BA (Hons), PGCE, MA (Play Therapy)
Julie McCann is a BAPT Play Therapist and Certified Theraplay® Practitioner based in south London where she works for the UK charity TACT and is attached to their London adoption team. The focus of her work is a BBC Children In Need funded project called ‘The Power of Play’ which supports adoptive families in the early stages of placement with Theraplay-based sessions and offers life story play therapy and long-term Theraplay interventions for children who have been with their adopters for some time. She also supervises therapy and counselling students from Roehampton University master’s programmes. Julie has been working closely with The Theraplay® Institute in the US to re-write the practicum documents for UK settings and is a member of the UK Theraplay Leadership Group. She uses her play therapy skills in private practice and in local community groups, working with children and their families to build stronger attachments and process feelings around trauma and loss associated with deprivation, immigration status, and temporary housing.
Back to Our Supervisors
BSc (Hons), MSW, CQSW, PGDip (Play therapy)
Louise is a qualified social worker and play therapist. She is a certified Theraplay® Practitioner, Trainer-in-Training, and Supervisor in-Training. Louise has specialized in therapeutic work with children and families impacted by abuse and trauma and disrupted attachment relationships. She worked for NSPCC for over 16 years.
For the past 7 years she has worked within the field of adoption and adoption support as a practitioner and manager. She has experience providing Theraplay interventions with adoptive families from early placement onwards. She has taken a lead role in developing and promoting Theraplay within the agencies she has worked with and has supported and mentored staff to implement Theraplay techniques in their work. She has been involved in Theraplay Level 1 training as an assistant and Trainer-in-Training.
Louise now works freelance as a play therapist and Theraplay Practitioner and is keen to support students to develop skills in Theraplay and achieve their foundational level. Louise is based in East Yorkshire and can be contacted at [email protected]
Back to Our Supervisors
Registered Social worker; State Registered Dramatherapist,
Sarah is based in Merseyside. She has 10 years of experience as a local authority Child Care Social Worker, including working in a fostering and adoption team, followed by 16 years of experience within tier 3 CAMHS, which has included a specialist role addressing the mental health needs of children who are fostered, adopted, and in residential care. She has extensive experience with issues relating to attachment and trauma, and has developed creative ways to engage children, young people, and their families.
Sarah has been running a Theraplay® clinic within CAMHS since certification in 2013 which she has found to be highly effective in promoting healthy functioning. Sarah is impressed by the versatility of Theraplay and its ability to overcome a child’s resistance. Using a combination of skills where necessary, Sarah is able to adapt interventions according to the child’s developmental progress.
Sarah welcomes the opportunity to use the benefits of her experience to guide others in the use of Theraplay, recognizing the positive, enduring impact that this intervention has upon children and their caregivers.
Sarah can be reached at [email protected]
Back to Our Supervisors
Dr. Amelia Fay Taylor, BSc Hons, PGCE, DAppEdPsy, HCPC Reg. CPsychol.
Amelia is a certified Theraplay® Practitioner and Chartered HCPC Registered Educational Psychologist. She works within a Local Authority Educational Psychology Service in the North East of England and also independently provides assessment and therapeutic work through LifeCycles Psychology. Amelia specializes in work with children in care and post adoption where there is a history of trauma and attachment difficulties. Amelia also integrates Theraplay with mountain biking in her LifeCycles Programme. Amelia is also trained in Video Interaction Guidance, DDP, and to teach Mindfulness with children. She is passionate about developing Theraplay practice in her area to bring the highest quality evidence based interventions to families in need. Amelia is currently a Theraplay Supervisor-in-Training. Amelia can be contacted at [email protected]
Back to Our Supervisors
Carla has have been a qualified social worker for over 7 years and has spent this time specializing in the adoption field. Carla is a certified Theraplay® practitioner, DDP Level 1 trained, has Assisted on Theraplay Training, and is now in the Theraplay Supervisor practicum.
Carla has extensive experience and skills in providing therapeutic interventions, such as Theraplay, life story work, and providing attachment training. From this she has gained specialist knowledge of attachment and developmental trauma.
Carla has worked closely with professionals such as teachers, foster cares, and social workers. Within this work she has developed bespoke packages of support including classroom observations, group work, consultations, and specialist training. Carla can be reached by email at [email protected],
Back to Our Supervisors
Dr Joanna Blundell Jones, DClinPsy, is a HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist, a Certified Theraplay® Therapist and Theraplay Supervisor-in-Training and Trainer-in-Training. Currently she primarily works with families where children, teenagers, and young adults (0-25) have been diagnosed with cancer or non-malignant hematological conditions, both during and after treatment. Joanna has also worked within a community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). These job roles mean she has used Theraplay with birth families as well as fostered and adopted children. Her therapeutic work generally involves Theraplay, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, mindfulness, solution-focused, Cognitive Analytic Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approaches. She has attended Level 1 Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy training with Dan Hughes, and EMDR training with Michael Patterson, and integrates elements of these into her work as appropriate. She sees Theraplay as integral in her workplace for strengthening parent-child relationships in the context of physical health conditions and medical trauma, as parents often have to “become” doctors and nurses to their child. Joanna resides in Sheffield, UK, where she works for the NHS. Joanna can be reached at [email protected]
Back to Our Supervisors
Sue has over 40 years of experience working with children and families in diverse settings and roles including as a foster carer for fifteen years. Sue has Qualifications in residential work, youth work, field social work, and practice teaching. She is Certified Theraplay® Practitioner having used Theraplay techniques in her daily practice since she received Level One Theraplay training 2003. Sue has received training in Best Evidence, Narrative Therapy, and DDP. She is also a certified trainer in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for Family Care Providers. Sue recently retired after 15 years in a senior post from Wirral’s CAMHS Partnership Team, a specialist team which provides a mental health assessments and treatment plans to Children Looked After, Adopted, and Children on a Child Protection Plan. Sue is now working as an independent social worker and Theraplay Practitioner. She specializes in working with children who have experienced abuse, trauma and placement disruption. She is particularly interested in supporting children in transition, with the aim of enabling them gain stability while experiencing positive connections with their parents/carers. Sue at this present time is a Theraplay Supervisor-in-Training. You can contact Sue at [email protected].
Back to Our Supervisors
“Carly studied social science and attachment since 1998. Her main field of experience is working within children in care services and adoption. From 1998 she studied psychology, counselling and management diplomas as part of the Welfare diploma. Initially qualifying as a Welfare Officer in 1999, she qualified as social worker in 2002. arly has experience of undertaking private fostering within own family. Carly qualified in yoga for children in 2010. 2009- 2012: 3 years study in Specialist post graduate Degree in Children and Families to include, child development studies, psychology, neuroscience, Tavistock Child Observation skills training, practice teaching, Assessment Skills to include assessing environmental factors, child development and parenting capacity. 2013 Specialising in therapeutic social Worker in post adoption: working with therapists, psychologists and occupational Therapists as part of therapeutic life story work, sensory integration interventions, dyadic working. Carly is a certified consultant, supervisor & practitioner in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy. Undertaking level one DDP in 2013 and level 2 2015. Carly is a Fully Certified Theraplay® Practitioner. 2017 completed module one Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY). Currently undertaking specialist Trauma studies Certification program in Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga Therapist (TCTSY) to become a trauma focused Yoga therapist to use as a adjunctive therapy. 2022 qualified in creative arts diploma. Currently studying a Masters at Roehampton university in Counselling & Psychotherapy.”
Back to Our Supervisors
Emily is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist, Certified Theraplay® Practitioner and is now completing the Supervisor’s and Trainer’s Practicum. Emily is also accredited in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy® and is engaged in the DDP consultant’s practicum. Emily is the clinical lead for a multi-agency team specializing in providing attachment focused therapeutic intervention for children who are looked after and adopted and their parents/carers and professional networks. Emily also works part time for The Family Place. Through this work Emily has been privileged to work with many fostering, adoptive and residential families who have taught her so much about the challenges of living with the impact of trauma. Emily is passionate about helping children develop healthy, loving attachment relationships. She was excited when she began using Theraplay and experienced how quickly this can engage both children and their parents/carers and powerfully strengthen their attachment bond. Prior to working with children and families, Emily pursued her interest in trauma working with adults who were experiencing psychosis and addiction. You can contact her [email protected].
Back to Our Supervisors
BA, BA (hons), BEd (hons), MEd
Karen is a Specialist Support Teacher, an Educational Psychologist, and a Psychotherapist. She works in private practice. She has trained in Psychodynamic Play Therapy and Family Therapy. She is a certified Theraplay® Practitioner and is in the process of completing the Supervisor’s Theraplay Practicum. She is currently completing her Level II Sensorimotor Psychotherapy training and has attended Level I of the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Training. She has worked in the private sector as well as with deprived communities both in England and in South Africa. She specialises with working with trauma and attachment difficulties and likes to apply the principles of Theraplay within general school settings to support children’s development. Karen can be reached at [email protected]
Back to Our Supervisors
