Aine is a native of Ireland with a long history of working with children (including her twenty-five nieces and nephews). As part of her training as an Occupational Therapist, Aine originally studied Therapeutic Drama which she put into practice with adults in Mental Health for over ten years in London. Part of the purpose of that work was to help people to increase self-confidence in all aspects of communication, and to use creative drama techniques to explore and express emotions. This is still part of the focus of her work with Children. She was also part of a Community Theatre Group in London for many years, gaining experience on and off stage. Aine grew up in an Oral Tradition – both her parents were Storytellers with a passion for poetry and her immediate and extended family are deeply involved in Theatre in Ireland. Having moved to the Beaches area in 2001 to marry a Floridian, she has since combined her passion for Drama/Theatre and returning to work with children. In 2004 while working as an Associate Teacher, she designed and implemented a hugely successful Summer Camp at Discovery Montessori School. She has been busy teaching classes at the Ponte Vedra Cultural Centre, After-School Programs, Community Venues and Players By The Sea School of the Arts, where she taught two full-to-capacity classes every week for 1st through 3rd graders as well as Summer Drama Camps. She also taught Kindergarteners through 6th Graders for over two two years on behalf of The Cathedral Arts Project, working with disadvantaged children in a Beaches Neighborhood Community Center. In '08 Aine started 'The First Act' and took her unique style of camp on the road for the Summer, running camps at Discovery Montessori School, Beaches Episcopal School and Montessori Tides. This Summer she will be doing the same thing.

Aine is also part of a Beaches Writers Group and has performed readings of her original works throughout the Beaches area and is a published poet. Her love of Storytelling led her to seek and gain funding in 2006 for a Reminiscence Project in which over sixty people, who had lived at the Beaches for over forty years and who were over the age of sixty-five, took part in a series of interviews with her at the Beaches Area Historical Society. The interviews were recorded and videotaped for the Museum Archives, preserving them for future generations.

“I am really fascinated with stories and all the ways there are to tell them. Children are natural storytellers who I believe benefit enormously, and get great satisfaction, from the expression afforded to them through taking part in Creative Drama. You can see it in their eyes.”

- Aine Healy-Richardson