About Us
We are Natalie and Michelle. We created Happy Cactus Coaching Co. because we believe more should be done to support young people to improve their mental health.
We also believe that mental health support doesn't just belong in a therapy room.
We embed the approaches used in more traditional mental health services for young people, into different types of activity, and we make a difference.
The way we work is simple:
Kindness
We are kind.
We believe this is fundamental to everything and we model this unconditionally in every single session.
Relationships First
We actively seek out opportunities to listen and build relationships with every young person.
We recognise this takes time and we are patient.
We believe every interaction counts and that sometimes even the quietest young people need a voice.
More than equality
We do everything we can to ensure our sessions are open to every young person.
We recognise that some young people will need more support and consideration than others to feel safe and included.
We coach in small groups and we give every young person time, space and choice.
We don't make young people compete with each other and we don't mind if they opt out of joining in.
Safe
We are a safe pair of hands, not just in terms of keeping young people physically safe, but also supporting them when they are struggling with their mental health. We work collaboratively with parents and carers and we are open and transparent.
Meet Our Team
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Michelle Dawson
Director
Michelle works for a leading mental health charity and has worked supporting people to change their lives for the last twenty years. Michelle's role in the business is to develop the mental health interventions, look after the website and the social media and come up with new ideas.
She has two children, Hannah and Emily who are thirteen and twelve, whom she lives with, with her fiance Danny, and their two dogs Chewy and Leia.
Tracy Underwood
Coach
Natalie Bilton
Director
Natalie works for a leading mental health charity and is passionate about mental young people's mental health. Natalie manages the business and is definitely the person in charge of all the organising, and all the details. She's the person who keeps in touch with all our members and makes sure everything runs smoothly.
Natalie has two children, Yasmin and Thomas, aged fifteen and twelve and she lives with them, her husband and their dog Milo (who happens to be the brother of Michelle's dogs!)
Andy Dawson
Coach
Andy is a fifth dan black belt in karate and has been coaching young people for over twenty years. Andy is a fire fighter, but has previously supported vulnerable young people in residential children's homes and worked with prisoners to support their recovery from substance misuse.
Andy has five children aged between five and twenty two and he takes his role as a great Dad very seriously.
Stacey Shepherd
Coach
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Hannah Mucklow
Assistant Coach
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Eleanor Hare
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Kaleb McCow
Assistant Coach
Katie McCow
Assistant Coach