CEO
As a Teenager…
I was an avid reader, daydreamer, hippy and wannabee poet. I grew up in a mining town during the 1980s. I struggled to make and retain friends until sixth form where I settled into my sense of self and started to care less about what others thought about me, Iearning to be comfortable with the person I chose to be. I developed a strong social conscience and desire to make a difference, even though a cult of self dominated the society of the 1980s , this alongside my Irish roots created a sense of difference that I came to enjoy and cherish. I was never one of the in-crowd at school, but being me was OK.
After school…
I went to university in Liverpool to study English Literature and train to become a teacher. I was a teacher/ Headteacher from that time on for the next 34 years, becoming a specialist in creative approaches to curriculum provision, safeguarding vulnerable children and young people and promoting positive mental health and well being. As an educator, I wanted to promote equality in opportunity for all young people regardless of background or personal needs.
I have enjoyed travel and the outdoors and thrown myself into whatever adventures I could find. I was a scuba diver and instructed new divers in our local club for 10 years. Scuba diving took me all over the world exploring underwater caves, diving with sharks, marvelling at reefs and finding my way around wrecks of ships, aeroplanes and submarines. During these years I came to appreciate the beauty and excitement of our natural world whilst I climbed, cycled, skied, trekked and paddled.
Now I’m…
I am a Mum to two brilliant young people and wife to Chris who is the Co-Director and manager of an open water diving site. I love the company of my extended family, those who are relatives or close friends and enjoy a good party!
I have retired from working in schools and work with all sorts of people in services that make lives easier and more fulfilling for young people. I am a consultant on trauma informed practice, understanding what it is, how many people are impacted and how to respond appropriately and kindly. My work takes me into schools, charities, prisons and mental health services across the country. It is varied and means that I work with so many brilliant people, both providers and beneficiaries of services.
It is this work that brought me to the brilliant E2M, I am very excited to join everybody here and can’t wait to see where the adventure will take us to next. I really believe that the arts have a unique power in helping young people to learn who they are and find a voice. It saddens me that they are sometimes undervalued. It is so important that we help young people to use the arts as their engine of change so that they can build a society and world closer to the one we would like it to be.
