SustainCare Community Interest Company is a social enterprise set up to return health care to its owners: "learning to look after ourselves and our families in ways that make sense and do not cost the earth". It is founded on the principle that one's health is a personal story, and that illness is best managed when we make our health care our own. The enterprise brings clinical expertise, long experience of academia, education and business, and the connections and resources to deliver new approaches.

The company emerged out of work to build the EXTRACT database, an innovative resource in the use of traditional self care tools at www.plant-medicine.com ("a revolution in understanding the world’s favourite remedies"). Sustaincare marked a diversification into wider areas of self care: the EXTRACT project highlighted the prospects of rediscovering health care based in the family and community and utilising remedies that are close to hand.

Recently SustainCare CIC took leadership of the Integrated Self Care in Family Medicine project supported by the Department of Health, which led to the Self Care Library now hosted on the College of Medicine website. An early message learnt from this project was that good self care actually needs others - not only professional guidance but simply talking with other people. As its own social enterprise contribution to this project Sustaincare set up and supported Café Sustain as a demonstration Intelligent Waiting Room at Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health in Devon.

The company has now taken the lease on a dramatic property in Exeter as a site for its new community hub and an established complementary health practice. Here will be its first demonstration community-based self care centre.

DIRECTORS

Simon Mills

Founder and Managing Director. Simon has led multi-centre research programmes for the EU and the UK Department of Health; and a major international project to set up an innovative plant medicine resource; in 1987 he co-founded the world's first University complementary health studies unit and since then has set up and led three Masters-degree health programmes in the UK and USA; in this role he has raised and successfully managed many projects and for over 10 years supported his academic centre as a consultant to the consumer health industry with the largest international corporations as clients; he has published widely in the scientific literature, including randomised controlled clinical research studies; he also senior practitioner at the Sustainable Health Centre at Sustaincare's premises in Exeter.

Prof Dr David Peters

Information Director. David is a registered medical practitioner who set up and leads the MSc and BSc Integrated Health programmes at the University of Westminster; he is a Director of the College of Medicine and with Simon co-leads their Faculty of Self Care; he is primary author of many integrated and self care texts notably the Self Care Library produced with support of the Department of Health and hosted on the College website.

Joey Lee

Community Projects Director. Joey set up and managed an innovative demonstration community café hub with local community social networks to deliver self care inside a large NHS family practice . She will take forward this experience as Manager of Sustaincare’s Hub and first social network .

Alex Laird

Alex is founder director of Living Medicine, a charity that develops community garden opportunities for people to rediscover their health legacy in plants and foods.She is treasurer of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy, a leading professional body. Alex will also work with Joey to develop the company’s community agenda.

Peter Conway

Herbal Projects Director. Peter is a national leader in the herbal profession, having led a major professional group in the area for many years. He has written a seminal text on the future role of health professionals in an integrated health care system. He will manage the company’s herbal medicine portfolio

Robert Duggan

USA Director .Bob is Founder President of the leading US institution for wellness studies in the USA, that has awarded Masters programs in the State of Maryland through the Middle States Accreditation Board and imminently is to become a university. Bob will bring his formidable fund raising and inspirational experience the Board .

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