Our Team - Breathe
Our Team

Our Team

Breathe is small but mighty.

Our wonderful team bring skills and expertise from a variety of industries and backgrounds, to offer a diverse range of high-quality artistic healthcare experiences for our communities year-round.

Find out more below.

Team Members

Yvonne Farquharson

Managing Director and Founder (Currently on Maternity Leave)

Yvonne is a seasoned and multi award-winning social entrepreneur who specialises in developing creative, research-led programmes to improve...

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Lydia Hayes

Interim Co-Director and Head of Development

Lydia has over 10 years’ experience in fundraising and development for the arts and health sectors, whilst at...

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Hannah Dye

Interim Co-Director and Head of Programmes

Hannah has worked in the creative industries since 2008, bridging into the arts and health sector in 2017....

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Lorna Greenwood

Head of Scalability

As Head of Scalability, Lorna works on creating sustainable programmes at scale in a strategic way to benefit...

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Georgia Heighway

Communications Manager

Georgia has worked in arts communications since 2015. She loves to inspire people to take part in creative...

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Alex Gayle

Development Manager

Alex joined Breathe in 2023 in the role of Development Manager. Alex started his professional career as a...

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Lilli Murdoch

Digital Communications Officer

Lilli has over 7 years’ experience in marketing and events, the last 3 years specifically in the Health...

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Jo Pelly

Programme Manager, Guy’s and St Thomas’

Jo has over 18 years of experience working in theatre access and education, designing and managing programmes for...

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Drew Potter

Programme Manager, Breathe Magic

Drew has worked within the arts sector since 2014, and most notably has worked for two national touring...

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Tim Osborn

Engagement and Support Officer, Breathe Melodies for Mums

Tim combines nearly 3 decades of experience in the health and disability world with his lifelong interest in...

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Becky Harrison

Engagement and Support Officer, Guy's and St Thomas'

Becky joined Breathe in 2023 following a year-long Social Innovation...

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Vinitaraj Aulak

Communications Assistant

Vinitaraj (Vinny) joined Breathe in 2024 as Communications Assistant to support on digital, marketing and communications across the...

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Hannah Morgan (Han)

Company and HR Administrator

Han has been working in the arts sector for over 10 years, managing multiple departments at independent theatres,...

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Claire Austen

PA to the Managing Director and Project Coordinator, ICS Arts for Staff Wellbeing

Claire brings multiple years of experience within the arts sector to her work at Breathe, as a performer,...

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Dieter Deswarte

Film maker

Alongside filming and editing his own personal work, Dieter is also a Senior Teaching Fellow on the MA...

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Marjan Alexander

Bookkeeper

Marjan has a First Class Honours Degree in Business and Economics. For many years she has worked in...

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Rebecca Fortescue

Clinical Lead, Occupational Therapist

Becca joined the Breathe Magic team as a Magic Trainer in 2015 and continued to volunteer...

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Rebecca Johnson

Clinical Lead, Occupational Therapist

Rebecca has over 16 years of paediatric experience as an Occupational Therapist. Rebecca assesses and treats children with...

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Our wider team

We have a small core team, but much of the reason why Breathe can achieve such incredible things is because we are surrounded by an amazing team of artists, researchers, clinicians and volunteers.

Meet just a few of the fantastic people we work with, below.

I love working with Breathe. It is the most progressive, supportive arts organisation I have come across with a wonderfully open, across the board attitude towards staff and participants alike.
Singing Lead Cleo Lane has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and has worked with George Michael, Duran Duran and Cliff Richard. She wears many hats, including singer, songwriter, choir director and singing for health practitioner.
My artwork and an archive of my advocacy for skin picking is held by the Wellcome Collection and my work has featured on TEDx, BBC News, Woman’s Hour, Vice, Huffington Post, and Metro (to name a few!).
Breathe Creative Breaks Leader Liz Atkin is an artist and educator with Compulsive Skin Picking, a complex physical and mental disorder. She reimagines the body-focused repetitive behaviour and anxiety into drawings, photographs, and performances. Liz has exhibited and taught in the UK, Europe, Australia, USA, Singapore and Japan. Before the pandemic, she gave away more than 18,000 free #CompulsiveCharcoal newspaper drawings to commuters on public transport all over the world.
I have loved performing at prestigious venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Breathe Resident Musician, Havana-born Ahmed Dickinson Cardenas's recent projects include the world premiere concerto with Docklands Sinfonia, recitals with Malta International Arts Festival and live performances at the Royal Opera House with ballet star Carlos Acosta.
I have been a Breathe Ambassador for nearly 8 years. I love the way that the arts work on therapy skills but avoids the monotonous task of actually doing physiotherapy. it has helped me hugely in becoming more independent.
Breathe Magic Mentor (and former Young Magician) Josh Parsons is the only member of the Magic Circle with hemiplegia, and has performed on Channel 5 and TEDxNHS with Breathe Magic.
Arji Manuelpillai is a poet, performer and creative facilitator based in London. For over 15 years Arji has worked with community arts projects nationally and internationally. Recently, he was the Jerwood Arvon Mentee mentored by Hannah Lowe. His poetry has been published in magazines including Cannon’s Mouth, Strix, The Rialto and Bath Magg. He has also been shortlisted for the BAME Burning Eye pamphlet prize, The Robert Graves Prize, The Oxford Prize, The Live Canon Prize, The National Poetry Prize and Winchester Prize. He has also come runner-up in the Robert Graves Prize 2020.