Rob Sage
Operations Lead for Compassionate Mental Health Gatherings, holding the flow, safety and wellbeing of the day. His work sits at the intersection of mental health, systems change, and care for people and planet.
Areas of interest
- Inner and Outer Change
- Post traumatic growth
- Community Engagement
- Keen Runner
About Rob
Rob has been Operations Lead for Compassionate Mental Health gatherings for the past three years, playing a vital role in holding the day – attending to flow, safety, accessibility, and the wellbeing of everyone in the room. He is an integral presence at our events, bringing a steady, calming influence that helps create the conditions for meaningful connection and learning.
Rob brings both personal and professional experience to this role. He has lived experience of depression and anxiety, alongside a growing awareness of eco-anxiety and the emotional impact of living in a time of ecological uncertainty. These experiences inform his commitment to meeting distress with compassion and curiosity, and to creating environments where difficult experiences can become sources of learning, connection, and post-traumatic growth.
Rob is especially interested in the meeting point between inner and outer change – how personal wellbeing, community resilience, social justice, and our relationship with the natural world are deeply interconnected. He is passionate about systems change grounded in inclusive, participatory, and compassionate approaches, and is motivated by the belief that caring for people and caring for the planet are part of the same work.
Rob’s professional background includes working in the NHS on health promotion projects and programmes, including as National Physical Activity Lead for Public Health Wales, where he led the exercise referral scheme. Rob also coordinated a Heart Health project which set up one of the first food cooperatives in Wales back in 2003. He also worked for sustainable travel charity, Sustrans, managing successful active travel to school and workplace projects.
Rob was also previously Head of Corporate Services at Welsh Athletics, with responsibility for communications, human resources, and organisational governance, as well as advancing the organisation’s work on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
Rob is also a Director of the Bottega Project that aims to generate a model for change to a sustainable, compassionate way of life at a city scale.
Links about Rob
