Betsy Lewis-Holmes, Programme Director

Betsy comes from an arts and exhibitions background, and has over fifteen years experience in arts project management. Prior to working for Art & Soul, Betsy managed various projects in arts including commissioning artwork for hospitals through Richmond Arts Service and ran a volunteer ‘arts for health’ programme with UCL Museums, taking museum objects to those in hospitals and day centres. Betsy has recently completed a PhD in medical history with the University of Exeter. 

Michelle Hazell, Art Therapist 

Michelle is a qualified and HCPC registered art psychotherapist. She trained at Roehampton university, after a long career as a teacher working with children with complex learning needs and disabilities. Michelle’s art therapy practice has been with young people (in the NHS) and adults at a community mental health and wellbeing charity.

Michelle is passionate about bringing out peoples innate creative spark and helping them to use their creativity for health and wellbeing. Michelle is a prolific art journaller and bookbinder, creating books and filling them with collage, paint, text and thread. She also loves to feel connected to nature and the seasons by using natural materials to create ephemeral or more lasting artworks. Michelle loves to bring people together to be creative and share art knowledge and experience.

Maddy Howell, Marketing

Maddy is a freelance writer and digital marketing specialist with experience working on art projects that showcase diverse cultures. Taking the lead on digital marketing for Folkestone-based arts organisation CT20 - Diverse Cultures From The Margins over the pandemic, she fronted a rebrand that aimed to position the institution as leaders in accessible culture.

Trained in journalism and culture, she is passionate about telling stories, helping others to communicate openly, and encouraging brighter futures for those in the arts and outside it. Throughout the pandemic, her podcast Sounds Of Solace aimed to open up conversations surrounding mental health and music, encouraging difficult discussions at a time where they were most vital.
 
Eesha Suhail, Art Therapist
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Eesha is a Pakistani fine artist based in London, UK. She is trained as a South Asian Miniature Painter and her work is recognised for its striking play of light, colour, and atmosphere. Through symbolically-charged imagery, Eesha transforms familiar visuals into works that evoke ambiguity and deeper reflections around life.
 
Alongside her art practice, Eesha is also a HCPC-registered Art Psychotherapist working within the UK NHS. She works with adults experiencing severe and enduring mental health difficulties, and her clinical experiences deeply inform her creative practice. Her work explores the complexities of the human psyche, drawing on themes of perception, vulnerability, memory, identity, and emotional containment.

Diana Burch, Artist

Diana is a freelance artist who uses creativity to support mental health and wellbeing. She is trained by CAMHs and to work with people of all ages affected by trauma, SEN and neurodiversity. Her workshops are designed to shift focus from difficult thoughts into a positive mindset encouraging individual exploration of a variety of 2 and 3-dimensional media. 

Workshops are friendly and welcoming to all, with the opportunity for people to meet socially, enjoy the shared experience and even to collaborate. Diana's focus is on using creativity as a tool to break down the barriers of isolation and poor mental health and to build self esteem and social connections. She has worked in a variety of settings including Pupil Referral Units, hospital schools, community support groups and in NHS adolescent mental health settings.
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Joe Stevens, Artist
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Joe is an artist whose practice explores spaces, systems and spectacle through persistent world-building; generating different facets of a semi-fictional virtual environment.  His work consists of games, sculptures, photos, videos, fonts, installations and more besides.  What Joe refers to as his artistic ‘ground zero’ occurred during his Goldsmiths MA in 2007, where a patterned arrangement of Wine Gums (Wine Games) became the starting point and basis for everything.  
 
Joe’s mantra and approach to making is the idea that if you can make a choice, you can make art, bringing this perspective to various endeavours that encourage others to set aside their misgivings and embark on their own creative journey.  Joe has also recently released a book, Playing Public, detailing the trajectory of his participatory practice.