“Our journey started when we trained together as primary school teachers to fulfil our desire to work with children to reach their potential. We were both keen to bring our creative, expressive flair to our teaching career and chose creative writing and drama as our major subject.

This area of the curriculum, we believed could be a vehicle to use our understanding of psychology and work with the children not only academically but socially, emotionally and morally as well.

Disheartened by the opportunities provided by the curriculum back then, we simultaneously embarked on different career paths which enabled each of us to pursue our interest in the psychology of mind and behaviour.

Kerry

I am married with two girls of primary school age.  We enjoy an active lifestyle with a love of the outdoors, nature and being creative.

I qualified as a primary school teacher in 1999 but found that teaching wasn’t for me at this time.  I have always had an interest in spiritual wellbeing and how the mind works which led me to a career in the voluntary mental health field, working with adults with a variety of severe and enduring mental health issues.  I began my mental health career as a community worker.  I set up a Women’s Service, managed a residential home, therapy service, a specialist deaf therapy service and day opportunities across the city.  I was also responsible for internal and external training. I have worked with clients who had experienced Domestic Violence, abuse, trauma, bullying, self harm, psychosis, anxiety and depression.  I worked with groups and individuals using a variety of person centred and therapeutic techniques, including story work and drama.  Following this, I chose to focus on my training and now develop and deliver and variety of courses across the country.

Relevant Qualifications:

• Human Givens – ‘Stories That Heal’, ‘Guided Imagery & Visualisation’ ‘Understanding Anxiety’
• NVQ4 Care Managers award
• City & Guilds Level 3 – Certificate in community Mental Health Care.
• IOSH health and safety
• Skills for Therapists and Group Facilitators Course – ‘Just What We need’
• Mental Health First Aid England Instructors Course
• BEd Honors QTS (Creative English and Drama major)

Alison

Ever since I was a child I have loved the outdoors. A normal day for us was splashing in streams, climbing trees and making mud pies. We explored forests, ran through corn fields and went skiing. Our minds were allowed to be creative and we were inspired by our surroundings. Through our love of the outdoors our creativity and mental well-being was able to thrive. As an adult I have continued to spend much of my time in the outdoors and my first real employment was working abroad with youth groups and schools at activity centres in Italy and France. I was a qualified teacher for Kayaking and canoeing as well as teaching archery, rock climbing and team building. After 3 years abroad I was ready for a new challenge and returned to the UK to gain qualifications in childcare. I worked in a nursery for 5 years before joining Wizzleworld.

Relevant Qualifications:

• NVQ3 Childcare
• First Aid Training
• Safeguarding
• Outdoor Activity Instruction

Kelly

I have a daughter who is just starting school.  She is a very expressive little girl and we can often be found singing and dancing in our living room!

My teaching experience began when I qualified with a B.Ed (Honours) from Birmingham University in 1999.  From this I worked as a primary school teacher for approximately 3 years.  I took a career break in 2002 to travel around the world, gaining a wealth of experience of different cultures along the way!  Upon my return, I joined West Midlands Police as a Police Constable.  I worked within inner city Birmingham, gaining experience of working with a people from such diverse ethnic backgrounds.  I learnt so much about the challenges of life and it enabled me to view life from different perspectives.  Following on from this, I joined the Probation Service and worked with both offenders and victims of crime.  Working with victims enabled me to experience the impact that crime has upon an individual and their families. I also set up an innovative Restorative Justice Programme to help offenders make amends for their crime, through mediation with their victims.

Aside from my relevant work experience, I have a keen interest in spiritual wellbeing, having qualified in Reiki Healing and Indian Head Massage, and also enjoy creative pursuits.

Relevant Qualifications:

• Bed (Honours) English with Drama QTS.
• Qualified Police Constable
• Motivational Interviewing

Our work with disadvantaged groups has led us time and time again to confirm our knowledge that in order to be an effective, emotionally intelligent adult it is necessary to develop appropriate life skills in childhood. Having our own children has highlighted how challenging it is to parent in this ever changing world and filter the external influences and messages they are exposed to. Our professional experiences have revealed that for many reasons some parents struggle to provide the environment, opportunities and interactions that their children need to flourish. As educators, we are also aware of the opportunities and barriers presented by the classroom, curriculum, time constraints and resources to address such issues and nurture the development of life skills.

That’s the serious bit over… we did say we were creative…

Many boiled kettles and empty cups later we have developed a programme to take children on a journey in which we will provide opportunities to explore and develop appropriate skills for the foundations of life. We are excited to bring together a combination of our professional experiences, creative flair and spiritual practices to form Wizzleworld Dramatics, which is brought to life by our wise, friendly wizard, Mr Wizzle and the antics of his many friends from around the world. Some of our explorers even get the opportunity to visit Mr Wizzle in his magical forest setting, ‘Wizzle Wood’.

Wizzleworld Dramatics will develop children’s confidence and wellbeing through creative expression, movement and drama through the magic of story.”