My story started on rock faces. When I was young, I spent time on the gritstone edges of the Peak District, the quarries of Lancashire, the ridges of the Lake District, and the mountains of Eryri. Climbing taught me early lessons: focus on what you can reach, know when to commit, and realise when the direction must change.
When I was seventeen, in 1979, I found myself on a different kind of edge. I lived in an old Bedford Bella Vista coach and travelled with a group of freethinkers and wanderers. Our camps drew an eclectic mix of people passing through: new-age mystics, Hells Angels, Eastern missionaries, and once, even drug smugglers with twenty-seven thousand doses of LSD in their car. This unusual beginning inspired me to explore what lies beyond everyday life and marked the start of a profound career.
After that, I spent many years pursuing practical idealism, always with conviction and often without a safety net.
When I settled, I co-founded Sensible Housing, a group that bought and renovated old terraced houses, then rented them affordably to members. Later, I helped start the Neighbourhood Economic Development Agency, which helped people build livelihoods for themselves and their communities. Both projects shared a key lesson: structures and ownership matter, and those most affected by a problem often know best how to solve it.
The mountains called me back, this time to the European Alps. They were bigger, colder, and much less forgiving than the gritstone edges I knew. Even so, I followed my curiosity.
After that, I worked in Liverpool, focusing on the vast Norris Green and Croxteth housing estates. I worked with council tenants to improve living conditions that many people often ignore. I helped set up the Neighbourhood Services Company, a social business that created real job opportunities and new ways to learn and train. This project was built from within the community, not imposed from outside.
My scuba certification led me to new adventures in the water, allowing me to explore offshore and technical diving throughout the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. The same principle applied: go deeper, stay calm, and trust myself.
My work in co-creating Norris Green Village introduced me to the eco-housing movement at the turn of the millennium. This experience led me to become Managing Director at Beechwood Community Housing Association, a resident-led regeneration company that became one of the most effective of its kind. Eventually, the board decided to merge with a much larger organisation. The attraction of scale took priority over the values of community, and that chapter of my career came to an end.
In the end, I moved to Cornwall, specifically West Cornwall, where the light is distinct, and the Atlantic is always in view.
Here, I trained formally as a coach and earned accreditation from both the Association for Coaching and the International Tarot Foundation. I started my practice drawing on forty years of experience working with people and their systems, from housing cooperatives to mountain teams, from social business to the contemplative, inner traditions I had quietly studied for years.
Reflecting on my experiences, I find a common theme: the terrain we navigate. Whether it’s scaling a rock face, focusing on inner work, exploring underwater, or engaging in a coaching session, the work has similarities. The key steps involve understanding the underlying patterns, pinpointing where the true pressure exists, and developing solutions from that foundation.
What I bring to the field of self-awareness and personal development is not just a set of readily available techniques or systems. I offer a unique perspective gained through deep exploration of community and individual identity, rather than merely scratching the surface of the matrix.
Internationally Qualified & Accredited
