Team

My twin medical interests have always been in global health, especially community health care in resource-poor countries, and in the healthcare of those working with faith-based and humanitarian organisations

Before becoming a Family Doctor in London for 7 years, I travelled extensively on expeditions, overland trips from London to India, and working and studying in In Nepal and Iran. I spent a year at Theological College. After leaving London I had an unexpected  vocational call and moved with my wife and 3 under-5 children to work in the Himalayas where for7 years. I and Indian colleagues pioneered ways of enabling remote communities to prevent and treat up to 70% of their health problems themselves, largely  through training community health workers.

Returning from India I co-founded InterHealth and worked there initially as Director and later in a variety of roles until 2017. For a number of years I was also Assistant Editor of Tropical Doctor and on the board of Tearfund

In 2005 I set up an initiative  originally called Community Health Global Network now renamed Arukah Network for Global Community Health. This works collaboratively with communities in new approaches to health and development, currently working in seven countries

In 2008 I co-chaired, with the Deputy Director General of WHO, a two day consultation on the role of NGOs and Faith Based Organisations in the revitalisation of primary health care. I became a Founder-Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. I was on the Leadership Council of the International Society of Travel Medicine where I co-founded and led the special interest group on the mental health of travellers

I have written several books on travel health, including the Berlitz Travel Health Guide as well as chapters in academic textbooks on the health of expatriates and humanitarian workers. I am currently working as author and co-editor on the 4th Edition of a large scale book entitled Setting up Community Health Programmes in low and middle income countries, being published by Oxford University Press in 2018.

My wider interests include enjoying my extended family, the role of the church in helping to transform society, trail-running, travel,,the environment and various ways of relaxing and enjoying life. I continue to work as a practising clinician.

Nanci obtained a Masters of Arts Degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. and a Masters of Arts Degree in Religions and Theology from the University of Manchester, UK.  Most recently, she received an MPhil in Politics from the University of Manchester, UK where she interviewed individuals working for nongovernment organizations engaged in peacebuilding and conflict transformation in the Israeli/Palestine conflict.  Her undergraduate degree is in history.

Nanci is also a published author.  She is currently writing a book about ethics for leaders in all three sectors, public, private and humanitarian about how to promote the flourishing of all human beings irrespective of their cultural and religious differences.

Additionally she brings extensive humanitarian and missions experience to Thrive, having worked in the sector for more than 15 years.  She worked cross-culturally in more than 70 countries in six continents for the INGO, YWAM.

She has expertise in ethics, human rights, peacebuilding and reconciliation, religious literacy (training people to discern ethical and unethical forms of religion) human rights advocacy, and cross-cultural communications.  She is a strategist and has trained others in research, strategic thinking and business development geared towards holistic and systematic change at the international, national and grassroots levels.,

She  is the chair for the Luton All Women’s Centre and serves as a Trustee for CHUMS, a mental health and wellbeing service for Children. In her leisure time, Nanci loves to read fiction, walk and spend time with friends and family.

“I love translating cutting edge academic research into practical models that have a positive impact in people's’ everyday lives and then feeding the measurable outcomes from those models back into shaping new academic theories.  Therefore, I am very excited about working with the highly expert Thrive team to develop innovative and creative services which better facilitate the flourishing---body, mind and spirit—of the individuals and organizations whom we serve.”

“I’m excited to be part Thrive Worldwide and delighted to serve as the Director of Organisational and Spiritual Health.”

Ann Muraya is a Trainer, Coach & Consultant, with a background in Strategic Management, Psychology, and Education.  She brings a wealth of skill and knowledge base accumulated over twenty-five years working with international, corporate, and faith based organisations.  Ann’s pursuit is to empower leaders to thrive in their life and calling, and co-create healthy organisations.  Ann provides a bibliocentric and eclectic approach in her interactions with people across diverse cultures and networks that has proved to be a great asset in initiating momentum for personal and organisational transformation. Over the years, Ann has facilitated leadership and management consultancies within diverse multicultural settings that have included Senior Church leaders, Development Co-ordinators, Educators, Senior Government leaders, professionals and people in business.  Her scope of work has included, but not been limited to the facilitation of strategic planning, organisational change management, the development of relevant organisational systems and structures, review of organisational culture, as well as recruitment and selection of senior management. Ann thrives on discovering quaint cafés, traveling, being around nature,  and walking.

For over 10 years Leanne has been actively working with organisations in the provision of  staff health and wellbeing from HQ, Regional and Country perspectives. Leanne worked in the business development and partnership team at InterHealth Worldwide from 2009 and took over leadership for for the function in 2011. In 2013, Leanne then moved to Kenya where she pioneered the set-up of a a regional hub in Kenya for InterHealth, and was the Regional Director until 2017.

Leanne has a degree in International Development Studies with Law from the University of Chester, and a Masters in International Humanitarian Psychosocial Intervention from the University of East London. 

Baking, reading, tennis, travelling and spending quality time with friends are just some of the ways Leanne thrives. 

“It is fantastic to be part of, and leading,  a dynamic, professional and passionate team. I am excited by our vision to see thriving as the norm, and committed to working towards this vision both for those we serve and for Thrive staff and associates”

Alison spent her early career working in the NHS, initially as a physiotherapist, then as a manager and in Public Health.  She was responsible for implementing the Cancer Plan in a large NHS Trust, and later worked on the evidence for smoke free legislation as part of the Smoke Free Cities movement.  She become a founder Director of Artesian in 2007, a leadership development consultancy, working as a facilitator and coach, and also as an associate of the NHS Leadership Academy and The King’s Fund.  She has worked to support and develop many different leaders, leadership team and Boards in the NHS.  She joined InterHealth as Health Services Director in 2017 for a brief period before it closed.  

Alison has a geography degree from Cambridge University, a Diploma in Physiotherapy from St Thomas’s Hospital, an MSc in Public Health from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is a member of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians.  

Alison is a member of The General Synod of the Church of England, and Lay Chair of Winchester Diocese.

Alison lives in Winchester with her husband Ian; they have 4 young adult children.  She loves music and is a member of a small chamber choir.  She also loves ballet – both watching and dancing - skiing and walking her dog by the river.  

“I am so pleased and excited to be part of the leadership team for Thrive Worldwide.  As Director of Health Services I am committed to working with our associates and partners to design and develop excellent client care services.”

Matt has been a Doctor for over 15 years graduating from Leicester Medical School in 2002. He completed his General Practitioner training on the Brighton GP vocational training Scheme. He has been an NHS GP for over 10 years working as a partner from 2007-2017 and lead partner for a number of those. Matt is a GP appraiser in Kent, UK and has also been involved in research and promoting this there. He is passionate about promoting health and wellbeing in the whole-person context. He enjoys travel and has been on a solo round the world trip and well as spending time in Tanzania on a practical project before going to University and in India during University, through a link to his Church in Leicester. He is married with three children.

After training as an accountant with PWC Peter spent many years working in information technology, principally in sales, marketing and general management. He has founded and managed several startups through to an exit and has also invested as a business angel on several occasions. More recently Peter has been helping early stage, high growth potential companies raise equity funding (£50k to £2m) from business angels (raising in excess of £10m). He was an active Growth Coach for the Growth Accelerator program. Recently he worked for an investee company that designs, manufactures and sells kitchen gadgets. At this Company he is the Investor Director representing the interests of the minority shareholders. He joined Interhealth as Interim Finance Director and then as the permanent Operations Director responsible for Finance, IT, Facilities and Client Services. Other than Thrive Peter is also involved with a startup Private GP Medical practice.

Peter’s ‘rounded’ experience means that as the Director of Finance & Operations he fully understands the operational opportunities and issues at Thrive Worldwide.

Peter has also founded, funded and oversees a microfinance charity in Nepal, is a trustee and director of the International Nepal Fellowship and is Chair of Churches Together in Marlow.

Miriam graduated with a BSc in International Disaster Engineering & Management from Coventry University. Following her degree she remained in the Midlands for 3 years, supporting women in prostitution and those with drug and alcohol addictions, to tackle these life controlling issues. She met her husband Matt shortly after University and together they moved to north London where Miriam spent 5 years working for the international relief and development organisation Tearfund. Whilst at Tearfund she worked in various roles within the Supporter Relations Team and then within the Asia Team, supporting the 2015 Nepal earthquake response. In March 2017 Matt and Miriam welcomed baby Jemima into the world and so Miriam is joining Thrive fresh from maternity leave. Appreciating the many challenges faced by individuals working on the frontline, Miriam is excited to be joining Thrive and connecting these individuals with health and wellbeing services that will enable them to flourish.

Graham has over 17 years’ service in missions and humanitarian work including service delivery in Africa and Eastern Europe, organisational stress management consultancy to a range of agencies with multiple associated field trips throughout Africa, Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe. His principal focus has always been staff care, prevention of difficulties and supporting people to flourish wherever they are. He has also served at Board level for multiple organisations and advocated at the UN in Geneva and New York.

He has 20 years’ experience in the UK NHS including as Consultant Psychologist professional lead for adult mental health services in the East End of London, lead for Pan London Veterans Psychology Services, Principal Psychologist in London Borough of Hackney adult mental health services and lead clinical champion for digital health care in East London.

He has authored several books and chapters on humanitarian worker mental health, lectured in refugee and staff mental health and even managed to snatch 90 seconds on the BBC to talk about staff care.

When not doing any of the above Graham enjoys reading, cooking fancy food, eating fancy food and learning about new things.

With over ten years of adult learning experience and a BS in education, Erin brings extensive experience in creating learning programs to Thrive Worldwide. She has designed complete curriculum and assessment programs for companies in the software, education, and health industries, delivering training to more than 20 Fortune 500 companies while in the U.S. Erin’s training experience includes cutting edge virtual classroom knowledge with regular programmatic delivery to online audiences of over 700 people. Since 2013, Erin has lived internationally, delivering and designing psychosocial training programs for attendees in over 15 different countries. She specializes in customizing learning programs for cross-cultural environments, with a goal to embed learning within existing resources and increase sustainable impact. 
 
Erin received her MA in Clinical Mental Health Counselling from CACREP accredited Denver Seminary in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. As a therapist, she specializes in trauma and cross-cultural transitions, with over five years of experience working primarily in the arenas of immediate crisis response and long-term relational trauma. Erin is trained in Critical Incident Stress Management, EMDR, Narrative Exposure Therapy, and Prepare/ Enrich. She has a passion for training peer responders and local care givers in psychosocial topics, with extensive experience in Psychological First Aid, Trauma & Stress Management, Sexual Assault, and Resilience. Erin lives in Nairobi, Kenya with her husband and three kids.

"I am humbled and privileged to be able to do what I love every day - combining the fields of adult learning and psychology to provide training for aid workers and missionaries in areas of low access to psychological support across the world."

Following his undergraduate training at Guy’s Hospital (q. 1986) and 3 years on a GP Training Scheme (MRCGP 1991), Simon worked in East Africa in primary health care & public health as a mission partner with Crosslinks. Previously Director of Health Services at InterHealth Simon is a Consultant in Occupational Medicine and a member of his local Anglican Church in Southampton and a lay representative for the Winchester Diocese on General Synod.

Jo qualified as a nurse 20 years ago. She was an Intensive Care Nurse for 8 years at Kings College Hospital, London where she completed her BSc (Hons) degree in Critical Care Nursing.  She then studied at South Bank University for a year and became a Practice Nurse in a large teaching GP surgery in Kent where she found that she enjoyed Travel Medicine.

Jo worked for private Travel clinics in London and completed her Foundation in Travel Medicine. She then started at InterHealth and worked there till its closure for 4 and half years becoming the Deputy Team Leader for nurses and Clinical Operational Manager.  While there, she also accomplished her Diploma in Travel Medicine. Jo is passionate about travel medicine and the importance of this when travelling for work or pleasure.

She lives in Kent with her husband and cat.  She enjoys travelling the world with her husband.

Nekesa graduated with a B.A. in Biology with a focus on Biochemistry from Dartmouth College. She is passionate about solving homelessness as well as health and welfare issues affecting vulnerable pediatric and geriatric populations. After graduating in 2017, Nekesa received a Lombard fellowship from the Dartmouth Center for Service to return to Kenya and work to advocate for the rights of children living and working on the streets in Nairobi. She researched street connectedness, participated in street rescue and reintegration, and also facilitated the rehabilitation processes for street children and families. Following her fellowship, Nekesa joined the team at Thrive with a deep appreciation for services that cater to the care-giver. She is excited to make sure that those she served with on the ground and others like them can thrive in every way. When she is not working, Nekesa can be found in the kitchen - probably chopping up pumpkins for a yummy pumpkin loaf.

Martyn is a highly experienced psychotherapist (UKCP reg.) and well-being life coach within the field of occupational health and mental well-being. Able to work collaboratively, creatively and sensitively with individuals who experience issues that impact their sense of well-being and psychological resilience. His experience includes:

• Short-term counselling for clients with personal or work related issues.

• Holistic Well-being coaching tailored to individualised wellness programmes with a focus on resilience.

• Longer-term, on-going support to employees who present with symptoms relating to psychological trauma.

• Advising/supporting HR managers and organisational leaders about counselling services and psychological support.

• Pre-selection screening and on-going monitoring of individuals working within challenging environments.

• Presenting and delivering training to groups covering a range of occupational health issues.

• Debriefing employees involved in critical incidents.

• Supervision and consultation for managers about occupational psychological health and well-being

• Developing psychological employee resilience programmes.

I have over fourteen years experience in training and counselling with a particular focus in providing Psychological First Aid (PFA) and counseling to trauma survivors. More than eight years of those years have also included designing, adapting and conducting counseling and psychosocial trainings. My work has taken me to South Sudan, Somalia, DRC and across Kenya. In addition, I provide clinical supervision to counsellors, para-counselors and social workers.

Caroline is a graduate of The University of Nairobi, with a degree in MBChB, (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery. During her eight years of clinical practise she has enjoyed working in both public and private sector interacting with many patients from all walks of life.

In her last two years of practise, she has worked primarily with the international community in Nairobi. She worked as a Medical Doctor with InterHealth Worldwide, providing medical services to those working in the International Development, Humanitarian, Mission and Gap Year sectors. This has birthed in a passion in Travel Medicine, and she is looking to pursue further studies in this area.

In addition to her medical practice, she is one of the multi-disciplinary team members of the Child Protection Advocacy Network. She is also part of Thrive’s working group on Safeguarding. 

Caroline is a wife, and blessed with three children. She loves to teach Sunday School in my church.

Ben has an MA in psychotherapy from Denver Seminary and a Masters certificate from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma.   Ben has lived and worked in conflict and post-conflict zones for over 10 years, both as a practitioner in psychosocial interventions with war-affected communities, as well as a staff care expert to international humanitarian and governmental organisations.  Ben founded and directed The Recreation Project, an adventure-based therapy program for former child soldiers in northern Uganda from 2009-2016.  He has provided staff care advice and support services to a wide range of INGOS in: East Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, Middle East, the Balkans, Western Europe, and the USA.  Ben’s clinical specialism is in trauma therapy, and he is also a certified Life Coach (BCC). Ben is passionate about supporting aid and mission workers in phases of transition and “re-entry”.  Before joining Thrive Worldwide, Ben worked as a Senior Trainer and Psychotherapist at InterHealth Worldwide. Ben lives in Camden, London with his wife and two children.  He enjoys distance running through Hampstead Heath while listening to a good podcast.

Joelle is a writer who is interested in helping businesses communicate their message effectively. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and graduated summa cum laude with a Master of Arts in Social Entrepreneurship. Her career roles have included business strategy, marketing, bookkeeping, writing and editing, and operations.  Joelle has spent most of her life in Kenya and calls Nairobi home, but has also lived in Seattle, Washington. In her free time, she loves camping and travelling, but would also be happy spending all day reading a good book.  She has published several articles, but Joelle hopes to one day write a book of her own. 

Colleen grew up in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa.  After leaving school she studied Theology in Durban while serving on her youth leadership team.  After she got married she moved to Johannesburg with her husband and began a degree in psychological counselling.  Most of the work she has been involved with has been on a voluntary basis in church leadership, including pastoral work, counselling, leading ladies’ groups, children’s ministry and mentoring.  She home-schooled her three daughters for three years before moving to England, UK in January 2019. 

Liz has a BSc in Psychology from the Open University as well as a Professional Diploma and a Masters Degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy from York St John University and a Postgraduate qualification in Clinical Supervision from the University of Derby.  

Liz has worked in a range of mental health organisations providing therapy, supervision and training. These include, in the UK, the Samaritans, the NHS and MIND, where in addition to clinical services she ran a community based mental health project which trained and supported volunteers to befriend people living with mental ill health. 

Liz has spent more than 20 years living and working in South Africa, Nigeria, Thailand, DRC and Sudan where she has provided individual counselling for humanitarian and development professionals; educated and supported trainee counsellors, trained trauma therapists and provided training, facilitation and organisational support in the sector. This support includes training on the effects of stress and vicarious trauma; group facilitation and Psychological First Aid. Her organisational clients have included UNICEF, UNHCR, IOM, UNOPS, Embassies, International Schools and INGOs 

Living and working in developing counties has made Liz very aware of the effects of stress on front line humanitarian workers and people working in international and development organisations; She has undertaken research into the mental health effects of humanitarian work. She is also familiar with the effects that this stress can have on partners and families and is committed to heling individuals reflect on and develop their resilience to the effects of this way of life.

Most of Jake's career to date has been spent in BBC News. He was there for nine years, working mainly at Radio 4, 5 Live and the World Service as a Studio Director - a hybrid role of a producer and sound engineer.

He left in 2017 to take what he'd learnt there and use it with smaller organisations. He joined Arukah Network - a support network for people working in community development in Africa and Asia. His role there includes co-ordinating the network's communications, running training on communications and advocacy, and presenting the podcast and radio show 'How To Build Community'. 

He is also a freelance communications coach, working on branding, design and animations for organisations who are building community, rethinking development, and bringing humans closer to nature. 

Now he's joined us at Thrive, where he's using these skills to co-ordinate and develop our own communications.
Outside of work, he enjoys looking at birds, watching NBA basketball and growing food on his allotment - all these things help him Thrive!

Joanne is a Thrive associate based in Bangladesh. She is a trained Dramatherapist from the University of Derby, United Kingdom. She is accredited with the British Association of Dramatherapists (BADTH) and registered with The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Joanne employs a psychodynamic approach to her work, using the expressive arts and creative models alongside more traditional cognitive debriefing tools and active listening to remain person centred.