
Meet the Team

The Founders

James and Kristy Thomas founded Feel the Magic in 2013, driven by their personal experiences with grief and a mission to make sure no Australian child goes through grief alone.
Both James and Kristy know first-hand how hard it is to heal after a loved one dies- James having experienced the death of both his father and mother, and Kristy the death of her brother.
Working with mental health experts to develop the evidence-based camps, strategies and resources that Feel the Magic delivers, James and Kristy are dedicated to helping grieving kids heal – no matter where they live in Australia, from the city to the most isolated rural towns.
The Board

John Brennan
Director
John brings a wealth of leadership, financial and commercial expertise gained over 30 years in senior financial roles in large multinationals in Australia, USA, Europe and Asia.
He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and Ireland and trained with KPMG. He is also a member of the Institute of Company Directors.
John enjoys the opportunity to give back and has previously trekked to over 5,000 metres in north west India to raise money for Save the Children Fund.
When not using his expertise to help others, John enjoys his passion for sailing, golf, family and friends.

Tahnee Schulz
Director
Tahnee is an experienced speaker, psychologist and life performance coach. She is the director of several organisations including her own joint business. Tahnee specialises in mental health, substance use, trauma, high performance executive coaching and organisational psychology. She has experience working in a wide range of settings including educational, forensic, correctional, community, mining and corporate.
Tahnee has strong business experience and a lengthy management history. Tahnee built a ground up mental health and wellbeing business and developed and implemented world class real-time wellbeing response technology. Tahnee has also managed a 24/7 trauma-response team and numerous associates and contractors responding to critical incidents on a global scale including terrorism and natural disasters.
Tahnee has worked with many large national and international organisations including executive level management at Optus, Cricket Australia, the big 4 banks, Ambulance, Police, Special Operations, AFP and Defence. Her work includes providing clinical governance, risk mitigation, change management, workplace culture, high performance and life coaching, counselling, treatment plans and management support.
Tahnee has worked with various people involved in and affected by incidents such as the tragic passing of cricketer Phillip Hughes and subsequent inquest, the Sydney Lindt Café siege and subsequent inquest, several Royal Commissions and the Nepal Earthquakes Rescue Mission. Tahnee is proficient at clinical assessment, diagnosis, case formulation and treatment, and is well regarded for her skills assessing, treating and reporting on Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD.

Andrew Hedges
Chairman
Andy Hedges is a visionary, innovative business leader who has an ability to anticipate emerging trends and identify business opportunities.
He has a proven ability to engage large and diverse groups of individuals to build high performance teams. Also known as a lateral thinker, he likes to be at the focal point of cultural change in a business.
Described by colleagues as a humanistic leader best captured in this quote that he has framed above his desk;
“I don’t want to be better than other people. I just want to help others be better people.”