In my over 30 years work life I’ve been extremely fortunate to follow two very different but complementary careers: in Learning and Development and in Theatre.
My Learning and Development work has taken me to five continents: designing and facilitating interactive training programmes and coaching thousands of people from very diverse industries (see Coaching for Work for examples) from new starters to board level. During my time in L and D I’ve built up a wide bank of knowledge and techniques to help people increase their skills and confidence. I’m passionate about empowering individuals to reach their goals, and firmly believe that the process should be as enjoyable as possible. I love to see people grow in confidence and expand their horizons and it’s an absolute joy for me to facilitate that through one-to-one or group coaching or through the workshops that I design.
In Theatre I’ve worked as an actor, writer, artistic director and T.I.E. workshop leader. I spent years in small and middle scale touring: devising, adapting and writing new shows and touring them through England and Wales. I loved nothing better than arriving at a bare village hall and in the course of the day transforming it to enable theatre magic to happen. I’ve years of experience of improvised theatre – super-scary and massively rewarding for performers and audience alike (this included one memorable gig at Glastonbury). I founded a very successful Theatre In Education company, focussing on giving children and young people a voice on things of importance to them. I write for theatre: I’ve had five professional productions of my plays so far. I still act as often as other work allows. I use my theatre training in the voice coaching and presentation skills work I do as resident voice coach for a training company with which I’m associated.
Having had to face challenges myself, I’ve a particular interest in coaching for resilience, helping people who are swamped by busy lives to develop positive approaches to dealing with pressure, and the confidence to make the best choices for living well.
I trained with Barefoot Coaching on the Postgraduate Certificate course and I’m qualified to use Everything DiSC for Individuals, Teams and Leaders and Everything DiSC The Work of Leaders.
My style has been described as supportive, transformational, motivating, conscientious, insightful and intuitive.
Outside of work I enjoy indie cinema, theatre, stone carving, puppetry, travelling, yoga, learning Spanish and walking in wild places.
- I work as a coach for private clients wanting to make changes in their work or personal lives
- In the corporate sector as a facilitator and coach, and writer of business simulations and forum theatre
- And as a coach for those in the creative industries facing creative block or needing a sounding board.
I work with you to create the most effective and relevant development experience. Click on links for more information or get in touch – I’d love to hear how I could help.