Koru Development

Sustainable Performance

PERFORMANCE – WELLNESS – SUSTAINABILITY – PURPOSE 

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Why Koru Development? We’re different

Based in the UK Lake District, we specialise in creating practical courses that create sustainable performance with integrity. We integrate evidence based applied psychology, neuroscience and contemplative science to create practical programmes that work. Whether that’s sustainable leadership, optimising your performance, managing change or creating ecologies of resilience. We’re constantly looking for new ways of working and will always bring you the latest strategies that are empirically evidenced. All of our courses come with unlimited support, whether that’s six weeks or six years after we work together, we’ll still be here for you.

We’ve been working all over the world for the last fifteen years, whether that’s with medical colleges and NGOs in Tibet, or communities in New Zealand. We’re committed to embracing and embedding the spirit of Koru (a Māori symbol for growth, harmony and new beginnings) into everything that we do. Every. Single. Day. We will bring authentic, positive energy to our work and the world, promoting personal growth,  giving people the tools to feel good about themselves, shining a light on their strengths & their potential to create their own positive change.

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusivity

Since the beginning of Koru we have aimed to create an experience of inquiry around the places where encoded racism, privilege, and biases make their way into messaging, stories and learning. We are committed to making the unconscious conscious in every way that we can. 

Giving Back

A percentage of Koru profits go to the Koru Trust, a small charity staffed by volunteers, working to provide educational resources to Karen Hill Tribe refugees on the Burma border. So far we have funded a 3 year degree programme for an awesome student who earned a university place despite having no electricity or running water, 6 laptops, a generator (for the electricity to power the laptops) books, medicine, winter clothing (from an army of talented Yorkshire based knitters) and whatever else is needed. 

We’ll introduce you to science backed strategies and practices that help you to step into your extraordinary power and potential. Experts in optimising learning, sustainable, high performance and managing change we use psychology, neuroscience, resilience and wellness strategies to align your inner universe with your outer world. 

Over the last 15 years we’ve successfully worked with thousands of clients; leaders, teams, individuals & organisations. Koru are trusted partners for Fortune 100 companies, organisations including the United Nations, BBC, NHS, Healthcare England, elite sporting bodies like UK Sport, the Football Association and the medical profession, non profits, professional bodies including RIBA, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, museums – the V&A, Natural History Museum, tech start ups, universities including London School of Economics, Lancaster University, Goldsmiths, Northeastern University along with NGOs around the world including Water Aid, IPPF, British Red Cross, Teenage Cancer Trust & Prostate Cancer.

We’ll support you to consciously create a lifetime of sustainable performance, learning, wellness, resilience and purpose – inside and out. We aim to inspire you to connect with yourself, with others and the pale blue dot we call earth, to live a remarkable, confident, sustainable, purpose centred life.

Gill Thackray, Koru founder, is a performance psychologist, author and lecturer. As well as writing over 8 books, her work has been featured in several international media outlets including The Guardian, Success Magazine, Woman and Home and Glamour magazine. Her books have been translated into several languages and she has been interviewed by international broadcasters on her areas of expertise. 

Sustainability is at the heart of everything that we do. Gill is also the founder of Mindful Rewilding, a company she founded in 2022 to inspire people to connect with nature and  protect it for future generations. 

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Who we’ve worked with

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