Spring to Life is a small company of professionals offering an outreach service for improving well-being to people of all ages, all walks of life, and their communities. We are:
Philippa Allenby – Director
Liz Wright – Director
Liz Wright has a background in teaching music to children especially young ones, which has given her an added interest in movement and dance. From there she studied Educational Kinesiology (Edu-K), a systematic process of redressing energy imbalances within the body, particularly those associated with emotional stress. She has created a programme based on an Edu-K Three Dimensional Balance that also incorporates some yoga, reflex work and visualisation. It is called Gentle Gym as it accommodates people with frailties and movement restrictions as well as those who can move around freely.
Liz has found the natural outdoors is a great place for learning through movement and spends much of her time running outdoor well-being sessions and family learning sessions with Highbury Orchard Community CIC, where she is a director.
Felipe Molina – Director
Felipe Molina is a practitioner within our eco-therapy programme, a Reading for Well-being practitioner and a project coordinator. He believes that people can find much personal healing through contact with nature in its many forms. With a strong interest in the new field of ecopsychology and ecotherapy, Felipe believes in the interrelationship between personal and planetary healing. His professional background is psychology and particularly psycho-social therapy and has worked in mental health for over 15 years, in a wide range of settings. His other interest is in community well-being and resilience. He has been involved in the development of Food Forest Brum and Mother Gardens projects. Outside of Spring to Life he is involved in Kushinga Community Garden – working with refugees and migrants growing food and connecting with local communities.
Dawn Theophilus – Director
Dawn is an integrative counsellor with a background in nursing. She adopts a ‘one size does not fit all’ approach and as such uses several models of therapy enabling adaptation to client’s specific needs, uniqueness and individuality. Dawn works with a wide variety of issues ranging from every day stresses to more complex issues. She works in several settings including GP surgeries and runs her own private practice. Her passion is people! Her aims are to enable people to grow, gain self-awareness, to empower people to become free to be the best version of themselves that they can be.
Wai-Ling Bickerton – Director
Wai-Ling has a broad range of clinical and social interests. Her passion is for individuals to experience compassion, to realise their potentials and have a fulfilling life, despite the challenges they have experienced. She obtained her professional qualifications in Occupational Therapy (HK), Clinical Psychology (UK) and Cognitive Neuropsychology (UK). Her clinical interests are psychological therapy for trauma, working with individuals with cognitive impairments or learning disability. She studied cognitive profiling and rehabilitation of everyday actions for individuals who have a stroke, acquired brain injury or dementia. Her work in developing training for health professionals worldwide in cognitive screening, and co-founding a social enterprise, Cognition Matters, has gained several awards (the Big Idea Award 2009; the Medici Fellowship 2010; the UnLtd HEFCE Social Enterprise Catalyst Award 2010). Since then, she divides her time between the NHS, Spring to Life and her independent practice. Spring to Life inspires her with its diverse and innovative efforts in building community well-being at the grassroots.
Anne Roche – Director
Anne has spent the last thirty years working with primary school age children, as a teacher, a church children’s pastor, and more recently as a mentor and counsellor. She is passionate about helping children from all backgrounds and faiths to understand and talk about their emotions in order to improve their wellbeing. She uses games, stories and play to build a therapeutic relationship of trust in order for the child to feel confident to address painful issues in their lives, such as bereavement or divorce, or to learn how to manage anger and anxiety. She has an MA in Applied Theology (Family Youth and Community Work), a Certificate in Christian Mentoring, and a Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Skills for Working with Children from Place2Be / CPCAB.
Fiona Lenton
Fiona is a qualified counsellor who has been practicing for several years, and is currently working in a G.P. setting. She believes that sometimes, life can throw us challenges we had not anticipated, and at times like this, counselling can be a source of help. She aims to work with you in a secure and non-judgemental way to facilitate resolution to the issues you are dealing with. She collaborates with clients to set realistic goals about what can be achieved in counselling, and explore this in your time together. Fiona has worked with clients on a diverse range of issues including cross-cultural/racial and ethnic minority awareness, spirituality, work-related stress, anxiety, PTSD, domestic violence, sexual abuse, miscarriage and abortion, self-esteem, relationships, gender and identity.
Roland Baskerville
Roland has been in practice as a therapist since 2003. Initially starting off in fitness and gyms before moving more into sports massage and bodywork. As time moved on he became more and more aware of how much mental suffering his clients were experiencing so wanted to offer something to help with this. With Spring to Life Roland offers ear acupuncture sessions with a guided body scan meditation. In my experience I find this the best way of bring a person into a much calmer state and giving them a practice they can take home with them that will help them with there mental wellbeing. I also offer a gentle form of body work called bowen therapy that encourages a persons body to reset and repair itself. Different strokes for different folks.
Kurly McGeachie
Kurly is a 3 time shortlisted Birmingham Poet Laureate finalist – an active performance poet and rapper specialising in helping to develop self confidence, emotional literacy and reading skills. He has been a mentor and an English Teacher at a Pupil Referral Unit in Birmingham and now mainly works (freelances) in schools and various community organisations throughout the U.K.
Gillian Lever
Gillian has practiced as an artist and art therapist for over 25 years. She has offered ‘Art for Wellbeing’ sessions with Spring to Life since 2015 and enjoys working with individuals as well as small groups. Image ‘language’ comes before verbal language. Play, metaphoric and symbolic thinking are universal human behaviours which can be utilised as powerful problem solving strategies. Experimentation with art materials can help improve self-esteem and enable people to find new ways to express themselves and tell their stories. Art making can also help people to ‘stand back’ from and learn new ways to deal with challenging feelings. Emotional intelligence is about neither having to deny feelings or be overwhelmed by them.
“All art is the process of looking in and looking out.”
Roger Ackling (Artist)
Gillian is Co-Founder of Lever Arts a Birmingham based arts organisation which seeks to work soulfully with materials, people and places.
Jaci Smith
Jaci is passionate about working with individuals and with groups to improve their health and wellbeing. Believing there is a dynamic interplay between healing the body and healing the mind, she works intuitively to combine aspects of both for maximum impact. A qualified Dru yoga teacher, aromatherapist and massage therapist and meditation teacher, Jaci previously worked as a nursefor 15 years. With over 30 years’ experience in conflict resolution and group dynamics, she is also a mediator, group facilitator and trainer in communication skills.
Initially seeing them as separate aspects of her work, personal and professional experience has led her to integrate them in the workshops and sessions she provides and to encourage participants to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing and to recognise the impact of their choices.
Relevant website: https://druyoga.com/yoga/what-is-dru-yoga
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Amelia Sommers
Amelia trained as a dancer before completing her Masters in Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP). Since then she has worked nationally and internationally with a wide range of clientgroups. Amelia’s approach draws from a variety of art forms alongside movement to initiate connections between the mind and the body. She enjoys spreading joythrough her work and helping individuals realise their creative potential.
For more information go to www.ameliasommers.com.
Calvert Lawson
Calvert Lawson is a Midlands-based musician, youth worker and African percussionist. He is of Jamaican origin, enjoys working with young people and is experienced in working with challenging behaviours and special needs. He has delivered African drumming workshops for around 18 years in schools, at community events and at public gatherings and has worked as drum facilitator for a local authority in Wolverhampton for the last 8 years.
For more information go to: www.kalillodrumming.co.uk
Steve Parkes
Vicki Townsend
Vicki provides Drama for Confidence and Wellbeing workshops for Spring to life, using drama games and techniques to help people find their voice, build confidence and experience a safe space to express themselves and their ideas creatively.
Vicki’s training is in Applied Drama and Education, and Biblical and Intercultural Studies. She is an experienced Community Drama Practitioner and Facilitator. Vicki has developed projects with a variety of community groups including Refugees, Prisoners, Youth, Churches, the elderly, and those suffering with mental health conditions. More recently, Vicki has worked on a pioneering community arts project in Cuba, reconciling generations, improving personal and community confidence and creativity, and providing low level trauma healing, and is providing creative input to address and advocate for Women’s issues at an upcoming United Nations Women’s Commission Conference.
Lorraine Hutchinson
Lorraine works in both private practice and within non-profit charitable organisations. She is a qualified integrative counsellor. Her approach is a blend of person centred, CBT and psychodynamic therapy. She provides both short term & long term therapy dependent on individual need.
Lorraine’s aim is to always work in a way that supports anti-discrimination, equality and diversity. She works within a variety of multi faith/cultural environments and has in-depth knowledge and understanding of working with people from all walks of life. She offers a safe, welcoming and confidential space for you to address your concerns at your own pace. Lorraine works with a variety of issues including low self confidence, depression, and anxiety to issues relating to severe trauma. She specialises in trauma related issues i.e. abuse, sexual violence, FGM and human trafficking, and many other types of emotional and psychological conditions.