We’re pleased to share that Dr Stephanie Yin has stepped into the new role of Research & Development Lead at Rareminds.
Created to support our next phase of growth, this role will strengthen how we develop, evidence and share our work across the rare community. It also reflects the continued growth of Rareminds and our ambition to build a stronger evidence base for specialist mental health support in rare conditions.
Our mission is to provide affordable, timely access to highly specialised counselling for the rare disease community. We also campaign for recognition of the importance of specialist mental health support by informing policy and practice, and promoting standards of excellence.
Building on the outcomes data we already collect (including validated outcome measures and qualitative feedback), we want to strengthen how we evaluate what works, communicate our impact, and translate clinical insight into a growing evidence base. This will support the continued development of Rareminds, while also strengthening how we capture and communicate the impact of our services.
By sharing learning from our clinical work more widely, this role will help promote more psychologically informed care for people with rare conditions across healthcare, while increasing baseline understanding of rare mental health needs within mainstream mental health services.
In the R&D Lead role, Stephanie will focus on three key areas:
- Developing our CPD and educational offer for professionals (including healthcare professionals) to improve awareness and understanding of mental health in rare conditions
- Building and strengthening partnerships across healthcare, the charity sector, and with our corporate partners, creating opportunities to collaborate and extend the reach of our work
- Growing our research activity (including service evaluation, impact reporting and collaborative research) to contribute to peer-reviewed publications and the wider evidence base in rare disease and mental health
Stephanie brings extensive professional and personal experience to this role. She has worked in specialist NHS services for over 12 years, with a focus on long-term and life-limiting condition management, multidisciplinary care and service delivery within complex systems. Alongside this, she has supported service development and patient support initiatives across rare condition charities.
She has also been a senior clinical member of Rareminds since its early development. In this role, she has worked closely with individuals and families accessing our counselling services, and helped to shape and lead our counselling provision.
Stephanie brings a personal connection to this work, which continues to inform her approach and ensures that our services and development work remain grounded in the realities faced by people living with rare conditions.
As demand for specialist support continues to grow, this role will help ensure our services remain responsive, evidence-based, and influential in shaping better outcomes for people living with rare conditions.
We’ll be sharing updates on this work over the coming months. If you’re interested in partnering with us or learning more about our training and research plans, please get in touch.