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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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].
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“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.”
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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].
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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]
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MICP; MIFPP; CTTTS; Reg Pract APPI; Ap Sup ICP/PTI
is a Psychotherapist and Attachment specialist specialising in child and adolescent Psychotherapy with over 20 years’ experience working with children and families. She is the author of 4 best-selling books 15-Minute Parenting (0-7 years; 8-12 years and Teenage years) and Why We Play. She is a Doctoral Candidate with Middlesex University. Joanna is an experienced trainer and supervisor as well as a recognised speaker and media contributor in her field of work. She hosts her own podcast, 15-Minute Parenting, is the weekly parenting consultant on Newstalk FM in Ireland and writes a parenting column for the Irish Examiner newspaper.
She is a Theraplay Practitioner, trainer and supervisor and is the Country lead for Theraplay in Ireland. Joanna has seen the benefit of early intervention and loves working with children and teens where she strongly believes small changes can make a big difference in young lives. Her practice and philosophy are based on the premise of less tears and more laughter. Joanna believes that play is a state of mind and a way of being and that we should all be in pursuit of a more playful way of life.
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MA, HCPC Dramatherapist, Theraplay practitioner, supervisor and trainer, DDP, SEP
is a State Registered Dramatherapist, a Certified Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapist, a Theraplay Practitioner, Supervisor and Trainer as well as a Somatic Experience Practitioner. Jay is a CEO and Registered Manager of Family Futures CIC, a ‘not for profit’ Voluntary Adoption Agency and Independent Fostering Agency based in London UK. Family Futures specializes in the assessment and treatment of traumatized children placed in foster families, adoptive families or kinship care. Family Futures offers an assessment and treatment program entitled Neuro Physiological Psychotherapy, which integrates Theraplay, DDP and Somatic Experience as part of the assessment and treatment approach. Jay still carries out some direct work with families and children. Jay has been working with traumatized children since qualifying as a Dramatherapist in 1989, and passionately believes in the use of arts, play and body-based approaches in helping traumatized children and their families heal. She has contributed to articles and books over the years and continues to consult and train around the UK on behalf of Family Futures. Jay is a mother of two children and two step-children as well as a proud grandmother. She can be contacted on [email protected].
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Dramatherapist, Counsellor, certified Theraplay Practitioner, Supervisor and Trainer, Transpersonal and Integrative Supervisor Trainee: working for Northamptonshire County Council as their Therapy Services team manager. Jo has a wealth of experience in a variety of settings, working for 20 years in Adult Mental Health before moving to Children’s services in 2003.
As Therapy Manager she has firmly established Theraplay services in Northamptonshire, especially in a number of Primary Schools settings. Her continuing initiative is to spread the Theraplay knowledge and skill base. She leads numerous learning events and conferences, has devised team building events and supervised the professional development of teams and colleagues. Jo is held in high regard for her enthusiastic style and has been the catalyst for many service departments for Northamptonshire. She supports local professionals and organisations in developing their Theraplay skills base and assists their desire to develop Theraplay as a leading edge practice initiative.
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is a BACP Senior Accredited Counsellor and Certified Theraplay® Practitioner, Trainer and Supervisor. In the past she worked in a highly specialised CAMHS team for Looked After and Adopted children as well as working in Education settings. Now she has a private practice providing psychotherapy and Theraplay to children whose early experiences of attachments have been disrupted as well as consultation, supervision and training to other professionals in this field. She also provides generic schools counselling. She is a Teaching Associate at University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education teaching Psychotherapeutic Counselling for Children and Adolescents up to MEd level. She is a contribution author to McLaughlin & Holliday (2014) Therapy with Children and Young People and to two of the modules in the MindEd programme (https://www.minded.org.uk) and co author of Fostering Good Relationships (Richardson & Peacock 2016). Currently she is also studying for an EdD at Cambridge researching into the experience of Theraplay. Contact details: [email protected]
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is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Music Therapist. She is also a Certified Theraplay® Practitioner and accredited in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy®. Vivien has been working as a Clinical Psychologist within the NHS in the UK for over twenty years specialising in therapeutic work with families and in the area of fostering and adoption. She has a longstanding interest in trauma and has worked in various roles in the field, in therapeutic communities with adolescents and leading national research into the impact of the Asian tsunami.
Alongside part time NHS work, Vivien is Clinical Director of The Family Place www.thefamilyplace.co.uk, an independent organisation providing flexible therapeutic interventions for families. Her main area of interest is in children with severe difficulties in forming relationships, arising from histories of abuse, neglect and trauma. Her clinical approach centrally includes foster carers and adopters in interventions and combines approaches to address complex difficulties. Vivien has many years experience delivering training. She has contributed to publications in the area of self-harm and the impact of trauma. Vivien can be contacted at [email protected]
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