At Inside Out’s entertaining & uproarious AGM this week – adjectives seldom used in association with what are usually rather dull affairs – we said goodbye to one of our founders. Jan Addison, who along with Pete Watkins founded the arts and mental health charity in 2003, is retiring as a trustee. Jan worked professionally as a drama therapist for the local NHS Trust; always passionate about the arts, particularly the theatre, she has been a strong advocate of the healing potential of the arts, all of the arts, in our lives. Inside Out was born out of that belief. Over the past 16 years Jan has brought to the work of the charity her lovely capacity for being deeply attentive to others and her inspirational support of others, always delighting in all that is creative & positive in other people. Anyone who has come to Inside Out over the years searching for their creativity and a more artistic life; seeking to live with less disharmony and distress; looking to discover a stronger sense of self and well-being through the arts, has a lot to thank her for.

Jan has always been the beating heart of Inside Out and so we will miss Jan ‘being there’ as she has from the very beginning; but now other hearts beat to the same rhythm and will carry Inside Out forward into it’s future. We know Jan is not leaving us in a never to be seen or heard from again kind of way; she will always be strongly connected to Inside Out, always have a strong presence in our midst.