Our workshops and initiatives are guided and led by the Director, Stephen May. Our wider team includes invited experts from many fields; education, mental health agencies, psychologists, politicians, leaders in talent development and the entertainment sector. Our key facilitators and mentors are listed below.
Director of The Institute of Story-Guided Therapy & Mentoring:
Stephen May is a teacher, film-maker, psychologist and certified therapist. His career has followed twin paths from the get-go: creative work as a storyteller (theatre, film, TV), and the use of story in therapeutic settings (work with traumatised children, survivors from civil wars, and on outreach programmes with organisations such as the British Film Institute). Stephen May founded The Screen Arts Institute in 2011 with a group of like-minded colleagues, determined to champion diverse story voices, working here, in Europe and in the United States. His mentees and colleagues have won many Oscars and BAFTAs and broken box office records.
At the same time, he and associates were developing Story-Guided Therapy initiatives to address the ever-growing mental health challenges of young (and not-so-young) people here and abroad. This work has led to the formation of the Institute for Story-Guided Therapy (SGT) and Mentoring which has drawn together an extraordinary team of gifted and passionate colleagues who straddle the worlds of creativity, personal development and mental health provision. The Institute provides Clinical Foundation training in SGT for existing therapists, teachers and mental health workers, and promotes SGT initiatives to schools, universities, parents, business and individuals.
Stephen is strongly influenced by a nomadic life, particularly in childhood – he was brought up in East Germany, Libya, Scotland, England, Dubai (when it was just desert) and Saudi Arabia. As an adult he has worked all over the world, including Spain, Central America, the United States and in the Middle East. He attended 14 schools, at last count, and was only thrown out of 1. He has a couple of degrees from the University of Oxford and has taught there – but has learned much more from his three children and being gently beaten-up by life on a regular basis. He and colleagues profoundly believe in a glass-half full approach to even the most challenging of circumstances – and continue to be amazed by the ability of humans to rise out of “impossible” challenges, stronger than ever.
Lucy Tierney, Project Manager & Mentor:
Lucy has worked as a Senior Leader in a number of London schools and was responsible for establishing one of the first of the UK’s free schools in 2011. Built, quite literally from the ground up, it is now a thriving school in North London.
More recently she has been actively pursuing funding for a local mental health charity.
She graduated from University College London with a science degree, and spent many years working in the business side of television production. She established and ran television production companies, an industry association and training course before moving 12 years ago into education, fulfilling a long-standing ambition to support children and young people.
Lisa Rigg, Project Coordinator & Mentor:
Lisa has over 20 years experience as a training manager for large organisations, with an emphasis on women working in training capacities themselves – for example in the police force. She has expertise in the psychology of bringing about strategic change in large organisations, many with a high resistance to change. Lisa has worked across diverse socio-economic and ethnic communities with particular experience in the African and Middle-Eastern communities – she speaks fluent Arabic. She had a joyfully nomadic childhood which established her passion for exploration and immersion into different cultures. After an early career as a musician, the lure of new challenges drew her to the military, which culminated in a 10 year career in the armed services. She has an Honours degree in Anthropology and has a Masters in International Policy and Diplomacy.
Professor Mark d’Inverno, Mentor & Advisor:
Mark is Professor of Computer Science and Pro-Warden (International) at Goldsmiths, University of London. Mark has had over 20 years experience in whole-institution strategic change. As well as leading Goldsmiths’ approach to student and staff welfare, he was the first chair of the charity Safeground which championed intensive courses co-designed by prisoners that have run in over 40 UK prisons. The courses emphasise increasing self-awareness in family relationships. Mark has served as a trustee for 14 years. His interdisciplinary research interests are at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence with creative activity, music, design, learning and social science and has championed both the value of interdisciplinary research and the diversity of research practice in the UK. He is also a critically acclaimed pianist and over the last 4 decades has led a variety of bands across a wide range of music including the Mark d’Inverno Quintet.
Victoria Ijey, Mentor & Facilitator:
Victoria is an award winning filmmaker who set up Iconic Steps in 2011 with a focus on helping difficult to reach young people – particularly in the 15 to 18 bracket – to develop a growth mindset. Victoria has worked with teachers and business people across all ethnicities and socio-economic settings to support their strategic efforts to support hard-to-reach demographics. Iconic Steps uses the power of story and film-making to bring about social change. She connects young people to business in a way which is fulfilling for all involved. Iconic Steps has already changed the lives of hundreds of young people and the professionals that work with them. Victoria started her career creating short documentaries which caught the attention of the British Film Institute and the BBC.
Andrew Hammond, Mentor & Facilitator:
Andrew Hammond is a teacher who has been running creativity and well-being workshops, using illustration and classes in narrative form, to school students, and teachers, in various London primary and secondary schools since 2018. He is an illustrator, writer, and filmmaker who has worked on projects for Marvel, Pokémon, the BBC, Sony and NBC Universal. He published his first illustrated novel “Spacekid iLK,” addressing mental health issues for young people, in November 2018.
Gillian Gordon, Mentor & Facilitator:
Gillian is a Psychodynamic Psychotherapist. She was the executive director of the charity Youth Culture, supporting young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds across London and the South East. She was a trustee and co-chair of Filmaid UK. She has been a senior academic for nearly twenty years; Course Director, M.A. Producing Film and Television, Director of Graduate Studies Taught. Formerly Associate Arts Professor, Chair – MFA International Media Producing programme, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Singapore. Board Member, Media Development Agency of Singapore. She has particular expertise in the development of personal narrative and she is an internationally renowned practitioner in the use of dream analysis and it’s connection to writing and creative work. She is an award winning film/television producer and executive with more than thirty years in the media industries and she is a media consultant to government and charities.
Andy Cottom, Mentor & Facilitator:
Andy is a psychodynamic psychotherapist with particular expertise in the treatment of trauma in a violent context – assisting people who have either witnessed or been victims to violent crime including domestic violence and child abuse or been caught up in the chaos of war. One of his many roles was as Senior Counsellor for Victim Support Wandsworth (2005-10). He was vice-Chair of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (2019-2022), and has extensive knowledge and expertise in statutory guidance and duties of care in the context of young people and mental health challenges. He is the founder and director of Westminster Therapy Associates, and has extensive experience in the process of guiding colleagues with differing approaches and attitudes to mental health challenge, and treatment. He has been a national contributor as a writer and broadcaster on radio and television programmes about trauma and psychotherapy as well as organised a number of conferences for both FPC and CPJA. He has specialist training in – and is a leading trainer of colleagues in the areas of Domestic Violence, Young Persons mental health awareness, Witness Care and Homicide and Violent Crime.
Nathan Bryon, Mentor & Facilitator:
Nathan has been a mentor and regular supporter of young people through initiatives at Feltham Young Offenders Unit, the Teenage Cancer Trust and the British Film Institute. As a black-British man he has a particular passion, sensitivity and expertise for supporting mental health approaches in minority ethnic settings. Nathan is a BAFTA-nominated filmmaker and many of his projects are embedded in narrative-approaches to address mental health challenges in young people. His first illustrated book, ‘LOOK UP!’, was published in June 2019 and won the Waterstones Children’s book prize in 2020. He has written and acted for several shows on the BBC, including “Rastamouse” and was the regular character, Joey Ellis on “Benidorm”.
Robin Hayley, Mentor & Advisor:
Robin is the Chairman of Allen Carr’s Easyway International Ltd (NICE approved) and arguably the leading and most successful addiction centre in the world. It has cured many millions of people from smoking addiction in over 50 countries worldwide – and provides counselling and treatment for all forms of addiction. The company also works on behalf of the UK’s NHS. Robin has over 30 years experience and expertise of addressing institutional resistance to change in the context of mental health challenge and co-morbid behavioural patterns. He has extensive knowledge of the successes, and failures, of the interconnected nature and statutory structures of mental health agencies and government policy in the UK and internationally.