Meet The Team

Daniel has over twenty years’ experience working for charities supporting children, families, disability and equality. Before joining Jessie May as CEO in 2022, he led both the disability charity 'Paul’s Place' and LGBTQ+ charity 'Switchboard.' Throughout his career Daniel has made it his mission to make a difference to the lives of others. He believes in working with others collaboratively and in partnership to get things done and improve ways of doing things.

Outside of work, Daniel lives in Bristol with his partner and two rescue dogs and is a Trustee of Curzon Cinema and Clevedon Community Centre for the Arts and a ‘want-to-be’ runner.

“It is a privilege to be leading this amazing charity. Everyday, working with an amazing team of people, I am reminded just how much caring and the act of kindness can mean to others, even at the most difficult of times. I am passionate that as a children’s hospice, everything that we do is shaped by Jessie May children and families. We were started by a family, for children and families, and today children and families remain at the heart of everything we do.”

Clare has over 25 years’ experience gained through senior management positions in the non-profit sector. Following her degree in Marketing and Economics from Surrey University she started her career at a small local charity in Gloucestershire as a Marketing Assistant. It was whilst working here that she gained a passion for fundraising and has since supported both local and national organisations to grow their income.

For 10 great years she worked for British Heart Foundation, and led a large team of fundraisers across the UK to raise funds from mass participation events. In the last 5 years of her career she has chosen to operate in organisations that require a refreshed approach, either to overall organisational approach or specifically to support fundraising.

As a foster carer herself she understands the importance of caring for the most vulnerable of children and is passionate about ensuring that at Jessie May we can provide support for children and families in their own homes.

"To be able to work for Jessie May is quite a privilege and I am immensely proud of the work that we do supporting children and families, especially at a time when they need us the most."

With 35 years’ experience as a Children’s and Adult Nurse, Andrea has joined the Jessie May Team with an enhanced professional portfolio, having worked in Clinical and Strategic Leadership positions within a range of acute and community settings.

Having trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital as a Children’s Nurse, Andrea has previously worked at Bristol Children’s Hospital focusing upon oncology care, complex medical needs and teenage years, before moving into community Public Health Nurse settings within areas of great diversity, health inequality and deprivation.

Andrea has worked as a Professional and Strategic Lead within Children’s services for several years across Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and Gloucester county areas and is passionate in representing and working with children, young people, parents and carers to direct the future of palliative care at local and national level.

Jessie May has always been close to her heart from the moment she attended a fund-raising event many years ago and heard about the amazing work that the Jessie May team do to support children, young people, and families through the best of times and the most difficult of times. Always with an eye on the Jessie May support experience, she is now delighted to become a member of the Jessie May family and is looking forward to meeting everyone.
Andrea's ambition is to improve, develop and extend our care experience together in partnership.

Before joining Jessie May, Claire spent 10 years as a Staff Nurse on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit in Bristol, until she left and joined Jessie May in 2014. She has always had an interest in children’s palliative care and caring for children with complex medical needs; she heard about Jessie May and the work they do so when a post became available she jumped at the chance.

"Being a Jessie May nurse is so rewarding. No two days are the same." One day Claire can be visiting a child doing nursing care and giving the families a break from the 24/7 care they provide for their children; they may even be able to squeeze a visit to the park or have some fun doing some painting. The next they could be supporting a family through their child’s end of life stage, or carrying out a bereavement support visit, or even supporting a family whose child is unwell in hospital. All of the support and respite Jessie May nurses give to families allows them to have a much needed break and spend time with their other children, or even have a well needed nap!

As one of the Care Team Leaders, Claire is responsible for a team of Jessie May nurses, supporting them to do their job to the best of their abilities. Claire is also involved with lots of project work, more recently championing the importance of Jessie May being a family led service and involving the families to help develop the service.

"After originally finding out about Jessie May, I went onto their website and watched a video of one of the nurses, and thought - I want to do that!!! I want to be able to build a relationship and trust with children and their families, which you just don’t get as much time to do on a busy ward. I feel extremely privileged to be a Jessie May nurse and I’m so proud of how, we as a team, are able to support families of children with life-limiting conditions."

Claire is a devoted mother of three wonderful girls, leading a bustling life. When she finds moments to unwind, she loves embarking on adventures with her family in their campervan. Additionally, her passion for music shines bright as she enjoys spending her spare time singing harmoniously in a choir.

Steve has been a qualified nurse for almost 6 years (qualified in 2015). Before he worked at Jessie May, he was a staff nurse on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Bristol Children’s Hospital. He always wanted to work with children who had complex care needs after a placement during his nursing training. He would have loved to have worked in the community from the moment he qualified, but there wasn’t a post available at the time. His time working in the Intensive Care Unit was so valuable, and provided him with the skills needed to confidently work in the community.

He joined Jessie May in November 2016, as a nurse providing visits to children and their families. He started off 'out on the ground', providing care to the children and supporting their families, which is the main part of our work at Jessie May. He has since moved on to become a Team Leader, where part of his role now is in planning the care and line management of the nurses.

"I do still get to go out and provide care, which is the best part of my job. I feel so privileged to be able to work for Jessie May and to provide this type of care to children and families when they really need it. I do also enjoy working on developing the Jessie May service and working in partnership with other services to improve the care of children with complex needs."

Before joining Jessie May, Sam worked at the Bristol Children’s Hospital on the Renal Ward and PICU. She was passionate about supporting children with additional needs, and especially supporting children and young people with non-verbal communication to feel empowered during their time in hospital.

During her time there, she would always see families walking out the ward doors and wished that she could walk out there with them to help support them on the other side. She had heard about the support Jessie May nurses were able to give families at home, as well as in hospital, and jumped at the chance as soon as a position came up!

She started out on the Swindon and Wiltshire team, as the service opened in that area in 2016, and later transferred to the Bristol team, developing into a Care Team Leader after working across all areas.

Helen joined the extended care team in 1999 following a move back to Bristol, where she had previously worked in a children’s hospice in Yorkshire. She became aware of Jessie May and their work in community palliative care, and knew from the point she first met the staff that she wanted to join the Jessie May Team.

In 2008, Helen gained a position on the Core Care Team because of her previous hospice experience; she then began to support the children who were at the end of their life, offering bereavement support to their parents after their child have died.

Helen’s current role within Jessie May is to lead the Bereavement Support Service, offering emotional support to parents and to support the Jessie May nurses in end of life care and in the support they provide to the children they look after. "The trusting relationships we build with parents when we start working with their child, is so important to enable us to continue to support them when their child’s needs become more complex and when sadly, they die. The work we do throughout a child’s life builds the foundations of a trusted support service for the whole family for several years after their death."

We currently offer bereavement support to all of our parents, and all of the children we have supported since Jessie May was founded are remembered and celebrated during our annual Tree of Light Celebration.

"It is an honour and a privilege to be able to work with such special children and their amazing families, alongside a team of passionate and dedicated Jessie May Nurses and Jessie May Staff."

Before joining Jessie May, Lois was undertaking a palliative care rotation – she worked on the Oncology Ward at Bristol Children’s Hospital, but she always wanted to work in paediatric palliative care. Lois originally came to Jessie May with the thoughts of staying for a year before moving on, but she fell in love with the job and never left - having been here since 2017!

She started as a Jessie May nurse working within the Bristol team, working with families, offering specialist respite care, end of life care and bereavement support across our Jessie May catchment area. She loves being out and about on visits, building relationships and caring for children and their families and it’s the main reason that she came into this job. The role of a Jessie May nurse is wide ranging and varied and no two days are the same!

She is now the End of Life Team Leader which is an integral part of the care team leads. In this role, she prioritizes end-of-life care and takes charge of coordinating support and assistance for children and their families during this challenging period.

“I work for Jessie May because I love it! It’s an honour to be able to care for the children and their families and to be able to support them during the highs and the lows.”

In her spare time, she loves baking delicious treats, throwing herself into cold water in the form of wild swimming and snuggling up making a crochet blanket to warm up afterwards.

Andy qualified in 2007, and spent the first 6 years of his nursing career on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Bristol Children’s Hospital. Having heard about Jessie May through the hospital, he joined the nursing team in 2013.

A multi-faceted role, his days see him caring for children with complex needs, in their own home and in the hospital. He is also involved in providing family support, including signposting to other services they may be able to access, and advocating for families in multi-professional meetings when trying to access further support.

“I work for Jessie May because of the privilege we have to be allowed to integrate into our families homes and lives.”

Andy is a big lover of music who is wholeheartedly obsessed with Prince, since the age of 13; he is an avid collector of his music and memorabilia. "It's a love affair for me that I will take to my grave." He also loves to cycle; he cycles to many of his family visits if he can.

Before joining the core team at Jessie May, Gemma worked as a carer for 'Lifetime'; she was there for 9 years. It was during her time at Lifetime that she decided to undertake a nursing degree. During the third year of her nursing degree, she came to Jessie May on placement and loved every minute of it. She joined the extended team soon after qualifying, with the intention of going to the hospital to work shortly after. In 2017, whilst on the extended team, she got offered a full time position on the Core Team, which she accepted.

As a Jessie May nurse, her role includes lots of different things. "We provide respite to families at home and while the child is in hospital. During respite we take over all aspects of the child's care to give parents a break. This includes all clinical, emotional and personal care. We support children with a wide range of complex needs, including children who have tracheostomies and ventilated children. We also provide end of life care, bereavement support for parents and carers after the child has died. We advocate for and signpost our families to other services, attend multidisciplinary meetings, complete wishes documents and funeral planning, alongside the family. And, we work closely with a number of different community services and other professionals involved in the child's care to ensure that the child's emotional and clinical needs are being met."

“I love my job because we are in the privileged position of getting to know the children and the families very well. This enables us to provide care to them which is unique and individual to that child, based on their needs. We see children where they are their most happiest; in their homes surrounded by their families. This in turn enables us to support them during more difficult times too, such as when they are really unwell and in hospital. Having that continuity of care allows the nurses to really get to know the children as individuals so that parents feel confident that all of their child's needs will be met when we are supporting them.”

During her free time, Gemma enjoys indulging in live music, biking, and watching horror films.

Mel’s nursing career began in London; following completion of her training she remained and gained some valuable specialised paediatric nursing experience for a further 3 years. She then returned nearer to home and began working on the children’s unit in Swindon. During the 18 years she worked on the Unit, she nursed children with a wide range of medical, surgical conditions and children with chronic and acute conditions.

In 2017, she joined Jessie May where she now works as a nurse. During this time she has met loads of amazing families, and gotten to know, even better, some of the families she had previously supported on the ward.

“As a Mum myself, I know that the most precious gift we are given in life is our children, so to be trusted with the care of children with such complex needs, in the privacy of their own homes, is an absolute privilege and pleasure, and something that I will never take for granted.”

Mary has been a Jessie May Nurse since 2017, and prior to this, worked on the children’s unit at Great Western Hospital in Swindon as a staff nurse for 20 years.

She has worked as part of the Jessie May Swindon Team since its launch in 2016, and has been a huge part in developing the service into what it is today. As a Jessie May Nurse she completes respite visits, as well as assessments and paperwork to enable us to provide these safely. She also supports families with meetings, applications and advice where possible, as well as signposting to other services. The role also includes bereavement support for families and end of life planning where appropriate.

“Everyday is a different day and a new challenge and I feel privileged to work with all our young people and families.

Working as a Jessie May nurse has given me the opportunity to get to know families extremely well; I feel honoured to be part of their world and to be given the access to their homes and lives. Each and every day gives me the opportunity to make a difference and this gives me a great deal of pride and job satisfaction.”

Before she joined Jessie May, Bryony studied childcare at college and went on to work in a couple of nurseries; one of them being an on-site hospital nursery. She then started working for Jessie May in 2017.

As one of the Jessie May nurses, Bryony provides regular respite visits for the children and families that we support.

"I work for Jessie may as it’s a privilege to work alongside the children and their families. It’s so nice being able to support them when they really need it."

Victoria worked on the Adolescent Ward in Bristol Children’s Hospital for 7 years, with a keen interest in oncology care. She trained in the administration of chemotherapy and successfully completed two degree modules in Oncology. Other areas of practice included orthopaedics, surgical, respiratory, gastro, neuro, and mental health. The Adolescent Ward was multi-speciality and so she was lucky enough to see a huge variety of diagnosis and treatments delivered. Over the years she has developed a passion for tissue viability and wound care management.

After an incredible 7 years with the Adolescent Ward having made some of her best memories and friends she moved to Lighthouse Ward where she received comprehensive training and education for the care of renal children. She is trained to deliver haemodialysis and became an independent nurse prescriber through further university study. It was also on Lighthouse Ward that she undertook her first master module in physical assessment and clinical reasoning of paediatric patients. She was lucky enough to experience all aspects of renal care from dialysis to a ward based setting, and had a short secondment to community whereby she realised that community care was definitely an area of interest.

"Having a young daughter myself I really understand how precious our children are to us, and since joining Jessie May it is a huge privilege to be welcomed into families homes to care for their children. Coming out of a hospital environment after 10 years has been a big culture shock, however I absolutely love working in the community and for Jessie May.

Being a Jessie May nurse allows you to see the direct impact of providing respite care and how incredibly valuable the service is - I feel very lucky to be part of it."

Ash's nursing career started working at Southmead Hospital in NICU when she first qualified as a nurse. She then worked in BCH in ambulatory services on a ward called puzzle wood which is historically known as clinical investigation unit CIU; this is where children underwent investigations for allergies, or endocrine conditions and they would then give treatment to children to keep them in remission.

"I recently joined Jessie May in November as I really wanted to work in the community to help families and children at home; I really enjoying it and feel so proud to be part of the team."

Ash loves playing rugby, badminton, and cold water swimming during winter. She's a proud dog mom to Teddy, a 5-year-old cockapoo, enjoying walks, big parks, and beach days together.

Lorraine has worked in the charity sector for 17 years, and has been fundraising for 9 of those. Over these years she has worked in a variety of roles for Penny Brohn Cancer Care, Westonbirt Arboretum and the Royal Osteoporosis Society.

As the Trusts, Foundations and Statutory Fundraiser at Jessie May, her job is to find grant-giving organisations who will give money towards Jessie May’s vital work. She spends a lot of her day’s writing applications for funding, writing reports on how certain grants have been spent, and on keeping in touch with the wonderful organisations who help to fund our work.

“I joined Jessie May in March 2020 because I knew I could make a real difference to the lives of children with terminal conditions. I’m so proud of the Jessie May nurses who look after the children and their families, and I love that the work I do, raising money, allows that to happen.”

Kath is a tea drinking, Welsh rugby loving, bookworm based in South Wales.

She started her career in direct marketing at Golley Slater Group, working with commercial clients such as Aviva and Scottish Power and third sector clients such as Unicef, Oxfam and Tŷ Hafan.

12 years later Kath made the move to the third sector taking a post at Tŷ Hafan, the children’s hospice for South Wales in the fundraising team. During her five-year tenure Kath managed the delivery of exceptional Supporter Care, the Challenge Events portfolio, gifts in wills, fundraising campaigns and appeals, and the Community Fundraising programme.

With a steadfast passion for children’s hospice care Kath works for Jessie May as Individual Giving Manager, committed to growing the supporter base, delivering income growth and ensuring the supporters are cared for in the best way possible.

"When working with Unicef I learnt about the UNCRC. Every child has the right to a childhood. This is no less the case when a child has a life limiting condition or terminal illness. I am passionate about children’s hospice care championing this right with the child and the family.”

Andrew joined the team at Jessie May in April 2022 with 16 years’ experience of working at an adult hospice in Wiltshire. “I was only ever going to move to another exceptional charity, and Jessie May is a truly exceptional charity,” he says. “The care that our nurses provide for life-limited children and the support we provide for families who face huge challenges every day is such important work and to have been able to meet some of them and gain an understanding of their lives has been humbling. It drives me to want to raise the funds to take our care into their homes. It’s inspiring too to work alongside the nurses who care for the children we support. They’re an amazing team.”

When he’s not working, Andrew enjoys life with his family in South Wales and walking his Tibetan Terrier Billy. He also enjoys seeking out new additions online and in record shops for his ever-growing vinyl collection.

A wife, mum and doggy mum from Bristol, I love nothing more than time with family and friends, whether that be at the beach, a festival, a walk with the dogs or a night out.

I was a self-employed weight loss consultant for 10 years, alongside fundraising in a volunteer capacity. I love a challenge so the role at Jessie May quicky caught my eye as my passion is definitely in the charity sector and fundraising is an area I feel very confident in and love to be a part of. I am a people person and like nothing more than seeing people succeed at challenges they set themselves – especially when they didn’t think they could do it!

I am so proud to be a part of the Jessie May family, seeing the impact they have on the families they support and seeing how much the families love the team, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. The role I do means I get to meet so many amazing people which is perfect, and no day is the same – one day its bungee jumping and the next it could be a skydive with a few marathons inbetween, there is so much to do and so many ways people can support Jessie May, I am excited to see what the future holds.

I am a creative communicator with a passion for design, art and toasted sandwiches.

My work experience centres around freelance graphic design and production in the creative sector, this is a new opportunity to develop my creative communications, and doing a world of good at the same time. Working in the charity sector is a major driver - finally a chance to put my skills to good use!

And I love people, it's great to be working with a team once more. I'm proud to be part of a group that makes a difference every day.

“I blame my good ol’ Somerset roots for having a real love for all things outdoors. You can usually find me up on a hill or in the sea, often with family, friends and a dog or two in tow. I love nothing more than setting myself a challenge and encouraging others to give it a go too!

Having completed a half marathon, a motorcycling race across Europe and hiking to as many peaks as I possibly could throughout the UK, Italy and Morocco, my latest challenge has been one of the toughest and most rewarding- becoming a Mum! This current journey has only amplified my love for Jessie May and the work the team do to support children and their families. It is wonderful to be back planning the next year of exciting events for our community.

Each day is never the same in my role and I wouldn’t change that for the world. From speaking at a school assembly, to catching up with our volunteers, to cheering our runners, skydivers, and muddy obstacles racers over the finish line, our community is incredible!

I am honoured to bring people together to achieve wonderful things and, ultimately, to ensure that our nurses can be there to support children and families facing the hardest of journeys.”