About Adrian The Early Years

Born and brought up in Sheffield as an only child, Adrian's childhood was very much affected at the age of 11 when his father died.

In his late teens at his first place of work, an encounter with a colleague made him aware of the radical nature of Jesus Christ as written in the Gospels. This took him down the route of living in an experimental religious community inspired by St Francis of Assisi, studying for a Bachelor of Divinity degree and 5 years studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood. During this time he developed an interest in the spirituality of monasticism and contemplative practice.

London

Deciding against ordination, Adrian moved to London, firstly working for the Bishop of East London as a community worker during the building of Canary Wharf. His role involved supporting and enabling tenants' groups whose lives were blighted by the development. Moving on to work with a Bangladeshi Community Project in nearby Brick Lane he developed projects aimed at social regeneration. These experiences gave him an interest in what makes groups and organisations succeed or fail. Conseqently he returned to his home city to study for an MSc in Organisation Development at Hallam University.

Two Personas Becoming One

Since returning to Sheffield, Adrian has drawn together the various strands of his life - living in community, empowering the disadvantaged, transforming organisations - to have an impact on a wide variety of groups. He has worked extensively with commercial and voluntary organisations of all shapes and sizes to help them develop a rich grasp of the dynamics that permeate them. He is particularly interested in helping organisations identify and transform the darker parts of their character through his consultancy Shadow Side (opens in a new window).

Adrian's studies of various ways of engaging with the soul through Christian Mysticism, the Enneagram, Mythology, Jungian Psychology, Spiritual Direction and Masculine Spirituality have ultimately found expression through writing. His first collection of poetry The Call of the Unwritten was published in 2011 which has already gone into a second edition. A second collection of poetry is due to be published at the end of 2012. His latest project - a retelling of the Gospel of Mark set in present day South Yorkshire in which Jesus is portrayed as a woman - is being published in summer 2012.

Adrian lives in the Rivelin Valley in Sheffield with his wife, three children and four dogs - all of whom he loves dearly.

Find out more

Early in 2012 Adrian was interviewed by Conscious TV about his life and spiritual journey. Go to http://www.conscious.tv/lifestories.html to view this.