Angela Kennedy - Wellbeing Consultant Psychologist and Creative.
- Isobel Arden
- 5 minutes ago
- 5 min read
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Meet Angela Kennedy.
In this interview, Mark invited Angela Kennedy to create her own fantasy cultural year from the answers to some easy questions where there are no wrong answers. Enjoy her journey below.
Angela Kennedy FRSA helps people, teams and organisations create the conditions where growth, healing and meaningful transformation can emerge.
As the founder of Innovating for Wellbeing, Angela works at the intersection of leadership, psychology, wellbeing, creativity and organisational culture. Her approach combines evidence-based practice with curiosity, compassion and a deep understanding of how people behave within complex systems.
Angela is known for helping organisations tackle difficult challenges without losing sight of the humans at the centre of them. Whether supporting leaders through uncertainty, helping teams recover after periods of loss or disruption, or exploring new approaches to workplace wellbeing, she brings a thoughtful and practical perspective that encourages meaningful change rather than quick fixes.
Before establishing Innovating for Wellbeing, Angela held senior leadership positions across mental health services, workforce wellbeing programmes and regional clinical networks. Her work has included service development, leadership support, psychological practice, workforce wellbeing, research, evaluation and system-wide collaboration.
A strong advocate for trauma-informed approaches, Angela helps organisations understand how culture, relationships and leadership shape people's experiences at work. She works with leaders who want to create psychologically safer environments, support staff wellbeing more effectively and develop the confidence to navigate complex challenges with courage and care.
Angela is particularly interested in collective transformation — the process of bringing people together to create healthier systems, stronger relationships and more connected communities. Her work often explores how creativity, storytelling and lived experience can help organisations better understand themselves and the people they serve.
Alongside her consultancy work, Angela is a visual artist, poet and creative producer. She believes the arts have a unique ability to foster connection, encourage reflection and open up conversations that might otherwise remain difficult to have.
Those who work with Angela often describe her style as insightful, grounded and refreshingly human. She is as comfortable discussing organisational strategy as she is facilitating conversations about wellbeing, belonging, creativity and change.
At the heart of everything Angela does is a simple belief: when people feel safe, connected and valued, remarkable things become possible.
Angela Kennedy's Fantasy Cultural Year ... with a magic wand and time machine to hand.
Mark introduced the idea of a “fantasy cultural year” - a way to get to know each new full member that's far more spontaneous than a traditional interview — allowing imagination, travel, culture and Angela Kennedy's creative vision to collide.
This is a hyperthetical, global, fully funded creative journey where the two imagine a wealthy family foundation offers Angela the opportunity of a lifetime.
For a year, she will travel the world investigating the relationship between the arts, psychology and mental wellbeing.
Along the way there will be workshops, lectures, interviews, a television documentary, a book deal, a TED Talk and a global university speaking tour.
🎭 The Fantasy Cultural Year Begins
Angela chooses the National Theatre on London's South Bank for her favourite building. Angela is captivated by the National Theatre's Brutalist architecture. Although she loves colour, she finds herself continually drawn to the building's sculptural forms, dramatic angles and the way light plays across its textured concrete surfaces.
Mark imagines Angela sitting on the terrace outside on a warm June evening.
🍷 On the table:
• A glass of sweet dessert wine, perhaps a Sauternes or Tokaji from Hungary
📚 Beside her:
• Firecrackers, edited by Max Houghton, celebrating the work of pioneering female photographers
🎧 In her headphones:
• Arvo Pärt, whose music she loves for its humanity and its ability to move between powerful, expansive moments and quiet reflection
🌍 The Dream Mission
Asked where she would begin, Angela immediately chooses Ukraine.
She is already working with colleagues there, supporting and learning from professionals exploring the role of arts and wellbeing during challenging circumstances.
🎵 One Musical Genre for a Year
Faced with listening to only one style of music for twelve months, Angela chooses:
• Alternative Tango
💃 The Ultimate Dance Performance
Given the opportunity to see any dance performance in history, Angela chooses:
• Pina Bausch
🍽️ Dinner Afterwards
• Creative vegetarian or vegan cuisine
🇨🇦 Quebec, Canada
The next stop is Quebec, allowing Angela to meet a close friend visiting from East Hampton
🏅 Dream Sporting Event
Although sport is not a major passion, Angela chooses:
• Pairs figure skating
She appreciates its artistry, elegance and performance qualities, while admitting she might still be pleased when it ends.
❄️ Towards the Arctic
Rather than another city, Angela's imagination turns towards the Arctic and Antarctic.
She is drawn to their minimalist beauty, remoteness and largely untouched landscapes, finding something deeply appealing in their simplicity and scale.
🇳🇴 Trondheim, Norway
In a futuristic immersive gallery, visitors can step directly inside the work of any artist.
Angela chooses:
• Dorothea Tanning
🎨 The Artwork She Would Enter
• Tango Dancers
Angela loves the dreamlike quality of Tanning's work and would relish the chance to walk through its surreal landscapes and imagery.
🎭 Cultural Week in London
🎸 Monday — Historic Concert
Angela's shortlist includes:
• The Stranglers
• Siouxsie and the Banshees
Her final choice:
• The Cure (early years)
🎭 Tuesday — Play
Angela chooses a creative, feminist reimagining of a fairy tale, inspired by productions she has enjoyed at Northern Stage.
Her ideal production would combine theatre, movement, music, visual storytelling and innovative staging
A production such as The Tiger's Bride would be perfect.
🎶 Wednesday — Musical
• Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Ideally in classics such as:
• Top Hat
• Swing Time
🎼 Thursday — Opera
Angela chooses:
• Madama Butterfly
The choice is deeply personal.
🎬 Friday — Film
Angela's film choices include:
• The films of Andrei Tarkovsky
For pure enjoyment, however, she chooses:
• Pre-Code Hollywood films from 1930–1933
🏛️ Hero Lunch
If Angela could spend an afternoon with anyone, she chooses:
• Her grandfather
A modest but highly cultured Geordie who introduced her to opera, literature and many of the artistic interests that still shape her life today.
There were many conversations they never had the chance to finish before he died, and she would love the opportunity to continue them. She also feels he would be pleased to see where her life and career have taken her.
When asked who her grandfather would invite to join them, Angela chooses William Shakespeare
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Mark Walmsley FRSA FCIM AGSM
Chief Culture Vulture
Arts & Culture Network
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