Our Team
Leadership Team
Jo
Co-CEO and Clinical Director
Jo completed her training at The Counselling Foundation and has worked in various roles for the organisation as a counsellor, tutor and clinical manager. Before starting her role as Clinical Director, she was Clinical Lead at St Albans Bereavement Network. She has a private practice and is an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP).
Stephen
Co-CEO
Stephen has many years’ experience working in the accountancy profession, banking, industry and charities, in financial, business planning, research, advisory and other roles.
Karen
Training Director
Karen leads the talented training team at the Foundation. Karen trained at the Foundation so has an understanding of the student experience. She enjoys supporting students through their individual training journey. She has a local private practice where she sees adolescent and adult clients.
Trustees
Tony
Chair
Tony has many years’ experience as a Board member and Committee Chair at a £2billion turnover Big 4 professional services firm. He retired from his position as lead Vice Chairman and Global Relationship Partner for key FTSE100 accounts of KPMG in September 2021. Tony has been a strong advocate for mental health and disability throughout his career having held the role as Board Sponsor for Mental Health and Disability and also member of the government’s Disability Confident Leaders Group.
Mandy
Vice Chair
Mandy has spent over 25 years working in Change and Technology, with nearly 10 years working for global Management Consultancy firms running projects for Financial Services clients. She also has over 15 years experience running large IT Business Delivery functions for Global Banks.
Wendy
Trustee
Wendy is a highly experienced GP with many years working in the NHS, with a specialist interest in women’s health and wellbeing. With her background in wellness coaching and mindfulness teaching, she offers an integrated approach to her clinical and coaching practice. She has great appreciation of the many challenges faced by healthcare professionals on a daily basis; the mounting workload crisis and the soaring rates of burnout, stress, and depression.
Sean
Trustee
Seán was a head of communications at a large corporation and had senior roles in transformation, marketing and PR before becoming a freelance consultant. He also writes screenplays and his first film is due to be shot this year – though he’s less hopeful about his novel being published. He talks openly about his own mental health challenges in the past and is a vigorous champion of people’s right to recovery from addiction.
Richard
Trustee
Richard is a senior adviser with a London based corporate finance boutique, having previously held leadership roles during his 30 years at KPMG, where he created a support network for partners who were parents of children with mental health issues and disabilities. For the past five years Richard has been a governor of a specialist maintained secondary school all of whose students have Education, Health and Care Plans (‘EHCPs’) with Asperger’s syndrome and other needs. Richard’s trustee focus is on strategy, finance and operations.
Jaqueline
Trustee
Jacqueline qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and subsequently worked for various organisations in finance roles. In 2012 she started volunteering at Citizen’s Advice where she is now employed as a Supervisor. Her work with Citizen’s Advice has given her a high level of understanding of the issues and challenges faced by people in the local community and a good knowledge of the organisations who can support them.
Anne
Trustee
Anne is Dean of the School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University. She is a member of the Academic Board whose remit includes oversight of collaborative partnerships with other Higher Education providers in the UK and internationally. She is a qualified architect and member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Anne is also a director of Phelan Architects, a practice she founded in 2009 with her late husband Brendan Phelan. Anne is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects.
Clinical Team
Jo
Clinical Director
Jo completed her training at The Counselling Foundation and has worked in various roles for the organisation as a counsellor, tutor and clinical manager. Before starting her role as Clinical Director, she was Clinical Lead at St Albans Bereavement Network. She has a private practice and is an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Anne
Contracts Clinical Manager
Anne gained her PGDip in Counselling from the University of Hertfordshire and has worked as a counsellor in a variety of settings including working with parents and Herts Health Action for the Homeless. She developed the counselling services in two local secondary schools and was a clinical lead with Road Victims Trust (working with traumatic bereavement). She has worked NHS contracts since 2009, has a private practice, is CfD accredited (Counselling for Depression) and an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Anne now works as a Counsellor and as a Clinical Manager for the organisation, supporting a team of qualified counsellors working on the NHS Talking Therapies contract.
Helena
Contracts Clinical Manager
Helena trained for 5 years at The Counselling Foundation and gained further experience while working at the St Albans Bereavement Network. Helena now works as a Clinical Manager for the organisation, supporting a team of qualified counsellors working on short-term and NHS Talking Therapies contracts. Helena has a private practice and is a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Helen
Senior Clinical Manager & Safeguarding Lead
Helen began her training at The Counselling Foundation before completing her MSc at Birkbeck College, UCL. She has worked in various roles for the organisation including Administration and as the Bedfordshire Hub Manager, before starting her role as Clinical Manager. She also works part-time with children, young people and adults in private practice and for the NHS and is a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Sue
Clinical Manager, Hertford
Sue completed her training with The Counselling Foundation whilst also gaining valuable experience with St Albans Bereavement Network. Post qualifying she worked for one year at HMP Bedford as a Senior Counsellor and built her private practice. She now works as The Clinical Manager for Hertford.
Rebecca
Clinical Manager, Luton & St Albans
Rebecca trained for 5years at The Counselling Foundation and is the Clinical Manager at Luton and St Albans. Rebecca also works as a counsellor for The Counselling Foundation. Rebecca has a private practice and is a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Natasha
Clinical Manager, Stevenage
Natasha completed 5 years of training at The Counselling Foundation. As well as running the Stevenage Centre as Clinical Manager, Natasha has a private practice and also works for the NHS Talking Therapies service as a counsellor.
Training Team
Karen
Training Director
Karen leads the talented and experienced training team at the Foundation. She trained at the Foundation so has an understanding of the student experience. She enjoys supporting students through their individual training journey and has a background in providing professional training. Karen has been a Diploma Programme Tutor at the Foundation for the last four years. She also runs a local private practice where she sees adolescent and adult clients. Karen is an Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Rachel
Programme Lead and Diversity Champion
Susie
Diploma Programme Lead
Susie completed her training at The Counselling Foundation and post qualifying remained within the organisation working as a counsellor, a member of the Assessment team and the CPD team helping to deliver events and webinars to counselling staff and trainees. Susie now works within The Counselling Foundation as the Diploma Programme Coordinator. Susie has a private practice offering Psychotherapy and EMDR to adults. She is an Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and a member of EMDR Association UK.
Louisa
Advanced Diploma Programme Lead
Since completing her training Louisa (she/her) has worked within different organisations delivering AQP work and currently has a private practice seeing adolescents and adults alongside supervisees. Louisa has a background in Education and is passionate about training the next generation of Counsellors. Within The Counselling Foundation, Louisa now works as a Seminar Tutor and is the Programme Coordinator for the Advanced Diploma. She is a Senior Accredited member of the BACP.
Celia
Advanced Clinical Skills Programme Lead
Celia has remained involved with the work of The Counselling Foundation since completing the Advanced Diploma course over ten years ago. This has included seeing clients through the IAPT contract. She has been a Seminar Tutor on the Diploma course for a number of years and has recently been appointed as Programme Lead for the Advanced Clinical Skills course. Celia also sees clients as a private practitioner and is an Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).