About Me

A serial juggler, my life is balanced (unevenly!) between being a mum to two amazing teenage daughters; executive trainer and coach; writer; lecturer; presenter; would-be triathlete and occasional singer.

Positive Insights was founded in 2009 after I completed my MSc in Applied Positive Psychology. I reckon I spent the first year of the masters feeling ‘this is obvious; this isn’t unique; this won’t work in Europe” before realising that I was missing something here! Gently putting my natural British pessimism to one side, I ran a year long dissertation project with 8 other executive coaches as we explored the ups and downs of introducing positive psychology to our clients.  After a couple of hundred coaching sessions, our enjoyment (and our client’s satisfaction) was palpable. Whilst we adapted the language and thrust of some of the interventions, we found the results startling and without a doubt, much of the simplicity of positive psychology belies its effect.

Much of what I’ve learned the last 5  years has now been incorporated into my day to day coaching and training practice (another business, http://www.mindspring.uk.com) but I’ve also developed other specialist areas. For instance, together with the University of East London, I developed and  implemented  a Well-Being Curriculum for the Haberdasher’s Aske’s Hatcham College. The best of this will form Ilona (Boniwell)’s and my book this year for secondary school teachers – ‘Personal Well Being Lessons for Secondary Schools: Positive Psychology in Action‘. We’ve also created an Emotional Resilience Curriculum for Newham PCT – SPARK, which is now a solid, and successful, part of the curriculum for five schools in the East End of London. I’m also an Associate Lecturer at the University of East London and specialise in the application of positive psychology to organisations.

At heart, I am simply interested in making a small, but positive, difference to  others. If I achieve that, life’s good!