About me

I’m Jessie, and I’ve been helping organisations to hear and people to be heard since 1998.

I've spent almost 30 years working in and around health and care - as a leader, an adviser, a facilitator and, at times, leading organisations and teams under considerable pressure. What drives me is the knowledge that things just work better when people are heard.

Creating the conditions where every voice actually matters - where frontline staff, patients, communities and senior leaders can all be part of finding solutions - takes real skill, experience and care. That's what I bring to every piece of work I do.

Jessie Cunnett, a woman with curly hair, smiles at the camera against a silver background.
Jessie Cunnett's logo - colourful concentric semi-circles forming a modern design.

My approach

I always start and end with people - that shapes everything. It affects how I design an engagement process, how I run a Board away day, and how I work with a leader who's trying to find their way through something difficult.

The people I work with are usually navigating something really hard. Sometimes that’s politically sensitive change, strategies that need to function across a complex system, or programmes that need to reach communities who don't usually engage with health services. 

I'm equally comfortable facilitating a room of 200 people from seldom-heard communities and designing the process that makes that room work, or sitting alongside a single leader as a thinking partner while they work out what to do next.

Jessie Cunnett's logo - colorful concentric semi circles.
Jessie Cunnett, a woman with curly hair and glasses, takes a selfie in a bright room filled with people engaged in activities and discussions.

Current and recent work includes…

  • Part of the post graduate academic teaching team, co-facilitator of the BSMS Leadership and Education Fellowship and lead for continuing professional development in Patient and Carer Experience.

  • Staff and stakeholder engagement at Queen Victoria Hospital around a complex and sensitive strategic partnership.

  • Leading the award-winning community engagement strand of DHSC's National Conversation for the 10-Year Health Plan, designing and disseminating a workshop in a box reaching 17,000 staff and citizens including from seldom-heard communities.

  • Working closely with the Board to undertake a learning and improvement review to inform future governance, culture and practice.

  • Facilitating NIHR's Public Partnerships Programme Board to develop their Strategic Commitments for Public Partnerships 2025-2030.

  • Evaluation of funding for community empowerment to increase vaccination uptake.

  • Working with the team to deliver a deliberative engagement exercise to explore residents’ views and priorities on NHS services aimed at tackling obesity.

What people say

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    “Throughout her time with us Jessie has proved stimulating, supportive and sensitive in her interactions with Board and staff members alike. She was quick to understand our organisational culture and processes, and helped us in the development of pragmatic, thoughtful and forward-looking solutions.”

    — Sally Welham, CEO, British Thoracic Society

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    “Jessie was an invaluable partner on Change NHS — the engagement to inform the 10 Year Plan for Health. Her flexibility, pragmatism and positivity were instrumental in driving forward a time-sensitive and complex piece of work.”

    — Anastasia Knox, Managing Partner, Thinks Insight and Strategy

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    “Jessie is an exceptional, inspiring, thoughtful and creative facilitator. She excels at keeping teams engaged, creating inclusive environments for difficult conversations, and consistently achieving clear, actionable outcomes. Her engaging and forward-thinking approach has made a significant impact to me as an individual and to the team as a whole.”

    — Saumu Lwembe, Assistant Director, Community Engagement and Involvement, NIHR

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    “I'm grateful for the support I've had from Jessie over the past few months. She's been such a great thinking partner, giving me space to reflect on what matters to me, what my values are, and how I can bring more of that into how I work and lead. Jessie has this brilliant way of listening without judgement, asking thoughtful questions, and gently challenging thinking - all of which has made a real difference.”

    — Lucy Phillips, Communications and Engagement Lead

  • “Working with Jessie was an absolute pleasure. Her experience and knowledge of Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement was so valuable in shaping and developing our commissioned report for the executive leadership of Cambridge University Health Partners. We would recommend working with Jessie as a collaborator without hesitation.”

    — Megan Wilkins, Head of Strategy and Implementation, Cambridge University Health Partners

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    “Jessie brought expert insight and clarity to the programme, producing a clear, strategic and highly professional report that has given us a strong foundation to make a compelling case for community‑led change.”

    — Beth Fletcher, Engagement Manager, Derby and Derbyshire ICB

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    Jessie is brilliant. She brought a fresh perspective to our work with Imperial Health Partners. She helped us focus on people’s strengths and lived experience, which gave us insights we simply wouldn’t have uncovered through a more traditional approach. Really enjoyed working with her.

    — Darren Bhattachary, CEO at The Social Agency

My work in the wild

Follow the links below to see some of my recent public-facing work.

• Report: The largest ever conversation about the NHS

• Project: NIHR Strategic Commitments for Public Partnerships 2025-2030

• BMJ article: To increase public satisfaction in the NHS, we need a new conversation about how to improve it

● NIHR article: Enhancing Community Engagement and Involvement through storytelling

● Research: Exploring COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence with People from Black and Asian Backgrounds in England

● Evaluation framework: Working with people and communities

● Insight framework: Piloting a development tool across Joined up Care Derbyshire to improve the way we work with community led insight

Jessie Cunnett's logo - colorful concentric circles in pastel shades.

Get in touch

Whether you have a specific challenge in mind or just want to explore whether this could be a good fit, I'm always happy to chat. Click here to contact me.