About us

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Jo is the director of The Training Exchange. Jo has a wealth of experience in the development, management and delivery of training. Jo manages the organisation as well as developing and co-ordinating training and consultancy projects, ranging from small community based initiatives to large scale regional and national programmes for Local Authorities, NHS Partnerships, and Voluntary Sector services. With a background in Youth & Community Work, Jo holds 3 post graduate qualifications in Adult Education, Management, and Research in Health & Wellbeing. Jo has been involved in delivering training for trainers and drug & alcohol awareness and interventions training at professional and community levels for over 30 years.

Rowan worked in drug and alcohol services for 18 years as a practitioner and manager in both young people and adult services. She continued to develop as a manager & leader in a number of roles including Deputy Regional Alcohol Manager for the South West, Development Manager for The Training Exchange and CEO of Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support (SARSAS).

Rowan was then Head of Funding across the South West region for the National Lottery Community Fund and led the England response to the women and girls sector. Rowan is now the Development Director for eight regional Eating Disorder Charities in the UK.

Rowan has been delivering training for 25 years and is a trained supervisor, qualified coach and has completed the leadership and facilitation course with Schumacher College “Co-creating the emerging future”.

Sal Ball is a mental health practitioner with approaching 30 years’ experience of developing and delivering mental health projects and support groups in the voluntary sector.

She has built an expertise in training and developing good practice for volunteers, frontline staff and specialist mental health professionals in supporting individuals in distress, both remotely and in person. Her areas of specific interest are around supporting those in emotionally demanding roles, including peer-led and grassroots projects, to gain resilience, confidence, and satisfaction from the challenging work they undertake. She has worked extensively in the fields of peer support, trauma, personality disorder, and self-harm.

She is currently developing these skills and interests further working as a Nature Connector and Forest Therapy Practitioner.

Maggie is a volunteer with Samaritans with over 15 years’ experience holding various senior roles. She is an independent trainer delivering training around suicide prevention, intervention and listening skills. A Master Trainer in ASIST, safeTALK and Suicide First Aid. In 2020 Maggie was awarded an MBE for services to Samaritans & Suicide Prevention.

Lucy brings 30 years’ experience in the social welfare sector both frontline and strategically; primarily in mental health, homelessness/housing, substance misuse, domestic abuse and sexual violence. Most recently She worked for SafeLives since 2010, in a range of roles including MARAC development officer for the South West and Wales, practice consultant and programme Lead for Wales and the MARAC lead for the organisation. She has also written a raft of policy and best practice guidance on domestic abuse and safeguarding for the voluntary and statutory sector. Lucy has delivered training in a range of organisations including domestic abuse services, police, health, children’s social care, adult safeguarding, covering domestic abuse, risk assessment, MARAC and multi-agency working, and domestic abuse and older people; as well as delivering regularly at conferences around the UK. She was previously Chair of the board of trustees for Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Services (SARSAS) and currently sits on the expert advisory board for national charity Pegs (Parental Education Growth Support) Lucy is an accredited trainer and has an MA in Ethics of Social Welfare.”

Beth is a UKCP-accredited Core Process Psychotherapist, and holds a private practice in Devon and online. Alongside this, she facilitates Reflective Practice, and works with organisations to help them embed this structure. She also offers trainings and consultancy work geared towards deepening understandings around how trauma and adversity affect us, and how we can work in ways that are sustainable, nourishing, and trauma-informed. Beth has worked front-line in the charity sector for around a decade, supporting adults exiting prison, women affected by the street sex industry, people in recovery, and young people facing multiple disadvantage, in the capacity of support worker, life coach, trainer, and facilitator. She feels passionate about supporting in the 'cross-pollination' of the fields of front-line work and psychotherapy.

Susan brings 30 years of varied experience in ‘people work’ to her training delivery with the company. She has been in many paid and unpaid roles in community and youth work, voluntary sector development and management. Her approach to supervision is grounded in values that recognise the personal story and collective endeavour, whilst also paying attention to organisational change and the wider context in which we work. She is committed to reflective practice, and in all her roles Susan works from the heart to make a positive contribution. She is currently working across the South West and loves her voluntary role with Plymouth Scrapstore.

Phil Harris has worked in the drug misuse, mental health and homeless field for over 30 years as a practitioner, trainer and manager. He has managed a wide range of teams including family services, young people, dual diagnosis & personality disorders and substance misuse. He is a visiting lecturer at a number of universities and was advisor to the US BICEP programme. He was also an advisor for the World Health Organisation in the Balkans region. He has designed treatment services across the UK for both addictions, young people and mental health, pioneering new approaches which have set new benchmarks for treatment outcomes. He has written over 20 scholarly articles on effective practice and has published five books on substance misuse, treatment effectiveness, family and young people with complex needs.

Becky has over 10 years of experience working with people who use drugs including alcohol and has developed a special interest in reducing the harms associated with substance use amongst young adults. This interest has enabled her to spend time volunteering for The Loop at their festival drug checking facility and now works as Specialist Drug and Alcohol Practitioner for University West of England, delivering a pioneering service as well as leading on campaigns for students who use drugs including alcohol. For over 6 years Becky has delivered drug and alcohol awareness training in a variety of setting to range of audiences.

Susan is a creative trainer, group and reflective practice facilitator with over 30 years’ experience. Susan’s work is influenced by her previous varied roles in the Voluntary and Community Sector, Social Work and Dramatherapy, and from her current work facilitating & training in trauma based, reflective practice clinical support groups. Susan is qualified in Youth & Community Work, Social Work, Creative Supervision, Adult Education and Dramatherapy. Susan offers a responsive approach that helps people feel at ease. Key threads within her courses are authentic communication, developing confidence and empowerment work for individuals and the communities they work within. Susan uses inclusive and creative methods to maximise learning, enjoyment and skills development.

Clare’s background is in homelessness, housing advice and working with young people. Since 2002 she has been delivering training in a range of settings to service providers and local authorities covering professional boundaries, lone working and since 2014 adult safeguarding. Her courses are practical using real and relevant examples and attempt to cut through the sometimes complex and confusing legal frameworks and jargon that can beset effective work.

Chris has been involved in teaching resilience and wellbeing skills for over thirty years, and positive psychology since 2005.

After a first degree specialising in psychology, he graduated in medicine, trained as a GP and then worked in the mental health field, where for many years he led groups teaching resilience skills. Alongside this, he pioneered the role of positive psychology and resilience training in mental health promotion, the health service and the workplace.

In 2011 he migrated from Bristol to the north of Scotland, and began delivering more of his training work online. His online courses for resilience and wellbeing now reach thousands of people, with participants in more than sixty countries.

His books include Seven Ways to Build Resilience and, co-authored with Joanna Macy, Active Hope.

His video-based online course Seven Ways to Build Resilience is available via The Training Exchange.

Suzanne Pearson is a BABCP Accredited CBT therapist and a Registered Mental Health Nurse. She also has a PGCE in Adult Education. Suzanne has extensive and ongoing experience of supporting individuals to develop their resilience and well-being, and in supporting those recovering from mental and emotional distress. She has worked in the NHS and voluntary sector as a therapist, mental health practitioner and service manager. Currently she provides a low cost in-person and online CBT therapy service for adults. Suzanne has been a longstanding volunteer with a peer led self-help group for people who self-harm, and she has also volunteered for a national out of hours crisis service. She continues to be involved with various local mental health related charities as an advisor. She is an experienced independent mental health and social care trainer including being a qualified instructor for the Mental Health First Aid (Adult and Youth) and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills (ASIST) courses.

Ruth Hallett loves turning ideas into reality. Ruth has over 20 years of project and programme management delivery experience. She trained at KPMG and since then has worked on a vast range of IT and change projects for commercial, voluntary and public sector clients, including Virgin Atlantic, Barclays Bank, Marks and Spencer, a number of Local Authorities, The Welsh Assembly, Gwent Police, and Local and National NHS Organisations. High performing teams exist when everyone has equal time to speak, Ruth believes in using techniques which increase participation and make work more fun.