About Us

Sweet People ~ Sweet Aims ~ Sweet Values

Jim has had a successful career spanning the Business, Arts, Public and Voluntary Sectors. He has run his own catering business and had a successful career with Bristol Social Services. In 2002 he was appointed Director of Volunteering Bristol, before leaving to co-found Sweet in 2006. He has a 100% successful record of fundraising and partnership initiatives and is highly experienced at policy development and strategic planning.

As a CIPD qualified trainer, Jim has developed and delivered original and highly effective courses, which combine the most relevant modern theory with active and reflective learning. Jim's primary focus is helping individuals and teams to become more effective and organisationsto grow sustainably and ethically.

Jim continues to combine his love of the arts in a semi-professional capacity and is a respected social historian.

Latif Ismail

Latif is a trainer, business advisor, occasional broadcaster and freelance consultant. He has worked with various organisations including the National Crime Squad, Avon & Somerset Constabulary, East Bristol Youth Housing, Home Office, BBC Bristol, ITV West and Channel 4/More 4. Previously he has worked as a Service Development Officer with Refugee Action. Latif speaks English, Arabic & Somali. To view a short Channel 4 documentary by Latif click here

Sandra Duck

Sandra is a CIPD qualified trainer and a fully accredited business advisor and coach. Sandra has a wealth of experience in organisational growth. She worked for Alexandra Plc, where she was responsible for client accounts totalling £20m and whilst with the world-renowned Bristol Blue Glass, won a national business award, presented by the Chancellor, Gordon Brown. As a Sweet director, Sandra has been instrumental in developing and delivering fun, creative and imaginative teambuilding activities. She also delivers courses based around organisational strategy and personal development and coaches management staff and senior executives to help them to realise their full potential. Sandra has taught Persian Dance for ten years and continues to run hugely popular Dance and Yoga Holidays in the UK and abroad.

Colin Dyson

colin_~_better_quality Colin has 15 years of experience working in or managing Day Centres, hostels, prisons and supported housing. He has run his own training and consultancy company over the last seven years and has worked with a broad range of organisations across the homeless and supported housing sector developing working practise and standards.

As well as experience as a worker and operational manager in the Social Care sector, Colin's training is underpinned by a considerable body a technical knowledge in the delivery of learning to adults obtained thorough study for a Post Graduate Diploma in Adult and Continuing Education. Colin has developed particular training experience in promoting service user participation, assessment skills, evaluation skills and the management of risk, but is constantly developing new courses to respond to the developing needs of Social Care providers.

Rowena Harris

Rowena is a facilitator and trainer who loves people to surprise themselves! In other words, for people to realse that they are now able to do something they assumed they couldn't do as a result of taking part in a workshop or training session.

Rowena has a background in education, first in schools, later in community development. She spent many years as a co-ordinator and trainer for Bristol Community Education, the Workers Education Association and the Basic Skills Agency. Part of her work was to develop partnership projects involving health workers, librarians, schools, colleges, community workers and local parents to encourage Family Learning Projects - percursors of the Sure Start initiative. During this time she became interested in the challenge, not only of encouraging better partnership working, but also of working with groups of people from very different backgrounds and interests, to facilitate their efforts to improve things where they live or work. Having been trained by Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation in Planning for Real she realised that facilitation, mediation and mentoring were the skills she wanted to develop. The training and experience provided by The Environment Council in Stakeholder Dialogue provided a spur to becoming an independent consultant in 1999. Since then she has facilitated workshops on issues ranging from local matters like the design of a new community building, a planning application for an incinerator or planning a neighbourhood project to the national strategy for handling nuclear waste. She also continues to enjoy training a wide range of topics and is a yoga teacher.

Caroline Schofield

Caroline_image Caroline is a qualified personal performance coach speciaising in careercoaching. She has ten years experience of working in the voluntary sector as a trainer and facilitator in the field of employment and education. Her qualifications include an MA in Socioligy and she is currently working toward an advanced diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Skills.

Sweet Aim

To help individuals, teams and organisations to be more effective, healthier and focussed for profitable and sustainable growth and development.

Sweet Values

Deeply held conviction in the value of continual development
Belief that training should be creative and enjoyable as well as practical
Applying respect, honesty and integrity across all aspects of our work
Creating a positive, safe and nurturing working environment
Actively promoting a healthy balance between professional and personal life
Striving to ensure all Sweet courses, activities and venues are inclusive and accessible to all

Sweet Offerings

Sweet Training Learning Consultancy is a dynamic, imaginative, committed, professional and focused organisation which delivers a variety of excellent services.

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