Our people

Claudia Marinetti is director at Mental Health Europe (MHE) and has extensive expertise in the areas of health and its social determinants, well-being and equity. With over 10 years of experience in management, policy, advocacy and research, Claudia has worked across sectors to improve the well-being including approaches based on human rights, access to quality services, HiAP, and social inclusion. Prior to joining MHE, she worked for EuroHealthNet, a not-for-profit partnership working on public heath, disease prevention, health promotion, and inequality reduction. She has also worked for K.U.Leuven and briefly for the University of Oxford’s Centre for Criminology. Claudia is a graduate of the University of Padua (Italy) and holds a PhD in Social and Applied Psychology from the University of Oxford (UK).

Liuska worked for over 16 years in rights-based international and European networks mainly in the health sector and in organisations focusing on children's and women’s rights. She initially worked in the field of sexual reproductive health and rights with International Planned Parenthood Federation – European Network (IPPF EN) and subsequently as Programme Manager at the European Patients’ Forum. She worked prominently on patient involvement and empowerment, health inequalities, research and medicines’ development, eHealth and Health Technology Assessment (HTA). Recently Liuska has been the Director of the End Female Genital Mutilation European Network and holds experience in association management. Additionally, she has expertise in strategic planning, programme development and management, policy and advocacy work, membership development and capacity building.

With over 20 years of experience in social action, human rights, and migration, Elona Bokshi brings a wealth of expertise to the field. Her commitment to advancing human rights, including mental health initiatives, is underpinned by proven experience in program and project management, honed through key roles at the European Social Network (ESN) and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). Elona also brings extensive experience with the Odysseus Academic Network, where she coordinated research for the European Migration Network and other projects. Before moving to Brussels, she served as a Project Coordinator for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Albania and spent over six years as Policy Assistant to the Prime Minister of Albania. Outside of work, she enjoys biking, painting, dancing, and traveling.

Born in Moldova, Rodica studied at the Romanian University of Galati, where she obtained her European Business Law Master’s degree and Banking-Financial Management Master’s degree. With 8 years of professional experience in Romania across diverse domains such as finance, legal, HR, events, and administration, she eventually made the decision to embark on a new journey in Brussels, seeking fresh challenges and the next stage in her career. For nearly 4 years, Rodica has been an integral part of the welcoming office for newcomers that run French-language integration programmes in Brussels - BAPA BXL. She managed the association's accounts and administrative duties, led a versatile team, and diligently monitored subsidies. She’s a staunch advocate for an inclusive society honouring diversity and equal opportunities.

Fatima is Somali and grew up in the United Kingdom. She has a background in human rights research, policy and advocacy with NGOs. Prior to joining Mental Health Europe, Fatima worked as the Advocacy and Policy Officer for End Female Genital Mutilation European Network and later as project Coordinator for Our Narratives Yet Xplained (ONYX) Hub. As well as being an intersectional feminist, Fatima is an experienced speaker and advocate, with over nine years of experience in advocacy and campaigning. She also co-founded Youth For Change in 2014, a global youth-led network, working in partnership with organisations and governments to tackle gender-based violence and create positive change for young people. Fatima holds a BA (Hons) in Law and Human Rights, and an LLM in International Law and International Relations.

Jackie has wide-ranging experience in B2B marketing communication in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. She initially worked in market research, where she gained valuable insights from both agency and client-side roles across various industries. Over the past decade, Jackie has worked in communication/marketing in European adult and paediatric medical associations. She contributed to the success of numerous projects, developed and executed communication plans, created multi-channel content, managed media relations, and coordinated the dissemination of EU-funded projects. Jackie is passionate about healthcare, the role of the mind-body connection in health and wellbeing, mindfulness, as well as the need for better awareness about mental health. Jackie holds a BA in Business Management from Vesalius College (VUB) and an MBA from The Open University (UK).

Alexandra has joined the team as interim communications manager.

Marcel's background is in media and entertainment. They focus on the representation of minority groups, queer storytelling and gender equality issues. After developing significant experience as a host and interviewer in the entertainment industry in Milan, they moved to Estonia to attend a joint Master's in Literature, Visual Culture and Film Studies from Tallinn University and the Estonian Academy of Arts. Meanwhile, they worked with Tallinn University as a YouTuber and live host. Marcel puts their LGBTQ+ and Mental Health advocacy at the centre of their presence on social media, fighting the stigma related to both topics and their intersections. They are vocal regarding their own lived experience with mental health issues and consider it a crucial part of their identity. Marcel is non-binary and they use they/them pronouns.

Francesca holds a master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomatic Studies with further specialisation in International Protection of Human Rights. She has been working for EU membership-based networks since 2011. In her last job, Francesca was Coordinator of the activities with and for young carers at the European association Eurocarers. She advocated for changes in policies and practices across Europe to enable children with caring responsibilities to thrive. She ensured that every activity about young carers was co-designed with them (experts by experience), by facilitating a working group made up of 30 young carers from different countries. In her position as coordinator of a Horizon2020 project aimed at strengthening the resilience of adolescent young carers, Francesca gained in-depth knowledge about mental health. Eager to advocate for a right to health which includes mental health, she joined MHE in January 2022. An Italian mother tongue, she also speaks English and French.

Emanuela Del Savio has a background in Diversity and Human Rights. She also studied European Integration Affairs. She started her career in a Centre against violence on women and worked for more than 10 years in the non-profit sector. In Belgium, she worked in different rights-based NGOs, addressing women’s and LGBTQI+ rights, carrying out different EU-funded socially oriented projects within the AMIF, REC, Erasmus+ and Creative Europe programs. Most of these involved people from vulnerable situations: women, survivors of human trafficking; migrants, applicants for international protection, refugees (MAR) exposed to sexual violence. These lead her to investigate the impact of trauma on survivors and its consequences, and produced trauma-sensitive material. Emanuela divides her time between MHE and the Psy-project Association, where she develops cultural and creative projects. Emanuela is an ambivert, feminist, vegetarian, and an animal lover.

Joseph was born in Brussels and he has an academic background in business communication. His passion for changing mental health policies across Europe stems from working within primary mental healthcare in the UK, where the challenges and realities of service provision and the struggles of service users became apparent to him. He gained knowledge and experience of EU affairs and human rights advocacy through an EU law and human rights minor. Joseph has a personal passion for digital health, believing it to be a crucial tool toward developing more accessible, personalised and effective treatments for many areas of health, including mental health. Joseph aids in communicating the important work done by MHE’s policy team to a wide and diverse audience, as well as providing support in the organisation of MHE’s events.