Our Team

Emma Thom: Emma is the founder of the Mindful Choice. She has been practicing mindfulness for over 15 years after discovering it during an extended period of ill-health. Mindfulness had such a beneficial effect on Emma’s life that she went on to study it further and gained a Post Graduate Diploma in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy at Exeter University. Emma teaches mindfulness to groups and one-to-one (online and in person). Emma and Jacky work together to co-design and teach Mindfulness Courses for adoptive parents, and parents of children with additional needs. Emma loves taking mindfulness outdoors into nature and works with Clare, offering eco-therapy, and mindfulness in nature (Forest Bathing Sessions). She also teaches Mindfulness in Nature retreats at Sharpham House Retreat Centre in Devon. In her spare time, Emma can usually be found in the woods and by the sea. Emma also works part-time as a research therapist at the AccEPT clinic in Exeter and with the Oxford Mindfulness Centre assessing new teachers in training.

Clare Coyne: As a counsellor and ecotherapist, Clare offers a therapeutic space - inside or outdoors - that both encourages enquiry and is deeply accepting, paying attention to embodied responses and working in collaboration to unravel patterns and fixed narratives. Clare believes that kindness and deep listening are at the heart of healthy relationships and these qualities form the core of her counselling work, which draws on person-centred, cognitive-behavioural, mindfulness and nature-based approaches.

Clare works as a forest bathing guide. She experiences so much joyful humility walking with individuals and groups amidst the trees, slowing down and taking in the surroundings to enjoy and benefit from the sensory-based immersion

Clare is passionate about enabling connections and building networks, working in nature, and living lightly, as well as proactively, in the face of the climate emergency.

Jacky Slade: Jacky co-teaches the Mindfulness for Adoptors, Foster Carers, and Parent courses. She has a postgraduate Diploma to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy from Exeter University and adheres to the UK Network’s ‘Good Practice Guidelines for Teachers of Mindfulness’. Jacky is a qualified social worker and has worked in statutory and voluntary adoption services with all parts of the adoption triangle. She is committed to supporting the development of mindfulness in adoption and fostering services.