About this event
Education should be more than the pursuit of academic success—it should nurture well-rounded, emotionally resilient individuals. Schools should serve as environments where every young person is supported to develop self-belief, confidence, and pride. Yet, for many students today, the reality is far from this ideal. Exclusionary policies, punitive cultures, and a lack of focus on emotional well-being leave too many children and young people alienated, anxious, or struggling to cope. It is time to reimagine our schools as spaces that prioritize mental health, emotional and interpersonal growth, and inclusivity.
The Therapy and Social Change (TaSC) Network is initiating a campaign to call on the UK government to ensure that, by the time young people leave secondary school, they are equipped with the emotional and interpersonal skills to navigate adulthood. We are advocating for an education system that is compassionate, equitable, and designed to meet the diverse needs of all students.
A Call for Emotionally Healthy and Nurturing Schools in the UK
This event draws together leaders in the mental health professions field, along with young people, educators, and parents, to address these questions:
- What have mental health professionals and their organisations been doing, to date, to support emotional health and wellbeing in schools?
- What ‘asks’ do we have of policy-makers and government to make schools a place of emotional health and wellbeing?
- How can mental health professionals work more closely and effectively together to make emotionally nurturing schools a reality?
- What should education, most fundamentally, be about?
ZOOM
This workshop will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.
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At Onlinevents, we and the presenters we collaborate with are committed to working in a way that aligns with the ethical codes and frameworks of our respective professional organisations. We expect all colleagues attending our events to uphold the ethical principles of their professional membership.
If you are not a member of a professional organisation, we ask that you participate in a way that is both authentic and respectful, fostering a space of mutual learning and professional engagement.
By registering for this event, you agree to be present and interact in a manner that reflects these principles.
PRESENTERS:
Prof Lynne Gabriel
Lynne Gabriel is an award-winning Professor of Counselling & Mental Health, based at York St John University, where she is founder-director of the University’s Communities Centre. Lynne is passionate about ethics and has written two textbooks on ethics in counselling and psychotherapy. Lynne also works as an ethics consultant. Lynne is active in the mental health feld and has a lead partnership role in the City of York’s community mental health transformation. In 2023, Lynne was appointed as BACP President.
Dr Roman Raczka
President-elect of the British Psychological Society due to take up Presidency in July 2024. Has been leading on the BPS campaign urging the government to restore investment in mental health support for NHS and Social care staff. Currently working on Psychology matters asking all political parties develop and deliver policies using a psychological approach. Previously Chair of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology.Consultant Lead Clinical Psychologist and Head of Clinical Psychology in Central London Community (CLCH) NHS Trust. Clinical expertise working in services for adults with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorders and forensic services.
Jo Holmes
Jo Holmes is the Children, Young People and Families Lead based within the Policy Team at BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). Jo’s background was initially youth work, leading youth participation health-based programmes, she later retrained as a person-centred counsellor, developing a counselling service in a secondary school. Jo has worked with children and young people spanning over 30 years in a range of local authority, school, third sector and health settings. Jo now campaigns for free at the point-of-access counselling for children, young people and young adults (up to the age of 25) as well as paid work for the counselling profession. Jo is also the safeguarding lead for BACP.
Jyles Robillard-Day
Jyles is the CEO of the NCPS, and is particularly passionate about the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people. He is a vocal advocate for placing counselling & psychotherapy at the heart of the wider mental health landscape, and ensuring that practitioners are recognised for the work that they do. While not a practitioner himself, Jyles has spent a significant amount of time on the periphery of the profession, and has long supported practitioners in their work, championing the need for early intervention and relational support in schools and their wider communities.
Jocelyne Quennell
Jocelyne Quennell has worked in the field of the arts therapies, psychotherapy and counselling since the early 1990’s with all ages and stages of life. She has contributed continuously to the development of standards of education, training and practice in the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), where she was made a Fellow.
She is former Principal of the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education (IATE) and was responsible for a decade for the MA in Integrative Arts Psychotherapy. She has been a leader in developing inclusive therapeutic and wellbeing services in education.
Jocelyne is Director of the Wellbeing Faculty at IATE, where she has pioneered courses in humanistic and integrative therapeutic counselling, key-working, mentoring, creative group and community wellbeing which are validated by the University of East London.
She is committed to enhancing quality and increasing access to creative and relational therapeutic approaches. This includes providing education and training for a wider range of representative role models for children and young people. She is currently working with Oasis Nurture which is implementing therapeutic approaches in schools.
Emma Garavini
Emma Garavini is a Senior Youth Involvement Officer at The McPin Foundation. At McPin, we believe mental health research is done and made best when people with lived experience of mental health issues and involved in the research itself to advise, guide and shape the research.
Emma is based in the Young People’s Team and works on several projects ensuring the voices of young people (aged 13-28) with lived experience of mental health issues are meaningfully involved in research. Her projects and work with young people cover the topics of: self-harm/suicidality, social media usage and influencers, young people who use and attend therapy/counselling and more. She also works on engagement with schools and youth organisations to involve young people with all experiences and demographics in mental health research.
Jummy Otaiku
Jummy has lived experience of mental health problems and navigating the UK education system. This led to Jummy developing a passion to support others that have experienced mental health problems which I later joined as a member of the McPin’s Young People’s Advisory group which I have used my lived experience to influence and shape research projects to be reflective of the young people’s needs. Jummy’s lived experience encouraged and motivated her to pursue a career within mental health and to study at university where she completed a BSc Psychology Degree in 2021 and secured a 2:1.
Since Jummy’s Psychology degree she has worked in mental services for three years before an unplanned career break. Jummy started her career as a Senior Community Engagement Practitioner for a charity where she supported people to access community resources such as activities and groups through signposting or attending groups together.
Jummy then attempted to train as a Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP) for a year where she carried out initial assessments and coached clients in Guided Self Help (GSH), which is brief Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that is aimed to enable clients to become their own therapist through practising tools and techniques from session materials.
Since being unable to complete the training due to personal and other reasons. During Jummy’s employment break she has pursued interests and hobbies including baking and travelling and other activities and has been working on personal and career development. Jummy also hopes to start soon as a Support Worker in the NHS.
EVENT CHAIRS:
Claudia Turbet-Delof
Claudia has passionately led campaigns for mental health to be our human right, most recently in her role as elected Councillor and former Mental Health Champion for the London Borough of Hackney she achieved the adoption of the Mental Health a Human Right for All motion making it the very first local authority in the country and probably the world to adopt a UN High Commissioner’s recommendation on mental health and human rights. In her role as former youth worker in East London, she worked with young people at risk of school exclusion. Claudia has seen first hand the life long impact inhumane school behaviour policies including school exclusions have on children and young people’s mental health and their future prospects.
Cassandra Geisel
Cassandra Geisel is an MBACP therapist working within a pluralistic approach. Passionate about fostering inclusive and culturally informed spaces in the mental health landscape, she works as the Mental Health Alliance Lead in Tower Hamlets, bringing together organisations to lift their collective voice and promote impactful change within the sector. Alongside this, she is a member of the Therapy and Social Change Network and enjoys organising conversations and creating space to talk about issues around the intersection of social justice and mental health.
Mick Cooper
Mick Cooper is an internationally recognised author, trainer, and consultant in the field of humanistic, existential, and pluralistic therapies. He is a Chartered Psychologist, and Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton.
Mick has facilitated workshops and lectures around the world, including New Zealand, Lithuania, and Florida.
Mick’s books include Existential Therapies (Sage, 2017), Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Sage, 2018), The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling (Palgrave, 2013), and Integrating Counselling and Psychotherapy: Directionality, Synergy, and Social Change (Sage, 2019).
His latest work is Psychology at the Heart of Social Change: Developing a Progressive Vision of Society (Policy Press, 2023)
Mick Cooper is also the editor of The Tribes of the Person-Centred Nation (PCCS, 2024) and co-editor of The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling (3rd ed, 2024).
Mick’s principal areas of research have been in shared decision-making/personalising therapy, and counselling for young people in schools.
In 2014, Mick received the Carmi Harari Mid-Career Award from Division 32 of the American Psychological Association. He is a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the Academy of Social Sciences.
His latest work is Psychology at the Heart of Social Change: Developing a Progressive Vision of Society (Policy Press, 2023)
The book looks at the interface between therapy and social justice. The blurb for the book reads: ‘Over the past century, psychotherapy – and its parent discipline, psychology – has built up a vibrant, nuanced and highly practical understanding of human wellbeing and distress. This book describes a progressive political approach that integrates insights from the psychotherapeutic and psychological domain, moving us from a politics of blame to a politics of understanding. In this vision of society – surrounded by a culture of radical acceptance – all individuals can live rich and fulfilling lives. We need those shaping our political landscape to understand psychological needs and processes more deeply to enhance our ability to work with others in a spirit of collaboration, dialogue and respect.’
John Wilson
I am a co-founder and Director at Onlinevents, dedicated to democratising learning in the helping professions. We host the world’s first and largest video learning library akin to “Netflix” for these professions.
Additionally, I serve as a Director at Temenos Education and lead the Counselling & Psychotherapy Programme. Our focus is on nurturing students to become their most potent selves, both personally and professionally.
With over 20 years of experience, I currently manage a private practice as a Psychotherapist and Supervisor, offering services through video, text chat, and virtual environments.
I also facilitate groups and am involved in the Going Global and La Jolla programmes, rooted in Carl Rogers’ Encounter Group movement.
I am a past Chair and now an Honorary Fellow at the Association for Counselling & Therapy Online (ACTO). I have served on the board of the World Association for Person Centered & Experiential Psychotherapy & Counselling for 6 years.
