Meet the Staff

Julie Bayford

Chief Executive Officer

Julie's career began in childcare before becoming involved in youth and community work and completing a degree in Informal Education in 2010. Julie started working for Phoenix in 2012 as Youth Participation Leader and immensely enjoyed her work supporting young people, much experience was gained about deafness in this time. In 2019, Julie took on the role as Chief Executive Officer at a time of transition for the charity and has since been enjoying the challenges of leading the charity.

Angela Radford

Administrator and PA to the CEO

Angela worked within the education sector for nearly 20 years.  Eighteen of these were spent at The Saint John Henry Newman School as admin assistant, working her way up to become Office Manager. “It was an amazing place to work in and I feel very privileged to have been part of the community, making lots of good friends over the years”. After working at the Lister Hospital for 9 months during the pandemic, Angela went onto work at Herts for Learning in Stevenage. Sadly, due to the effects of the pandemic the role was mainly working remotely and she missed the interaction working with people, which led her to take up this new role at Phoenix Group where she is excited to be on board to support this amazing charity.

Jodie Laing

Community Programmes Manager

Jodie was a teacher in secondary schools for most of the last 20 years, mostly in the Seattle area of the United States.  Jodie and her family relocated to the UK in 2017, partly to be closer to her husband's family.  She enjoys helping children and young people grow and develop and had some connections with the deaf community in the US. Jodie also enjoys spending time with family friends, reading and travelling.

Helen Higginson

Young Adults' Outreach and Support Leader

Helen is deaf and had worked for the NHS as an Occupational Therapist for over 20 years.  Helen worked with deaf adults in mental health and found it very rewarding supporting them to develop their independent living skills and enable a quality of life.  Helen left the NHS and Occupational Therapy role due to increasing stress and is very excited to join the Phoenix Group to use the skills in this new role. 

Lucy Buckley

Communication Support

Lucy has worked for many years as a CSW in secondary schools and colleges. She has BSL Level 6 and a degree in Deaf Studies from Bristol university.
Lucy is a CSW/Support Worker for Phoenix and is involved in various projects. She loves being part of the Phoenix team.

Georgia Rowe

Sign Language Tutor, Children’s and Youth Support Worker

Georgia is an ex Phoenix Group member and started learning British Sign Language  to enable her to communicate with her friends at the charity. Having recently completed her level 6 in BSL, Georgia is now working for Phoenix, gaining experience in teaching, communication and activity support.

Karl Jordan Taveira De Morais

Duke of Edinburgh Award Leader

Karl is an experienced youth and community sports leader with a strong background in delivering the Duke of Edinburgh’s (DofE) Award and organising  community sports initiatives. With a passion for youth development, Karl has successfully guided numerous participants through their full DofE journey, supporting them in skill-building, volunteering, physical challenges, and bronze, silver and gold expeditions..