At 23 I was a baptist minister, having trained at London Bible College. 

At 30 I left the Church and worked in a homeless shelter. 

I was promoted to be a manager and set up a nationally award winning hostel for the homeless in Nottingham. Our mantra was "more than a bed" and we created a number of initiatives that creatively helped clients realise that they were assets rather than liabilities. 

In 2002 I left that Charity to found my own social enterprise which offered support to people with mental health issues. That organisation grew to have 10 services and over 50 staff. We won a number of national awards including Employer of the Year at the National Business Awards. 

I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts for my commitment to social justice and social enterprise.

In 2009 I left that social enterprise to form Aspiren Ltd (www.aspiren.net). We offer a range of services including training & consultancy.

I train on a number of areas related to working with people, such as:

• working with grief and loss
• service user involvement
• managing volunteers
• setting up a social enterprise