Meet the team
Angela Kelly
Group Learning and Development Manager
Before joining Thera Angela started her career as a Support Worker, supporting adults with a learning disability. She worked her way through various roles to Service Manager, before moving into Learning and Development. Angela then developed herself to the role of Senior Learning and Development Specialist.
Angela has Levels 2, 3 and 5 NVQs in Health and Social Care and Leadership, as well as a Level 5 Diploma in Teaching. Angela has carried out training in all person-centred active support roles at the Tizzard Centre, University of Kent. She has a special interest in the safeguarding of adults and is very passionate about the learning and developing of others.
Susan Cooper
Senior Learning and Development Administrator
Susan started her employment within Thera in the Data Protection Team, she then moved on to the Learning and Development Team, she is loving the new challenges and working with the wider Learning and Development Team. Susan enjoys seeing people develop and learn new skills.
Before Thera Susan worked at Grantham College for 11 years within the Human Resources Department, also at Totemic and Vodafone. Susan is approachable, friendly and always willing to help.
Hannah Horn
Admin Assistant
Hannah’s responsibilities are to manage the [email protected] inbox and ensuring the provision of induction guidebooks to our operational colleagues as well as managing training bookings, answering your queries and other general admin tasks.
Hannah started with Learning Development in April 2018 this is her first role in a Learning and Development Team and she’s always eager to help people and support their requirements.
Hannah is approachable, friendly, helpful and very knowledgeable, Hannah is also good at problem solving.
Graham Valentine
Learning and Development Project Partner
Graham started work in social care in the early 1990’s as a Support Worker for Social Services within Hampshire’s care in the community programme. He has worked for the National Autistic Society and as a Developmental Therapist and Trainer working with children and adolescents.
He is passionate about motivating staff and new inductees in realising their pivotal role in delivering the best service to maintain and improve the quality of life for the people we work for.
He has a level 3 NVQ in Social and Health Care and is an NVQ Assessor. He has a special interest in sensory processing and behaviour.
Alex Letchford
Health and Social Care Trainer
Alex started supporting people with Learning Disabilities as a job coach in 2013. He continued supporting people with Learning Disabilities to secure sustained employment as well as develop their communication and social skills before completing his level 5 Diploma in Education and Training in 2018. Alex then progressed to become a Tutor, teaching people with Learning Disabilities employability and functional Maths and English skills. This is where his interest in Learning and Development began and he joined Thera as a Trainer in 2021.
Alex is really enjoying the new challenges and excitements of working with the Learning and Development team as well as the wider teams at Thera and loves seeing people learning, progressing and developing new skills.
Jay Patel
Health and Social Care Trainer
Jay originally studied fashion and design at the then Leicester Polytechnic and went onto set up her own clothing company in Leicester for 16 years. Following a career assessment, she went into youth and community work and has over 20 years’ experience in empowering and providing opportunities for individuals of all ages and backgrounds to develop and enhance their lives. Jay is very passionate about supporting people to learn and finds it extremely rewarding seeing them progress in life.
Jay has a dual role in Thera Trust and is employed for two days a week as an Executive Assistant to a Service Quality Director.
Karen Harris
Health and Social Care Trainer
Karen started out as an interpretive designer and has worked for Community Inclusion and Self Advocacy organisations for many years. She has illustrated and produced easy read information as well as co-developing training to be delivered by Experts by Experience. She is a skilled graphic facilitator and works with our Service Quality Directors and the people we support, encouraging the active involvement of people with a learning disability in the delivery of training.
Karen has a dual role in Thera Trust and is employed for two days a week as an Executive Assistant to a Service Quality Director.
Terri Bristow
Apprenticeship Levy Co-ordinator
Terri has been with Thera for many years in various roles including operational management, HR and training and has an excellent understanding of ways to increase and maintain independence for people supported. She has a passion for learning and holds a Level 7 qualification in Strategic Leadership. She is also a skilled trainer and excellent at writing learning and development resources.
Terri is enthusiastic about getting staff qualified and managing our money effectively and fairly around this. She is leading on managing our Apprenticeship Levy and does a great job of this.
Liz Holmes
Learning Management System Specialist
Liz has always been curious about how systems work and is passionate about making learning accessible for everyone. She works with the Learning Management System and eLearning tools to create engaging, inclusive learning that is easy to use and understand.
Before joining Thera, Liz worked in Learning and Development and Social Care, where she developed her interest in improving how learning is designed and delivered. She enjoys working with others to improve processes and find better ways of doing things.
Liz holds NVQ Levels 2, 3 and 4 in Health and Social Care, an ILM Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management, and qualifications in internal quality assurance, education, and training.
Outside of work, Liz enjoys walking, photography, and spending time in nature.