The Team
Optimism and positivity didn’t always come naturally to Jen - it’s something she’s practiced and studied over many years, which is testament to how positive psychology can be adopted/embraced by anyone and truly integrated into all aspects of life. Positive Psychology isn’t just the foundation of her business, but the basis of her relationships, approach to adversity and general attitude towards life. Her positivity is contagious and she’s passionate about sharing it, which is ideal considering she runs her own positive psychology consultancy in Oxfordshire.
Practically Positive laid its roots after Jen studied Psychology at Cambridge University. She was curious about how it applied to the world of work and became fascinated by how it interplays with 'real life' in addition to clinical settings.
After graduating, Jen began her working life at The Mind Gym, where she designed psychology-based bitesize training workshops. After designing gazillions of them and completing her MSc in Positive Psychology in her spare time, she transitioned to delivery and has been coaching employees for the last 10 years. Jen has trained employees across a huge range of sectors in Australia, America, the Middle East, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany and of course, at home in the UK.
Jen launched her own training consultancy, Practically Positive, in 2011 because she wanted to stay with clients all the way through the consultancy cycle and really get to know their business. Running her own company also allowed her to focus primarily on Positive Psychology and how its techniques in particular can support individuals and teams in the workplace.
Jen’s original research dissertation around employee engagement, "What does it mean to flourish at work?", is now one of her primary offerings and has been used by the General Medical Council, Friends Life, Sweaty Betty and The Cabinet Office. She is MBTI® step I and II certified, has a certificate in Transactional Analysis, is a qualified Strengths Practitioner, and a member of the British Psychological Society.
She's specialises in management development, customer service, performance management, employee engagement, personal effectiveness and change programmes. Jen is passionate about helping individuals get more from their lives, whether that’s at work or home.
Associates
Caroline Laycock - Associate
What gets Caroline up in the morning, apart from her two lively children, is thinking about how she can help organisations to get the best from their people and unlock this potential with exciting results. As a Strengths Practitioner specialising in maximising performance in teams, she believes strongly in focusing on the positive and celebrating what makes us unique.
Caroline first indulged her fascination with people and communication when studying Communication, Advertising and Marketing at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. On graduating she went on to join the Change Management Practice at Accenture. During her nine years with the firm Caroline gained deep skills in training design and delivery working on a wide range of projects for clients such as the Irish Police Force, Immigration Authority and Revenue Commissioners, the UK Government's Ministry of Justice and Border Agency and Pfizer.
Caroline's insights into strengths based coaching are further enriched by the associate work she does with The Mind Gym and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Caroline spends her time facilitating 90 minute psychology-based workshops, improving professional and personal effectiveness, across a variety of industry sectors. Some of the clients Caroline has worked with recently include Dyson, Unilever, Ernst & Young, PepsiCo, Sony, Accenture and British Gas.
She is also a facilitator on PricewaterhouseCoopers' professional skills training for consultants. In this role she uses interpersonal insights to help participants to make a positive impact even in difficult interactions.
Connecting with Jen through their shared passion for helping people and teams to be their best, Caroline adds an invaluable dimension of energy and expertise to Practically Positive's strengths-based coaching initiative.
Nick Clench - one to one coaching specialist
Nick Clench is a professional qualified coach with experience of working with managers from a variety of sectors. As well as this, Nick spent 12 years working in corporate environments as an accountant, which included coaching employees who reported to him as a manager. Nick has an MSc in Business Psychology which demonstrates a thorough understanding of people's behaviour at work, as well as a Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching accredited by the ICF and Middlesex University.
Nick draws on his strong commercial background to inform his work, helping professionals develop the leadership and business skills to excel in their roles, teams and organisations. His approach is based around raising self-awareness, ensuring that individuals are clear about their identity and their strengths, and how they can use these to progress and perform more effectively. His research into coaching effectiveness has demonstrated the impact of this approach to achieve long-term business results for clients. Nick is qualified in a number of coaching psychometric tools for individuals and teams, which he draws on to enhance his coaching practice. From working with Practically Positive, he has gained understanding of the key aspects of Positive Psychology - especially the field of resilience - which he regularly uses when working with coachees.
Gill Weston
Gill wants everyone to enjoy work. She wants people and businesses to achieve success together and be the best they can be. So for the past ten years Gill has provided counsel and training on performance and wellbeing in the work environment. This has included coaching individuals, helping launch the HSE Management Standards, heading up a consultancy team at Bupa to assist SME's and multinational businesses with psychosocial issues, and conducting academic research on inspiration at work. Prior to this Gill had a ten-year long consulting career in public affairs, PR and sponsorship which ignited her interest in the drivers of behaviour, the impact of communications, and the influence of attitudes and emotions.
Gill has an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology, an MSc in Psychobiology, a diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy and certificates in Stress Management, Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy and Training, and 'Level A' Psychometric Testing. She is a member of the Association of Business Psychologists.
She continues to provide training to Bupa's business clients and works on a variety of projects to build flourishing organisations.
Nic Malcomson
Nic Malcomson is a specialist in delivering Positive Psychology ideas in an upbeat and engaging style.
Having started his career in IT, Nic is used to turning client requirements into practical solutions. Creating clear programmes and engaging groups in diverse organisations is his thing, from The London School of Economics to smaller businesses, such as the members of BNI (Business Network International).
Nic has a MSc in Applied Positive Psychology, is a member of the British Psychological Society, as well as holding a MA in Philosophy (Critical Theory) and a BA in Computing and Artificial Intelligence.
As Dr. Ilona Boniwell, the founder and Programme Leader of the MSc in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of East London says:"I really like Nic's energy. If anyone can change the world - it's him!"
Sarah Foraud
Sarah has a deep interest in psychology which stems from childhood. In 2000 she trained with a highly successful international company to facilitate personal development using a multi-faceted approach; combining the benefits of cognitive therapy, neuro-linguistic programming and positive psychology.
In 2007 she qualified as a MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) consultant and has a particular interest in exploring how our personalities and individuality can influence us positively.
She has enjoyed working with a wide variety of clients helping them to better connect with their 'core' selves, highlight their personal strengths and further realise their potential.
In 2010 she gained her MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and her dissertation had a focus on resilience, coping mechanisms and post traumatic growth.
Yannick Jacob
Yannick is a highly enthusiastic and well-trained personal development facilitator determined to introduce effective programmes into schools, companies and the general public.
He is a certified Existential Coach and Regent's College-accredited mediator. His MSc in Applied Positive Psychology has led him to work with various personal development programmes, most notably LifeClubs, the German "Schulfach Glück" and the Haberdasher Askes Wellbeing Curriculum developed at the University of East London by some of the leading figures in the European Positive Psychology scene.
The latter two are to be implemented nationwide as individual school subjects. Yannick is part of the core team at London's renowned Personal Well-being Centre and works towards an integration of coaching and therapy. See www.coachingandmediation.net for more.
Protect. Enable. Strengthen. Flourish. Your business is in their heads.
