Meet The Team

Emma is a former member of Manchester band The Tribe and former God TV presenter. She has been delivering top class school lessons, assemblies and events since 1997. After battling through and overcoming an eating disorder as a teenager Emma has a passion for young people to understand their true worth and value and to reach their full potential in life.

Adam is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. From taking schools lessons on value and self-esteem, or throwing himself around the stage with pop-punk band Malokai, to working as a graphic designer and illustrator or even writing electronic music, Adam has done it. He now uses his story of overcoming a history of self-harm to show young people there’s always hope. Adam heads up our Boys’ course helping young men identity who they are and who they want to be.

Rachael is passionate about helping young people know and believe that they are loved, accepted and valued. After encountering Respect ME sessions in her youth group, she did a youth work training course at The Message Trust and went on to becoming a Respect ME tutor, teaching and sharing those same messages she received as a teenager and benefitted from herself. Alongside working for Respect ME, Rachael runs a photography and videography business; using her background and experience in media work, she is keen to educate young people about how to stay safe online when using social media, and the effects of the images and influencers we see on their own self-esteem. Rachael uses personal stories from her own childhood to remind young people that past experiences, family circumstances and words spoken over our lives do not decrease our value and worth, and therefore we should treat people with respect, but also teach people to realise how they should be valued and respected by others.

Lauren is a proud Yorkshire lass but had a difficult family upbringing and really struggled with liking herself as a teenager which led to self-harming and her feeling suicidal. Lauren’s heart and passion is to help other young people know their value and worth in God and what he says about them. ‘It’s so sad how few people can say they like themselves.’ She moved to Manchester in 2013 to join the Message Academy to train as a youth/school’s worker. It was here that she first heard of Respect ME and straight away was gripped with the importance of getting in front of as many young people as possible to empower them to Respect themselves and everyone around them. Lauren is super excited to be a tutor with the Respect ME team in the Northwest.

Henry believes that the youth of today have the potential to change the world of the future. Since completing multiple youth work courses and becoming a local youth worker, Henry has joined the NW Respect ME team as he is passionate about young people knowing that they have worth and value. Having struggled with his own worth and value growing up, Henry is keen to help other young people know their true identity and that they are loved beyond compare.

Alice is passionate about helping young people to know their worth and that they are not the things others speak over them. She wants to see young people stop believing lies about themselves and realise that they are loved, chosen and valuable and that they can find their worth in God. So that they go on to know that they deserve to be respected and will want to respect others and make positive choices for themselves. Alice completed the Message Academy in Manchester where she was trained in youth work, and now lives in Cardiff and forms part of the Message Wales schools Team where she goes into schools across Wales delivering Respect ME.

When Fiona was a young person she struggled a lot with self-image, dyslexia, and other neurodiversities. This gave her a warped idea of herself and what she could achieve. Fiona has gone on to complete a degree in Theology and Youth and Community Work and has spent the last 10 years encouraging children and young people that they are created purposefully and have value. She’s passionate about equipping and teaching young people that they can respect themselves and achieve their dreams.

Lydia is passionate about encouraging and equipping young people to know their identity and value. As a qualified teacher, she has been delivering high quality lessons in secondary school in Lincoln for the past thirteen years. Lydia loves partnering with schools to unlock potential, helping young people to develop confidence and inspire ambition. A trained dancer and choreographer, Lydia thrives on a creative approach, delivering engaging lessons that encourage young people to make positive, informed choices.

I work for Respect ME because I am passionate about young people knowing their value and significance. Growing up I found it really difficult to see my value and worth. I was so weighed down by comparison, what people said about me and to me, what they thought of me. It was like walking round with a heavy weight. This led to breakdown in relationships and stopped me from engaging and participating in activities. I was missing out on the fun as I was so fearful of failure. Once I understood my value and that it was not based on what I looked like or how good I was at something, I started to have a healthy self-esteem and this impacted on me building positive relationships and making better choices, grabbing opportunities and definitely having more fun. This is why I love having the opportunity to come into schools and inform, encourage, and equip young people in a practical accessible way that they are valued, loved and there is always hope.

Owen is passionate about working with and inspiring young people to make good life choices. Over the past three years, he’s been studying his degree in youth and community work and has completed placements in schools, youth centres and the church learning how to engage and equip young people from all different backgrounds and communities. He has experience working with young people in community youth centres and in schools as well as working with young adults with complex needs in care and supported living. Owen really enjoys films and sports, you can often find him talking about the latest football team news or the latest marvel movie releases.

Joe has been passionately delivering sessions on relationships in schools in Teesside since 2014. He is married to Grace and they have two beautiful boys who are 4 and 5 years old. He has a background in musical theatre having been a student at Arts Educational in London and has also worked as a fashion model. He is a youth worker at his local church and is passionate about inspiring and empowering young people to live lives that are relationally rich and that love and build others up.

Kate has been living in Glasgow for almost 20 years and has a passion for supporting young people in making positive relationship choices. Kate has been involved in a wide variety of youth work in Scotland and after training as an educator with a sex and relationships project several years ago, she realized the incredible opportunity it was to speak into young people’s lives in this area. She firmly believes that if we help young people to value themselves, they will value the choices they make about themselves too. Kate is hugely excited to be part of the Message family and bring the good news and hope found in her Christian faith to classrooms all over Scotland.