Thrive team

Diane began her career in education in 1999. She has worked in Secondary and Primary phases supporting many children and young people with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities, emotional difficulties and highly challenging behaviour. Diane gained HLTA status and went on to hold positions as Deputy to the SENCo/Inclusion Manager, Safeguarding Deputy, Pupil and Family Support and Parent Information Contact. Diane has always been passionate about working in a holistic way to support children, parents and carers with emotional needs and wellbeing.

Diane also held a role for five years at local authority level, as Assistant to Support Staff Adviser, this role included delivering the TDA Teaching Assistant Induction training module on Role & Context, devising and delivering an NQT induction module on Working with Additional Adults in the Classroom and was a member of the East Sussex HLTA selection panel and ran HLTA network meetings.

Diane first heard about Thrive in 2012 at an awareness session and felt immediately that all of her experiences had led her to this point, she completed her Thrive Primary Practitioner training in June 2012 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 was delighted to join the Thrive team in 2016, she is passionate about supporting others to develop their skills as Thrive Practitioners and ensuring schools and services are able to embed the Thrive Approach to improve life chances for children and young people.

Mel has been working with children for over 25 years. She started in a village primary school supporting a child with Downs Syndrome on a 1-1 basis. This led to a job in a special school working with children who had complex needs including ASD and challenging behaviour. Working with children with ASD became a passion and the focus of the next few years. This time included working at a specialist residential setting in Norfolk now known as Acorn Park.

Feeling the need to return to a mainstream setting, Mel became a member of the Behavioural and Emotional Support Team known as BEST at a middle school in Suffolk. Here she enjoyed supporting children who were struggling to engage with learning and took this experience to a school in Norwich before working at a Specialist Resource Base for children with SEMH where her journey with Thrive began. Thrive Training commenced in 2012 and she became a licensed practitioner. Loving this role and wanting to take it to the next stage she completed the training to become a Thrive Trainer in 2018 and then was thrilled to be appointed to the role of Relationship Manager.

Having supported many schools, children and families in Norfolk throughout the SRB Outreach service, she is excited to be taking these relationships to the next stage across the East of England.

Jess joined Thrive in April 2018 after having worked within the education sector for six years both as a teacher and as an advocate for employability skills, building relationships and creating opportunities.
Prior to this Jess was a qualified chef having specialised in Patisserie and ran her own small successful business.
Most recently Jess worked as a coach and tutor helping adults identify and overcome barriers to work and teaching individuals about setting up and running their own business. Jess holds a BA(Hons) degree in Business and a Diploma in Education and Training (with a focus on Special Educational Needs).

Jess works closely alongside the other members of the Business Development Team with a focus on managing client relationships, supporting all clients and the regional teams whilst raising the profile of Thrive. Passionate about removing barriers for children and young people to enable them to reach their full potential, Jess fully embraces the Thrive Approach.

Simone has most recently worked within education for the past nine years and has spent the last seven years as Head of Careers, Enterprise and Work-Related Learning in a secondary school setting as a qualified and registered Careers Advisor.

Simone works alongside the other members of the Business Development team with a focus on supporting all clients and the regional teams. Simone is committed to helping achieve the best outcomes for children, young people and their families and fully embraces the Thrive Approach.

With a passion for the best possible outcomes for children and being keen to develop and support others, Jeannette was delighted to join the Thrive Team as a Member Services Coordinator in August 2017.

Having originally trained as a teacher, Jeannette has since been employed in a variety of industries; the most recent 15 years being within the Early Years sector. Her previous experiences have included working as a Development Coordinator supporting childminders and a Curriculum Manager in a chain of private nurseries.

Katy has over 30 years’ experience of working in customer service within various industries, including hotels, cruise ships and as a Deployment Officer/Call Handler with Devon and Cornwall Police.

Katy was delighted to join Thrive as a Member Services Assistant in February 2018, and very much looks forward to being part of the team and contributing towards an excellent experience for members.

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. Lee has recently taken on the role of Head of Sector and she hopes to continue the work of improving outcomes and life chances for all.

Alistair worked in schools for 10 years. He has a degree in Education and Music and a PGCE in Primary Education. He has also completed the National SENCO Award.

His first post was as a class teacher with a mainstream primary school with a unit for children with a hearing impairment which is where he developed an interest in supporting children with additional needs.

After this, he took up the role of teacher in charge of an enhanced provision for children with social, emotional and mental health needs at an Essex County Council provision called GROW.

Before joining Thrive in February 2020, Alistair was the Inclusion Leader and SENCO at a primary school which had previously been two schools that had both been placed into ‘Special Measures’ by Ofsted. He was part of the team which made rapid improvements and therefore the school was rated ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding Leadership’ by Ofsted after just 3 years. Alistair led the use of the Thrive Approach to improve social and emotional skills, therefore improving behaviour and reducing exclusions. He then helped 12 schools in his academy trust to introduce The Thrive Approach as a Thrive Trainer.

Alistair knows the difference that using The Thrive Approach makes to the lives of children, families and adults working with children so is passionate about helping settings to introduce and then further embed The Thrive Approach.

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 Relationship Manager for the North and Central England.

Chris joined Thrive in April 2019 as Training Operations Assistant, having spent the previous 10 years working varied roles within the hospitality industry.

Much of his experience has been in a training capacity, and he looks forward to contributing his experience to the team.

In September 2019, Chris has taken on a new role as Training Coordinator.

Grace joined the Team as Member Services Co-ordinator in January 2016 and assists members with their continuing professional development and licensing. Grace supports Kate Middleton, Member Services Manager and works alongside Jeannette Allen and Charlotte Cole 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 was delighted to join the team and continue the good work to improve and develop the member experience.

Emma joined the Thrive team in July 2021 as Publications and Content Editor. Before coming to Thrive, Emma worked in as a Senior Production Editor and Content Creation Manager in academic publishing. She has also completed a Master’s degree in English. Emma is looking forward to using her skills in content production and research to help deliver the message of Thrive.

Iola joined Thrive in October 2020 and manages the marketing and communications team who promote the Thrive Approach and its benefit to children and young peoples’ emotional and social wellbeing.

Iola’s marketing experience spans 15 years working in the education sector, firstly within university student recruitment and then the independent school sector.

Iola enjoys the diversity and creativity of marketing and how developments and opportunities constantly arise to further share the impact Thrive can have.

Laura joined the Thrive team in February 2016, and helps to 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.

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 is the proud mother of William.

Zena joined the team in November 2017. Having spent 17 years working for the Magistrates’ Court across administration and finance roles she felt like a change in direction.

With a degree in Psychology she was excited to learn about the Thrive Approach and pleased to have the opportunity to work in the organisation.
Utilising her administrative skills Zena is now the Receptionist / Office Coordinator and responsible for looking after the needs of all the teams.

In her spare time Zena enjoys painting and likes to take part in one off adrenalin sports which have included a parachute jump, paragliding, zip wiring, zorbing and flyboarding.

MSc Gestalt Psychotherapy GPTI; BEd (Hons); Cert and Dip in Counselling; UKCP registered.

Julia is a founding director of Thrive whose passion is understanding how training teachers in emotional development impacts on the behaviour and learning of children and young people. A former teacher, LEA and OFSTED inspector, her experience includes working with LEAs and schools to help them understand how children develop emotionally and socially. She has supported adults in schools and other organisations using Thrive, to trial the materials and to amend them based on information gained directly from users.

Julia was also a psychotherapist who worked with adults, children and young people, and is the co-author of ‘Promoting the Emotional Health and Well-being in Secure Units’ and ‘Promoting Emotional and Social Development in Schools’, as well as the co- creator of various resources addressing emotional health, inclusion, behaviour and the curriculum.