Raf Hamaizia

In his capacity as a national lived experience leader Raf has extensive experience of working alongside statutory and non-statutory bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), NHS England, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, academic institutions and most notably, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), where he has taken part in key guidance committees, working groups and over 150 CQC inspections and counting.

He has been the Expert By Experience Lead (Head of Co-production and Lived Experience) for Cygnet since August 2016 where he has been working  to shape and improve the service user involvement structures within the organisation, both on a local and group level. He has rolled out a number of initatives within Cygnet such as ‘The People’s Council‘ and ‘Music 2 Empower’ which has been recognised ‘an area of outstanding practice’ by the Care Quality Commission and ‘an example of good practice’ by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Raf was chair of the topic group on ‘Other ethnic minorities’ for the independent review of the Mental Health Act. He has a MSc in mental health recovery and social inclusion from the University of Hertfordshire. His experience of working on both a strategic and local level within Cygnet has been recognised through his receipt of the organisations only Special Recognition Award from Universal Health Services Inc. He has previously been awarded Contributor of the Year by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Presenter of the year by NAPICU as well as being short listed as a finalist for the most impactful project addressing health inequalities by the Health Service Journal. Most recently he was awarded the Design in Mental Health Award 2025 for the ‘Social Hubs’ concept within in-patient mental health services.

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