Team

Diana started in accountancy and business management before becoming a Chartered Marketer. Her specialist field is strategic marketing with more than 20 years experience at senior manager and board level.

When invited to lead the Thrive team, Diana was delighted to contribute to a programme with such profound and far reaching benefits for children and the adults who work with them. Her first tasks were to meet demand and structure for growth. Looking ahead, she believes feedback is key to on-going development of The Thrive Approach.

After 25 years in education, which covered teaching across the whole age range in both maintained and independent schools and Deputy Headship of two schools, a family move brought Julie to Devon.

After hearing about Thrive and the benefits which the Approach and programme brings to all children, she jumped at the opportunity to become involved and began working for Thrive in October 2011 as the Training Manager.

Building on this experience Julie is now the Business Development Manager, working closely with the Thrive Regional Development Managers and Co–ordinators around the country to manage client enquires and to help spread the Thrive Approach across the country..... and even further afield!

With a 20 year career in Technical Customer Service and support in a variety of industries, Gill was thrilled to have been offered the opportunity to work within the Thrive team in April 2012

Gill's role has diversified since starting with Thrive and she is now responsible for Thrive-Online Software subsriptions and user support for the Thrive-Online programme itself.

Chris has taught in mainstream and special schools and was a Local Authority adviser supporting and advising schools in all aspects of policy and practice regarding pupil behaviour and emotional literacy. Chris has extensive experience in training Senior Leadership Teams and school staff and has trained, mentored and assessed trainee teachers. Latterly, she was Head of an Education Partnership, working strategically to provide a range of additional intervention and support services. Chris is passionately committed to supporting colleagues to improve the life chances of troubled and troubling children and young people.

Anne has been involved in Thrive as a trainer, Early Years Lead and Regional Coordinator for the past 6 years. Prior to joining Thrive Anne worked in a variety of community based settings with a focus on Child Protection, Family Support and Early Years, originally in London and then, for the past 20 years in Exeter. She was Head of Chestnut Early Excellence/Children's Centre in Wonford Exeter for 12 years.

Anne's work for Thrive has included co-writing and leading the Early Years programme, co-writing Parent and Baby Thrive and working as a Lead Trainer on Early Years and Primary Practitioner courses. In the 2 years she has taken up the role of Regional Co-ordinator for the north of England helping to develop Thrive across schools and Early Years settings in Barnsley, Rotherham,Sheffield, Manchester,Newcastle and Gateshead. Since April 2014 she has taken on the role of Regional Development Manager with responsibility for supporting the Regional Coordinators' team.

With a background in finance, accounting and business support in a career spanning over 20 years, Nicki oversees the Central Services functions at Thrive. She brings a wealth of commercial experience to the role, drawn from a range of sectors including logistics, architecture, retail and management consultancy.

Nicki joined the Thrive team in July 2011. She contributes to the effective management of people, resources and finance to ensure the rapid and sustainable growth of the company. Nicki is committed to supporting the continual growth of the Thrive in our schools, social and healthcare settings. She and her husband, Paul, are the proud parents of William aged 5.

Kate Allison is an Inclusion Manager and a Thrive Licensed Practitioner and Action Plan mentor working across a federation of three primary schools in East Sussex.She is now working for Thrive in a part-time capacity as the South East Regional Coordinator.

Kate has many years of experience of working and supporting schools in her Advanced Skilled Teacher role with a key interest in working with staff, parents and children to develop the emotional health and wellbeing of children.

The success she has experienced in her Thrive work has been a key driver in her new role supporting other schools and teams to develop the Thrive programme.

Lou joined the Thrive Team in September 2013 to support the growing family of Licensed Trainers, Action Plan Mentors and Practitioners across the country. Lou's previous experience includes having worked for the world's leading music exam board, where she was responsible for developing policy for candidates with disabilities, as well as supporting their panel of Examiners. Lou also has experience of working with children and young people with acquired brain injury, to support emotional health and wellbeing and re-engagement with life through the outdoors.

As Training & Member Services Manager, Lou is the first point of contact for our licensed members on licensed status, continuing professional development, feedback and ideas. She is also responsible for developing the resources and tools available to our members to support and enhance their work with children and young people through the Thrive Approach.

Coral has worked as a teacher for 20 years, within BESD special education for 17 of these. She has worked in both specialist Independent and Local Authority schools as a teacher and as a senior leader. After implementing Thrive in a local authority special school and seeing its significantly positive impact on children, staff and families, she completed the Thrive Trainers course and is now delighted to be joining the Thrive Team in September 2014 as a regional coordinator across her native South Wales and the West of England.

Coral has trained in and researched widely therapeutic education and BESD. She has a particular interest in reconnecting children with animals and nature and has conducted research which highlights a considerable benefit that animals can have on making and maintaining positive attachments. Coral is passionately committed to helping improve the chances of troubled and troubling children and young people. Above all, she thoroughly enjoys the company of children and believes that every child's experience to be the most important element in any philosophy of education.

Coral has recently gained a PhD - her thesis was a Biophilic Philosophy for Education based on the impact of animals as therapy in education for children with social and emotional difficulties.

Julie first became involved with Thrive over 9 years ago, as a relatively newly qualified teacher firstly as a practitioner, then as a trainer and more recently as a member of the Senior Leadership Team and Regional Development Manager for the South West. She has worked as a mainstream Primary class teacher and Senco in Rotherham, in an area with a high level of social deprivation. She has also worked as a Head Teacher in an EBD special school environment. Julie moved to the South West 7 years ago to lead an Area Nurture Group in Cornwall based on Thrive. She has a particular interest in supporting the most challenging and vulnerable children with the Thrive Approach.

Kate originally trained as a Drama teacher and spent 7yrs teaching full time Drama in an inner London comprehensive school.

Following the dismantling of ILEA and the creation of the 1981 Special Education Act, she decided that her passion for teaching lay in engaging the more challenging pupils. This coincided with a move North to take up a post as Senior Mistress in an EBD school for 5-16 year olds in Oldham and eventually as a Behaviour Consultant for Kirklees.

She continued to work until she retired in 2013. However, retirement was short lived as during the last eighteen months of her working career she came across Thrive and was instrumental in introducing the programme across the Pupil Referral Service in Kirklees. She was looking forward to pursuing her many interests of music, singing, dance and live theatre. However, the call came from Thrive and she is now delighted to be joining the Thrive team as Regional Coordinator.

Jen joined the Thrive team in November 2014 as Marketing and Communications Manager to support the team with internal communications and help promote the Thrive vision to the wider community.

Jen is delighted to be working for Thrive and is really excited about communicating the incredible benefits using The Thrive Approach brings.

Kirsty joined the Thrive team in Oct 2014 as our Training Operations Manager; she has come on board to facilitate the smooth running of all our training courses. Kirsty has 6 years’ experience in a training and development background, and has had previous experience in the childcare sector. Kirsty is really excited about joining the team - she fully embraces the aims and objectives of Thrive and is keen to help in continuing to raise the profile of the organisation.

Jo joined Thrive in November 2014 after spending the last few years working as a business development and marketing manager within the health and wellness industry.

Jo works closely with business development manager Julie Moores and the Thrive regional team to manage client enquiries and to help raise the profile of Thrive.

Rachel gained a BSc Hons in Psychology before going on to work in education. Rachel was first introduced to Thrive in 2008 while working in an Area Nurture Group in Saltash, Cornwall where she supported children within this setting and in their mainstream schools in the surrounding area.

After becoming a Thrive Practitioner Rachel became an Action Plan Mentor in 2010 and for the last 18 months she has been a Thrive Co-ordinator at a Primary school in Saltash, managing a small team of practitioners to embed Thrive in the school and working with children on a 1:1 and group basis which she describes as a successful and rewarding experience.

Rachel is passionate about the Thrive Approach and the positive impact it can have on children and young people which she has seen first hand. She is excited about being part of the team and working as our Regional Co-ordinator in the South West from September 2015.

Ben joined the Thrive Team in September 2015 as Regional Coordinator and Trainer, based in the Eastern region. Originally trained in Law, Ben holds an LLB (hons) degree, he has since gone on to complete the Thrive Practitioner Training, Thrive Action Plan Mentor training and most recently the Thrive Train the Trainer course. In addition, Ben works both privately, and in a voluntary capacity, as an Integrative Counsellor and has completed the BSc (hons) in Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counselling.

Prior to joining Thrive, Ben has a multidisciplinary background that includes; working within inner-city community therapeutic services, supporting marginalised and vulnerable young people as both Practitioner and Team Leader; Manager of a service dedicated to the rehabilitation of offenders; Action Research and Manager of services being delivered to children, young people and families, including managing a children and family centre; an Early Help Operational Manager for a Local Authority; and as a Counsellor within an NHS Tier 3 Youth Mental Health Service.

Ben loves working for Thrive and is passionate about supporting children and young people to develop their emotional and social availability, to overcome life’s challenges and experience life’s rewards

Dominique has been working with children for 18 years, firstly as a swimming teacher, then progressing onto working in a school as a teaching assistant supporting children on a 1-1 basis with Social and Emotional difficulties. It was here that she discovered her passion for working with challenging children.

Dominique then moved on to Doncaster Road Primary School as the behaviour support worker where she later commenced Thrive training in 2012 and successfully became a Thrive Practitioner. This in turn lead to her becoming one of the lead Thrive Practitioners in the school and playing a vital role in supporting the school out of special measures.

Dominique then went on to complete the Thrive action plan mentor course and then became a Thrive Trainer. She has already supported many schools and professionals in embedding Thrive into their own settings, and feels privileged to have done so.

She is now in the next chapter in her Thrive journey as she has become a regional co-ordinator for the North and Central England.

Dani has worked in schools for the past nine years since completing her degree in Childhood & Youth Studies‎ and Social Psychology.

Specialising in early years education she spent the first six years as a nursery nurse at Doncaster Road Primary School where she also became a staff governor and active member of the personnel committee.

In 2012 she successfully completed the Thrive Licensed Practitioner training and became one of the lead Thrive Practitioners at the school, where Thrive was one of the core tools used to support the school moving out of Special Measures.

To further her skills Dani successfully completed the Thrive Action Plan Mentor course and went on to train as a Thrive Trainer.

Dani was delighted to accept the role of Thrive Regional C‎o-ordinator in September 2015 and is looking forward to sharing her experience and knowledge with other professionals to develop their Thrive practice and support children.

Kate joined the Team as Member Services Co-ordinator in May 2015 and assists members with their continuing professional development and licensing. Kate also supports Lou Gilmour, Member Services Manager, with the development of member resources.

With a background in Member Services Kate was delighted to join the team to continue to improve the member experience.

Viv has been teaching in schools, often in challenging circumstances, for 22 years as a teacher, SENCo and senior leader. For the last 12 years she has been leading schools as both headteacher and executive headteacher in mainstream schools, a Co-operative Trust school and an academy. Most recently this has included Doncaster Road Primary School where she led the school successfully out of a special measures category by embedding Thrive as a core approach and using this as one of the tools to improve every area of practice.

Alongside these roles she has also been consultant headteacher for the Local Authority leading, amongst other things, the induction programme for new head teachers for several years. As an LLE it was her privilege to work alongside heads of other schools to support them in improving outcomes for children.

After successfully introducing Thrive into two of the schools where she has been headteacher she was thrilled to take up the role of Regional Development Manager for the North of England in September 2015 and is passionate about supporting other professionals to embed the practice and reach as many children and families as possible.

Kate is an Educational Psychologist who joined the Thrive team in August 2015. Kate initially trained as a primary school teacher and taught in England, New Zealand and South Africa. After working in an inner city middle school Kate became particularly interested in the impact children’s social and emotional well-being has on learning. Kate qualified as an Educational Psychologist and has been working in Devon for over 12 years, during this time she has worked for the local authority and Babcock LDP providing psychological support and advice to schools, families, children and young people. Kate has extensive experience working across all educational settings from pre-school, primary, secondary, special schools and pupil referral units as well as working with children out of education. Kate now has her own private EP practice.

Kate has joined the Thrive team and works across the training and research and developmental teams. Her role involves delivering training courses and conferences, developing and designing new training material, carrying out further evaluative research, and ensuring Thrive keeps abreast of the latest research and governmental initiatives.

Grace joined the Team as Member Services Co-ordinator in January 2016 and assists members with their continuing professional development and licensing. Grace supports Lou Gilmour, Member Services Manager and works alongside Kate Middleton to continually develop our membership benefits and resources.

Before joining Thrive, Grace worked as a Primary School Teacher, obtaining a unique insight into how Thrive is used in schools and its considerable benefits in the classroom. Grace is delighted to join the team and continue the good work to improve and develop the member experience.

For the past 12 years Ian has worked in IT Support for organisations in the private and public sectors. Having worked across both user and technical support he brings a wide range of knowledge to the role.

As well as working with computers and software, Ian previously worked in Operations and the Retail sector.

Ian originally trained as an historian and many years later still maintains a keen interest in this area. He was delighted to be asked to join the Thrive team to help support Thrive users with technical support.

Lucy joined the Thrive team in January 2016 and assists Research and Development Manager Alex Fender with the development of resources and content for all Thrive training courses.

Prior to working at Thrive, Lucy worked in editorial and publishing in London for six years, and then as a secondary school English and Drama teacher in South Devon for six years. Lucy is passionate about the social and emotional development of children and young people, and is excited to be contributing her experience to the development of Thrive.

Alex joined Thrive in March 2015 as Research, Development and Publications Manager. She works with authors to produce the manuals, power points and additional materials used by Thrive Trainers. Alex also assists Trainers prior to and sometimes during course delivery with any materials that they need. She also undertakes and supports research projects into the impact of Thrive on pupil progress across all key stages.

Alex’s disparate work life spans a number subject areas in Advertising, Law, Higher Education, Training, Editing, Teaching, Examining and Assessing, running craft workshops, Creative Writing and she continues to be a Holocaust Educator.

Alex is also a Childhood Thrive Practitioner and volunteers in a Pupil Referral Unit in Somerset which she really enjoys.

Simon joined Thrive in January 2016, having previously been the Network Manager for an independent school. He brings over 15 years of IT support and network management experience to Thrive, spanning many industry sectors. He enjoys the on-going challenge of keeping up with rapid technological advances and is looking forward to supporting the Thrive business as it continues to expand.

Felicity joined the Thrive team in April 2016, working closely with business development manager Julie Moores and the Thrive regional team to manage client enquiries and to help raise the profile of Thrive.

Felicity has worked in several different industries since the start of her career and has many years of Customer Service experience. She is delighted to join the team and continue spreading Thrive across the country.

Diane started working in a secondary school 18 years ago, supporting children with special educational needs, emotional difficulties and highly challenging behaviour. She quickly realised this was an area she was passionate about and after a few years moved to a primary school, to learn more about the early needs of children with emotional difficulties. Diane then joined the senior leadership team as Deputy to the SENCo/Safeguarding Lead and worked alongside children, parents and carers to support their emotional needs and wellbeing.

Alongside this, Diane has also held roles at local authority level, including delivering induction training to Teaching Assistants, devised and delivered an NQT induction module on working with additional adults in the classroom and was a member of the HLTA selection panel.

Diane first heard about Thrive in 2012 at an awareness session and felt right away that all of her experiences had led her to this point, she completed her Thrive Primary Practitioner training in January 2013 and had a key role in embedding and developing Thrive in the school. She is passionate about Thrive and has seen some amazing developmental journeys using the Thrive Approach with children and families.

Diane is now delighted to join the Thrive team as a Regional Co-ordinator and is looking forward to this new phase in her career.

Lucy recently joined the team as a training co-ordinator in February 2016 to assist team manager Kirsty Crowe in the organisation and administration of Thrive training courses. Lucy has over 6 years’ experience of project management and planning within the renewable energy industry.

Lucy is delighted to be joining Thrive and to be contributing her experience to the team.

Lee has been a teacher for 20 years in schools across England and Wales. During that time, she held the positions of SENCO, Leader for Learning, Foundation Phase Leader and, for the last eight years, Behaviour Support Coordinator for a local authority.

In addition to her practical experience in education, Lee has a BA Hons QTS in English Literature and Media, as well as a BSc Hons in Social Policy and Social Sciences. This combination of practical and academic experience gives her a broad understanding and knowledge of the complex issues that families face.

In 2014, Lee was part of the first cohort of Thrive Licensed Practitioners to train in Wales. Putting Thrive into practice with pupils, families and schools, she was amazed by the powerful impact that it had and decided to train as a trainer as a result. In February 2016, she gained her licence as a Thrive Trainer and, in May 2016, was delighted to join the Thrive team as Regional Development Co-ordinator for Wales. In this role, she hopes to continue the work of improving outcomes and life chances for all.

Laura joined the Thrive team in February 2016, and works closely with Marketing & Communications Manager Jen White to help promote Thrive to a wider audience.

After studying Graphic Communication at University, Laura went on to work at creative agencies, as well as in-house for companies in the food and healthcare industries. Her career has continued to build her knowledge of marketing and design, and she enjoys utilising her creative skills in her role at Thrive.

Anna joined Thrive in August 2016 and assists HR Manager, Nicki Courtney, with the department’s day-to-day administration.

Prior to starting at Thrive, Anna has predominantly worked in the construction industry and has over 10 years’ experience in Administration. Anna is delighted to be part of the Thrive Team and is looking forward to contributing her experience and supporting the business.

Sam joined the Thrive team in July 2016 and works across the departments, assisting in daily administration and the running of Thrive training courses.

Prior to joining Thrive Sam studied Spanish and Linguistics at University followed by a brief stint in the Merchant Navy before relocating to Devon. She looks forward to the next chapter in her career and is delighted to be part of the Thrive team.

Kate joined the Thrive team in April 2016 and carries out the accounts administration for the business. Kate spent over 10 years as a classically trained tailor experiencing all aspects of running a small business before retraining as an Accounting Technician. She has an interest in the sciences as well as mathematics and is particularly interested in the neuroscience of the Thrive Approach and the holistic nature of social development.

Claire joined Thrive in October 2016 as a member of the Thrive-Online Team.

Prior to joining Thrive, Claire worked in a recruitment agency within the offshore oil and gas industry. After studying psychology at university, she had an apprenticeship at an early learning centre working with infants through to preschool.

Claire is originally from Boston, USA and after spending 5 months in London, she decided to move to the UK once she finished her degree. She is thoroughly enjoying living in the UK, excited to be a part of the Thrive team and getting back into the industry that she is passionate about.