Andy is a specialist SEN primary school teacher, based in north Somerset, who has focused on Special Educational Needs for 20 years. He was a SENCo for 18 years, has been an Advisory Teacher for a Local Authority and a Children’s Social Care Team in North Somerset, specialising in attachment-aware practice. He currently works part-time as The Lead Teacher for Pupil Engagement and SEND with a Multi Academy Trust in North Somerset as well as running his own business. He is an accredited Group Theraplay© trainer, offering the 2-day course to organisations who wish to use Group Theraplay, either as part of an emotional wellbeing, PSHE programme or to support vulnerable children. He developed the use of Group Theraplay initially in his own school, both with whole classes and in a more targeted manner for groups of vulnerable children. He has also trained in DDP to level 2 and in the Incredible Years Parenting and School programmes. Andy is an accredited Theraplay© dyadic practitioner (Foundational) and has used this intervention to support children and parents and in schools with key members of staff. This approach works well as part of a broader ’trauma-informed approach.
He is also a member of the National Attachment Lead network (see attachmentleadnetwork.net for details). He is qualified to deliver the Two-Day Youth Mental Health First Aid Course from Mental Health First Aid England. Andy can be reached at [email protected]
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DClinPsy, Ph.D., MSc, HCPC
Helen is a HCPC registered Consultant Clinical Psychologist who works in independent practice in Derby, England. She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, a MSc in Forensic Psychology, a Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Hypnosis, a Post Graduate Certificate in Systemic Psychotherapy, and a BSc(Econ) in Psychology & Sociology. She is a Certified Theraplay® Practitioner, Supervisor & Trainer Practitioner, Certified DDP Practitioner and EMDR Europe Accredited Adult, Child and Adolescent Practitioner. She has previously worked within secure settings, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and co-managed a specialist multidisciplinary NHS mental health service for looked after and adopted children. Helen currently offers therapeutic interventions to children, parents and families alongside being a long-standing Expert Witness to the Family Courts. She is the co-author of Parenting with Theraplay (2017, Jessica Kingsley Publishers), An Introduction to Autism for Adoptive and Foster Families (2019, Jessica Kingsley Publishers) and Supporting the Mental Health of Looked After and Adopted Children (2018, CoramBAAF). Helen is keen to support and promote the use of Theraplay within the UK because “it works”! She can be contacted via her PA, Lee at: [email protected].
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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.
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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]
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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]
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(PhD, B. Psych (Hons) MAPS)
Alison is a registered psychologist with over 15 years experience working in the child trauma field with health, statutory and non-government organizations. Alison is a Certified Theraplay® Practitioner, Trainer and Supervisor-in-Training. Alison works with children and parent/carers from out of home care, adoption, reunification and child protection contexts. Informed by trauma and attachment theories, she has integrated Theraplay into her practice to provide reparative relational experiences in the treatment of child abuse and neglect. Alison also provides professional supervision and consultation and is a lecturer in post graduate psychology programs at two Sydney universities.
Alison can be contacted on [email protected]
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B App Sci (Occupational Therapy), Grad Dip Ed,
Kate is a registered Mental Health Occupational Therapist and Expressive Therapist. Kate has worked in Mental Health for some 25 years. Kate was inspired after participating the first Theraplay® Trainings in Australia conducted by Phyllis Rubin in 2005. Kate incorporated Theraplay in her work immediately and commenced supervision with Dr. Phyllis Rubin. Since then, Kate has worked tirelessly promoting and hosting Theraplay trainings in Australia. Kate is passionate about supporting others to integrate Theraplay and embrace the road to certification to spread Theraplay in Australia. Kate currently works at Nexus Primary Health in Victoria, Australia as Theraplay coordinator at Nexus. Kate has extensive experience working in child and parent welfare/trauma and increasingly in bushfire affected families. Kate’s work is guided by deep principles of social justice and is committed to reconciliation with our First Nations People.
Kate is a Certified Theraplay Practitioner, Trainer, and Supervisor.
Kate welcomes your contact on [email protected]
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Alexis is a Certified Theraplay® Therapist, and Trainer in private practice in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. She graduated with her Master’s Degree in Counseling from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC and is fluent in American Sign Language. Alexis has a specialization in working with Deaf and hard of hearing children and parents. She is a Registered Play Therapist and Supervisor and teaches Play Therapy courses at Gallaudet and at Bethel University in St Paul, Minnesota. Alexis has a certification in Permanency and Adoption Competency. She is trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR and is currently seeking certification in TraumaPlay. She can be reached at [email protected]
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Kristen is a certified Theraplay® Practitioner, Group Theraplay Practitioner, and Group Theraplay Trainer. She is also a Registered Play Therapist. Kristen earned a Masters in Child Development from the Erikson Institute and a Masters in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago. She has extensive experience working with children and families in a variety of capacities such as Early Childhood Educator, Family Support Specialist, Child Advocacy Worker in the Child Welfare System, and as a Child and Family Clinician in shelters, schools, and clinic settings.
Currently, Kristen is a Child and Family Clinician at Come Play, STL in St. Louis, MO. Kristen works with children of all ages and their caregivers, primarily working from an attachment framework. Kristen is passionate about the use of Theraplay and it has been an integral part of her professional work since the beginning of her career. In addition to Theraplay, Kristen is trained in other attachment modalities including Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and Circle of Security, all of which inform her continued work with children and families.
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is a certified Theraplay Practitioner and Trainer. She earned a Ph.D studying social welfare, child welfare, and child psychotherapy at Ewha and Sookmyung University. She has been interested in phenomenology and interaction, and has published qualitative research (“General transmission in nurturing that have experienced as child counselor-mother” et al.) She is a trainer for Gestalt therapy for children and adolescents, and a professor and dean of student counseling center of Yeonsung University in South Korea.
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