March On Stress

Here are some more members of the team that March on Stress is lucky enough to be able to call upon to enrich the training we offer.

Jon Gow

TRiM and StRaW Practitioner/Manager and Trainer

Jon Gow is a Mental Health, TRiM, StRaW and Health and Safety trainer and consultant for a range of organisations and sectors across the UK, delivering expert advice and training to ensure organisations address the stigma of mental health, develop a positive wellbeing culture, support their employee's mental health and remain legally compliant. He has been working with March on Stress since 2018.   

Jon is a former Army Warrant Officer with over 20 years of teaching experience and has been on operations all over the world, including Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Afghanistan. He has instructed and trained personnel at every level from the newest recruit to the CEO’s of multi-million-pound organisations. His expansive training capability includes adventurous training activities, sports, physical training, leadership, health and safety, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM), Sustaining Resilience at Work (StRaW) and a multitude of mental health training courses. Jon become a TRiM Practitioner in 2007 after completing one of the Army’s initial TRiM pilot courses in Afghanistan. 

He finished his career after 22 years' service as the senior instructor with the Army's TRiM Team in Sandhurst. The role involved the delivery of TRiM and mental health courses across the British Army to reduce stigma, increase awareness and enable the chain of command to manage potential traumatic events in order the reduce the psychological impact on soldiers and their families, to help prevent mental illnesses like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder.  

Kevin Instance

TRiM Practitioner/Manager and Trainer

Kevin started his career in policing in the Metropolitan Police before moving to Avon and Somerset as a Superintendent running the Operations Department. It was there that he discovered TRiM and recognised the benefit of it for colleagues working in roles that are often associated with dealing with a higher percentage of potentially traumatic incidents such as traffic, disaster victim identification and underwater search. Getting trained as a practitioner and manager and having sponsored the introduction and development of TRiM into his police force, he quickly recognised that the demand for the service was much more widely required and requested.

Upon retirement from the police, Kevin found himself working for the RNLI as a beach lifeguard in his native Cornwall. He was asked to help support the launch and development of TRiM within that organisation in 2015. For four years he led the TRiM team across UK and Ireland as the lead TRiM Manager and coordinator. He continues as a volunteer practitioner and manager with the RNLI TRiM team.

He has been delivering TRiM courses for March on Stress since 2020. He holds the BTEC Level 5 in Trauma Risk Management. He is also a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and is on the Occupational Safety and Health Chartered Register (OSCHR).

Martin Lally

TRiM Practitioner/Manager and Trainer

Martin is a highly experienced TRiM professional. Outside of his excellent support to the March on Stress training team, Martin currently works with Greater Manchester Police.

Sam Langford

TRiM and StRaW Practitioner/Manager and Trainer

Sam holds a Master Degree in Workplace Health and Wellbeing and is a Workplace Wellbeing consultant, offering services to organisations in developing holistic wellbeing strategies that support and improve the health and wellbeing of staff, such as through developing policies, delivering training, and creating peer support structures and processes.

Sam started her career as a Crime Scene Investigator with Humberside Police, before working as a Consultant CSI for the Bermuda Police Service. On returning to the UK she worked for the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), training investigators. In 2018, Sam was instrumental in the launch and development of TRiM and StRaW for the organisation. They launched a hybrid model that used both to ensure support for all staff, regardless of role, whether they were directly exposed to trauma, experienced it vicariously, or whether impacted by psychosocial stressors of the working environment. Sam also holds the NEBOSH Certificate in Managing Health and Well-being in the Workplace, which helped to integrate the peer support system into the risk assessment process.

In addition to being a TRiM and StRaW Practitioner/Manager, Sam has held other roles associated with mental health in the workplace, holds the BTEC Level 5 in Trauma Risk Management and is a qualified vocational Assessor and Internal Verifier. Sam is passionate about workplace wellbeing, and has spoken at events such as the Wellbeing at Work summit and the Great British Wellbeing Sessions, on topics such as peer support, and bereavement in the workplace.

When she left the IOPC, Sam joined March on Stress as an Associate Trainer, and enjoys being able to share her experiences of both TRiM and StRaW with a range of people. 

Dean 'Pen' Penlington MBE

TRiM Practitioner and Trainer

Pen, as he is more commonly known, served over 32 years in the Royal Air Force as a member of the maritime patrol force. During this time he took part in many operations all around the world including overland. Having also been instrumental in fitting the aircraft for these tasks, Pen was an in-theatre subject matter expert and crew member during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Following the introduction of TRiM to the Royal Air Force, Pen manoeuvred to the forefront of this welfare initiative and quickly established himself as the TRiM expert at a major RAF base. He went on to lead, instruct and coordinate personnel across Scotland in a number of high profile events. From his participation in one of the first ever RAF TRiM events, following the crash of a Tornado F3, he was the driving force behind the development of a well-trained organised series of teams, whose expertise is still being called upon today.

Pen was made a Member of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen in January 2012, partly in recognition of his work in Trauma Risk Management. He also received the Meritorious Service Medal in 2008, where the citation spoke of his excellence as an instructor.

Although now part of the RAuxAF, Pen left full-time service in June 2013 and now continues his work supporting people through traumatic stress by assisting introducing peer based support to industry. Having attained a Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector (PTLLS) qualification, he is working towards the Certificate.

Tony Ramskill

TRiM Practitioner/Manager and Trainer

Tony is a retired police officer having served in Kent Police for 30 years, retiring in January 2014 as a Neighbourhood Policing Inspector in Gravesend. He enjoyed a predominantly uniformed career mainly in response policing and ten years with the dog section. During his tenure as a dog section sergeant he developed his interest in TRiM and became a Practitioner in 2004.

In 1999 Tony received an award for innovation from the Home Secretary for his research into the drink driving procedure at hospitals which had a significant influence in changing the law, allowing police to obtain blood samples from unconscious drivers. He was a trained Post Incident Manager in accordance with the Codes of Practice on the Police Use of Firearms & Less Lethal Weapons. He holds a Level 3 Award in Education & Training.

Tony has conducted several TRiM presentations here and in the Netherlands. He was integral in the early stages of TRiM being developed in Kent Police and latterly a valued member of the TRiM Executive Board. He was recognised for his commitment and dedication to TRiM upon retirement and for contributing to reduce the stigma of mental health within the police service.

Tony has been an Associate Trainer since April 2014. He has assisted with training for a number of organisations in the UK and abroad. He has practised as a TRiM practitioner with March on Stress as well as working to deliver high quality TRiM training.

Sarah Ward-Lilley MBE

TRiM Practitioner/Manager and Trainer

Sarah is a former senior executive at BBC News who is now working as a coach, mediator and leadership consultant.  She joined March on Stress as an Associate Trainer in early 2022. 

Twenty years ago, whilst Sarah was a journalist in the BBC’s Newsgathering department, she became concerned about the mental health and emotional wellbeing of colleagues she was deploying to work in war zones.  She was introduced to Professor Neil Greenberg at March on Stress and trained as a TRiM Practitioner in 2003.  She then worked with Neil to introduce and embed TRIM at the BBC and was the lead manager for TRiM and trauma at the BBC until she left the organisation in 2021.  

Sarah’s initial focus was on supporting BBC teams working in hostile environments, but this spread over time to cover all News staff, working on difficult stories in the UK as well as internationally, whether they were directly exposed to trauma themselves or experiencing it vicariously through interviewing eye witnesses, monitoring distressing audio and video content or covering traumatic court cases and inquests. 

Sarah has since become one of the news industry’s leaders in raising awareness of mental health issues, especially trauma, and increasing the support and training available to everyone working in journalism, including freelancers. In 2000, Sarah received an MBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to mental health and journalism.   

When she left the BBC, Sarah joined March on Stress as an Associate trainer and enjoys having the opportunity to deliver TRiM Manager and TRiM Practitioner training and share her own experience across a wide range of different organisations.