The founder Jade Newton-Gardener has over 23 years of experience in the Play and Youth Work professions. After working in a high street bank for a number of years and losing a number of friends to gun and knife crime, took a trip to The Gambia and it changed her life.

She resigned from the bank took the risk and walked into the unknown. Starting out at Islington Play and Youth Services she found herself reconnecting to play

with both children and young people. She embarked on her new purpose driven journey; working in a variety of settings, After School Clubs, Adventure Playgrounds, in PRU’s, Detached Youth Work. She successfully completed her Play and Youth Work qualifications in house after dropping out of 2 colleges. Moved on to complete her training the trainer qualifications and completed Uni in her 30’s while pregnant with her first child.

For 8 years she was given the opportunity of having creative licence to create innovative training programmes and events utilising play,

playfulness and Playwork Theory as the key mechanism to engage children, young people and adults. This work was carried out after she was singled out by her Playwork trainer Dr Jackie Jeffries founder of Play Action. Here Jade along with Jackie created unique playful learning experiences and spaces such as intergenerational play spaces, Playful Youth exchanges (The Gambia & South Africa) Playwork training for young people, NEET Construction courses on Adventure Playgrounds, Community Forest space in Kent -  ‘Nature's Playground.’

One of her highlights was returning to The Gambia and piloting her ‘Playful Youth Work’ approach to Gambian youth workers with the support of the

Gambian National Youth Work Agency & Middlesex University. It had always been a dream for her to give back to Gambia for the impact it had on changing her life.

In the last 14 years she has continued to embed IMAP’s playful approach in a number of organisations such as The Amy Winehouse Foundation and Fully Focused Productions; as well as experienced first hand, how playing

can support in healing, well-being, and discovery of potential. She has continued to play in her personal and work life too and this has allowed her

to gain experiences through the work she does that she would never have thought she would be doing. Being a guest presenter for DClinPsy end of term conference at UCL. You may even catch a glimpse of her over on Netflix in a series called ‘PRU’ or over on YouTube in ‘Raw God’s’ on channel MYM and her name in credits as film crew.

Over the last 2 years she has become more and more fascinated and focused on one particular play type ‘Recapitulative Play’ 

and how it plays out in every day life both consciously and unconsciously culturally. Particularly when it comes to personal growth

well being and healing. Experiencing it personally and through her work with young people and adults has witnessed the magic it holds in transforming and supporting in moving beings forward but also holding people back if reconnection to this play type takes on a ‘negative’ form. ‘Negative’ as it is the social norms and societal lens of seeing the behaviour as negative. Reinforcing her saying ‘Play doesn’t discriminate, people and our systems do’. 

These experiences along with her research study ‘To Play or not to Play that is the Question-An investigation into the possibility of opening up dialogue between the Play and Youth Work Professions.’ is the driving force behind making I aM APerson a reality.