The journey of faith is a precious, life-giving, challenging, compelling journey and it is a privilege for me to offer quiet, creative, reflective, prayerful spaces in which Christians can explore and deepen their own journeys... My interests, training and background all flow into my work as a retreat leader and spiritual director:

I'm an experienced retreat giver and worked at the ecumenical Tabor Retreat Centre in Preston, Lancashire, which involved leading retreats, events exploring spirituality, contemplative prayer/meditation and creative liturgy.

Trained in Ignatian spiritual direction, I've accompanied many people during weeks of guided prayer and through one-to-one accompaniment and I also offer accompaniment with the wonderful Spiritual Exercises.

Trained as a labyrinth facilitator, the labyrinth for me, is a safe, sacred space of mindful walking, a place to release, relax and receive, a pathway to the divine. I've sought to offer this beautiful space through many labyrinth events for groups of all ages in various educational and faith contexts. Offering labyrinth training to others has included working with schools, chaplains, churches and individuals wanting to explore this ministry. 

Having studied Theology at Cambridge, I then completed an MPhil at Manchester University, while developing a local theology in the context of working for my church as a street theologian on a marginalised housing estate in Blackburn, Lancashire.

I'm a trained teacher and have worked in secondary, further and higher education, including as Head of the Ethics, Philosophy, Religion Department in a secondary school, teaching Religious Studies up to GCSE and A Level. I've also been a teacher trainer in Primary RE. Other training is in counselling and mindfulness.

Theatre and writing are passions of mine and I studied for MAs in Theatre Directing, Writing and TV Production (The Star-Gazer film was shown on Granada TV in 2000). I am trained also trained in Storytelling, which is a wonderful craft. For me, retreats are hugely enhanced by storytelling and theatre, for example I performed a short theatre / storytelling piece entitled 'Desert Mother' in various Christian settings when teaching Christian prayer (see image of me during performance) - theatre can bring parts of our Christian tradition alive and really engage those present. I enjoy writing and have written several plays including Illumination (Durham Cathedral and touring) written in the light of the Lindisfarne Gospel Exhibition, Blackbirds At Dawn, created to raise awareness of human trafficking and Desert Mother, (mentioned above) developed to explore Christian contemplative prayer. I have led creative workshops with all ages and on various themes, including exploring the Gospels through theatre and movement.