|
Our Trustees |
|
|
Jackie Ashmenall (Chair)
Jackie is Lay Chair of the Ealing Deanery Synod and trustee of Christ the Saviour Church, Ealing and founding trustee of Monster Cat CIO. She also campaigns for social justice through her role on the leadership team of West London Citizens UK, and co-Chair of Citizens UK. In her work she runs The British Neuropsychiatry Association, an academic medical charity, whose core mission is to bridge the gap between psychiatry and neurology. She is also Executive Assistant to two leading UK neuropsychiatrists. Jackie loves going to the theatre, particularly the fringe theatres of London. She believes that theatre gives children the skills, curiosity and creativity they need to understand the complex world we live in, and is proud to be a trustee on the board of Monster Cat CIO. |
|
|
Nick Dale (Trustee and Treasurer)
Nick is Operations Director at the International Growth Centre, a research centre based at The London School of Economics and in partnership with the University of Oxford, with a network of researchers and a set of country teams across Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East working with policymakers in developing countries to promote inclusive and sustainable growth through research. Prior to that he spent 20 years in investment and corporate banking, working on transactions, corporate strategy and Treasury. Nick has always loved the theatre and with two children has seen the benefits it brings to self-confidence, empathy and a safe place to explore difficult situations. |
|
Erica Georgeson (Trustee and co-founder)
Erica trained as an actress at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 1994. After several years working in stage and television Erica cofounded the children’s theatre company Monster Cat Theatre (MCT). MCT develops and delivers various kinds of drama workshops to young people in West London. For many years MCT provided Bullying Awareness workshops to Primary schools as part of a Borough wide program, funded by The Safer Ealing Partnership, part of Ealing Council. After the crash of 2008, MCT continued to provide workshops to schools until school budget cuts meant many schools could no longer afford to finance the workshops. After successfully establishing Monster Cat Theatre CIO in 2018, we are continuing to provide our workshops by applying for funding to enable us to carry out our much needed and highly valued project. Successful funding so far has been from John Lyon’s Charity, Ealing Council, and Arts Council England. As the primary liaison with schools, Erica is a workshop leader and also responsible for booking and scheduling the workshops. |
|
Sasha Howard (Trustee)
Sasha is presently a Forensic Social Supervisor (Social Worker) at the West London Mental Health Trust's Specialist Forensic Community Team for Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster. She works with those sentenced to hospital orders for serious violent, sexual and other dangerous offences released on conditional discharge in the community. From 2001 to 2009 I worked for a charity in conjunction with the Probation Service at Women Approved Premises (formally known as Bail and Probation hostels/halfway house). Then for the Probation Service between 2009-2014 at male only Approved Premises, and then started working as a Probation Officer in Offender Management in the Bough of Ealing from 2014 until 2023. My three daughters all attended Monster Cat Theatre after school clubs. They have all developed an inner confidence from participation in Monster Cats over the years. My involvement over the last 12 years as a parent of children who attended Monster Cat, affirms my understanding of the positive impact they have on young people, namely promoting dynamic and unique personal qualities through interaction using the Arts with other children, and most impressively building their self-confidence, communication skills, creative abilities, empathy and expression through improvised role play which ultimately strengthens social inclusion. |
|
|
Ravi Singh Dhillon (Trustee)
My name is Ravi and I'm a third-year medical student studying in Southampton. I went to Monster Cat Theatre (MCT) as a child throughout primary school and, from my experience, MCT provided the safe and fun environment to be able to develop key skills such as with teamworking; through the short plays we put on every week, communication; through the delegation of different roles within the scenes, creativity and even empathy (by putting myself in someone else's shoes). Many of my very first memories of these key skills happened in MCT, because we were allowed to explore them in an environment that the primary school curriculum, in my humble opinion, simply did not provide. Moreover, these skills I learnt as a child stuck with me in life, as doing drama made me more confident and improved my communication skills, which were an important part of my application to medicine. These skills continue to be important every day for me on placement in hospitals. Confidence is key to be able to form a diagnosis and perform procedures and good communication with patients is vital for ascertaining the optimum treatment plan for them. Over the last few years, I've helped MCT to put on their summer showcases and it's truly a privilege to be able to see the children develop confidence even only after 3 days, as they innocently try and find their place in the world. The skills children can learn from Monster Cat can be applied throughout life no matter what you eventually end up doing and above all its just great fun. |
|
Friends
|
|
Hugo Chiarella (Friend)
Hugo was a Trustee from 2019 to 2022, and helped us immeasurably through the difficult times of the Covid pandemic. He remains our Friend and still supports us with managerial governance, funding applications and his 'up' approach to life. He decided to step down due to an increasingly busy career, and an expanding family. He is currently the Resident Director for the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera. In his previous role as Development Producer for Fuel Productions Limited, Hugo was responsible for overseeing the development of new work for a diverse portfolio of artists and companies across the UK in partnership with organisations such as The National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Kiln, Ovalhouse and Camden People’s Theatre, to name a few. As a freelance producer and consultant, Hugo has been responsible for fundraising across a broad range of projects and programmes partnering with charitable community organisations. He also brings fifteen years of experience as a director, writer and performer in both the commercial and subsidised arts sector to the board. |
|
|
Waveney Patel (Friend)
Waveney was a Trustee from 2018 to 2024 and is largely responsible for our robust safeguarding policies and procedures. We can't thank her enough for her kind words, help and support. Waveney is a consultant clinical psychologist who has specialised in work with children and young people over a 27-year period and across a wide range of settings and severity of need in the NHS. She has worked with children and young people with a range of need, from those experiencing pronounced mental health crisis to more early intervention support services. Waveney is passionate about supporting the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people through working with them directly, their families and schools. She is keen to build the capacity in the young person’s life to provide sustainable and effective approaches to their difficulties. She is very aware of the key part that schools can play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their students. Waveney has worked over many years with children and young people at risk of exclusion from school to support their needs and inclusion in school. She has worked widely in schools providing mental health services and advising on the development of the Designated Mental Health Lead role. This role aims to embed strategies to support mental health and wellbeing across the life and routine of the school. Waveney currently works in a specialist provision for children and young people with autism, and manages the embedded clinical team there and works as the Designated Mental Health Lead in the school. Waveney fully supports the work of Monster Cat as through its school programmes, the team aims to equip children and young people to build self-esteem and confidence and to manage social relationships and bullying. These areas are key in enabling a young person to develop a strong sense of themselves and build resilience to support their positive mental health as they go through their lives. |