Mentores
Vernon retired to the Costa Blanca in Spain with his wife Celia in 2007. He has 2 grown-up sons, one of whom was from his first marriage but he and Celia had custody of him from 4 years old. Vernon has been a Guardian Angels mentor for more than 7 years and enjoys supporting single-parent families. “I believe that the children of broken relationships are often traumatised as well and so the whole family needs support.”
Celia has been married to Vernon for 45 years and has been a mentor with Guardian Angels for more than 7 years. “In that time I have supported and helped members using my personal experience of having had divorced parents. I also have two sons, both married and living in the UK and I was a step parent from the start of my marriage. I hope I can help members get through their tough times and build new futures for themselves.”
Tracey has been living in Spain for 11 years with her husband Tony and 2 children. “For many single parents their lives can be in complete turmoil with many mixed emotions and being in a foreign country, finding the right support can be somewhat difficult. Guardian Angels and mentoring gives the support that many parents need at crucial times. Having had similar family issues, I know only too well that having someone by your side to listen is such a great help.”
I am Chief Mentor for Guardian Angels and have lived in Javea for 6 years now. My husband and I between us have 5 children ranging from 13 to 29.
I was a single parent for 8 years so I can relate my experiences with a lot of the issues our members have out here.
Back in the UK I trained to be a Counselor and I worked for 10 years with substance misuse clients who were on probation.
Although qualified in Person Centred Counseling I am also trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and in motivational techniques to help encourage healthy habits and also addressing life issues.
I mentor the mentors if they wish to have support and can offer counselling to our members.
Gayle Pook retired to the Costa Blanca in 2016 with partner Mike. Between them they have 4 children and 5 grandchildren. Gayle wanted to become a mentor for Guardian Angels as she has personal experience of family and friends bringing up children as single parents. While working as a primary school teacher she also had contact with many children from single parent families, and understands the difficulties that can sometimes make everyday seem like a huge challenge, and, that here in Spain help is not always easy to find.
Gayle acquired a wealth of mentoring experience later in her career and will always be a willing listener who will do all that she can to help our members to source the information and support that they need for their children and themselves.
Joyce lives with her husband Jeroen in Spain since 2017. In the Netherlands she has worked as a human resources advisor at various companies.
In addition to her work there, she joined a charity which helps refugees to build an existence. In her role as coach she was able to give her coachee the confidence to pick up his life again.
Joyce was also active as a coach at a charity, which helps vulnerable people to get out of social isolation and to get them to participate in society.
Through this voluntary work in the Netherlands, she knows how important it is for a person to get help when he or she needs it or to have a person with whom one can share his or her story. For that reason she joined Guardian Angels as a mentor.
Caroline first came to the Costa Blanca 26 years ago where she met her Spanish husband and had her son. Caroline became a single parent when her son was very young but was fortunate enough to have the support of family around locally. Caroline moved back to Manchester UK with her son and new partner 11 years ago, where she worked as a Youth Offending Mentor, a Mediator and a Family Support Coordinator specialising in social isolation and domestic abuse.
Caroline returned to Spain last year and is looking forward to being able to support single parents who are experiencing challenging times.