Thrive team

Fay joined the Thrive team in October 2018 to oversee the marketing operation, helping Thrive to spread the news about the Thrive Approach and the positive impact it can have in supporting the emotional and social wellbeing of children and young people.

A strategic marketing professional, with over 30 years’ experience of marketing – predominantly in the education sector – Fay is passionate about customer service, reputation and brand management, and the use of plain English!

Viv’s career in education provided her with the opportunity to teach across the age range and often in schools in challenging circumstances. Having specialised in early years and SEN Viv was thrilled to take on leadership roles as SENCO, then assistant head, deputy head and eventually into headship. As an Executive Headteacher Viv was asked to lead a school out of a Special Measures category which included embedding Thrive as a core approach and tool to improve every area of practice.

Alongside these roles Viv 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. She was part of the team that developed a Co-operative Trust and a Multi Academy Trust.

After successfully introducing Thrive into two of the schools where she had been headteacher she was thrilled to join the team, originally as Regional Development Manager for the North of England in September 2015 before moving to become Head of Innovation and Thrive’s Principal Trainer.

As part of the work Viv continues to be involved in she is excited to develop Thrive practice by working with teams to create and develop training materials, delivery methods, resources and opportunities. She feels very privileged to work with, train and develop our team of exceptional trainers.

Currently Viv works alongside schools as a Director of a MAT and also is a local authority foster carer leading a Mockingbird constellation. Viv is endlessly passionate about supporting other professionals to embed Thrive practice, reaching as many children and families as possible.

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 join the team in September 2015 as the role of Relationship Manager. She continues to share her experience and knowledge with other professionals to develop their Thrive practice and support children. Dani now works across the Regional Development Manager and Practice and Innovation teams, as well as continuing to be a Trainer.

Faith joined the Thrive team in October 2021 as Regional Development Manager to continue the work of raising the profile of the organisation further and providing access to the Thrive portfolio to more clients.

She is passionate about improving the wellbeing of children, young people and their families. She has a corporate career background and has also worked with a charity delivering courses, helping people to take action for a happier and kinder world. During her career she has developed skills in coaching, mentoring and training people and recognises the positive impact of developing skills and tools around emotional resilience

Passionate about supporting children’s development, Elizabeth made the leap from a successful sales and marketing career in New York City to education in Norfolk in 2009.

Elizabeth was first introduced to Thrive while working in a Special Resource Base for children with SEMH needs in 2015.  Seeing Thrive make such a difference in the lives of these children impassioned Elizabeth, forging a love for neuroscience and all things attachment aware – the building blocks to help children be the best they can be.

Elizabeth become a Licensed Practitioner in 2016 and introduced and embedded Thrive in a large Norfolk primary school.  She achieved QTS status in 2019 and then used the Thrive Approach to lead social and emotional development as SEMH Lead. Elizabeth incorporated the Thrive ethos into the school’s Forest School practice and has served as school governor supporting and challenging senior leaders to strategically meet the needs of the children.  Thrive’s relational ethos has been key in Elizabeth’s support of children, families and staff throughout the pandemic.

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.

Claire joined Thrive in October 2016 as a member of the Thrive-Online Team. Claire is currently the Acting Member Services Manager whilst Kate Middleton is on maternity leave.

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, being a part of the Thrive team and getting back into the industry that she is passionate about.

Charlotte joined Thrive in July 2017 and is delighted to support the team in maintaining an excellent member experience.

In 2008 Charlotte moved to the United States where she attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, obtaining a degree in Theatre. Since graduating Charlotte has worked in various fields from Voice acting to Customer service, and most recently as an Elementary school Teaching Assistant.

Charlotte is thrilled to join the Thrive team as her first job back in the UK after many years.

Jo joined Thrive in November 2014 after working in a variety of different industries since the start of her career.

For many years she has worked to support Thrive’s regional team, and to welcome new settings to Thrive and support them in embedding the approach successfully. She has now joined the Member Services team in order to support our Thrive trainers and Practitioners with the incredible work that they do.

Patricia joined Thrive in August 2017 as a Training Co-ordinator after relocating from London to Plymouth.

Patricia has more than 10 years experience of organising a wide range of courses and conferences for membership organisations and charities. She looks forward to contributing this experience to Thrive and to getting involved in the organisation.

Megan joined the team at Thrive in October 2017 as a Training Operations Assistant, after working as a Rentals Negotiator for an Estate Agent for 3 years.

After completing her exams in 2011, Megan moved to Portugal with her family and worked for a Property Management Company.

Megan is thrilled to be working alongside her colleagues at Thrive and hopes to contribute the skills she has acquired and support all her team workers.

Rose began her career in Education as a Secondary Teacher of Religious Education, PSHE and Drama and quickly became drawn to working with young people with SEMH needs. Rose became a support teacher following her NQT year working alongside the SENCO to receive training and gain further experience. Rose quickly observed the transformative effect of securely building trusting relationships with pupils with attachment and SEMH needs.

Rose worked with multi-agency teams to support LAC pupils and those with complex needs. She did some outreach specialist advisory work with the local PRU and worked collaboratively with CAMHS teams.

Rose moved into Pastoral Leadership and Whole School development of whole school SEMH provision and well-being. Rose later joined the Extended Senior Leadership Team and became a Staff Governor, focussing on Inclusion, Behaviour, Safeguarding, Attendance and Well-Being, working towards improving outcomes for vulnerable young people and families.

In 2016 Rose became a Thrive Practitioner and lead the implementation of Thrive in her setting. Rose became a Thrive Trainer in 2017 and came to work for Thrive full time in 2018.

Lia joined Thrive in March 2019 as Content and Publications Editor. As a member of the Research and Development team, Lia is involved in developing resources and content for Thrive training courses and publications.

Prior to joining Thrive, Lia spent several years working as a creative psychotherapist for children, young people and adults in the south-west. She has an MA in Dramatherapy and a post-graduate certificate in Environmental Arts Therapy (working creatively outdoors).

Lia also spent several years in Brazil, where she taught English as a Foreign language and then worked as Content Development Manager for an online English language learning platform. Lia has contributed and edited English language training materials for international publishers. She also speaks fluent Brazilian Portuguese and worked for several years as a translator and proofreader.

Working in the Research and Development team at Thrive has enabled Lia to combine the skills and knowledge from her backgrounds in therapy and writing to support Thrive to deliver its message and help all children to develop socially and emotionally whatever their start in life – something she is passionate about.

Leonie joined the Thrive marketing team in June 2019 and helps to promote Thrive to a wider audience.

After studying English Literature and Language at university, Leonie went on to work in marketing for an international school, where she also trained to teach English as a foreign language. Leonie later moved to an academic publishing company where she helped to promote digital resources to universities across the UK and Europe.

In her role at Thrive, Leonie enjoys utilising her creativity and writing skills through our social media channels and blog posts.

Laura joined the Thrive team in February 2016.

After studying Graphic Communication at University, Laura went on to work at creative agencies, as well as in-house for companies in the organic 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.

Grissel Joined the Thrive finance team in December 2020  as a Finance Coordinator.

With 10 years of experience within the Finance department of a worldwide online sports retailer, administrative roles in the service, engineering & manufacturing sectors together with experience in the care sector; Grissel hopes to bring new energy and make a positive impact to her role in Thrive.

Grissel is very excited to join Thrive team as she feels passionate about the work that Thrive does, she  believes a good start in life is the key to a better future.

When Grissel is not at work she enjoys learning new languages, cooking and spending time with her husband, children and  their beloved dog Vinnie.

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 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.

Angie joined Thrive in November 2021 as a Bookings Assistant having worked in Customer Services since the beginning of her career.

She is delighted to be part of an organisation that strives to help all children, both socially and emotionally and is excited to develop her role within the company.

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.