Our Team

Our professional team are experts in management, administration, counselling, therapy, customer service, mindfulness training, health and fitness, hospitality, agriculture, and more. Just as importantly, they’re real people with real life experiences, who bring this empathy and understanding to their work at New Life. They’ve dedicated their lives to helping others, meaning you’ll feel skillfully supported every step of the way.

Julien Gryp

Managing Director

Julien has had more than a decade of experience leading a successful wellness and recovery centre at the New Life Foundation in Thailand. Leading a team of more than 35 staff, he headed all areas of operations...

Karin Bleecker

Program Director

Karin brings a lifetime of experience as a psychologist to her role as Program Director of New Life Portugal. She specialises in leading, supervising and mentoring clinical teams, and in program design and implementation...

Liz Slingby

Program Manager

Liz approaches her work as she does her life, as a lifelong learner. She is always learning new modalities, doing a new practice, or taking a new course. Her energy for life comes from curiosity, and fascination with continuous growth...

Luís Cunhal

Operations Manager

Luís is the Operations Manager at New Life Portugal. Born and raised in Seia, he is passionate about his hometown and the surrounding mountains. Luís graduated from the fields of Sports Science, Physical Education, Personal Training, and Hotel Management...

Simone Da Costa

Counsellor

Simone takes a relational, somatic, and mindful approach to her counselling work at New Life Portugal. She focuses primarily on the areas of relational wounding, low self-worth, core beliefs, career/life direction...

Corina Erismann

Counsellor

Corina has been a clinical psychologist for more than twenty years. She is also a mindfulness teacher and trainer. She has extensive experience with supporting clients who are struggling with burnout...

James Harris

Life Coach

In his role as life coach at New Life Portugal, James loves seeing the people he works with arrive at life-changing insights and realisations...

Jules De Vitto

Life Coach and Counsellor

Jules offers a transpersonal, holistic, and integrative approach to coaching and counselling which draws on mindfulness and compassion-focused approaches....

Silver Kim-Videira

Yoga Therapist/Teacher and Retreat Coordinator

Silver brings over twenty years of experience teaching yoga to her role as Yoga Therapist at New Life. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management and Marketing in 2000...

Chris Luard

Consultant Mindfulness Teacher

Chris has been studying and practising meditation for over thirty years. He has extensive training in a wide range of classical traditions, including Zen, Mahamudra...

Teresa Ranieri

Mindfulness teacher

Teresa has been a meditation practitioner since 1988. She has extensive training and experience in mindfulness, and holds a Master’s degree in Teaching Mindfulness-Based Interventions...

Nicola Symons

Wellness Professional

Nicola brings extensive experience in mindfulness, meditation, yoga, art therapy, pilates, reiki, sound bowl therapy, dance therapy, and breathwork to her role as New Life Portugal’s Wellness Professional...

Scott Thomson

Website Developer & Digital Marketing Analyst

Scott is our Website Developer & Digital Marketing Analyst. His areas of expertise are website development, SEA, SEO, G Suite Admin and IT support...

Ana Luis

Admissions Manager

In her position as New Life Portugal’s Admissions Manager, Ana draws on an extensive background in communications, customer support, service design, and marketing.....

Maria Inês Lourenço

Finance Officer

Maria is the Finance Officer at New Life Portugal. Maria has a background in accounting and taxation and her responsibilities include daily accounting, producing financial reports, and supporting the financial sustainability of the centre...

Cristiano Almeida

Guest Services Officer

Cristiano is one of New Life Portugal's Guest Services Officers. Born in Seia and passionate about the Serra da Estrela, his goal has always been to stay in the area and help in its development...

Sue Kioridou

Massage Therapist

Sue was born in Melbourne, Australia to Greek parents. In search of her passion and purpose in life, she moved to the United Kingdom, where she discovered a love for complementary therapies...

Sebastien Parein

Facilities Officer

Sebastien is the Facilities Officer at New Life Portugal. He graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration and has worked for more than twenty years in the ...

Joana Melo

Massage Therapist

Joana specialises in traditional Chinese medicine. Trained at the Portuguese Institute of Naturology in Coimbra, she has extensive experience in acupuncture, auriculotherapy and much more...

Ana Filipa Figueiras

Farmer

It brings Ana great joy to care for the gardens and the farm at New Life Portugal. Raised in the Alentejo region of Portugal, she graduated with a degree in Agronomy from...

Pedro Miguel Faustino

Senior Farmer

Pedro found New Life Portugal during his search for a natural place rich in biodiversity and abundant with water resources. Living in the Serra da Estrela has always been one of his goals....

Rui Cerveira

Executive Chef

Chef Rui has over two decades of experience as a specialist in the food and hospitality industry. He has extensive training in hotel management and has taught at the Escola...

Luís Cordeiro

Senior Cook

Luís was born and raised in a traditional Portuguese family in Trás-os-Montes, in the heart of northeastern Portugal. He grew up surrounded by local produce and elaborate, seasonal dishes...

César Simões

Cook

Some of César’s favourite childhood memories are of helping his grandmother in the kitchen. She was an excellent cook, and these joyful times awakened his love for gastronomy...

Ana Carvalho

Cook

Ana was born and raised in Barcelos, in the north of Portugal, and has a great love for her city of birth. Yet, she always knew that her destiny lay elsewhere...

Alex Delfont

Photos, video & music

Alex has spent his whole life being creative, his curiosity leading him down many weird and wonderful paths, which you can explore on his website. His main passions are music and film...

Selena Støback

Projects and Organisational Development Lead

Selena has a wealth of experience supporting organisations to deliver more effectively on their mission. Whether it be driving policy change in the UK or...

careers at New Life Portugal

New Life Communities are therapeutic and wellbeing centres in international locations, offering support for recovery, health, and wellbeing. For over 10 years we have been providing gently structured, high quality compassionate care and programming to support our guests and staff on their paths to sustainable wellbeing. We apply our unique model of integrative care, retreat settings and engaged community living to transform people’s lives.

We welcome team members who want to join an inclusive community where cultural humility is encouraged and practiced, resulting in everyone feeling welcomed, and where ‘meaningful belonging’ can be experienced.

Our guests and staff choose us because they long to step out of the typical pace, pressures and complexities of life; to live, work and grow in an environment that encourages stillness and mindfulness, encouraging the wisdom we all already possess to flourish.

Benefits of working at New Life Portugal:

– Competitive terms of employment in accordance with Portuguese employment laws
– Annual team outings and employee days
– Development opportunities
– Clinical supervision for clinical staff and process groups for all staff
– Supervision and work guidance
– Intervision and team development
– Staff Wellbeing Plans
– Free use of all state of the art facilities including gym, sauna and swimming pool
– Access to community activities, including community meetings, hiking, daily yoga and meditation
– Free access to retreats and special events

Read more about our approach to caring for our staff HERE

Please send all applications to [email protected]

Care Manager

Are you an experienced psychotherapist with supervisory experience who loves working in a holistic framework, with an international staff ? Do you enjoy rural beauty and retreat-like settings? If so, this may be the right position for you.

More Info