Alex Cenem
Psychologist • Author • Creator of the DNA Programme™
The DNA Programme™ in Practice
Before the DNA Programme™ was formally structured as it is today, its early principles were applied in child-focused creative and developmental projects exploring confidence, expression, learning, and direction. These early applications helped shape the framework through action, experimentation, and real-world use.
EARLY PROJECTS
Crisis UK — Skylight Café: Training Through Real Work
At Crisis UK’s Skylight Café, Alex designed and managed a café-based employability programme for people experiencing homelessness and other complex barriers to employment. He created the training and assessment systems and helped develop the café into a busy, financially sustainable social enterprise.
The work combined practical hospitality training with the realities of confidence, trust, boundaries, responsibility and adaptation. Supporting people affected by trauma, abuse, discrimination, disability, mental-health difficulties and social exclusion showed that development cannot be imposed through one standard method. These lessons later contributed directly to the DNA Programme™.
During the first twelve months, 53 people were interviewed, 23 began training and seven progressed into employment. Alex was later informed that five further participants moved into employment or education, including two accepted onto Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Apprentice Programme.
The café and training programme later attracted television, radio and press interest, including an extended on-site ITV interview for a Jeremy Kyle Show homelessness special, a Ready Steady Cook appearance, and coverage in The Big Issue and other publications.
Wits Kids: From Imagination to Screen
Wits Kids was a supervised creative filmmaking project for young people aged 12–15, developed during school holidays. Rather than giving them a finished script, Alex invited the children to imagine, design, direct and perform their own stories.
Across several sessions, they moved from an initial idea to written notes, drawings, story frames, discussion, props, sets, special effects and filming. Alex facilitated the process and helped turn their ideas into practical action, while the children remained the writers, directors and protagonists of their own productions.
The project produced five short films, each between three and six minutes long, later presented to parents at a cinema-style celebration. Parents supervised all work, and the films were published online with consent. It became an early practical exploration of how imagination can become shared, observable action—an approach that later informed the DNA Programme™.
APPLIED EDUCATION
Following an invited talk in a school setting in Brazil, eight students who were uncertain about their future direction took part in three follow-up sessions supported by an early version of the DNACe Matrix™ questionnaire and structured guidance based on the DNA Programme™. According to the teacher who followed their progress, the students showed improved motivation, stronger self-confidence, and greater clarity about their next steps after the sessions.
Assessed Teaching Session:
Human Stimuli and How We Learn
Delivered in 2022 as part of my Level 3 Award in Education and Training (NCC). The session explored how human stimuli influence learning, using practical, interactive activities with six participants and two academic assessors. It helped develop and test teaching approaches later integrated into the DNA Programme™.
Testimonials & Case Example
What People Reported
The DNA Programme™ has been experienced across personal, professional, and educational contexts. These reflections and observed examples show how the framework has supported clarity, motivation, confidence, and direction in practice.
Working with Alex through the DNA Programme™ helped me understand my emotions and challenges from a clearer perspective. Over time, I felt more confident, comfortable, and assertive in how I approached what I was experiencing.
What stood out to me was the thoughtful structure of his approach and the way it helped me reflect on my own life in a practical and meaningful way. It gave me greater clarity in facing personal challenges, and I am grateful for the support I received.
— Charm, former Director of The Psychosynthesis Trust
Alex helped me organise my thinking and bring structure to my business idea. His DNA Programme™ approach gave me greater clarity, helped me identify what was relevant, and allowed me to move forward in a more focused and strategic way.
— Amanda Cipullo,
Creative Professional
After inviting Alex to speak with my students, a number of them continued with short follow-up sessions using his early DNA Programme™ approach. From what I observed afterwards, they became more motivated, more self-confident, and clearer about their future direction.
— Anita Daspett, Teacher