Meet Our Dedicated Team
All members of the UniqMinds team have the relevant qualifications, training and experience to support the students.
Charlie is our designated safeguarding lead, with almost 20 years experience in martial arts, as well as spending the last 8 years working with young people in residential care. Working as a carer in the children’s homes, and also in his role of Coach through various projects at the gym with EBD schools, Charlie has gained both experience and various qualifications in trauma informed care, as well as safeguarding and first aid training.
Recently, Charlie has been working alongside the rest of the team to design bespoke health and training plans for young people in care to improve their overall physical and mental well being through martial arts, with a focus on diet, exercise and positive relationships.
As well as being a coach at the gym for the last 10 years, Charlie has also been pursuing a professional career in Kickboxing and Muay Thai, winning several titles at domestic and international level. He is extremely passionate about promoting the positive effects that the sport can have on the lives of others both in and out of the gym.
Josh is the co-owner of 1st Legion Gym and has a wealth of experience in martial arts, having found a passion for it over 18 years ago. Having experience in various disciplines including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai and MMA, Josh has the unique ability to recognise individual drivers in people and work with them to achieve their goals. Josh, alongside Charlie, coach our younger members, both within classes, as well as a one to one environment.
Josh was instrumental in developing and delivering the 1st Legion Warrior programme back in 2018, where the coaches worked with a number of students from local schools to develop both their physical ability as well as confidence and engagement with other students.
As an active competitor in Muay Thai, Josh has a relentless passion for helping young people achieve their absolute best in the sport, as well as working with them to utilise the skills they learn in their personal lives.
Jamie is the Head Coach and Owner of 1st Legion Gym, incorporating Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Leicester and 1st Legion Boxing Gym. Jamie has been a martial arts coach for the past 25 years teaching adults and children, and continuously spends time studying and practicing the various disciplines he is very passionate about - Karate, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, MMA, Wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
A key for Jamie is that all the disciplines entail learning positive traits such as:
Discipline
Self-Esteem
Self-Belief
Pride
Honour
Resect
Facing Fears
Communication
Trust
Care
Collective responsibility
Integrity
At UniqMinds, these traits are at the heart of our culture, and Jamie will work with each student that comes to us to help embed them into their everyday life.
Jamie is also a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner, NLP Sports Practitioner and Business/ Lifestyle & Executive Coach, working with a range of businesses and individuals to support them in achieving their goals. Jamie, alongside Jorjia, our Therapeutic Wellness Tutor, will work with students both in groups, and on a one to one basis, ensuring their mental wellbeing remains a top priority.
Jorjia is our therapeutic wellness tutor. At the start of her career, Jorjia qualified as a general trained nurse, working within trauma orthopaedics. Following on from her trauma ward work days, she transitioned into working with a range of different ages of people with learning disabilities. Jorjia has also worked in child and adolescent mental heath services (CAMHS). Within CAMHS, Jorjia has spent time nursing young people from all over the country living with poor mental health. She has treated young people struggling with anxiety, depression and those who may engage in self-harm, to those experiencing psychotic breakdowns and may need more intense psychiatric support.
Her role at UniqMinds allows her to holistically support the young people on the programme, through focused sessions on wellness and wellbeing.
Our passion
1st Legion Warrior Programme
UniqMinds is situated within 1st Legion Gym, which is a mixed martial arts facility based in the heart of Leicester City Centre. Alongside a range of adult classes, 1st Legion deliver Muay Thai classes for 7 – 15 year olds, giving children the chance to learn a new skill, develop self-confidence and engage with other young people from different backgrounds.
In 2018, the 1st Legion Gym coaches worked with a number of local schools to deliver the 1st Legion Warrior Programme. The programme entailed a number of students attending regular sessions over a 6 week programme, working on developing not only their physical ability, but also their engagement with other young people and the coaches.
Many of these students were at a stage of very low engagement with classes, some of which did not even want to take part in the PE sessions at school. In the beginning, some were very hesitant to take part, however once trust had been built with the coaches, we were given extremely positive feedback from both teachers and parents about how the training had effected their attitudes towards school as well as one another.
At the end of the programme, the students and their parents were invited to a celebration event, where all the students received a trophy and certificate for their dedication and shared how the programme had helped them individually. For some of the young people, to stand up in front of a group of people and speak was a huge achievement, both for them and for the team, and it was a great way for them to show the progress they had made to their parents and teachers.
