POPPY JAMAN OBE

Mental Health Advocate, Social Entrepreneur

Poppy Jaman OBE is a third generation Briton of Bangladeshi origin who has made no secret of her struggles with depression from an early age.

Poppy left school at 16, was married at 17 and developed postnatal anxiety and depression at 20. She was a single mother until a decade ago and rising against the odds was not easy. But Poppy resumed her education and graduated with an MBA, becoming an inspirational advocate for mental health and wellbeing of people from diverse communities.

Poppy is committed to making “mental health first aid” a global priority, on a par with physical first aid.

Poppy founded the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England in 2009, which evolved from a small social enterprise to a fast growing, commercially successful Community Interest Company providing skills training, workplace wellbeing and mental health awareness promotion programmes.

In 2017, the Financial Times recognised MHFA as “one of the fastest growing SMEs in Europe”.

Poppy was awarded an OBE in 2018, in recognition of her outstanding services to people with mental health issues. She featured in the 2019 FT list of Game Changers, and the same year Poppy was the Woman of the Year at the GG2 Culture and Diversity Leadership awards.