Leanne

Following completing a BSc degree in criminology & youth justice studies I have spent the last 15 years working with young people and young adults, many of whom are facing extremely challenging circumstances. From working in a variety of youth hostels, private care homes to devising & delivering alternative to custody programs for young offenders, I have been lucky enough to work with some amazing people, in all different types of settings and have used a wide variety of creative & lifeskills activities to engage & support people (particularly young people and young adults aged 13 - 25) indentify and overcome barriers and improve their resilience and life circumstances.

Over the years I have had the great fortune to work with a variety of incredibly talented musicians and creative people; hrough combining our skills we have developed and delivered some really successful projects that have utilised our passions for using music and creativity to enable people (in particular those that have slipped through the net or the system has failed in some way) have access to meaningful and inspiring creative opportunities that motivate them to realise their potential and raise their aspirations. 

Having previously dabbled in making music myself & having trained as an Arts Award advisor I recognised how the 'arts' can be a fantastic vessel to enable disengaged young people to re-engage in learning.  In 2009 I worked on a joint summer arts project with Moon & the SEND Project team, after which I joined forces with them to help expand their work using the Arts Award with young people facing significant challenge.

Since then I have worked for the SEND Project in many guises & as the Director of Education I now develop and manage a variety of educational programmes, all of which use creativilty as a vessal to support personal and holisitic development. 

In my developement role I am also responsible for funding, safeguarding and personnel support and ensure that not only do we meet all the needs of our ever expanding team of staff & volunteers, learners, service users & partners but also that all our endeavours are positive, successful and support the continued growth of SEND and all its beneficiaries.