Jodie Cariss (MA, Badth, HPC), the founder of CarissCreative, is a Sesame trained Drama and Movement Therapist with over ten years experience in education. She began her career as a children’s television presenter working for many years in the industry. Continuing her academic training some years later as a dramatherapist, she teamed her therapeutic work for The Learning Trust’s Specialist Intervention Team with a private therapeutic practice and corporate consultancy, working with leading global creative and media agencies to develop models that promote social and cultural change.

The honour of working with young people in such an honest way touched her deeply. With her extensive knowledge of the education system in mind, she began to consider the connection between the growth of young people who access the arts in therapy and the potential positive impact on many more children, if creative opportunities were twinned with academic learning and embedded more into the curriculum.