Who We Are

Lucy Bailey

Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder

Lucy Bailey is Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Bounce Forward. She is proud of her beginnings as a youth worker and her 17 years of experience of working in, developing, reforming and managing children’s services. Over the last twelve years Lucy has focused on education and has been instrumental in embedding resilience curricular in schools and services across the UK. Her passion is to drive a movement to influence UK policy around education to form a positive system of change. Lucy directed the Healthy Minds research project, has an MSc in Practice Based Research, a BSc in Social Policy and Criminology, and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education.

Dr Julie Harris

Head of Research & Evaluation

Julie is an applied social researcher who specialises in evaluation research and is Principal Research Fellow and Evaluation Manager with the University of Bedfordshire. She has a particular interest in theory driven approaches that recognise the importance of individual agency, capture complexity and emergence in systems change and that prioritise partnership and iterative learning throughout the evaluation process. Julie has a Professional Doctorate (D Prof) in Children and Young People’s Services and a Masters (MA) in Management in the Public and Voluntary Sectors. She has particular experience in evaluating local authority children’s services, local safeguarding systems and the role that the third sector brings to social welfare intervention and support. Julie has a special interest in co-produced approaches to measuring the outcomes of intervention that support bi-directional learning between those providing services and those engaging with them.

Elisha Hamilton

Project Development Manager

Elisha reached out to Bounce Forward during Covid19 to volunteer with us because she is passionate about helping children, young people and the adults around them, thrive. She given her time and energy to our cause for which we are truly grateful. Elisha’s has 7 years working experience in events and project management across a range of sectors. An exceptional communicator, Elisha is skilled in developing relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Fluent in Spanish, experience of working for global organisations in international roles, and certified in business strategy development, lead generation and recruitment. Elisha relishes the opportunity of bringing her business experience, her flexibility of thought and creative approach to respond to the demands of her management role for Bounce Forward.

Lara Sengupta

Equal Futures Project Director

Lara reached out to Bounce Forward with the idea of developing an anti-racism course for young people based in the UK. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and her own experiences of racism in the UK, Lara wanted to team up with Bounce Forward to create a breakfast club that delivers a combination of anti-racism skills combined with resilience and lessons in self-belief. Equal Futures Breakfast Club was created with the goal of providing a space for children of all ethnicities to build skills to create a positive and equal future for themselves and for the rest of their generation. Lara has 8 years working experience including work for charities, providing marketing consultancy for a range of businesses, and most importantly running her own social enterprise helping to combat human trafficking in India. Lara developed the wellness business as a sole founder and was one of the first ever social enterprises to be presented on Dragons Den in 2017. Lara has experience working globally with charities, running independent projects and is thrilled with the opportunity to work with Bounce Forward.

Rob Stevens

Marketing Executive – Pro Bono

Rob is experienced at running target-driven direct and digital marketing campaigns. Rob is helping drive Bounce Forward’s step-change in public awareness, increasing member engagement through the creation of innovative and effective communications. "Supporting Bounce Forward with marketing has three fold benefits for me; not only am I making a valuable contribution to a charity dedicated to improving children’s mental health, I am also getting to develop new marketing skills outside the corporate world whilst improving my well-being by learning about resilience. If Covid taught me anything, is that we could all do with being more resilient."

Jenny Ashworth

Fundraising & Grants Executive

Jenny has worked in education for twenty years, most recently as a senior leader at one of England’s largest Further Education Colleges. Jenny has extensive experience of teaching and learning at all ages and stages (including within prisons) before moving into leadership roles. She has held Governor and Trustee roles in local schools, providing her with insight and experience across all aspects of the education sector. Jenny recently took the decision to spend more time with her two young children and was delighted to be able to take the opportunity to volunteer for Bounce Forward and has been vital in writing grant and funding applications. Jenny has seen first-hand the impact on young (and older) people the impact of a lack of resilience and is delighted to be able to support the charity in their work building these skills.

Shenel Shefik

Partnerships Development Executive

Shenel has 8 years experience as Head of Psychology and lead on PSHE in a variety of settings, including state and private schools, faith and secular environments. It was Shenel’s training in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy in 2013 and her regular yoga practice which switched her focus in the classroom to students wellbeing rather than the academic material. Her proven track record of running outstanding departments is underpinned by her belief that to raise attainment, you must teach social and emotional skills. Shenel has a Masters of Education from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in Psychology from London University. She has practical experience of embedding mindfulness in schools, delivering training and support to teachers, and facilitating workshops on how to develop healthy minds. Shenel is a mum of two girls and is an experienced yoga practitioner. Shenel connected Bounce Forward and Think Equal because she saw the synergy between the two organisations. She is dedicating her time as a volunteer during the early stages of the partnership to drive the roll out and growth of the Bounce Forward Think Equal Programme to schools across the UK. The collective aim is to achieve a global system change through professional holistic training of teachers, empowering them to mediate social emotional learning as a core purpose of early years education, which will enable future generations to empathise with their diverse and changing worlds.

Daniela Sarti

Marketing Consultant – Pro Bono

Daniela is the Marketing Director of Salamanca Group and is providing pro-bono consultancy to assist with our growth plans. Throughout her career she has volunteered in the not-for-profit sector , giving charities the tools to build their business and manage their own successful communication strategies. “Throughout our lives, we experience hardship and stress. Having the mental strength to cope and overcome is a vital life skill we should be teaching our kids. Bounce Forward have a key role to play in our children’s development and I am honoured to help Lucy and the team make the biggest impact possible."

Lucienne Miller

Armed Forces Associate

Lucienne delivered business training on behalf of the Princes Trust for almost a decade. Her work here set her on the path to finding evidence based and science backed to help people in everyday situations take control of their mental well-being. Lucienne has a degree in philosophy, a long background in youth work, is a military spouse and mum to four young children. She is passionate about taking resilience and well-being education into the very heart of the military. Using resilience education to teach essential skills to the children and families of all those serving both at home and overseas. Lucienne runs her own business, Ebb&Flow Global from her home overseas, and first contacted Bounce Forward as she wanted to help her children develop their resilience and well-being in the midst of Covid when they also had the added hurdle of being military children posted overseas.

Central Team

Lucy Bailey

Dr Julie Harris

Elisha Hamilton

Lara Sengupta

Rob Stevens

Jenny Ashworth

Shenel Shefik

Daniela Sarti

Lucienne Miller

Trustees

Martin Bellamy

Sharon Waterman

Lord David Triesman

Advisory Board

Kate Smith

Headteacher, Monk's Walk School

Who We Are

Central Team

Lucy Bailey

Lucy Bailey

Dr Julie Harris

Dr Julie Harris

Elisha Hamilton

Elisha Hamilton

Lara Sengupta

Lara Sengupta

Rob Stevens

Rob Stevens

Jenny Ashworth

Jenny Ashworth

Shenel Shefik

Shenel Shefik

Daniela Sarti

Daniela Sarti

Lucienne Miller

Lucienne Miller

Trustees

Martin Bellamy

Martin Bellamy

Sharon Waterman

Sharon Waterman

Lord David Triesman

Lord David Triesman

Advisory Board

Kate Smith

Headteacher, Monk's Walk School

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