Who we are
The Juno Project
The Juno Project delivers programmes in educational settings that seek to create a safe and trusting environment for young women to explore their experiences, their behaviours and the core beliefs that are driving those behaviours. We give them the tools to help them become more self-aware, and understand themselves, and their relationships. With compassion, we acknowledge that life can be challenging, whilst encouraging young women to explore their own agency and create powerful, positive stories about what they have survived, who they are and what they can achieve.
All of our work is framed by the question, 'What are your gifts, and how will you use them?'. The Juno Project is now run by our CEO, Sanchia Ryan, and a committed Board of Trustees, passionate about the project. We are supported in our work by our ambassador Dr Sharie Coombes, an international psychotherapist and best-selling child mental health author.
Meet the Team
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Sanchia Ryan
CEO
A trained teacher, with more than a decade’s experience of working in educational and social care settings, Sanchia’s former role was as a senior manager in the charity sector, running a project which provides a diverse range of support services to families and children.
Sanchia has also run her own successful training company, providing training commercially and in the third sector; and is a trained restorative justice practitioner.
In addition, she has lived experience of overcoming trauma and is currently studying for a Diploma in Human Givens Psychotherapy, a trauma informed and solution focused approach to working with mental health challenges.
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Alex Gray
TRUSTEE
Alex always wanted to be a journalist, but, following her degree in Hispanic Studies from Queen Mary University, she ended up at Goldman Sachs working on the Fixed Income trading floor.
After several years of the heady City life, she restarted her career as a work experience girl on a local magazine - and never looked back. Alex has been writing features and helping businesses tell their story for the last 20 years, whether that was flying around Europe reporting from conferences or conducting in-depth interviews with everyone from CEOs to filmmakers.
Alex is now Head of Commercial Development at digital communications agency, Formative Content, still helping blue chip clients tell their stories.
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Chloe Galloway
YOUTH TRUSTEE
Chloe is a young person with lived experience of overcoming childhood challenge, who completed The Juno Project programme when she was 16: Chloe found the workshops extremely beneficial and learnt a lot about herself! In the future Chloe aspires to become a pediatric doctor and is currently in university studying for a related degree.
Chloe feels the work of The Juno Project is vital because growing numbers of young women today are struggling, particularly with mental health. It is vital for young women to know they are not alone: with the right help and knowledge things can, and do, improve.
Chloe comments, ‘I am so lucky to be part of such an amazing team and charity but most importantly I am so excited to help shape the lives of many young women who are in the position I once was, to help guide them to be the best version of themselves!’
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Emma Banks
TRUSTEE
Emma has a 20-year+ history of driving company change and transformation across many geographic locations and cultures, setting up her own business in 2014 to specialise in programme delivery setup and execution.
In her early career, she spent six years working in the NHS driving change, including the set up of an adolescent facility which drove a passion to help young people, leading to volunteering to support looked after children outside of work.
Whilst working hard to raise her family, Emma has continuously studied over many years and is very proud to have achieved an MSc at Oxford University and entry into a cohort of specialist delivery professionals. Emma is committed to helping The Juno Project grow and support young girls to aspire and drive their true potential.
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Geoff Cherrill
TRUSTEE
Geoff has been working in schools for almost 25 years and has been in a leadership role for 20 years. He is currently the Headteacher of a school for children with a wide variety of complex needs.
Geoff also has a daughter with complex learning and health needs. He has a Master’s Degree in specialist education and has a passion for empowering young people with additional needs.
He has extensive experience in supporting young people and their families with accessing support.
Geoff is delighted to be part of The Juno Project team and is particularly looking forward to working with education settings to support young girls in developing their confidence and sense of identity.
He loves live music, Lego, African grey parrots, and seeing young people meet their potential!
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Polly Steele
TRUSTEE
An acclaimed life coach and NLP Master Practitioner with over 12 years of experience transforming the lives of young people from challenging backgrounds, particularly those navigating care systems.
Drawing from 30 years as a film director and storyteller creating award-winning documentaries and fiction films centred on human interest narratives, Polly brings a uniquely creative approach to youth development.
Polly has pioneered innovative programs including The Wise Course for care system leavers and led initiatives with We Mind The Gap and The Hatch Media Training Initiative.
Their expertise creates transformative experiences that help vulnerable young people and women discover their potential and shape their own narratives.
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Ali Golds
FOUNDER
“You are your only limit”
These are the words of our founder, Ali Golds. Today, Ali is a successful businesswoman and award-winning entrepreneur, mentor and author. But getting there wasn’t easy.
Ali experienced a range of challenges from a young age, including abuse, homelessness, and an attempt on her life. Today, Ali is passionate about social equity, supporting and speaking up for those who believe they have no voice, living and teaching the mantra that each of us is our only limit.
Ali founded The Juno Project in 2017 to address issues that vulnerable teenage girls in West Sussex were facing, having witnessed her own daughter struggle with similar problems in her formative years.
Keen to ensure that other people’s daughters didn’t experience the same consequences, Ali was determined to do all she could to support young women to better understand their behaviours, and reach their potential by developing programmes that use simple, experience-led techniques and tools, delivered in a non-judgmental, positive environment, by facilitators with extensive lived experience.
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Ruth Gregory
LEAD FACILITATOR
Ruth has a background in media research and also teaching, before retraining to become a transformational coach. She has a background in working with women and teenage girls, and feels honoured to guide them towards their most authentic self.
She likes running and fitness and long walks. She also loves creative writing. She is still trying to work out if she is an introvert/extrovert or an extrovert/introvert!
Ruth's goal is to help create a world where every teenage girl knows her worth, recognises her own unique gifts and talents, and feels empowered to bring her own unique self unapologetically into the world. She is thrilled to be able to do this through the excellent work of The Juno Project.
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Alison Bushnell
FACILITATOR
Alison has been a teacher for 16 years, across a range of subjects and ages, and has a mental health focused MA in Education. She has worked as a Mental Health Lead, embedding whole-school mental health strategies, in addition to working as a Mental Health First Aid trainer. Along with working in supportive and mentoring roles with young people, her passion for mental health and wellbeing is rooted in her own lived experience.
In both her own journey to heal adverse childhood experiences, and as an adoptive mother of two, Alison has explored therapeutic and trauma-informed modalities that can support young people to thrive. Her learnings inform her communication style, and approach to working with staff, students, and parents/carers.
Alison loves sports (particularly netball and hockey), and the summer sees her on the beach with her two dogs (Betty and Piper): she loves being outdoors! Alison is delighted to be working with young women and supporting them to thrive as their true selves.
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Bethany Hughes
FACILITATOR
Bethany is a qualified play therapist, who has worked in a variety of roles with young people, including nanny, nursery practitioner, teaching assistant in a special needs school and family support worker. Bethany is passionate about supporting young women to understand how important they are, and to realise their ambitions. She uses play based approaches to connect, explore and support young people facing challenge, so they can come to know themselves better, and to recognise that they have the power within themselves to overcome, and to thrive.
She likes to run (especially Parkrun) and goes to comedy gigs as ways to connect with her playful self!
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Christina Procter
FACILITATOR
Christina has been a Secondary School Teacher for twenty years. Most recently she was the school’s lead on creating and maintaining the Relationships, Sex and Health Curriculum. The embedding of these vital elements of education led to Christina working as a consultant with external schools supporting their curriculum delivery to ensure all young people were receiving high quality education in this area. This has built up a wealth of knowledge and experience in supporting young people with building strong, healthy relationships and supporting their mental health.
Christina’s support for the Juno Project stems from her own childhood experiences and has been reinforced in her time spent as an educator; driven by the belief that it is vital to empower young people to feel worthy and deserving of happiness. As mother to three young girls, Christina now has first-hand experience of how difficult this can be sometimes!
An avid cyclist, Christina spends a lot of time taking her bicycle (called Mabel) on adventures. She loves nothing more than heading off with no real plan, other than wanting to be amongst the trees or alongside the sea.
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Jenny Tower
FACILITATOR
Jenny enjoyed 25 years in Education, and for the last 10 years has been working in her own business as a Coach, with young people, sports people and adults.
As a qualified Life Coach she predominantly works 1-2-1 or delivers workshops in all areas of Social & Emotional Learning, as well as Sport Mindset and Human Behaviour/Personality.
“I am fascinated by people, how different we all are, how we celebrate that, and how we can get to that place where we are ‘at our best’ more often!”
Her skill set is eclectic… from neuro-linguistics to behavioural psychometrics, golf psychology to working with metaphors, laughter yoga to walk-coaching. With a background in PE she tries to make learning visual, dynamic, and wherever possible, fun – all tailored to the individual or group.
Jenny’s lived experiences as an anxious teenager are what motivates her to educate, encourage, enthuse, empower.
When Jenny is not working, she is either in the gym, on a bike, or hiking in Wales. For Jenny the outdoors is a place to be in-the-moment, grounded and grateful.
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Karen Martell
FACILITATOR
Karen is a qualified Adult Yoga Teacher with a specialism in Adolescent and Children’s Yoga and Mindfulness. She has over 25 years' experience working in Health and Social Care environments, providing valuable 1-1 and group support.
Karen previously worked as an Assistant Clinical Psychologist and from her training and qualifications has a robust knowledge of theories and interventions that can really make a positive difference to a person’s wellbeing.
Karen is deeply committed to improving the lives of children and young people and also recognises from her own experience, that childhood adversity isn’t always easy to overcome. That is why she is passionate about providing safe spaces for children and young people to build their resilience and learn healthy coping mechanisms, through the healing power of yoga, mindfulness and transformative interventions.
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Saadia Yusef-Meighan
FACILITATOR
Saadia has experience as a science teacher and technician with a background in industry for an environmental consultancy.
Having 20 years’ experience in education saw Saadia specialise in additional needs in particular autism and ADHD, and mental health, becoming a Youth Mental Health First Aider and SEAL (social and emotional aspects of learning) therapy practitioner.
Her personal experience in school drove her to ensure all individuals were able to reach their full potential and be seen regardless of their diverse background.
Saadia also works at the South Downs Planetarium where she shares her passion for science with visiting school groups.
As well as walking in the Downs, Saadia is an activist for social justice and works as an extra in the film and TV industry. She also enjoys going to the theatre and live music.
She lives near Chichester with her family and two cats.
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Sam Carpenter
FACILITATOR
Sam has over two decades of experience working with teams developing websites, apps and software, as an Interactive Producer, Product Manager, Agile and Lean Coach, in the male dominated space of technology development. She feels strongly about inclusivity and gender balance in the workplace.
Sam is a certified Master Workshop Facilitator: a problem-solving and decision-making expert and a freelance workshop facilitator. She has a passion for empowering girls and women to achieve their potential, which she’s hoping to do, one workshop at a time!
The Juno Project Ambassador Dr Sharie Coombes. Photo courtesy of Nina Sarfas Photography.
Dr Sharie Coombes: The Juno Project Ambassador
We couldn’t do what we do without the incredible people that support us. One of those people is Dr Sharie Coombes, our new The Juno Project Ambassador.
Dr Coombes began working with us as we upgraded and developed our resources to respond to the crisis of mental health and wellbeing amongst young women as we came out of the Covid pandemic. We wanted to make sure our work was trauma-informed, age-appropriate and likely to be effective for young women struggling with emotional dysregulation.
Dr Coombes is an international psychotherapist and best-selling mental health author. She works with child, teen, families and adults and her expert advice and opinion is regularly sought out by mainstream media. Her books are feature in the top ten of children’s books that motivate and help children overcome anxiety. Dr Coombes has an MA in MA (Psychodynamic Psychotherapy) and a doctorate in child psychology (behavioural, cognitive, educational, linguistic, developmental and social). She has worked as a child and teen psychotherapist in private practice, the NHS and in schools and as a psychosocial practitioner in the British Red Cross. She also works with adults, couples and families and provides well-being and emotional health training for schools and education staff at all levels as well as training and relocation support for large corporate companies. Dr Sharie initially qualified as a primary teacher in 1985 and spent 10 years as a headteacher.
We have already seen the impact of Dr Coombes’ work with us through her thorough review of our session plans and resources, which supported us to identify our core modules and helped us to choose a delivery plan which ensured that we maximised impact for participants. Find our more about Sharie here: http://drsharie.com/ and order her best selling books for parents and young people here: Amazon.co.uk: Sharie Coombes: Books, Biography, Blogs, Audiobooks, Kindle