Who we are
Behind our organisation’s mission of promoting awareness and providing support for addiction recovery, there is a dedicated team of passionate individuals who are committed to making a difference in the lives of others.
Our team comprises compassionate professionals, experienced volunteers, and individuals with first-hand recovery experience. Together, we bring diverse expertise, knowledge, and a shared commitment to walking alongside those affected by addiction and compulsive behaviours. We are grateful for our team members’ contributions and their unwavering commitment to supporting individuals and communities on their journey towards active recovery.
Our staff team
Emma Heath
Managing Director / Founder
As a person with her own recovery story, Emma is passionate about bringing hope and healing to people trapped in addiction and compulsive habits. She lives in Bournemouth and enjoys the outdoors, Thai boxing and watching rugby.
Lynn Foster
Relationships Manager
Lynn is a vital asset to the STAR team, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise and consistently working to strengthen relationships with stakeholders, partners, and supporters. Her meticulous attention to detail and ability to bring order to complex situations make her an invaluable member of our team.
Julian Beale
Training & Life Course Coordinator
Julian completed degrees in Applied Theology and Social Work before spending eight years working for various Community Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services in the South of England. He has a passion to see people lifted out of addiction and healed from brokenness and pain. Julian joined STAR Recovery in March 2023.
Candice Young
Comms Assistant
Candice has worked in the charity sector for over five years, with experience in administration, social media planning and production, and communications for homelessness and non-profit projects. She specialises in community collaboration and equipping co-workers to ensure they have all the tools they need to communicate their messages effectively.
Fiona Stanton
Social Media Assistant
Fiona joined STAR in 2023 after being a Stay-at-Home Mum for the last 2 years. She loves being part of the STAR journey to help people be set free from addiction. She is an experienced and highly-skilled administrative officer with a focus on excellence in administrative tasks, customer service and project planning.
STAR Trustees
We are truly grateful to have a remarkable group of dedicated individuals serving as our charity trustees. Their invaluable support and expertise have been instrumental in the growth and progress of STAR, and they continue to contribute their wisdom and guidance as we strive towards our mission.
Jackie Leswell
Chair
Jackie has been in full time church leadership for 32 years, and in the last five years in an itinerant teaching ministry. Until recently she was involved as a trustee of various community charities, having a passion for the church to be engaged in the locality.
Her heart is also to see people set free in Christ, so she is an advocate for Freedom in Christ courses. She serves as a volunteer for the National Freedom in Christ Teaching Team, Core Team and recently joined the Intercessor team for Europe. She has taught the courses for fifteen years and seen hundreds of people set free.
Jules Radford
Trustee
Jules is a senior business leader running a team of financial operations professionals based around the globe for an international tech company, is married with 2 daughters and loves finding opportunities for adventure (skiing, mountain biking), growth and contribution.
Jules struggled to hide the shame and chaos caused by his secret habits over many years. Since finding his own freedom,he loves nothing more than seeing others getting sober, clean & break free from their secret habits and get the passion for their lives back.
Alistair Doxat-Purser
Trustee
Alistair has been CEO of Bournemouth based charity, Faithworks Wessex for 7 years. His varied career has spanned fair trade shops, the logistics of window glass, management consultancy in small Northern businesses, and senior roles in Local Government in a previous City of Culture.
His passion is to see churches fulfilling their God-given role of bringing hope to the marginalised by “walking alongside” people so that they not only get out, but stay out of crisis.
STAR Advisers
We are blessed to have access to a fantastic group of knowledgable people who have supported the development of STAR and continue to provide their expertise as we push forward.
Bishop Debbie Sellin
Debbie has been the Bishop of Southampton since July 2019. Her previous ministry was in Guildford Diocese.
She grew up in Scotland and studied Modern Languages at St Andrews University. Debbie began her working life in NHS management in different hospitals across Edinburgh.
Debbie is married to Paul, who teaches Physics at Surrey University and they have two adult sons.
Nathaniel Moody
Nathaniel is a Baptist Minister and leads a church in Bexley, South London. He specialises in mental health and addiction recovery and is a qualified personal trainer using fitness as a tool to help those he mentors.
Nat is a gifted communicator and speaks all over the country. An ambassador for Chris-centred recovery ministry over the last eight years, he has helped lead courses and train churches and individuals across the UK. Nat is also co-founder and writer of the STAR Life Course.
Lizi Heath
Lizi was a pharmacist for 40 years with a passion to help people especially the vulnerable and broken, and those who felt hopeless and not listened to.
She is now retired and founded the STAR Life Support programme, working with families affected by addiction.
She has many roles and has been awarded the Mayor’s volunteer of the year award for Bournemouth.
Jenny Howard
Jenny is trained as an Accountant and has a BA in Applied Theology (Christian Leadership) from Moorlands College and is also trained as a Counsellor specialising in Addictions. Working as a volunteer for Waterfall and trained as a facilitator for the Genesis recovery program. She has a heart for the homeless and journeying with people through recovery.
Jenny and Denham are facilitators for Time for Marriage – retreat weekends for couples, and Bethel SOZO trained. Also part of Vineyard Emeritus supporting Vineyard Churches in the UK.
Harry Ivie
Harry was born in London and moved to Poole in 1978. Married with two adult sons he attends St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Branksome where he has served as a councillor and school governor to the affiliated primary school. He has been a committee member at The Victoria School for disabled children.
A supporter of various charities he is well aware of the evil forces in today’s society whose sole purpose is to lead others into addictions.
Karen Todd
Karen is passionate about seeing people equipped to be all God created them to be. She was formerly Director of Communications at Moorlands College and Managing Director of Simplicate, a concept development digital agency based in Dorset.
Karen has consulted on the development of STAR and has championed Emma in her role as Founder Director. She loves food and travel, and is a convert to Parkrun.
Denham Howard
Denham ran his own Accountancy Business for nearly twenty years, and has an MA in Applied Theology (Christian Leadership) from Moorlands College. Denham has been a trustee for Bournemouth YMCA and currently a trustee for Portsmouth Street Pastors and another Vineyard Church.
Denham and Jenny Howard, church planters and Founding Pastors of Portsmouth Vineyard LifeChurch, and homeless drop-in ‘The LifeHouse.