I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and now live in London with my beautiful wife and one amazing daughter. After setting up the first Anglican Centre for Pioneering Learning and receiving the John Wesley Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Spirit, I became the founder of The Haven + London. I’ve always been passionate about creativity and the arts, and this led me to becoming the first Missioner to the Creative Industries for the Church of England. My work has always been rooted in helping the thinkers, shapers and makers of the world find their path in life.

Nothing gives me greater joy than working closely with my fellow creatives; from fashion to film, oil paints to graffiti. Our charity was founded as a safe space and welcoming community for all creatives whatever their background or belief. As Chief Executive I believe strongly in leading by example and I personally deliver many of the one to one sessions that help our creatives to address the challenges in their lives. The need is great for this community and the work we do vital.

For over 25 years I’ve been the non-executive director of the Habitat For Humanity Great Britain and 5 years ago I was honoured to become the Director of Finance for Blind Veterans UK. I’ve also served as a Special Advisor to the Prime Ministers Policy Unit and now, I’m proud to say that I’m the Chairman of The Haven + London. The Haven + London follows in the footsteps of Amnesty International, The Samaritans, Barnardo’s and the RSPCA who happened to be founded by Christians who wanted to make a practical, lasting difference in the world.

Our team comprises of all faiths and none. Whilst we are not a Christian charity per se we are governed by core Christian values of love and acceptance for all regardless of race, religion, sexuality or gender. Without the creative community our entire world would be a much poorer place. The reality is that an unacceptable amount of creatives are suffering mentally, socially and economically. But it isn’t always easy to meet their needs with limited resources. I’m looking forward to supporting our inspirational team in meeting that challenge. Together we are building relationships and partnerships towards changing the depressing headlines we read every day on creatives who reached crisis point.

Rev Ric Stott is a Methodist Pioneer minister who has been working alongside artists in Sheffield for the last 9 years developing an artspace in the city centre that explores the interplay between community, creativity and spirituality.

Also a practising artist, completing his MFA in fine art in 2018 Ric’s work in painting and drawing takes influences from his experiences studying medical science, theology and art psychotherapy.

In July 2015 Ric organised an expedition with an international group of artists along with a documentary film crew to the Hebridean Island of Iona where they engaged in “Wild Curating”. This involved making and exhibiting art out in response to the wilderness. This began a wider project for Ric as he explores the impact of place on who we are.

His work also explores the relationship between queer/LGBT+ experience and the contemplative Christian tradition. For Ric, painting is an exercise in embodied spirituality.

Katy is the newest addition to the team at The Haven+London. She is working as a PA for Peterson in a volunteer capacity. She is a recent graduate from King’s College London, where she completed her dissertation on ‘The Sublime in Contemporary Art’. Katy is very interested in the arts and, in particular visual art, film and literature. She is delighted to join The Haven+London and help with the fantastic work they are doing to support London’s creatives.

Our dedicated Chaplaincy team are recruited for their empathy with and love for the creative sector. They are trained to provide a safe and peaceful space for creatives to talk through anything and everything that is on their minds. These highly accessible and confidential sessions are the foundation stones of our work. They are founded on the principle of no judgement and each creative directs their own narrative for discussion.

We believe that being listened to with love is a powerful force for catalysing stress into serenity and transforming harmful thoughts and behaviours into resilience and positive action. Our ‘Space to Talk’ sessions are delivered in the peace and beauty of St Pancras church in Euston which is open to all faiths and none. We can also meet in other places if a creative needs us to.

The Haven + London, with The CEO and The Board of Trustees alongside our Safeguarding Officer ensues that our safeguarding policy is updated. Any concern should be brought to the attention The Haven + London Safeguarding Officer Dr Mark Beach and the team email address is mark@thehaven-london.com.

If you would like to meet one of our chaplains, please see our chaplaincy page.

In her chaplaincy role, Sarah has an open and inclusive approach to spirituality and spiritual practice, and works with people of all faiths or none to explore the role of faith in their lives. Sarah is also a therapeutic counsellor in private practice and with an agency on Harley Street and volunteers with the University College Hospital chaplaincy team, where she supports people at all stages of their health and life journeys. She brings to The Haven an interest in contemplative and creative spirituality,  the importance for all of us of connection and being part of loving communities.  She has expertise in working with addiction, at the end of life and with people experiencing depression and anxiety.

Caroline Brookes is an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Caroline works in primary and secondary schools supporting children and young people through a wide range of challenges including bereavement, abuse, and absent parents. Caroline also has a private practice where she works with adults and young people with whatever concerns they bring.

Caroline has particular experience in working for a variety of voluntary sector organisations with clients who would otherwise not have access to counselling. She has a special concern for working with those who feel marginalised.

David Viljoen is a consultant clinical psychologist (Health and Care Professions Council), an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a registered Family and Systemic Psychotherapist (UK Council for Psychotherapy). He works primarily in the NHS and is passionate about seeing individuals and their families set free from the impact of eating disorders. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Oxford (Doctoral Clinical Psychology Programme) and has presented at national and international eating disorders conferences.

David is fascinated by the question of what it means to be human in body, soul and spirit. Creatives reminds us that humans are in essence creative beings but, like some of the original master pieces, we sometimes get hurt along the way and need restoration. Being creative and expressing ourselves can be healing and is therefore both a process of being ourselves and becoming the wonder and beauty of who we are as individual human beings.

I study the practice and organisation of creative enterprises, publishing and lecturing on how ideas are transformed into the music, plays, films, images, games and books that help make life meaningful and joyful. I have taught in universities in London and Moscow, Cologne and Shanghai and at each, I hugely enjoy spending time with students as they battle with the ideas and concepts that attempt to explain our shared experience.

I believe in the importance of ideas, but know well how fragile they are. Even powerful ideas once struggled to win attention. I think the idea behind The Haven + London is a beautiful one and I am delighted to be part of a team working to make it stronger and reach more people.

Dr Lindsay Ip is a clinical psychologist and a theatre lover who dappled into entrepreneurship and is very interested in the integration of arts into the world of health and well-being. Lindsay is a Principal Clinical Psychologist and currently a Darzi fellow at King’s Health Partners and Our Healthier South East London (OHSEL). She is working with primary care networks to develop more integrated community based care to improve population health. Lindsay specialised in behavioral medicine and led an innovative project that drives a bio-psycho-social model of collaborative care for the chronically ill across Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and King’s College Hospital. She also has a private practice on Harley Street and sees patients for psychotherapy and medico-legal assessments.

Lindsay is Stanford trained, with over 10 years of experience providing individual, couples and family psychotherapy in a variety of medical and mental health settings. In addition to clinical work, she is also active in mainstreaming mental health in schools and work places – including working with civil servants and entrepreneurs. She is director of research and development at Adaptive Resilience, and provided resilient leadership workshops to senior leaders in government through the Major Projects Leadership Academy at Oxford’s Said Business School, and to the UK Army generals.

I’ve always been a people person. So much so that I,ve dedicated my career as a filmmaker to telling human stories told from the heart. Over the years I’ve made several feature length documentaries for all the major British and International broadcasters, from the BAFTA nominated Tsunami, The Children for 9/11 and WW1: Finding The Lost Battalions to the three-hour rollocking inside story of Live Aid.

I currently call London my home, but being a Scot I love nothing more than escaping to the countryside whenever I can – mostly with my very opinionated daughter. Bless her. As we all know, creativity is the lifeblood of our Capital, but being a creative in the city brings with it all types of stresses, strains and pressures. We all need a little peace, an inner sanctum, a place we can get help with our troubles. And that’s why we need The Haven + London and why I’m so excited to be a part of it.

Anoushka is a London based theatre director who co-founded the multi-award-winning interactive gaming theatre company, Hidden Track, who make overtly political work that elevates the narrative of the voiceless in our society, focusing on themes such as class, social mobility, and privilege. With the company, she has directed their award-winning shows that have toured the country and performed in museums, parks, on village greens, and in sports halls. When Anoushka is not directing, she is working in the mental health sector, having previously worked for Student Minds and now working for Mind in their Workplace Wellbeing team, she is passionate about supporting creative freelancers who are susceptible to challenging times due to the work they do.

Nichola discovered her passion for safety, health and wellbeing while working at Battersea Dog’s and Cat’s Home. Since then Nichola has gained a diverse skill base working for a variety of industries such as Christie’s Auction House, EMCOR UK and Shepherds Bush Housing Association (SBHA) as well as military experience as an officer in the British Army. Nichola has had great success leading these organisations in creating healthier and safer working environments and improving their overall safety culture.  Her excitement and drive to support staff to be more effective in the workplace led her to grow a new business offering, Wellness at Work, within the Capita H&S Consultancy.

Nichola’s current role as Head of Health and Safety at SBHA sees her heading up the COVID 19 business response team as well as transforming H&S to include wellbeing at work.

Helping people is my main motivation life. It is what drove me help others through my work as a Financial Adviser. Since I was a teenager I have always looked to help those less fortunate, whether that was through my mentoring work or supporting charity’s that were/are close to my heart.

To be a part of the The Haven London is an honour. We all have our favourites songs/movies/shows that we love. We all often turn to these forms of media when we are feeling down or on the up. The Creative Arts industry gives so much to so many people and so to be able to help give something back is fantastic.

Outside of work I love to cook, read and I really enjoy online gaming.

Clare Bolton Carvalho is Director of Content at Law Business Research, a business information service for the legal profession. In that role she creates and delivers the content strategy for the business and oversees a large team of content creators, based in London, Washington DC and Hong Kong. A journalist by profession, Clare joined Law Business Research more than 15 years ago and has held a number of roles within the company; previously, she worked in local government.

Information to follow

John is our Treasurer. He is a Chartered Accountant and Director of Business Strategy at Ward Williams Chartered Accountants. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration – Moscow and an Associate Academic at two London Universities.

John has over 40 years of experience working in the accounting profession. He is very much an all-rounder, working with owner managed businesses, amongst other things he advises on tax, strategy, fund raising and governance. During a long career in higher education he has developed his technical and communication skills which compliment his work with clients. John is a governor at a local school and company secretary of Travel Technology Initiative a not for profit company working with companies in the travel industry. John is a keen marathon runner and cyclist.

Known affectionately as Mo Pleasure, this renowned multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, began playing acoustic piano at the age of four and by his early teens already mastered several instruments including bass, trumpet, guitar, drums and violin.

Upon receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from University of Connecticut, Mo began his professional music career playing bass with Ray Charles. He has backed some of the most accomplished talents in Jazz ,R&B and pop including George Duke, Natalie Cole, Dianne Reeves, Christina Aguilera, Jonathan Butler, Rachelle Ferrell, Brian Culbertson, Michael McDonald, Oleta Adams, Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack, Marcus Miller, Mary J. Blige, and Frankie Beverly and Maze, to name a few.

In 1993, Mo became a member of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire, and ascended to become the band’s musical director from 1994-2001. As a principal member of the group Devoted Spirits he was featured playing keyboards for Jimi Hendrix’s 60th Birthday Celebration and the 2004 Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix tour. Mo was a keyboardist in Michael Jackson’s final touring band that was scheduled to perform in the late superstar’s historic 2009, comeback tour at London’s O2 Arena.

Mo is a Yamaha Artist and also endorses Schecter and Bossa Basses, Epiphone Guitars, AMT instrument microphones, Editors Keys Studio Series Portable Vocal Booth, Danley Sound Labs speakers, Reunion Blues instrument bags, among others.

Janice Sylvia Brock is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work hangs in private collections in the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the USA, most notably in The White House. In 2010, Janice exhibited in London’s world-famous Saatchi Gallery, while a private showing of her work in the UK was attended by HRH The Prince of Wales. Her paintings have changed hands for as much as US$250,000.

Go to www.janicesylviabrock.com.

Celebrity photographer Dave Hogan or ‘Hogie’, as he’s affectionately known amongst his peers, is a stalwart of the glamorous red carpet, concerts and A-list party scene, in the UK and all over the world. Thirty years experience in the business has ensured him the utmost respect from media and celebrities alike and in turn exclusive AAA behind the scenes access to the most sought after photographic events. Hogie was the official photographer for the Rolling Stones at Glastonbury 2013 and Hyde Park 2013. He has also worked with Madonna, U2, Tom Cruise, David Bowie, Girls Aloud (he shot their final tour this year), Cheryl Cole, Take That, and MTV.