About us
Meet the team who transform conversations into meaningful outcomes
Jewell Facilitation works with teams and organisations who are keen to get the right people involved in key discussions and conversations in an engaging and purposeful way.
We work with a wide range of organisations, businesses and charities – facilitation is not sector specific. Participants in our workshops come from a broad spectrum of professional backgrounds and vary in seniority from CEOs, Directors, Team Leaders and Senior Project Managers to trustees, programme staff and community members.
We facilitate face to face, online (virtual facilitation), hybrid or even outdoors if you are game!
Jewell Facilitation was established by Helene Jewell in 2014.
Helene spent a number of years working in different organisations, where she experienced a growing discontent around the way employees were often undervalued, not included or properly consulted when it mattered and encountered poor communication and frustration in the workplace.
These insights, combined with Helene’s facilitation skills and background in communication processes led to the foundation of the company, with the aim of helping organisations to support their own people to work better together.
These days...
Helene often works alongside a small team of completely brilliant associates enabling Jewell Facilitation to work with larger and more complex groups and projects, and bring in specialisms when needed.
Helene is a great facilitator and has helped us with several partnerships
supporting them with strategic reviews, developing action plans and helping them take a more collaborative approach when working together. Helene is meticulous when it comes to planning and making sure that objectives are achieved which has resulted in developing a clearer strategic focus, a coherent set of achievable targets and a cohesive way of working for our partners.
Jamie Butcher
IVE
Meet the team
Helene Jewell
Helene is an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator and has a Professional Practice Diploma in Organisational Development from Roffey Park Institute.
In her facilitation work, she draws on her knowledge and experience of communication processes, group dynamics and team culture to encourage effective and meaningful group dialogue and bring the best out of the groups she works with. She particularly enjoys working with large creative teams to help them untangle internal misalignment, improve team communication and culture, and to develop strategies.
When she is not facilitating Helene can probably be found swimming outdoors somewhere throughout the year. She has swum the River Dart 10K three times and is set to swim the English Channel as part of a relay team in 2025. She also enjoys cycling, photography, attempting to play the guitar, travelling and family life with her 2 kids, husband and dog.
Lee Button
With over eleven years of experience in strategic change management and facilitation, Lee specialises in strategy, transformation, and improvement, working primarily with public sector, and charity clients. He is passionate about helping organisations and their teams uncover simple solutions to complex challenges through proven frameworks.
Lee believes that every individual in an organisation holds untapped potential and ideas that can enhance overall performance. By using collaborative coaching and workshops, he helps teams unlock these capabilities, streamline internal processes, and navigate change effectively.
Outside of work, Lee enjoys coffee and eating out, travel, music, and sitting by the sea—whatever the weather. These activities help him stay refreshed and bring new perspectives to his work.
Zoe Thompson
Zoe provides a range of options to support the most important asset in any organisation: the people. She offers a mix of coaching and training for all levels and offers a tailored service with a focus on staff development. Wellbeing acts as a golden thread throughout.
Zoe brings practical leadership and management experience from within the police service and combines this with coaching tools and techniques. She is able to support your employees with the tools, skills and confidence to reach their full potential.
Based in Bristol, UK, she is a parent, loves to travel, and to read, and is actively involved in her local basketball community. Zoe was also a competitive strongwoman (2nd in Britain in 2016) and competed at Europe’s Strongest Woman. Zoe sponsors Bristol Flyers Womens Basketball Team and Ashley Down Old Boy Women’s Rugby Team.
Megan Evans
Megan Evans is an independent facilitator, qualified trainer, coach and consultant with over 30 years’ experience of supporting charities and NGO’s, the public sector and communities. Using a solution focused, co-production approach to build consensus and understanding, she helps groups hear the voices of stakeholders, develop their skills, meet new challenges and deliver outcomes.
Megan has designed and facilitated numerous participatory visioning, planning sessions, public consultations and team events both in-person and online. As a certified ICA:UK trainer she has a special interest in supporting groups to develop their facilitation skills and knowledge.
Megan is a member of the International Association of Facilitators, ICA:UK, Consultants for Good and is an International Institute for Facilitation Certified Virtual Facilitator and ILM qualified coach/mentor.
When not busy facilitating or training, Megan is passionate about nature and the natural environment. She loves baking bread, watching Roller Derby and visiting the wilds of Scotland. She often spends her summers cooking at large international youth camps.
Claire Stone
Claire has been with Jewell Facilitation for over 2 years, and in that time has learned a lot about facilitation and the many ways it can be used in an organisation or in a team.
She is chief organiser, writer/editor and planner, helping to ensure we do what we say we are going to do and that workshop outputs are collated when needed. Claire also delivers training sessions on sustainability and DEI.
When she’s not busy writing or planning, you’ll find Claire busy with her family, swimming outdoors (often with Helene, talking about Jewell Facilitation!), walking her rescue dog or looking after her local community orchard.
Why we love facilitation
Facilitation is brilliant because it adapts to every need and situation, creating something unique for each client. It’s what makes our work so rewarding!
Helping team members work better together gives us a real buzz
At Jewell Facilitation we are ardent fans of getting stuck into even the most contentious discussions to help people create clarity from the tangle. We create space for those light bulb moments to happen and enable everyone to say what they need to. We are excellent at keeping track of all the different threads of the conversation and guiding them into something more ordered and focused so that they make sense.
We are fascinated by people and the diversity they bring to a group
As experienced professional facilitators we draw on an eclectic skill set and knowledge base to bring the best out of the people and groups we work with. The best ideas come out of groups that don’t think the same, who don’t always agree and who can proactively challenge each other to get to the juicy stuff.
Creating an environment to be able to tap into the wisdom, experience and skills brought by different individuals is where real magic happens. This takes practice, energy, and a focus on digging beneath the surface. Precisely what we are good at here at Jewell Facilitation.
We love it when a plan comes together
We also like working out what to do when it doesn’t! A huge part of successful facilitation is in the planning and we thrive on bringing together the many tangled strands and turning them into a process for the journey to come. Think of it as a little like the London Underground Map – what looks like a twisted array of different lines and colours is actually a bright and beautiful guide to getting to where you want to go.
We start at the end to help you define and agree your destination and set clear objectives. Then we put together a plan to include a range of different tools to make it work. We also plan for the unexpected, so we know how we can work around those conversations that threaten to take things off course.
Every session is different
Each workshop or Away Day is designed specifically for you, which is why we spend so much time on the design, preparation and planning in the first place. This means that you get something just right for you – you get to benefit from our creativity and wide range of skills, tools and techniques. It also means we are kept on our toes as we create something bespoke for each and every client.
Helene got the tone on the day exactly right
I hired Helene recently to facilitate an important away day after I “discovered” her when attending a different event she facilitated. The needs for our away day were complex – including building a new community from a previously disjointed set of people who have been very stretched over the last few years. Helene listened carefully to our brief and worked with us to develop the very successful day. She got the tone on the day exactly right – pushing people’s boundaries but very respectfully – and ensuring all voices were heard and all of the different messages were pulled out and noted. We got everything we needed and I will definitely hire Helene again.
R.Eddie Wilson
Professor of Intelligent Transport Systems, University of Bristol
Our Core Values
Our core values guide everything we do, shaping how we work with you and each other to create meaningful and impactful experiences.
Creativity
Defines our approach to facilitation and to finding innovative ways to facilitate our sessions. Not just the usual, but something a bit more imaginative, playful and full of thought.
Collaboration
Applies to the way we work with our clients, the way we work with each other when we co-facilitate and what we aim to bring about in our sessions.
Integrity
We will be honest and open with our clients and take our commitments seriously. We are reliable and responsible and will work according to our values and ethos.
Fairness
Refers to the way we run our sessions, aiming to enable everyone to have a voice, to not pass judgement and to facilitate our sessions with equity in mind.
Connection
Is something that runs through the heart of everything we do. We will work with our clients in a connected and joined up way to ensure quality communication and clarity around our work. It is also core to how we facilitate, cultivating and improving connections between people in a group.
Curiosity
We don’t know everything and we are keen to learn. Always looking for new ways to do things, and exploring opportunities to broaden our horizons so that we remain stimulated and enthusiastic about what we do, and open to new ideas.
Would you like to find out more about how our team can help yours?
Explore our services to discover the tailored solutions we offer, designed to meet your unique needs and bring your goals to life.
