I have had a lifelong passion for theatre and drama. Since 1988 I have worked as a community drama worker, dramatherapist and lecturer across the West Midlands, with people aged from five to 85, many with learning disabilities, behavioural difficulties or mental health needs.
About Me
My Story
1978
Youth theatre begins
Joined Jigsaw Youth Theatre in Netherton, Dudley, aged 13, little knowing the effect it would have on me. Took part in Youth Theatre festivals and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and joined the National Youth Theatre in 1981.
1988
Drama degree
Graduated in Drama from Bretton Hall College and returned to Jigsaw as a group leader. Began community drama work across the West Midlands, including joint arts work with people with learning disabilities at a local hospital.
1992
MA Educational Theatre
Completed an MA at the University of Leeds. Studying the link between drama and therapy, alongside more and more special needs drama work, led me towards dramatherapy.
1994
Act Up and Open Stage
Co-founded Act Up, a theatre company of mental health service users, and in 1995 helped set up Open Stage, a weekly drama group for adults with learning disabilities.
1996
Qualified dramatherapist
Qualified at the University of Hertfordshire. Worked at the Birmingham Centre for Arts Therapies, then from 1998 for Coventry Primary Care Trust (NHS) in learning disability services and, from 2003, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
2007
Moved from the NHS to work systemically as a therapist for Foster Care Associates, where I stayed for seven years, alongside PhD research at the University of Warwick.
Working sytemically
2012
PhD completed
Completed a PhD in drama education and dramatherapy at the University of Warwick, plus an introductory year in family and systemic therapy. The book based on my research was published by Routledge in 2014. I also set up Creative Solutions Therapy Ltd, my own private practice.
2019
Associate Professor
Became Associate Professor in Therapeutic Arts at the University of Derby. Previously five years as Senior Lecturer at Derby from 2014.
2026
Independent Researcher
Stepped down from Associate Professor Role to run Creative Solutions Therapy and work as a consultant.
Dramatherapy
Dramatherapy is a creative, clinical therapy rooted in theatre and drama. Through improvisation, movement, voice work, scripts, storytelling, mask, ritual, role and theatre games, it helps people explore personal and group issues.
I qualified in 1996 and am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and a full member of the British Association of Dramatherapists. At Coventry Primary Care Trust I helped pioneer a way of working with adults with severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviour, two therapists to one client, alongside music and art therapy colleagues. I also built a caseload of children with emotional and mental health difficulties in CAMHS.
I have sat on the Arts Therapies Research Committee and the BADth research committee, co-organised the 1998 Dramatherapy Conference and was a member of Dramatherapy Midlands. Today I offer dramatherapy through my private practice.
Areas Of My Work
Learning disabilities
Open Stage
My learning disability work began with joint arts work at a local hospital in the late 1980s, then Drama Space in Birmingham and classes in Dudley and Walsall. In 1995 I helped set up Open Stage in Wordsley, near Stourbridge, which grew to over 30 members, carers and volunteers each week. In 2002 I helped launch Junior Open Stage (ages 8–16) with The Orchard Partnership.
Mental health
Act Up Theatre Company
I have used drama in mental health settings since 1989. In 1994 I cofounded Act Up, a company of mental health service users that joined Rethink in 1997 and which I managed until 2003. It made theatre on stigma, employment, young people’s issues and cultural diversity, plus a 38- minute film. I also coordinated DARTS, an arts project with 100 service users.
Youth theatre
Jigsaw Youth Theatre
Youth theatre was the starting point for everything I do now. I joined Jigsaw in 1978, returned as a group leader after my degree and chaired the charity from 1997 to 2004. Jigsaw used to work with over 200 young people a week, using drama to explore social issues and build personal and social skills.
Mixed media
Collaborative Arts
I often work with musicians, artists and dancers. At the 2002 Open Stage summer school, with Chris Grocutt, Tim Jarvis and Laura Simmons, the group helped Victorian explorer Algernon Farquart Livingston Smith escape the jungle, drawing maps, making props and learning dances, in an improvised adventure lasting almost an hour.
Acting & Directing
I have acted and directed since 1978, though my main experience is directing community theatre. Roles include Duke Senior in As You Like It and Geoff in The Dresser (NSDF Cambridge) and productions directed include A Kind of Alaska and a Fairy Tale Trilogy that toured Germany. I have also worked as a supporting artist on Dangerfield, Dalziel and Pascoe and Peak Practice and directed a film on mental health and employment for Act Up.
Writing
As a dramatherapist it’s important to stay in touch with my own art form and writing is one way I do that. Alongside several stage plays in progress, I have written a screenplay, Ocean, a romantic tragedy and am working on a comedy, My Life as a Corpse.