Author list

Steve Oakes has over 20 years' of experience as a teacher and leader, and has been a Head of Sixth Form at two successful schools in the UK and the UAE. As a current Head of Sixth Form, he works closely with students to maximise levels of engagement and commitment, designing high-impact interventions and practical tools for improving academic performance.

Jarlath O'Brien has been a teacher for nearly two decades, working in comprehensive, independent, selective and special education – including in schools for children with social, emotional and behavioural issues and severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties. For the last eight years Jarlath has been a head teacher and executive head teacher.

Jarlath is also a behaviour columnist for TES, has written for The Guardian and for several other education publications and trains teachers on behaviour, school leadership and special educational needs.

Click here to listen in on Jarlath's podcast with Pivotal Education - How to be a great leader in a special school'.

Click here to read Jarlath's article in the Guardian in which he discusses how children with special needs are grossly over-represented in exclusion figures.

Click here to listen to Jarlath on Surrey Hills Community Radio's The SEND Show'.

Bill O'Hanlon MS is a Licensed Mental Health Professional, Certified Professional Counsellor, and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. He has authored or co-authored 35 books. He is one of the developers of solution-oriented therapy, counselling people and organisations to help them determine what their goals are and to remove the barriers to their success. He has given over 3,500 seminars or workshops around the world.

Karen Olness MD is Professor of Pediatrics, Global Health and Infectious Diseases at Case Western Reserve University. She is past President of the International Society of Hypnosis, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis and the Society for Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics.

Julie Silverthorn MS and John Overdurf CAC are highly respected international therapists and trainers of hypnotherapy and NLP, with over thirty years of combined experience. They are both certified Master Trainers of NLP and are the developers of Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology, which integrates hypnosis, neuro-linguistics, quantum theory and spirituality. Julie has a master's degree in clinical psychology, while John is a certified addictions counsellor and a former instructor of psychology.

What are we called to do in our lives and how can we discover and express our personal and professional genius and purpose? Not easy questions but Nick has been struggling with and exploring them for himself and with others through his writing, editing, and storytelling, as well as in workshops, seminars and coaching sessions with individuals, educational institutions, professional bodies, organisations, and the arts for the last several decades. These days his primary professional passions catalyse around two areas. Firstly, the development of shared narratives that explore how schools, NGOs, and large organisations would do well to be more fully human, more self-organising and self-managing and less stuck in the old paradigms of autocracy, hierarchy, ego, power and control. Secondly, how can people entering the Third Act of their lives see their future less as a surrender into retirement and more as an opportunity to transition into a generative and creative period of contribution and personal exploration of their life's true purpose? In a whole variety of exciting ways, these two areas are both evolutionary and deeply interconnected.

 

 

Roger P. Allen Dp Hyp PsyV is a practising hypnotherapist based in Portsmouth, UK. He constantly seeks to improve therapeutic practice by integrating into his sessions a wide range of established and experimental techniques and theories.

Natalie Packer is an education consultant specialising in SEND and school improvement. Having previously worked for the National Strategies SEN team and as a local authority adviser, Natalie has a significant amount of experience within this area of the education sector. She runs a range of professional development courses, carries out SEND reviews and supports a range of multi-academy trusts across the country with their strategic development of SEND provision.

As Executive Director at Restorative Thinking, Lesley Parkinson supports a restorative education for all (including pupils, children, parents and carers, workforce professionals, young and adult offenders), promoting key life skills in restorative practice via training programmes and consultation.

Torsten Payne is a full-time teacher with over twenty years' experience. He values practical strategies that work in the classroom and small changes that make a big difference. A regular contributor to teaching publications and national conferences, he delivers staff training across all key stages in schools across Europe.

Jo Payne is a Deputy Head Teacher. Although she specialised in primary languages during her teaching degree, she is particularly interested in how technology can enhance pupils' learning. She writes a blog, MrsPTeach, on which she shares ideas about many subjects within education, including: feedback and marking, whole-class reading and maintaining a healthy work'life balance as a teacher @MrsPTeach.

Click here to read Jo Payne’s blog.

Louise Pearce is an experienced teacher of French and has been a head of department. She has worked as a language teaching advisor with CILT Cymru, working with businesses and schools in business languages. She has had extensive experience as an examiner and as a CPD presenter.