Pilar Lillo –Programme Director (BA, MSC)

Pilar is an experienced clinical psychologist, family therapist , EMDR therapist, psychodrama director, NLP trainer and one of the founders of Girasol UK. She was trained in The Creative Relaxation Training in 1983 and she has trained hundreds of adults in this technique in both Spain and the UK. She is the vice-president of Girasol Spain (Arcos) which focuses on the treatment and prevention of problems related to drug-addiction. She is one of the creators of the specific methodology on which the Girasol UK programme is based. She has been working as head of psychotherapists’ department of Girasol Rehabilitation Centre for more that 17 years and has developed and supervised different prevention programs in Andalusia (Spain).

Pilar has been in London since 2003 developing an education programme for primary school children based on the Girasol methodology using her wide experience of working with teenagers and families.


Nelly Munthe – Creative Director (BA, MA)

Nelly Munthe (a Director of Girasol UK) became increasingly focused on children’s education, after a successful career teaching and writing about art history for children while also practising picture restoration. In the past years she has volunteered her time to a number of charities, more particularly to a housing/education project for adolescents with the Portobello Trust. She has assisted Pilar Lillo in piloting programmes for children in three primary schools since 2006. She has trained in techniques including NLP (practitioner) Non violent communication (with Marshall Rosenberg), Creative Relaxation and Story Telling with Nicia Grillo in Brazil.

In addition to being a children’s book author and inspired storyteller Nelly has gained hands-on experience of delivering workshops to children on emotional development, art, performance and creative relaxation.


Mary Louise Morris - Projects Director (BA (Hons), MA)

Mary Louise is the Project Director for the Creative Relaxation in Schools programme. She is an experienced trainer of adults and children and became an accredited Creative Relaxation trainer in 2008. Mary Louise has been working for the benefit and well being of children for many years within the voluntary sector. Prior to joining Girasol, she worked as Head of Education and Awareness for children’s charity Childnet International (www.childnet.com) during which time she trained thousands of parents and children and acted as consultant to government departments and educational organisations. At Girasol, Mary Louise's principal responsibility is program planning, development and delivery but also includes representing Girasol at conferences, PR and marketing, fundraising and assisting with long term strategic development. 


Michael Runge - Trainer

Michael Runge studied Sociology and Psychology at university, working as a volunteer during vacations with the children of Displaced Persons from Eastern Europe. As a postgraduate he studied Landscape Architecture and has been practicing as a garden designer ever since. He is qualified to teach English as a foreign language to adults and has a Certificate in Bilingual Skills (Spanish/English) from the Institute of Linguists Educational Trust and has translated two books for Girasol Foundation in UK, one of them being “Training in Creative Relaxation” by Eugenio Herrero. Now he is a trainer of Creative Relaxation for Girasol UK.

Neil Twogood (BA (Hons), ACA, MSc (Dipl.))

Neil has a passion for helping individuals and teams realise their potential and his interest in people and coaching for performance stems from work in the 1970’s as a tennis coach using 'inner game' principles and then learning how to motivate and lead people as he founded, grew and sold two businesses. He is a Partner in Performance Consultants (www.performanceconsultants.co.uk) and an expert in assessing and coaching management teams to perform at the highest level. He leads the Consultancy division of Performance Consultants and is a Consultant to Girasol. Neil is currently designing well-being frameworks that schools can use to manage holistic well-being programmes.

Our Trustees

John Morris

Having qualified as a Barrister in 1982, John worked as a corporate legal adviser in the City for 6 years and then as a Merchant Banker for 5 years. In 1993 John founded Telecom Europa which he built and sold to Nasdaq quoted Esprit Telecom in 1997. As Business Development Director of Esprit, John led Esprit’s European expansion involving the investment of over US$600m in Holland , Germany and France . In 2000, after the sale of Esprit to GTS, John founded Think Ventures, an US$80M Venture Capital Fund focussed on early stage ventures.  John is a student of long term cycles in world markets and also designs and implements automated trading systems based upon mathematical principles and has a particular interest in the work of the 13th century mathematician, Fibonacci. John has lived and worked in the US and Europe and has travelled extensively. He has previously been involved with charities focussed on homeless issues in the UK and a charity providing medical resources in the South of India.


Jefferson Cann

Jefferson is a performance coach and consultant, working with senior business people, their teams and companies.He is particulary interested in whole -being leadership and values -based cultural development and emotional intelligence. After a twenty-five year career in the pharmaceutical industry working with blue-chip companies, Jefferson ’s interest in enabling people to fulfil their potential at work and in their personal spheres lead him to coaching. It is this same interest which underlies his involvement with Girasol UK where his experience in emotional intelligence has been valuble in helping to develop programmes for children.

Michael Cooper

Michael Cooper was born in 1944 and educated at Eton. After travelling extensively he became a full-time professional sculptor in 1970 and continues to work from his home in Buckinghamshire.
Throughout his life he has had first hand experience of people suffering from problems of substance abuse and their many and varied endeavours at rehabilitation. This is the motivation behind his desire to be involved with Girasol UK .


Usha Suryanarayan, MA, M.Phil , PhD and Chartered Clinical Psychologist - Special Adviser

Usha qualified as a clinical Psychologist in Bangalore , India , and worked as a school psychologist for over 10years. She has more than 15years experience working with children, adolescents and adults with moderate to severe mental health difficulties. She has also worked in an NGO in India developing pre vocational programmes for underprivileged children. Usha also developed and delivered a stress management programme for the Bangalore, Metropolitan Police Department and was a consultant clinical psychologist in Wockhardt Heart hospital (Bangalore) affiliated to Harvard Medical School.
Usha moved to the UK in 2000 and currently works as a clinical Psychologist in Central and North West London Foundation Trust, London .  Usha has been volunteering with Girasol for the past 7years.

Prabudha Dwivedi, (MA, PhD, CPsychol) – Special Adviser

Prabudha trained in Clinical Psychology and Cognitive Psychophysiology in India. He came to the U.K. in 2001 to do a post-doctoral fellowship in Psychophysiology at Imperial College London. He is currently working as a Clinical Psychologist in a Stroke Service in Newham Primary Care Trust in East London.