Meet our TSP Team

Derek brings a wealth of experience (and a fair bit of legend status) to Wild Embers. His career spans statutory, voluntary, and independent sectors, including NHS and Social Care management consultancy, leading prison mental health for the Department of Health and Social Care, and senior commissioning roles. Most recently, he retired as Head of Mental Health and Social Health Commissioning for Devon CCG, where he oversaw the entire mental health allocation for both children and adults. ​ An expert in commissioning services and bridging the gap between public and VCSE sectors, Derek also happens to be a trained outdoor education and leadership mentor, because he believes learning doesn’t always happen in a classroom. Beyond Wild Embers, he’s the director of Resilient Lives, chair of Dartmoor Skylark Radio CIC, a personal trainer, and a facilitator for The Incredible Years parenting programme. Around here, he’s known as “Grandpa Justice,” “Baldylocks,” and our very own SEND superhero. There’s truly no one quite like Derek, and we wouldn’t have it any other way

Anna, a Forest School teacher for seven years, brings a deep love of nature, creativity, and alternative education to Wild Embers. Backed by over 15 years of experience in education, she now works with a range of outdoor education teams across South Devon, championing learning that happens beyond the classroom walls. Alongside her work with Wild Embers, Anna runs her own education platform, Wylde Hearth, collaborates closely with Blackberry Barn, and can often be found leading workshops at events across the country. Her background also includes working alongside wild food author and forager Miles Irving, teaching foraging skills and wild food preparation rooted in connection to land and season. A maker as well as an educator, Anna creates beautiful jewellery inspired by nature and indigenous crafts. With a rich blend of Forest School knowledge, bushcraft skills, and creative flair, she brings curiosity, warmth, and a little wild magic to everything she does.

Cameron brings a deeply thoughtful, playful, and story-rich approach to his work at Wild Embers, creating spaces where children feel safe, accepted, and truly at home, even if just for a short while. He believes in the power of play, imagination, laughter, and shared wondering, alongside the quiet strength of listening and presence. Originally studying Physical Geography (BSc), Cameron’s love of nature grew into years of learning practical bushcraft, ancestral skills, and outdoor living. A deeper calling soon followed: making these experiences accessible to young people who may find them harder to reach. For the past seven years, Cameron has worked extensively with children and young people with SEN, SEMH, and additional needs across specialist schools, alternative provisions, home education settings, holiday clubs, bushcraft camps, and forest schools throughout South Devon. Growing up exploring Devon’s streams and woodlands, Cameron believes that access to the outdoors is every child’s birthright, and a powerful environment for emotional processing and healing. He trusts that when given time, space, and the right support, each child will show us what they need and reveal their own unique genius. Alongside his hands-on experience, Cameron holds a Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills, a Foundation Certificate in Outdoor Education Leadership, and is a qualified Paddlesport Leader. His current passions include storytelling, folk songs, animal tracking, canoeing, and Dartmoor tales shared around the campfire, balanced always with an appreciation for silence, and what can be gently spoken into it. As Cameron puts it, listening to a young person is a lot like following an animal track: noticing the smallest signs, understanding where they’ve been, and helping them choose a path that leads somewhere good.

Sarah sees the natural world as the ultimate classroom - a place to explore curiosity, connection, and our innate life force. A certified rewilding guide and mentor, Forest School Leader, and holistic and Thai massage therapist, she combines gentle playfulness, presence, and fun at the heart of everything she does. With a professional background in learning disability nursing and social work, and over a decade of experience supporting young people with SEND, Sarah has worked extensively across community settings and forest school environments. She is passionate about children’s wellbeing and is committed to creating spaces where every child feels truly listened to, safe, welcomed, and deeply connected through a strong sense of belonging. Above all, Sarah treasures being a mother to two young boys, whom she describes as her greatest teachers, constantly reminding her of the power of curiosity, nature, and learning through lived experience.

Veronique's warmth, compassion, and a deeply empowering approach lends itself effortlessly to Wild Embers. A fully qualified Solution Focused Hypnotherapist and Clinical Psychotherapist, Veronique supports people to break through the challenges holding them back, whether that’s anxiety, sleep difficulties, phobias, or other barriers—helping them regain a sense of control and move towards the life they want to live. Helping others has always been at the heart of Veronique’s work. Her background includes a wide range of care-focused roles, from supporting children with additional needs to working in family therapy, developmental play, and as a family support worker. She even co-wrote a children’s book to help families prepare for the arrival of a disabled sibling. With a long-standing fascination with psychology and what helps people feel happy and well, Veronique’s journey eventually led her to train in Solution Focused Family Therapy after moving to the UK. While she loved counselling, she was drawn to a more uplifting, future-focused approach, and found it in solution focused hypnotherapy. For Veronique, this blend felt like the perfect fit, and she has never looked back.

Chris is an outdoor leader who believes wholeheartedly in the power of nature to build confidence, nurture wellbeing, and create moments of pure joy. A qualified Hill & Moorland Leader and trained in Outdoor First Aid, he brings years of experience supporting children and young people to thrive in outdoor environments. Alongside his work with Wild Embers, Chris leads Duke of Edinburgh expeditions across the country, guides walks on Dartmoor, and runs archery sessions, always with the same aim: to get people outdoors, having fun, and discovering what they’re capable of. Whether navigating open moorland or introducing someone to archery for the first time, Chris brings enthusiasm, calm leadership, and a genuine love of the outdoors to everything he does.

Yasmin brings a wonderfully child-led, relationship-based approach to the Wild Embers team, rooted in the belief that children thrive when they feel safe, connected, trusted and free to be themselves. She has worked across mainstream education, alternative provision, home education and SEND settings, supporting children with a wide range of needs, including SEND, SEMH, autism and school avoidance. A qualified upper secondary and A-Level teacher who grew up and trained in Sweden, Yasmin’s own journey as a home-educating mum of three has deepened her passion for self-directed, curiosity-led learning. While living in Belize, she founded Sattva Learning Co-op, a community outdoor learning group set amongst the jungle, where children and adults learn alongside one another through nature, play, exploration, creativity and connection. At the heart of Yasmin’s work is a desire to create spaces where children have real agency and feel seen, heard, respected and accepted exactly as they are. She believes that when we give children the freedom to follow their curiosity, a little bit of magic can happen – and where better to do that than outdoors, where there is space to explore, connect and simply be? Yasmin is equally passionate about the power of community and creating a sense of belonging for the adults around a child too, recognising how important it is for parents and families to feel seen, supported and connected. We're excited to have Yasmin as part of the TSP team.

Bio coming soon

Bio coming soon

Bio coming soon