Search our website. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, get in touch at: hello@wearebluecabin.com.
I studied Drama at Undergraduate level and then did a Masters in Performance Studies: Theatre as Social Intervention.
I toured nationally as an actor for a year with a variety of theatre companies as part of the InterACT training scheme. I then went on to gather experience in a variety of creative settings such as a stage manager, puppeteer, drama and singing coach, prop maker, theatre in education for children and also adult education settings, working predominantly with people with a learning disability. I then set up Star Bright Arts, my own company, whose ethos is based in using the creative arts as a tool for health and well-being with children and young people.
My first external work experience in working with care-experienced children came about through working with the Scottish Adoption Register. Myself and Alison (another of Blue Cabin’s Associate Artists) were asked to host an activity day for prospective adoptive parents and children waiting for their forever homes.
We provided a range of activities which provided the opportunities for meaningful, playful, fun and informal interactions. There was something really magical about the role that creativity played in these sessions. Encouraging everyone in the room to enter a playful state from the very beginning through the use of a giant parachute helped melt away any worries or anxieties about what might lie ahead.
This opportunity spurred me on to investigate working more with care-experienced children and their significant grown-ups. When the opportunity arose with Blue Cabin I was really excited to be part of something so innovative as Blue Cabin’s Creative Life Story Work programme.
I have been thrilled to not just be part of the Creative Life Story Work that Blue Cabin provides but have also been asked to be part of other pioneering projects such as the Feel Creative project, Cool Things, Time Together and also creative consultancy work for Artsmark.
I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Blue Cabin. I can’t wait to help develop other exciting projects and nurture even more meaningful, creative, relationships with care-experienced children.
I love reading children’s stories, making up daft songs on my ukulele, pottering in my garden and trying to remember football facts to impress my son!