Dr. Sheila Preston is founder of Thriving Facilitators, a new initiative of support and wellbeing for practitioners who work as artists, educators and socially-engaged public workers in challenging settings who are experiencing difficulty. Thriving Facilitators offers a year-round programme of affordable coaching, professional development, and community support for practitioners who identify as heart-centred practitioners who want to thrive (rather than merely survive) in their work. As well as her own practice in education and community settings Sheila brings over 24 years of experience of supporting practitioners’ work in communities and education. Previously, Sheila was Head of Music, Writing & Performance at the University of East London and founder and editor of the Applied Theatre Series from Bloomsbury/Methuen. Her most recent book is Facilitation: Pedagogies, Practices, Resilience (2016). In this work she reflects critically on the role and the influence of the community arts facilitator, particularly within participatory theatre processes.