The Phase team is changing again this year with Hannah Dengate joining the team as the new Wellbeing Lead as I (Sasha Austin-Seade) leave to do a bit of globe-trotting.

I sat down with Hannah to find out a little bit more about her.

Is it weird being interviewed by your predecessor?

(Laughs) yes by you… well not really. I think it’s been great, I have really enjoyed the last two weeks. I’m not sure how you’ve found it but it’s been good just to be able to learn and to be able to see how you do things and to be able to pick your brains and get all the top tips and knowledge on how to do the role.

Sasha Austin-Seade & Hannah Dengate - from one wellbeing lead to another

So I thought it only right to start off by asking you the exactly the same questions that I was asked when I started.

Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I am Hannah and I have just moved from Christchurch, Dorset where I was for four years and I was there as a youth worker and so I’ve made big move to Hitchin and ironically into the Christchurch building. My parents live in Devon. I love to spend time by the sea, I am missing the sea! I like baking and so i'm into the bake off at the moment, I like running, playing the flute and spending time with friends and family.

What sort of jobs and roles have you had before?

When I was at university I was really involved with the Christian Union and was a part of the leadership team there and then from uni I went and did a gap year on the Isle of man. I volunteered for a charity called Scripture Union Ministries Trust which is really similar to Phase. As in it's a resource for the Island doing schools work and linking with churches. I was placed in a church there where I did mentoring, worked with the schools and worked with young people. I also was part of a team that lived within the community with about 12 other people!! Then we helped with all Island school events and things like that. Finally I have just come from being a youth worker in Christchurch. When I first started I was doing children’s and youth and I worked one to one in a primary school as well and then the last few years I have just been focused on doing youth work with young people.

What where you like in school?

In school I was quite quiet. It took me a while to get established but then by year 8 and 9 I had a really good group of friends. I actually really enjoyed year 10 and 11 more because I was actually doing subjects that I wanted to do. Yeah, I enjoyed school.

What inspires you:

Ooh what inspires me good question, umm I think I love seeing other people who are just passionate about what they do and what they love, and I think that you get a glimpse, you catch on to that. So I love it when someone is really passionate about what they do because you just want to catch a bit of that passion.

You have made quite a big move, so what are some of the things you like about Hitchin?

I like the amount of coffee shops. They are good, I intend to check out all the different coffee shops.I like that it's quite a close community and it's not so big that you can't still get to know people and its quite close to get you into London.

In your first few weeks at Phase, what have you been involved with and what difference have you seen it make?

In the first week we went into the Girls school to help with the year 12 inductions and then went in again on the Friday to help with the year 7’s and I think two things stood out to me

1. The relationship that Phase has with the schools is really great to see. Although you’re not staff at the school but you are treated like staff. There is a real respect and a really good reputation that Phase has amongst the schools.

2. When we were in the school just the way year 7’s would come up and be like ahh I recognise you, oh you did our workshop. Just seeing that continuation from primary to secondary school and seeing how they remember what Phase has done and the workshops that have been done and just being that face, that's familiar and the consistency was amazing. It just showed the importance of being in the primary school and being in the secondary school. Especially for those that are new, so they are seeing someone they recognise.

Who is your favourite super hero?

Laughs I’m not really into super hero film (SAS gasps). SAS Well your next question was going to be who would win in a fight between Spiderman and Batman?, but I feel like you are in good company with Helen now.
HD I am, Helen has already asked me this.

Final question...
Are you prepared for Kieran’s weekly would you rather questions?

I feel like this has already started in our car journey the other day but then I was able to ask him one as well. I asked him if he were a biscuit which one would you be?.

SAS he loves those, Hannah you’re going to fit right in.

Look out for more of Hannah as she gets more involved with the life of Phase and helps support young people around the town.