Stories of Triple WellBeing

Rachel began ThoughtBox as an idea - as a way of bringing a different form of connection into the learning space. The story began when Rachel was living in Tanzania, making resources to inspire young people to have conversations beyond themselves and to be connecting more deeply with their whole being. From a seed of an idea the organisation slowly grew, and has been a companion, friend, ally, limb, child, mentor and growth-space for Rachel ever since.Over the years she's been blessed to be accompanied by many folks working alongside her and the organisation - some staying for small projects, some working for several years. The richness of this global community all offering their gifts allowed the organisation to keep rooting, seeding and growing, turning it into the mycelium it is now. Without the close companionship of the team, the organisation would have remained a solitary tree in a vast forest, and the riches of this community are endless and ever-growing.One of the joys Rachel finds in this work is the integration between her different skills, interests and curiosities; and how the organisation offers a livelihood, not just a job. Weaving together practices from ecopsychology, relational neuroscience and wisdom traditions, she brings twenty five years’ work and life-experience supporting and enabling healthy learning communities and cultures.Holding space for heart-centred learning is in her blood. For over two decades Rachel has been a teacher, mentor, curriculum designer, facilitator and systems-practitioner, working with young people, leaders and policymakers from across the world to transform education. Seeing and feeling the transformation of so many souls over the years is why and how she stays grounded and elevated at the same time, and the fertile soil that the organisation is growing in continues to be fed and nourished by these stories of change. It is the gift that keeps on giving.

Farmer by day and accountant by night Tim is our accounting-superhero, known to be giving financial advise one minute and tending to the cows on the farm the next. He is one of the most patient souls out there, and has the capacity to meet the complexities and confusions of the team and our organisational challenges with patience, care, compassion and kindness. His steady faith in the depths of our work and human-centred approach mean he's been able to help us stand firm and steady in tricky times, and is always there with reassuring words and gentle encouragement.His own experience has taken him on a journey from spreadsheets to muck-spreading and everything in between. Working as a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) since 2000, Tim runs Swift Accounting - an organisation built on his passion for helping clients manage their businesses with clarity and care. Along with my his Shirley, he also co-runs his wife's family farm in Tavistock, Devon. The balance between being sat at a computer and being outdoors with the cows offers a beautiful way of life and is one of the riches underpinning how he works with his clients. In fact, one of the things Rachel has most appreciated is Tim sending her Whatsapp videos of the cows in the field when also requiring her to do some complex accounting...it works a charm every time!We're deeply honoured that Tim is still working with us, having not wanted to take on any extra clients when we met in 2018 but having agreed to come onto the team and staying with us ever since! He is a cherished and invaluable member of the ThoughtBox family and we're incredibly lucky to have him on the team.

Prashant holds a beautiful balance between wise elder, insightful strategist and curious friend; with his warm heart and embodied approach lending a rich depth to the organisational approach. As a core member of our Directorial board, he has worked closely to support Rachel over the past 7 years with leadership coaching and holds space for the heart of the organisation to keep maturing as we navigate a rapidly changing world. He is a deep listener - often being silent for some time during meetings to hear both the said and unspoken, to then speak with such extraordinary insight and precision. It is mindblowing every time!His area of vocational interest lies in service of healing-centered systems and culture change. He has worked with a vast range of people and organisations, in diverse settings and across rich and varied cultures. He has served on the board and worked in leadership roles in trauma healing and social reform organisations, whilst his practice is informed by advanced degrees in law, business, and regenerative economics; formal initiation in three wisdom lineages; long-term contemplative practice; and life and work experience across more than 60 countries. One of the elements most cherished about Prashant is his reverence. He has the ability to really see people and bring out the goodness in them - listening intently to the whole person and welcoming, celebrating and shining a light on their radiance, no matter how dimly their own light may be shining. He is a rare and precious soul and brings immense riches, courage, guidance and care to the team.

Paul is one of the most humble and generous folks we know. His approach to work, life and everything in between is deeply sincere and heartfelt and his capacity for compassion is limitless. He is the co-lead of our Fellowship programme and works as a one-to-one coach for a global network of educators focused on action research projects within Triple WellBeing practice.His own work and practice has taken him through a life-journey of great courage and insight into regenerative and sustainable education - policy, pedagogy and practice; with local action and community engagement at the heart of his interest. He is the Centre for Sustainable Futures Lead at the University of Plymouth, responsible for supporting curriculum development, pedagogic change and participatory research relating to exploring the potential for sustainability education within Higher Education.Alongside his experience in the Higher Education Landscape - with a special interest in Citizenship Education and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) - he works from what he calls "a pedagogy of love" - with his "Love Learning Goals" an incredible resource, framework and approach to bring younger learners into more conscious and connected ways of living and learning. He has a cracking sense of humour and a deeply caring heart; the combination of which make team time a joy and working together a rich, lively and nourishing space for all who enter.

Holly is terrifically, intelligently and compassionately inconvenient! As one half of the Two Inconvenient Women podcast and Co-Director of ThoughtBox, she sits both at the roots and within the heartwood of the organisation, tending the community and keeping us all nourished.Joining the team in December 2023, she came on board as Director of Community and has since worked her magic in co-creating, tending and igniting a global community of practice; with over 60 educators from across the world now working to support Triple WellBeing in action in their local communities.Holly brings a delicious blend of gentle care, empowered action and deep reflection - working to support and tend to the roots of this work on all of its levels. Her various skill sets mean she can turn her attention to any task on the table, and has been an invaluable co-Director for the team; from supporting high level strategy board meeting to poster design and game-making; from funding bids and complex accounting to leadership facilitation, student workshops and everything in between. One of her biggest gifts to the organisation was birthing our two podcasts: Two Inconvenient Women and The Stories of Triple WellBeing; both working to shine a light upon alternative stories and pathways towards a more generative and relational future. She has a brilliant podcast voice and makes those who she speaks with feel immediately at ease through her nurturing and engaged approach.Her professional journey has taken her from the classroom as a secondary English teacher to Director of Community at ThoughtBox Education; spanning the roles of educator, facilitator and coach. She is an Aspen UK Rising Leaders Fellow, a Bio-Leadership Fellow and a certified coach (Wise Goose Coaching), also co-chairing a national network of educators: Our Shared World. Her practice sits at the intersection of wellbeing, learning, community and ecological regeneration and she comes most alive when supporting individuals and organisations to rediscover the deep ties between self, people and earth-care and the journey into whole system flourishing.She is a deeply cherished and invaluable core member of the team and is a daily ray of sunshine for all those who are in her orbit.

Gemma has the rare and exquisite capacity to hold complexity and compassion together as a thread; listening and sensing into an organisation's ecosystem and understanding where the pivot points are for relational health. She knows how to listen to the unspoken qualities and invisible conversations and pull from them the words that need to be shared. She has been part of our Directorial board for several years, offering her wit, wisdom and deep skills as an experienced design strategist and systems change specialist, with seventeen years' experience partnering with organisations on sustainability in the UK and internationally. Over the years she's helped navigate the team through some complex challenges with clarity and purpose, supporting each member to give expression to their values on a personal and organisational level and find ways through the 'stuckness' as it were. Every time we've been in these spaces, the learning has been so bountiful and the landing place exactly where we needed to find ourselves. Gemma has one of those wonderful ways of being - both light and deep, wise and mischievous - that brings such energy and attention to the organisation, making board meetings truly delightful. She is a firm advocate for the wonder of this work, for enabling awe and amazement in our communities and for re-igniting the humanity in systems, structures, communities and individual across the learning landscape.

Annie has been a long friend and supporter of Rachel in the early days of ThoughtBox and was our very first board member to join the team when we became as a Community Interest Company. Annie brings a wonderful combination of wisdom and humour, of deep care and insightful reflection with a light touch and enabling manner. Her working life in varied contexts across the world means that she brings a wealth of experience to the table. Formerly a Principal Consultant for the International Education Agency as well as as Headteacher for over 20 years, Annie has had extensive experience in school leadership, both nationally and internationally; working with government departments in the UK and abroad. She was an Associate of the Innovation Unit and was able to bring policy making at national level to impact at school level. She has led four schools to receive ‘Excellent’ Ofsted reports and has been a governor for many others.She is a shining light for the values and ethos of this work, with a dedication to kindness, care and connection and a heart brim-full of love.

Alex has been with ThoughtBox since the early days. He burst into the scene with the same open-hearted generosity and deep kindness that sits at the heart of his endeavours today; working closely with Rachel for very little money for almost a year to help shape the website, feeling, design and storytelling of the organisation. His approach is deeply humane - and begins with whomever he works with by connecting with the 'why'. This invitation into the heart of things has - and continues to be - an essential foundation stone for how we work in the world as an organisation; driven by our core values and in service of the human stories beneath it all. Rooted in his core belief in the goodness of the world, Alex has a rare quality of seeing straight to the heart of the matter and bringing out the essence. It is his gifts that underpin the beauty of our marketing and design work; with every image, website page, document or poster given a quality of care and attention that enables the messaging to resonate on a deep level. Part designer, part wizard, Alex's magic has brought so many parts of ThoughtBox to life, most notably our storybooks (designed on his houseboat in Greece in what was coined "storybook bay") and given such care and attention it is palpable when seeing the images jump off the page. He brings such mischief and wisdom to the organisation and enables the rest of the work to happen. Weaving together an early life of working in corporate marketing with a growing awareness of regenerative practice as a cornerstone for business, Alex's unique design qualities and careful strategic guidance and approach have enabled us to grow together in ways we could never have imagined without him.

Devorah is an educator and college professor. She first connected with ThoughtBox through colleagues from the Heschel Centre for Sustainability who have partnered with us on regenerative leadership programmes.Devorah holds a complex and challenging space in her work - navigating the complexities of divisive politics and life in a war-zone with the nurturing of cultural curiosity and social connection that comes with language-learning. As part of her action research she focused on promoting wellbeing, specifically Triple WellBeing, through English Language education and hosted a national Triple WellBeing Day for learners across the country. This was a celebration event - weaving language learning and diversity with social engagement and conscious conversations; all under the focus of strengthening self-care, people-care, and Earth-care.This work continues to weave its way through community, policy and practice with allies across the educational landscape in Israel and within the Palestinian communities within the country.