO of the Global Mental Health Peer Network (www.gmhpn.org). She is a global mental health advocate with lived experience with schizophrenia. She has published internationally on issues related to mental health and human rights, stigma and the needs of people with mental illness in low- and middle-income countries. Ms Sunkel has been involved in provided technical assistance to national and international mental health related policies, reports and documents. She serves on a number of international boards and committees, and received a number of national and international awards for her work. Ms Sunkel is one of the recipients of the Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health.
Charlene Sunkel - full biography
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CLAUDIA SARTOR

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Claudia is a global mental health advocacy leader whose passion for mental health was inspired by having personal experience living with anxiety and ADHD. After undergoing treatment, Claudia chose to pursue a career in mental health.  She is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Global Mental Health Peer Network (“GMHPN”).   She manages GMHPN’s youth related activities and programmes and is co-ordinator and facilitator for youth collaboration with other mental health organisations.  
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English, Portuguese
​She co-authored a paper titled "Perspectives: persons with lived experience with mental health conditions in service delivery, development, and leadership" which was published online on 12 May 2021 by Cambridge University Press.
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English

ZAK MARTAH 

Project Assistant

 Zakaria is Project Assistant for the Global Mental Health Peer Network and is passionate about helping and advocating for improved care and service delivery of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD’s). His passion for NCD advocacy stems from his lived experience with a brain abscess that caused Epilepsy, Apraxia of speech, and Aphasia. In spite of losing language proficiency in English, Afrikaans, French, and Arabic, he was determined to relearn to speak. The above resulted in experiencing depression. ​ ​
​However, he was persistent and motivated to learn more about the mind, psychology, and mental health. His family has a history of Type 1 Diabetes, which he too developed in 2011. He was invited to complete a Diabetes leadership course and camp in 2014, and became a Peer Counsellor to other children and teens with diabetes, with a big responsibility being looking after children at camps held for children and teens with diabetes.
The Global Mental Health Peer Network is registered as a Non-Profit Organisation (NPO 212-449) under the South African Non-Profit Organisations Act 71 of 1997, and is registered as a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO 930065563) with the South African Revenue Services.

The Global Mental Health Peer Network is kindly supported ​by the Foundation to Promote Open Society (FPOS)