Gillian Neish

Gillian Neish works throughout the UK with individuals and organisations in all sectors to help them recognise and fulfil their potential. The focus of her work is power, whether challenging the power inequalities of racism, sexism and the other ‘isms’ or developing personal power through personal development programmes.

She has worked with the Springboard Consultancy since 1991 when she became one of the first trainers to be licensed to deliver the now multi-award-winning Springboard women’s development programme by it’s developers, Liz Willis and Jenny Daisley.

Gillian is passionate about personal development and says:
“It is a pleasure and a privilege to facilitate courses and development programmes that give participants the time, the space and a process to review where they are, consider their options for the future and then make the changes they want to make for themselves.”

She is licensed to deliver the following Springboard Consultancy programmes:

Springboard
Spring Forward
Fresh Steps
Sprint
Boost

Central to all Gillian’s work is her commitment to anti-oppressive practice. As well as running Springboard Consultancy programmes, she designs and facilitates courses which encourage people to think beyond stereotypes and accept the reality that there are as many differences in any one group as in any other group (even their own group, however they choose to define their group). In a challenging but non-threatening way, she enables participants to explore the nature of oppression and the impact on their relationships with others and with themselves and to develop practical strategies to create an environment in which diversity is valued.

Gillian works with Jane Elliott, www.janeelliott.com, the international facilitator and lecturer, who developed the eye colour discrimination exercise made famous in the training film ‘The Eye of the Storm’. Gillian now conducts the ‘brown-eyed, blue-eyed’ exercise here in the UK providing an experiential opportunity for participants to understand the impact of power inequalities.

As part of her own, ongoing personal development, Gillian continues to study Transactional Analysis (TA). TA theory, originally developed by Eric Berne, provides an explanation of personality that has proved highly successful in developing self-awareness and, through a clearer understanding of how we communicate, improving relationships. It is also extremely useful in explaining the perpetuation of oppression and gives a theoretical explanation to underpin her work on challenging power inequalities.

Gillian has an MSc in Diversity Management from The University of Bradford, a BSc (Hons) from the Open University and a Post graduate Diploma in Transactional Analysis (TA) Counselling from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.