OASIS Profile

Focus, experience and interests

Zena’s focus has been to work alongside people throughout her career.  Starting out in the NHS she realised her passion lay in helping people foster an interest in their own development and a will to shape their future so as to live life as fully and creatively as possible.  So questions such as – what helps people find their direction? How do we overcome obstacles and limiting beliefs? What does it take to respond openly and with interest to new initiatives, challenges and opportunities.

In the early 1990’s, looking for more freedom and more influence in her own working life, she joined Oasis where she has spent several years focussing her efforts on building the infrastructure of Oasis alongside developing her one-to-one practice of coaching, mentoring, coaching and supervision; her facilitation work of six month to two-year diploma level development programmes; and consultancy work in small to medium organisations. 

She currently enjoys co-facilitating Developing People; Human Relations Practice and Coaching, Mentoring and Supervision at the centre and is decreasing her work internal to Oasis to allow new projects and interests emerge.

One emerging interest over the last 2-3 years is in using co-operative inquiry methods of learning and living which she will bring to the Leadership, life and Learning programme she will facilitate later this year. 

Another long-standing interest that she intends to develop further is ODEF.  It was in 1999 she took the lead in establishing the charitable foundation (ODEF) that works alongside Oasis, and since then has been the main contributor to the work of the charity both in the UK and in Uganda.