Tessa, Author at TESSA

16th August 20234th February 2025

Gail Clarke

Board Member

CEO/National Secretary, GBNI since 1 February 2016.

My early career was as CEO of a Community Housing Association is North Belfast followed by 8 years as Regional Director for the National Union of Students in Belfast (during which I spent 6 months as Director of Scottish Office implementing change management).  I was Interim Director with GBNI in 2013/14 before returning at the start of 2016.

I hold an MBA and am a Fellow of ILM (by examination). I also, since 1994, sit as an employer representative at Industrial and Fair Employment Tribunals.

I have three children, Aaron 30 who is married with one son Nathan: Victoria 28 and Michael 27.  

I have a fur baby, 3yr old Newfoundland, Mylah.  I love reading, walking and current affairs.

16th August 20234th February 2025

Marian Hall

Board Member

Marian Hall has had a long career in social work in Family & Child Care within the statutory sector. This has largely been in relation to Children at Risk, Children in Care, Fostering and Adoption. She has a particular interest in Adoption and sat for many years as a member of the Adoption Panel within what was then the Eastern Health & Social Services Board.

Marian also has a long standing interest in legal matters as they relate to children. As a result, she decided to add to her Masters degree in Social Work by undertaking a law degree. She then followed that up by studying for her Bar exams in London. She was subsequently called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2007.

Marian continued with her social work career and felt that her legal qualifications added to her capacity to carry out her role and contribute on legal matters as they impacted on children. She has also used that knowledge by contributing for many years as a visiting lecturer to the QUB undergraduate course in Social Work with respect the Human Rights Act 1998.

Marian joined Family Routes as a Board member in 2018 and hopes that her qualifications and experience have assisted in helping to address the range of issues that have faced the agency since then. She looks forward to Family Routes setting up its own Adoption panel in order to try to help with finding appropriate permanent placements for children.

From a Social Work and legal perspective, Marian is also very interested in the other important functions carried out by Family Routes staff including work with individuals with fertility issues, work with children and young people who have been adopted, work with birth parents and work on the provision of historical records to adult adoptees. She looks forward to Family Routes being able to contribute to this work for many years to come. 

16th August 20234th February 2025

Rachel Johnston

Board Member

Rachel joined Family Routes as a Board member in December 2022 bringing knowledge and skills developed throughout her varied career. Rachel is qualified to Masters level, holding a Post Graduate Diploma in Systemic Practice and Family Therapy from Queen’s University. She is an accredited member of the British Association Counselling and Psychotherapy and is Vice Chair of its Healthcare Executive.

Rachel is the principal Director of a social enterprise which provides psychotherapy to GP
patients as well as mentoring and supervision to counsellors who work in the healthcare setting, in various community organisations and private practice. Prior to her counselling career, Rachel was an Area Manager in the Finance Sector for 25 years where she developed skills in leadership, communication, strategic management and people
development.

Rachel has recently retired from her 20 year role as a foster carer where she provided a safe home setting for children in the care system. She therefore has first-hand awareness of the struggles of children who have experienced major traumas as a result of neglect and abuse. This role involved the importance of fostering good relationships with birth families and adoptive parents.

Rachel is fully aligned to the mission, vision and values of Family Routes which upholds all
families, whatever their make up and route into the organisation, to ensure their voices are heard, to know their value, and to be well supported by quality services which will serve to enhance their family experience.

16th August 20234th February 2025

Gillian Williamson

Board Member

After studying in Queens University I qualified as a doctor way back in 1982. I became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1986 and I loved my job.

Once my own children were born I sidestepped in to fertility medicine and worked first in the Regional Fertility Centre and latterly in Belfast Fertility and in Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine.

During my time working in fertility medicine I came to appreciate the immense value of counselling services provided by the team at Family Routes and when, after retiring from practice in 2022 I was asked to join the board, I felt honoured. I hope that I will be able to bring to the table the perspective of the couple on their fertility journey.

16th August 20234th February 2025

Lesley Thompson

TESSA Administrator

Experience:  I have been working at TESSA since 2020.

What do you like to do in your free time?  Going on holiday.

All time favourite TV show?  Seal Team & SWAT.

16th August 20234th February 2025

Emma Graham

Qualifications: BSc, PGCE Education

Experience: 17 years teaching Primary and Post Primary, 4 years Good Relations Project Management for Netball NI

In my free time: Horse riding, playing netball, hanging out with my dogs

Favourite TV shows: Friends & Schitts Creeked.

11th July 20234th February 2025

Keely Mosley

TESSA Therapist

Location
Belfast/Lisburn

I am registered/accredited with:
I am a registered and fully accredited member of BACP
Registered and certified Play Therapist with PTUK

Code of ethics observed:
BACP, PTUK

Qualifications
Dip Counselling Supervision ( Level 5) Cert Child Parent Relationship Therapy (filial therapy) PGDip Practice Based Play Therapy (Level 7) PGCert Integrative Counselling ( Level 4) MA Pastoral Care and Counselling ( Level 7)

Special interest/experience
Filial therapy, Play therapy, Trauma and Attachment

Additional information
I have had the great privilege of offering filial therapy via the TESSA project since it began in 2016. I was delighted to have the opportunity to train in Child Parent Relationship Therapy under Sue Bratton all the way back in 2007 and have always found it to be the highlight of my therapy practice. I have over 28 years’ experience working with children and families in the helping professions, 20+ years supervised counselling/play therapy practice, 16+ years’ experience in filial therapy and 9+ years’ experience as a clinical supervisor.

I have worked in the voluntary sector for many years, first at the Oasis Counselling Service in Dublin as a play therapist/youth counsellor and Children’s Project Coordinator and then at New Life Counselling as a play therapist/youth counsellor and Assistant Community Team Leader with both the OKAY (Only Kids and Youth) and Family teams for 10 years. I have also run a small private practice called Shepherding Lambs Counselling and Training service since 2008 and have worked in a co-op of other private therapists in the community as well as in schools and for a number of agencies and health and social care trusts.

I have worked with individual children and young people as well as groups and schools using play therapy and counselling and also love training other therapists but the reason

I love filial therapy so much is that it combines psychoeducation and practical feedback sessions to teach parents how to do therapeutic play with their own children. It enhances attachment, helps repair developmental trauma, and builds resilience in children and parents. It is especially effective in helping to resolve trauma and attachment issues, even when they are pre-verbal memories that may not be conscious but still held in the body and emotions. And it is all based on parents conducting play sessions with their children for just 30 minutes a week!

The best bit is that because it involves having such a fun, positive experience together, it can significantly reduce the impact of any difficulties you might be experiencing as a family unit. I have used it not only as a therapist, but also as a foster and adoptive parent myself so I have seen the positive results first hand.

I work with:
Children and young people ages 2-18, parents, young adults, therapy students and supervisees

6th July 20234th February 2025

Lizzie Devlin

TESSA Therapist

Location
Belfast/Greater Belfast County Antrim and Down.

I am registered/accredited with:
Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
British Association for Art Therapist (BAAT), Member and approved by/registered with BAAT for Private Practice.

Code of ethics observed
HCPC, BAAT.

Qualifications
MSc Art Psychotherapy with Merit (University of East London /Belfast Health and Social Care Trust) 2007-2010
Post Graduate Diploma in Arts Admin (UCD) 1992-1993
BA Honours in Fine Art (Painting, print-making/Art History (Leeds University) 1984-1988
BSL Stage 1, TEFL,Cert Com Dev 1988-1998
Ongoing CPD : Including Art Therapy and Treatment of Attachment Trauma, Level 2 Children Accelerated Trauma treatment and Intercultural Competency.

Special interest/experience
Art Therapy

Additional information
I am a HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) registered Art Psychotherapist experienced in working with children, young people and adults on a one to one and group basis.(MSc Art Psychotherapy, Centre for Psychotherapy Belfast and University of East London, 2011 ). I have a background in Community Arts and my approach in Art Psychotherapy is Psychodynamic and Integrated.

Using art, play and creative expression is a natural language for children enabling them to communicate difficult and painful feelings. Art Therapy can be particularly beneficial for children who have experienced early/developmental trauma and attachment difficulties. Art Therapy communicates when words simply cannot.

My experience of working with children includes: Looked After children, Adoption, Autism, Asperger Syndrome, ADHD and children impacted by Meningitis.

Specialist areas of clinical practice include early developmental trauma, Troubles related psychological and trans-generational trauma and PTSD.

I work with children and their Care-givers/Parents individually and jointly and with groups in many different settings both in schools and in the community.

Specialist training in trauma and attachment includes:

ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Train the Trainer Course (ACES Level 1 and 2) with the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland.

Dyadic Art Therapy training with the British Association of Art Therapists , a joint art therapy approach involving children and their Caregivers/Parents which offers creative and playful activities, which can facilitate communication, discussion and benefit the relationship.

Children’s Accelerated Trauma Technique, Level 2, a child-centred technique for treating traumatic experiences and PTSD developed in partnership with children and based on children’s rights principles.

CPCAB Level 6 Creative Supervision Across the Ages.

I see: Children, adults and groups

6th July 20234th February 2025

Sharon Coulter

TESSA Therapist

Location
Ballymena and 25 mile radius

I am accredited and regulated by the following bodies and adhere to their code of ethics:
Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC);
Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) an independent UK-wide health regulator;
I am a member of the EMDR All-Ireland Association.
I am a member of the British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth);

Qualifications
2020 – 2023 Training in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and the Flash Technique (FT) (an adjunct of EMDR)
2019 Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Level 1
2007 MA Arts Psychotherapy (Specialising in Dramatherapy)
2001 MA Social Work
1995 BA (Hons) Humanities

Special interest
I am particularly interested in somatic psychotherapy (Somatic therapy operates on the premise that what happens to you in your life is stored not only in your mind but also in your body). My clinical experience, my training in EMDR, sensorimotor psychotherapy and creative methodologies embody my holistic approach when helping to improve the well-being of adults, children, young people and their parents/carers.
Both EMDR, Creative Arts and Dramatherapy are listed as interventions by Beacon House – Therapeutic Services & Trauma Team. They created the “Bottom Up” Approach to address neurodevelopmental trauma and it is underpinned by the Neuro Sequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), developed by Dr Bruce Perry.
The “Bottom Up” Approach is designed to recover and repair each part of a child’s brain in a specific, phased and effective order.

Experience:
I am a therapeutic social worker, arts psychotherapist, arts facilitator and community artist. I have clinical experience in the assessment of forensic risk, mental health, parenting and child protection. I have particular expertise in the area of neuro-diversity; I provide therapeutic intervention to children on an individual and group basis and provide advice and support to parents.

As a therapeutic social worker, I have gained wide-ranging knowledge and skills from working in various statutory agencies and most recently as a child and adolescent mental health practitioner. I understand the treatment of medical and mental health diagnoses with medicine and have the experience of using behavioural and creative methodologies in conjunction with and without medicine to improve the well-being of children and adolescents. This knowledge and experience combined with my arts psychotherapy training, EMDR and FT training gives me a unique approach in my private practice.
I have worked in many diverse settings including the Education Authority NI, Youth Justice NI, NHS and a range of community non- statutory organisations.

In the Education Authority I have worked within the Happy Healthy Minds Project for Primary Schools since 2021, providing creative expressive workshops for groups of children and play based therapy for individual children.

Within the NHS I have gained extensive knowledge and skills from working as a senior practitioner in a multi-disciplinary Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) environment.

As an arts facilitator I work with groups of older people for Arts Care which is a regional arts, health and well-being organisation and charity based in NI. I provide arts facilitation for children and adults with learning disability as well as small groups of young people suffering from anxiety, with and without diagnoses of ADHD and ASD. I believe arts-based group processes, promote positivity and resilience.
I work under Creative Therapy NI.

6th July 20234th February 2025

Neil Foster

TESSA Therapist

Location
Belfast

I am registered/accredited with:
HCPC, Registered member
NISCC, Registered member

Code of ethics observed
BACP Ethical Framework
NISCC Standards of Conduct & Practice

Qualifications
BA (hons) [Royal Conservatoire of Scotland]
MMT [City University, Nordoff Robbins, London]

Additional information
Neil Foster is an HCPC registered Music Therapist currently working with children, young people and adults in the County Down and Belfast area.

Having trained as a classical musician, Neil worked as a session musician, community musician and music educator for a number of years before training as a Music Therapist, gradating with a Masters in Music therapy (MMT) from the Nordoff-Robbins centre (London) in 2006.

Since then he has worked across a range of social care and educational settings as well as in private practice, publishing research on new music therapy approaches within the fields of trauma and life threatening illness, and pioneering new music therapy services for organisations such as Mencap, the National Autistic Society, Combat Stress and the Royal Marsden NHS Trust.

Neil moved back to Northern Ireland from London in 2015 and has since worked locally for Lifeline, Contact NI and Victim Support NI, offering crisis support through creative arts and music therapy for young people and their families, particularly those affected by domestic violence, early abuse and neglect. Through this work, Neil gained several years experience of supporting looked after and adopted children through complex family litigation, working closely with social services and the family court system.

Neil has supported adopted children and families with complex needs in a range of settings since qualifying in 2006. His main areas of specialism are trauma and additional learning needs, and he employs a creative, play based and child centred approach.

Contact information: please contact TESSA.