Lucy and Kaz have been working together for over a decade developing the ACA approach from research in practice. We both hold PhD’s in this area and have extensive experience as researchers, practitioners, leaders, trainers and coaches.
We are deeply committed to research in practice. To us, this means keeping it real: developing understanding (and therefore theory) grounded in the realities of people’s lives, as well as making sure people and organisations have access to this theory. We believe this is best achieved through iterative cycle’s where we are continuously researching, innovating, and evaluating, in order to have real-world impact.
Above all, we are human beings, with a huge bias of saying it how it is and keeping it straight forward in a complex world: Lucy is fascinated by how people and organisations develop, whilst Kaz is focused on why and the difference we can make in society.
Dr Lucy Maynard
I am a freelance coach and consultant and work with people and organisations with social purpose to have even greater impact.
My research and practice are founded in the area of children, young people, and family well-being and social justice. More recently I have focused on work with practitioners, organisations, and multi-agency teams supporting wellbeing development and impact measurement.
My passion is in wellbeing development as I believe wellbeing underpins all aspects of our individual and collective lives, including our mental and physical health, relationships, careers, leadership, and impact in the world. I strive to influence from practice and am committed to working in the open and knowledge transfer, through a variety of publications, conferences, webinars, training, and blogs.
I am a visiting Research Fellow at University of Cumbria, a Clore Social Leadership Fellow, and a member of the ICF (International Coach Federation), have an ICF Accreditation in Business and Personal Coaching and ACC Credential (Associate Certified Coach).
Email me directly: z_lucy_may@yahoo.co.uk or via LinkedIn
Professor Kaz Stuart
My expertise is in the field of wellbeing development and understanding what will support everyone in society to feel good and function well. I am deeply concerned about the inequity in society and seek ways to address this through research, theory and practice.
As a researcher I am particularly skilled in socially just methods of research to enable everyone to participate in generating knowledge including creative methods and community inquiry.
I am also a highly skilled leadership and management development expert specialising in system leadership and collaboration across integrated services. My PhD was in collaborative agency across professional and organisational boundaries in the children’s workforce.
I have a Level 7 ILM (Institute for Leadership and Management) Certificate for Executive and Senior Level Coaches and Mentors and is a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.
Email me directly: kazstuart480@gmail.com or via LinkedIn
Case Studies
Hertfordshire Family Centre Leadership Development
Hertfordshire has 40 family centres spread across seven districts. Its leaders work together to support the wellbeing of families across the region. The wellbeing development framework was used to support the wellbeing of the leaders, who in turn support their teams, who support families. This models the importance of wellbeing for all.
“The range of topics and actually felt as though Kaz understood children’s centres unlike some courses where the facilitator does not understand how they work“
“Having a knowledgeable and well informed trainer. The work around resilience and leadership was particularly interesting. Networking and sharing ideas / solutions was really valuable”
Local authority Health and Wellbeing Coaches
A team of 28 Health and Wellbeing Coaches (HAWCs) came together from across a local authority for a training workshop. They included a range of professional backgrounds including family support workers, community development workers, youth workers, counsellors and social workers. The wellbeing development framework was introduced as a shared framework for them to collectively work within and underpin their practice.
“I like the ACA model as it reframes and simplifies a lot of the implicit knowledge I have already”
“The framework extends how we already work and so deepens practice“
ACA Development 