Hi, I’m Theresa!
As a Career Coach, I help parents and their teens to become inspired and excited about all the options out there.
I want your teen and you to feel more confident about exploring and choosing the right next step for them.
My Story
I have always believed that what we do in our work life can be fun and exciting …so I think I have always had this as vague goal for my own life. But I think I’ve always encouraged it in others too.
Although I set out on quite a different career path initially, I have always liked chatting with people about why they do what they do and what their plans and ideas for their future might be.
I remember suggesting to a friend to get some work experience which in the end led to her starting an apprenticeship…
I consider this my first step into career coaching!
My initial inspiration to train as a careers adviser really came from feeling really stuck after my first degree. The fact that I love working with teenagers is certainly inspired by the fact that I struggled to work out what I wanted to do when I was in school and there was very little support.
I remember being 13 and sitting on the stairs crying because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life: There were just so many interesting things and I couldn’t do them all! I went from that to having quite a clear idea for several years to then having a mini-crisis after finishing my degree, when I realised it wasn’t anymore what I wanted to do.
I did a lot of work on myself with the help of what I now know is a classic careers development book.
Not only did it help me figure out a bit more about myself and my motivations, but also made me really interested in the process of how we can figure out what we might want to do in our education and working life.
I have always loved exploring ideas and options and making plans. As a child, I would start writing a packing list two weeks before a holiday!
I have always believed that our education and careers could and should be meaningful, fun, and exciting, not just something to put up with.
When I discovered careers guidance as a profession, a lot of things I had believed and done all my life anyway kind of fell into place, and I went back to university.
After my postgraduate diploma in careers guidance, I started working in schools for my local council and after a few years became self-employed, continuing to work in schools and 6th forms as an independent careers adviser.
I love working with young people and most of my work in school is one-to-one guidance and coaching sessions, helping them understand their options, how to explore them, and helping them see the opportunities.
I love seeing that light go on in someone’s eyes when they realise there are options for them or they hit on a new idea that really excites them.
After nearly a decade and having my daughter, I felt I needed a little bit of a change. I didn’t want to change my career, I still loved working with the kids, but I also needed a little bit of a new challenge to keep me inspired. I started to work a bit more with adults, and this was fun, but in the end…
…This confirmed to me that my heart really was in supporting teenagers.
Becoming a parent myself made me even more aware of the struggles parents have when supporting their kids with their future plans.
Parents are the biggest influence on young people’s education and career choices.
The idea developed to look more at ways of helping parents support their teenagers. Both by educating the parents and by helping them find resources and services that help their kids with their choices around GCSEs, college, apprenticeship, university, and first careers.
Download some of my free resources here. You can also join my free Facebook group for parents!
Cheerful Careers is all about inspiring and supporting you and your teen with exploration and choices , and making that journey through education and first career choices as exciting, cheerful, and low stress as possible.
I have been supporting teenagers with their education and careers choices for over a decade now, and this is what I love to do and what I help your teen achieve:
Helping them go from worried to excited when they understand their options and how to navigate them
Gaining confidence by talking though their plans and confirming that they are on the right track and what to do next
Removing the pressure of having their whole life figured out at 16 or 18
Helping them realise how they can decide on their next step and still keep their future options open!
Want to Know Some More?
Here’s a timeline of my story with the highlights over the years.
1994
- Convinced my mum to let me have a pet rat 🐭
1995
- Convinced my mum to let me take riding lessons even though it meant an hour’s trip on the bus by myself (we practiced it, I still ride today)
1998
- Helped my dad for a few days in the summer holidays helping to lay cables and set up for the sound engineers. Absolutely loved it and became interested in becoming a sound engineer.
1999
- Took part in a 3-week student exchange program with a school in Rochester, NY. I realised how language skills improve rapidly when you stop worrying a and just talk
2002
- Finished my Abitur (German equivalent of A-levels) with good grades, with my main subjects being maths and physics
2003
- Moved to the UK to start a degree in Audio Technology, met my other half 😍 on the course
2006
- Graduated with a First and moved in with my other half
2007
- Realised I no longer wanted to be a sound engineer, although I still found it all so interesting, cue crisis and about a year of exploration and soul searching
2008
- Enrolled at the University of Reading on a postgrad course in Careers Guidance on the last full-time year course they ran (lucky timing). Absolutely loved the course!
2009
- Got my first job as a careers adviser working in schools for my local council
2012
- Became independent careers adviser and started working regularly with schools around Hampshire
2014
- Completed my Master’s in Careers dissertation at the University of East London whilst working full-time. Really hard work but so much fun too. 😊 I got a distinction
2015
- Bought our own house and now I have my own garden to potter in as I please. Yay! Also adopted a slightly crazy cat.
2017
- Became a mum to my lovely daughter
2020
- Got through lockdowns and working from home with a three-year-old without a relationship breakdown
2021
- Started to work on this website and the new side of my business. 🤩 Exciting times
Continue exploring
