The Experience Behind
the DNA Programme™
About Me
After more than six decades of life and over four decades of working with people, I am still asking questions about how human beings learn, develop and participate in life. This autobiographical journey brings together what I have learned so far and the three questions that continue to guide my work:
What is human energy?
How does awareness become conscious action?
What can we do with this understanding?
I was born in Brazil and have lived in London since 1990. I am a psychologist, author, independent researcher in human development, consultant, and the creator and designer of the Dynamic Natural Assessment Programme™ (DNA Programme™).
My work explores how our thoughts, feelings, physical responses, previous experiences and capabilities interact with the people, circumstances, opportunities and limitations around us—and how greater awareness of this interaction can inform what we do next.
My
Professional Journey
My professional journey began when I was 14 and has since spanned a wide range of roles, sectors and responsibilities in business development, people management, training and human development.
At 18, I began organising events through my own business before becoming an assistant marketing campaign manager for American Express in Brazil. After moving to the UK, I contributed to the opening of Starbucks stores and later developed the Skylight Café with Crisis UK—an early social-enterprise initiative connected to employability training for young adults experiencing homelessness and people with previous convictions.
I have also managed high-profile catering operations serving celebrities and members of royal families at prominent UK venues, including Kensington Palace, the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the English National Opera, the Barbican Centre and the Houses of Parliament.
Across these projects, I have been responsible for recruitment, people management, training and development. I have trained, managed and supported thousands of people from different backgrounds, sectors and levels of responsibility.
This was not a carefully planned, linear career. It was an ongoing process of observing, participating, adapting and learning—often within demanding real-life situations where simple instructions were not enough.
What Working with People Taught Me
One lesson appeared repeatedly: the same advice or training does not produce the same result for everyone. People do not enter a situation with identical histories, capabilities, resources, relationships or limitations. What represents an opportunity for one person may create pressure or risk for another. Human development cannot be understood through universal formulas alone.
Meaningful development begins by understanding the relationship between the individual, their present internal experience and the conditions in which they are participating.
Working with people from all walks of life taught me to recognise what each person could contribute—not only through their existing skills and knowledge, but through their individual ways of understanding, responding and participating. My role was to combine this individuality with the needs of each project, while using my own experience to provide training, guidance and opportunities for further development.
What Living with Mental Health Challenges Taught Me
For more than 20 years, I have lived with a formal diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). Living with it taught me that understanding a problem does not automatically change how the mind and body respond. Awareness often begins by noticing thoughts, emotions, sensations and physical responses as they arise.
My capacity to remain present, my capability to adapt, and my ability to act are not fixed. They can change from one day—or one situation—to another, depending on my internal state, circumstances, available support and time. Learning to navigate CPTSD has required patience, boundaries, support and responsibility for what I can influence—without pretending that I control every response or outcome.
Development, for me, is not about erasing a condition or becoming permanently positive. It is about observing what is happening, recognising what I can work with in that moment and deciding what can come next. Working with people has already taught me that one approach does not work for everyone. Living with CPTSD showed me why from within—and led me to search for a clearer structure for observing how internal and external conditions interact.
Why I Created the DNA Programme™
That search became the DNA Programme™. It brought together my education in psychology, continued interdisciplinary study, professional work and what I had learned from living with CPTSD. What began as a structure to help me observe and respond to my own challenges evolved into an educational framework that makes the complexity of human development easier to understand and apply in everyday life.
It was not created to tell people what to think or do. It offers three connected perspectives to help people:
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Observe the Dynamic—what is unfolding within and around them;
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Recognise the Natural—the capacity, capabilities, support, possibilities and limitations present; and
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Use Assessment to examine how these conditions interact and identify what conscious action can come next.
The aim is not to promise control over every outcome. It is to develop greater awareness of what is happening, how we participate, what we can influence and how we can respond more consciously.
My Work
Today
Today, I develop and share the DNA Programme™ through books, educational resources, developmental consultancy, workshops, presentations and research-informed collaborations.
I also use films, music, storytelling and observations from everyday life to make complex ideas about human development more accessible—without reducing them to motivational slogans, universal instructions or simplistic answers.
This educational and developmental work aims to support individuals and professionals in examining how thoughts, feelings, responses, experiences, capabilities and environments interact—and what that interaction might mean for personal, professional and social development.
The DNA Programme™ does not claim to diagnose or treat mental health conditions. Psychotherapy, clinical assessment, medical treatment and specialist mental health support serve different purposes and should be sought where appropriate.
The Journey Continues
The DNA Programme™ remains an evolving body of work. I continue to test its explanations, question its assumptions and explore how it might be applied responsibly across personal, professional, organisational and social development.
My longer-term aim is to pursue independent evaluation, academic collaboration and, where appropriate, formal research with ethical approval. This would examine the validity, limitations and practical value of the DNA Programme™—helping to determine what the framework can genuinely contribute and where its claims or applications need further refinement.
My invitation is not to accept the DNA Programme™ as another universal answer, but to become more curious about what is happening, how we are participating and what we can consciously and responsibly do next.
Life is dynamic. Find your rhythm. Develop your contribution.