Jo Heath
Youth, Children and Families Development Worker
Jo was born in Watford, studied at Exeter University and moved to Christchurch in 2000. She enjoyed a fulfilling 17 years as an English language teacher for international students in Bournemouth before moving into a management role in charge of a training provision in Bournemouth for 16-19 year olds. She found it was such a privilege to meet young people who had struggled at secondary school and empower them to make choices which would impact them in a positive way in the future.
She decided to have a break and began an MA in Applied Theology in September 2017. Being a mature student has been a wonderful experience and gave her the courage to address where God was calling her to be- involved more meaningfully in ministry. She applied to work at Avon Valley Churches in May 2018 and was delighted to be offered the job. Since then, Jo has enjoyed every aspect of her job and being employed by churches during a global pandemic has been an exciting and rewarding time although she missed seeing everyone so much and particularly the schools’ work.
Jo loves cooking, spending time with family and dancing. She is a qualified teacher with the Josephine Wise Academy of Arabic Dance and enjoys learning dance as well as teaching dance in her free time.