Meet the Team

Ed - Managing Director

Ed has been working for FAST since 2016 and is a full-time member of the team.

Ed is a qualified and experienced Youth Worker having previously worked for the Devon Youth Service where he has worked with various youth groups and 1:1 in different settings, including youth clubs, support in school, the community and outdoor adventure activities. He has training in Counselling and advice in Sexual Health and Contraception.

Ed walks with a stick after a motorcycle accident many years ago. This can help with empathy for children and young people with disabilities and since working for FAST has been involved in training young people for hiking the Ten Tors.

When Ed is not working, he enjoys music, films, making things, Lego and motorcycling.

Julie FAST Lead Youth Worker

Julie has worked for FAST since 2015. She has a BA Honours in Community and Youth Studies 1:1 and a Diploma of Higher Education in Youth and Community Work from Leeds University.

Julie has been working with children and adults for over 30 years in all kind of different environments and situations. Just some of these have included: classroom assistant, volunteer support worker, health education support worker, youth worker for both substance misuse and in a young women’s group, a visiting lecturer, a sessional advocate and many more. A lot of these roles have involved many hurdles that Julie had to cross in order to be successful in her role. Some of which had included new and challenging circumstances, one of these involved her LGBT work where she worked with lots of young people when LGBT wasn’t very much accepted.

Julie has completed a wide variety of training in all aspects of life. Just a small collection of these would be: NVQ Level 3 community work skills, mobile and street work, multiple areas of sexual health, counselling skills, Level 2 & 3 Substance misuse, First Aid, Child protection, prejudice reduction, sexuality and spirituality, working with people who self-injure, practical approaches to challenging homophobia when working with young people etc.

Julie is a parent and currently works at Stokenham Primary School as a 1:1 and runs our Friday night Youth Leisure Night sessions at Quayside in conjunction with Fusion Leisure.

Katie FAST Support Worker

Katie has been working for FAST since 2015. When she is not working at FAST Katie is a full-time student, studying Mental Health Nursing at the University of Plymouth.

She was prviously employed by the Drugs and Alcohol Dependency Service and prior to this, Devon and Cornwall Police and Prison Service.

She is also a qualified lifeguard, a level 2 qualified swimming teacher and an NVQ2 support teaching and learning in school. Katie has a passion for working with children and has therefore done many different roles over the last 10+ years, some of which include: working in holiday camps, being an enabler, swimming teacher, working as 1-1 teaching assistants etc. During these roles she faced and overcame lots of different obstacles working with the children.

Katie has taken numerous development courses to be the best she can be when it comes to working with and helping the children. These include: safeguarding, adult first aid, anaphylaxis, equality, diversity and human rights, health and safety awareness, infection prevention control and paediatric first aid.

When Katie is not carrying out her busy schedule her hobbies include playing water polo with the local Newton Abbot team, running, going to the gym, reading, travelling and socialising with friends.

Marie FAST Support Worker

Marie has been part of the FAST Team since 2017. She has a Diploma in Pre-School Practice and a BA Degree in Early Childhood studies.

She has a lot of experience working with children for example for the past 12+ years she has been a Higher-Level Teaching Assistant and Mealtime Assistant in a couple of different schools, and currently works at Longcause Special School. She provides 1-1 and 2-1 work with students who require extra support and may have more complex needs than the other children in the class. Some of these additional needs may consist of things such as autism and ADHD.

Marie is a parent and her daughters Jasmine and Courtney also work for FAST.

Nicola FAST Support Worker

Nicola has also been working for FAST since 2016.

She completed a PGCE in Primary Education with MFL Specialism at Marjon University. She has had lots of experience working with children, before, during and after University. Before completing her PGCE she was a SEND teaching assistant, then a learning support assistant in a year 3-4 class. During her PGCE year she was a year 2-3 class teacher and a year 6 teacher and since completing it she has been a year 5 and year 6 class teacher in both England and in Portugal. Nicola is a qualified primary school teacher and both inside and outside of her classroom she has the adaptable skills and experience needed in multiple different situations to help all children and young adults be the best they can be. She has also worked in a CAIRB (Communication And Interaction Resource Base) unit.

Nicola currently works full time as a teacher in Plymouth, supporting families for FAST during holidays and weekends.

Nicola is well travelled and enjoys well earned holidays when she can.

Monica FAST Business Support

Monica joined the team in Autumn 2020, following her retirement from employment with a local NHS Trust. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience relating to public sector administration and a good understanding of current health and social care structure, policies, funding and legislation, both at national and local level.

She is the mother of three adult children including twins, one of whom is Katie, an experienced support worker with FAST for several years.

Monica is currently undertaking a range of CPD courses through FAST to increase her understanding of the support FAST can provide for it’s clients.

Her interests outside work include cookery, gardening, walking, reading and travel.