Alice (Clinical Supervisor)

 

Alice is a BACP accredited counsellor with over 25 years of full-time counselling work experience. Beginning in 1997.

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Having initially Trained in Psychodynamic Therapy at the University of Birmingham and then a further 4 years in Warwick University in Person Centred Therapy, a Post Graduate Diploma. She then merged her previous training as a Residential Social Worker with Looked after Children, which covered Family Systemic systems.

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 Alice joined a Community Therapy service who had contracts with NHS Mental Health teams, Schools, Family support services, Prisons. Undertaking wide reaching Mental Health training.  extensive training in Trauma focussed Therapy, Gestalt and CBT. Mainly with adults and families. The organisation also worked with private referrals.

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For 2 years she then worked with the NSPCC and ChildLine as a Supervisor and Trainer of staff and counsellors working with Children and Families.

 

Alice qualified as a supervisor via the University of Plymouth.

 

In 2005 Alice became Clinical Lead at a large developing Generic Counselling and Psychotherapy service in Central Birmingham, once again working with a wide range of people, with diverse life experiences, from Homelessness, social economic issues from poverty to affluence, social cultural, religious, educational, gender, sexual orientation, relationships, sexual, physical, emotional abuse, Mental Health difficulties, Physical, Learning disabilities all with their own diversity and many more.

 

While in this post Alice helped to shape Mental Health services in Birmingham by sitting on a Primary Care Board for several years and influencing the need and value of Professional independent counselling services who could work more in depth for longer with deep rooted issues, bringing about more appropriate sustainable outcomes.

 

After 9 years Alice moved to Sheffield and once again became clinical lead with a large generic counselling service based in the community. While always holding a case load and supervising counsellors.

 

For the last 7 years Alice has been a supervisor with a specialist Counselling service working with Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the North of England.

 

Alice is passionate about recognising an individual within their own world view and life experience, ensuring that Therapists are supported to be alongside people as they explore their individual journey through Trauma, getting insight into to their reactions, vulnerabilities, ways of coping, through to gaining Hope. Being held and enabled to find sustainable effective ways forward and allowing the development of self-respect, self-confidence, self-belief. To rebuild and nurture or where there has been no nurturing enable an insight into a construct of nurturing self, gaining wider ongoing support by seeking out sources that will be enduring while a person navigates new unfamiliar, yet helpful ways of being.

 

Alice has delivered training to Universities, NHS and other Health professionals, Teachers, Community Groups and Industry on -

 

Diversity, inviting insight, recognising prejudice, discrimination. Such a very broad vast unending topic, affecting so many, which can without insight, humility, respect, commitment to awareness and developing care, do so much harm, and more so to already vulnerable people.

 

Alice is a survivor herself and after effective therapy gained confidence and independence, self-belief and courage, beginning Professional training in her  30’s where she previously had thought there would be no way.

 

A message therefore is - stick with Therapy, work at it through the pain, fear, despair, it CAN change your despair, it can repair, and even build where there have been no foundations giving hope, courage - you can flourish.

 

I am humbled to be joining the Team at Aurora and passionate about supporting people to “Become who they were intended to BE”

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