Why I Do This Work

I have experienced and seen what happens when people are unseen.

And I have seen what happens when someone finally takes the time to truly support them.

I have worked alongside young people who were told education was not for them, until belief and practical support made a different future possible. I have supported students who were shrinking inside systems that did not fit them, until confidence returned and they found their voice again.

I have walked with people who were rebuilding stability, redefining success and creating opportunities for themselves and their families where none seemed available before.

What changed things was not coaching alone.

It was safety. It was being heard, supported, and believed in.
It was having someone willing to stay present, challenge gently and not look away.

The Bigger Mission

Coaching and mentoring change lives. They shouldn’t be a luxury reserved for people with time, money or confidence.

They are powerful tools for resilience, possibility and change, and they should be accessible to the people who need them most.

Founding Futures CIC exists to challenge systems that gatekeep support and to create alternatives that are grounded in dignity, evidence and importantly, real life.

This work is about building futures where:

• Young people are supported to shape their own path

• Workers, returners and rebuilders move forward with confidence

• Aspiring entrepreneurs are not shut out by cost or complexity

• Families are not carrying everything alone

• Communities grow stronger through connection and care

This is not charity.

It is purpose.
It is responsibility.
It is doing things differently, because what exists is not enough.

Behind the Work

Founding Futures CIC feels like the work I was always meant to do. It’s not separate from who I am, instead it’s an expression of lived experience, professional practice and a deep belief people deserve support that’s accessible and rooted in dignity. It is bold, values-led and deeply human.

Behind the organisation?

I’m many things: a multiple business owner, a knowledge seeker and lifelong learner, a solo parent and mother who has poured herself fiercely into raising her now adult son, a woman who has walked through sleepless nights and still risen into each new day

For many years, I masked. I coped. I kept performing until burnout made the cost impossible to ignore.

I am now navigating life with a late diagnosis of combined ADHD. That means a busy, curious mind, ideas that do not switch off, and constant mental motion. It also comes with real challenges that are often missed, especially for young people who learn to hide their struggles to fit in.

This experience shapes how I work. It keeps me alert to what goes unseen, and deeply committed to support that recognises complexity rather than asking people to shrink themselves. I’ve learned to work with my nervous system and ‘spicy’ brain rather than against it, and how to honour difference rather than push it aside.

I share this because I want people to know they are not alone, and because support works best when it sees what is really going on, not just what people manage to hold together and also because honesty, openness, compassion, acceptance and trust are not abstract values for me. I hold them as sacred, because I know what it feels like when they are absent.

All of this lives inside the work of Founding Futures CIC.

This is how I show up.
With care. With courage. With compassion. And with an unwavering commitment to Community, Impact and Change.

Why Me?

I do not bring lived experience alone.

I bring decades of leadership, rigorous professional training, academic learning, and a deep commitment to ethical, evidence based practice.

My work is grounded in accredited coaching and mentoring, academic study, and hundreds of hours spent walking alongside people navigating real life complexity across education, corporate and community settings.

I combine lived experience, professional rigour, disruptive leadership and radical compassion.

That combination matters.

It allows me to offer support that is human, challenging, grounded and safe. Support that does not ask people to shrink, perform or prove themselves in order to belong.

This is not coaching as usual.

It is care with standards.
It is compassion with backbone.
It is work rooted in Community. Impact. Change.

For those who need it, my work is also grounded in accredited training, professional standards and many years of practice.

Credentials & Accreditations

• ICF ACC Accredited Certified Coach

• EMCC (European Mentoring & Coaching Council) EIA Senior Practitioner Accreditation

• mBIT Master Coach & Trainer

• EMCC Professional Member

• ACTP Certified Professional Coach (ICF Level 2)

• NLP Master Practitioner

• Certified Habits Coach

• DISC & Diary Detox Practitioner

🎓 Academic Foundations

• MA (Merit), Coaching & Mentoring Practice

• Award in Education & Training (Level 3)

• Diploma in Marketing

• BSc (Hons), Hotel & Catering Management
  
• About to embark on my Doctoral Pathway 

💡 Specialist Training

• Professional Diploma in Applied Neuroscience

• Counselling Skills (L2)

• Certificate in Suicidal Awareness & Support (L2)

• Mental Health First Aid

• City & Guilds Assured Programme: Gambling & Gaming Awareness Education

• Advanced Training: Designated Safeguarding Lead

🌱 In Progress

• Level 3: Forest School Leader 

• Forest Therapy Practitioner 

• Professional Certification in Neuroscience in Coaching & Brain Health

🧭 Leadership & Experience

• 30+ years in leadership roles

• 20+ years as a business owner

• Thousands of hours coaching and mentoring individuals across education, corporate, and community settings

✨ My Edge

I combine:

• Lived experience (solo parenting, systemic battles, entrepreneurship)

• Professional expertise (ICF, EMCC, academic rigour)

• Disruptive leadership (challenging systems, amplifying voices)

• Radical compassion (trauma-aware, human-first support)

That’s what makes Founding Futures different.
This isn’t coaching as usual.
This is coaching with backbone, compassion, and disruption at its core.
This is Community, Impact. Change.