Deborah’s Story.

Curiosity has always guided Deborah’s path. As an artist, educator, and creative leader, she has spent much of her life weaving stories that connect people to place, purpose, and possibility. Her work asks a simple but profound question: what does it mean to be human in these times and how can we live as part of the web of life, not apart from it?

Through her work with “The Great Imagining”, Deborah has created an ever-evolving ecosystem of learning adventures that bring imagination and action together. Rooted in the belief that creativity can shape culture, her projects invite young people to explore what a greener, fairer and wiser world might look like and to take part in making it real. From intergenerational gatherings to playful, place-based experiences, her work nurtures both awe and agency, giving students and teachers alike the courage to ask deeper questions about meaning and purpose.

Joining the Triple WellBeing® Fellowship offered Deborah a sense of kinship, a space to be in community with others who are working inside and outside education to create cultural change. It gave structure to her own action research, anchoring her large-scale programme across 60 schools in Staffordshire in shared learning and reflection.

For Deborah, wellbeing begins with trust: trust in the process, in people and in our shared responsibility to nurture life. Her work is a reminder that small acts of imagination can ripple outward, transforming not just classrooms but the cultural soil from which our futures grow.

Listen to the full conversation with Deborah.