Who we are

Respond exists in order to: lessen the effect of trauma and abuse on people with learning disabilities their families and supporters.

We do this through providing psychotherapy for people with learning disabilities, advice and support for staff and families, training for carers and professionals, education for people with learning disabilities, influencing generic services in order to make their services accessible, influencing learning disability services to consider the psychological impact of living with learning disabilities, undertaking research and disseminating our findings.

Formed in 1991, Respond receives some core funding from the Department of Health, and accepts referrals from PCT’s, Local Authorities and various Social Services Departments. Recent funders include Comic Relief, the Home Office’s Victims Fund, The Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales, BBC Children in Need and the Big Lottery.

  

THE CLINICAL TEAM

Respond provides options that help to address the needs of people with learning disabilities who are affected by abuse and trauma. Our staff are multi-skilled and we pride ourselves on our ability to help individuals with complex needs to come to terms with their experiences. Psychotherapy is at the heart of our work at Respond and we pride ourselves on our ability to work with both the individual in treatment and with their network of supporters.

 

 

 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Richard Curen

Richard Curen has worked as a psychotherapist, counsellor and manager in the sexual abuse field for the last 14 years. He joined Respond from Survivors UK where, amongst other things, he was responsible for managing the individual and group therapy services for adult male survivors of sexual violence. Richard has also worked as a group facilitator at the Domestic Violence Intervention Project and as a counsellor at Orexis - a community drug project in South East London. He is currently Chair of the Survivors Trust – an umbrella group of over 120 survivor organisations across the UK. He is a board member of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy and Treasurer of the Institute of Psychotherapy and Disability. Richard is also a member of the National Association for the Treatment of Abusers, a member of the Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists and Allied Professionals and a visiting Lecturer at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. Richard sits on the editorial board of Community Living magazine.

Relevant Qualifications: Certificate in Advanced Counselling Skills (Nottingham), Post-Graduate Diploma in Gestalt Psychotherapy (Gestalt Centre London), Post-Graduate Diploma in Forensic Psychotherapeutic Studies (Portman Clinic).

DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Noëlle Blackman

Noelle Blackman is a Dramatherapist and is registered with the Health Professions Council.  In 1997 she founded the roc Loss and Bereavement Service, a NHS therapy service for people with learning disabilities and she recently set up the Respond Elder’s Project.  Noelle is Vice Chair and co-founder of the National Network for the Palliative Care of People with Learning Disabilities.
She co-facilitates a user involvement group of older people with learning disabilities which began as part of the GOLD (Growing Older with a Learning Disability) research project for The Foundation For People with Learning Disabilities in 1998. She has presented papers nationally and internationally. Her published work includes 'Living with Loss' (Pavilion), Loss and Learning Disability (Worth Publishing), When Somebody Dies (Books Beyond Words), Caring for People with Learning Disabilities who are Dying (Worth Publishing) and Intellectual Disability, Psychotherapy and Trauma (Routledge). She is currently working on a PHD.

Relevant Qualifications: Post-Graduate Diploma in Dramatherapy; Certificate in Clinical Supervision; currently undertaking a PHD researching bereavement support needs assessment for people with learning disabilities.

PSYCHOTHERAPIST

Tamsin Cottis

A co-founder of Respond, with 20 years experience in the field of learning disability, Tamsin now works as a psychotherapist and trainer. She works with both adults and young people, drawing on a variety of psychotherapeutic approaches including psychoanalytic psychotherapy, attachment-based work and play therapy. Tamsin also provides therapeutic risk assessments regarding issues of parenting, sexual risk and sexual vulnerability. Co-author of ‘Witnessing Nurturing Protesting: Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Abuse and Learning Difficulty’ (David Fulton 1996). Tamsin has recently edited the book ‘Intellectual Disability, Trauma and Psychotherapy’ which is published by Routledge (2008).

Relevant Qualifications: Certificate in Psychodynamic Counselling ( Lincoln ); Cert. Ed. In Adult Education; Certificate in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (Tavistock Centre); membership of the Institute of Psychotherapy and Disability. 

PSYCHOTHERAPIST

Shahnawaz Haque

 

 

PSYCHOTHERAPIST

Elizabeth Lloyd

Elizabeth's professional experience with people with learning disabilities began in her career as a social worker. Following training in counselling and then psychotherapy, Elizabeth co-conducted a group in the South Downs area for women with learning disabilities who had suffered sexual trauma. She began conducting a similarly focused group within Respond in 1997. Elizabeth also works in private practice. Among her specialisms is an interest in the long-term effects of sexual abuse and how these are communicated through the body.

Relevant Qualifications: MA Social Work (University of Sussex); Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling (University of Brighton); Membership of Guild of Psychotherapists.

FORENSIC PSYCHOTHERAPIST

Deborah Lyttelton

Deborah was previously Helpline Manager at Respond and returned in 2005 to work as a psychotherapist. She is a UKCP-registered psychotherapist.  As well as working at Respond, Deborah works as a psychotherapist for Harrow Learning Disability Team, in private practice and as a counsellor and group worker for Survivors UK.  Prior to training as a psychotherapist, Deborah worked in the voluntary and statutory sectors for many years in various roles.

Relevant Qualifications: Diploma in Psychotherapy; Diploma in Counselling both from Re-Vision Centre for Integrative Psychosynthesis.

FORENSIC PSYCHOTHERAPIST

Chris Neill

Chris comes from a professional background in work with children and families - undertaking therapeutic and assessment work within residential and voluntary sector agencies. He has a wide experience in psychotherapy and, alongside working at Respond, has a private practice and works as a trainer, a supervisor to individual therapists and clinical teams.

Relevant Qualifications: Diploma in Counselling (1997); Diploma in Psychotherapy (1999); MA in Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy (1999); Registered UKCP.

FORENSIC PSYCHOTHERAPIST

Nigel Consiglio

Nigel has worked as a Counsellor and Psychotherapist for the last twelve years.  He has worked largely in the field of mental health and with young people in inner-city London who have experienced severe trauma in their lives; those impacted by emotional, physical and sexual abuse; young refugees having left civil conflict and young people impacted by gang culture.  He is also a qualified Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, with a particular interest in Relational Psychoanalysis.

Relevant Qualifications: Advanced Diploma in Counselling, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist (Member of the Arbours Association of Psychotherapists and Registered UKCP).

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES MANAGER

James Hawkins

James is a qualified psychodynamic counsellor who, prior to working at Respond, spent 5 years working with The Place2Be, a charity that provides school-based play therapy and counselling to young people and their parents/carers in primary and secondary school settings. During his time there he managed various school-based counselling projects as well as being instrumental in the development of their secondary school service. He then moved onto developing and delivering a series of training specifically designed for clinicians, school based staff and Post-Graduate students working with young people in secondary schools.
Before becoming a therapist James worked for a charity working with substance using offenders. He worked as a case worker in a probation hostel working with serious offenders and in various residential and community settings with adults with substance misuse and/or mental health problems.

Relevant Qualifications: PG Diploma Psychodynamic Counselling, MA Psychosocial Studies

 YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGIST

Lisa Greenspan

Lisa has worked across all services, Health, Social and Voluntary Sector and Education for over twenty years, supporting staff and patients and conducting research into services involving disability in older people, in particular, dementia.  She has for many years facilitated workshops with adults and children making use of the inner image and the arts.

Relevant qualifications: MSc Occupational Psychology 1991 (University of Hertfordshire); MSc Counselling Psychology  2008 (City University); writing dissertation for Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology (City University); Graduate member of the British Psychological Society division of Counselling Psychology.

 

 YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES VIOLENCE PREVENTION WORKER

Cécile Schnyder

Cécile is a state registered art psychotherapist and works as a Violence Prevention Worker for Respond. Alongside this she works in a Further Education College offering one-to-one and group art therapy sessions supporting students who struggle with their personal and academic life.

Cécile has over 10 years’ experience of working with people with learning disabilities in a variety of settings, including statutory and voluntary provisions.  She has experience in setting up group work using animation and new technologies with children and young people.  Her special interest lies in working with group dynamics and the use of animation in art psychotherapy.

Relevant Qualifications: MA in Art Psychotherapy, Member of the Health Professions Council (HPC) and the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT).

 

  

 YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES THERAPIST AND SCHOOLS THERAPIST

Gary Edwards

Gary has spent most of his professional life working with people with learning disabilities, both children and adults.  He began his training in Lowenfield Projective Play Therapy in 2000 and qualified 5 years later.  Since then he has worked as a play therapist in private practice and in schools in West London.  He is interested in the ways in which play can enable non-verbal exploration and expression of thoughts and feelings and has a particular interest in facilitating play therapy for people with autistic spectrum disorders.

Relevant qualifications: MSc Lowenfield Projective Play Therapy (Middlesex University & The Margaret Lowenfield Trust, 2005).

 

 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES THERAPIST

 

Amy Jeans

Amy is a drama and movement therapist and works as a Young People’s Services therapist for Respond.  Alongside this she works in private practice with adults with learning disabilities, running a one-to-one Arts Therapy Service supporting individuals through experiences of transition and loss, for Enfield Council.  Amy has over 10 years’ experience of working with children and adults with learning disabilities in a variety of settings, including statutory and non-statutory provisions.  Prior to working as a therapist, Amy trained as an actress, worked in television and then began working in schools and as a play worker with children with learning disabilities.  Following this she worked in adult education, running arts workshops leading to performance with adults with learning disabilities.  Amy holds a special interest in working symbolically around issues of loss and trauma. 

Relevant qualifications: MA Drama & Movement Therapy (Sesame); Professional member of the Health Professions Council; Member of the Sesame Institute.

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES SEXUAL ABUSE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COORDINATOR  

Debbee Arthur 

Debbee previously was the Helpline Manager at Respond.  She has worked with people with learning disabilities as a manager for over thirteen years in a variety of settings: residential, supported living and self-advocacy before joining Respond and has used her experience in her previous career as an actress to facilitate drama workshops for people with learning disabilities.  She is also a qualified psychotherapist and her thesis for this qualification was on whether the telling of their life story has a therapeutic affect for people with learning disabilities.

Relevant qualifications:  Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy (1998).

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES SEXUAL ABUSE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE THERAPIST

Jennifer Berwick

Jennifer has worked with children, young people and families with learning disabilities in a variety of settings as Play Worker, Inclusion Practitioner, Social Work Assistant and Family Worker. She trained as an Integrative Child Psychotherapist during which she worked for 2 1/2 years providing individual psychotherapy to children at a primary school in North London.  She completed her training in 2008 and joined Respond as Children and Families Practictioner for the Sexually Harmful Behaviours Project in 2009. In October 2011 she joined the SADV team in the role as Psychotherapist.  Relevant qualifications: B.Sc (Hons) Psychology, M A Integrative Child Psychotherapy, Member of the Institute for Art and Therapy in Education, Associate Member BACP

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES SEXUAL ABUSE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE THERAPIST

Dimpi Hirani

 

Dimpi trained as a Drama & Movement Therapist at the Sesame Institute in 2003. She has been working in special needs schools as a dramatherapist with children and young people for the last 5 years. She currently co-convenes the Education Sub Committee for BADth (British Association of Dramatherapists). Her special interest lies in developing quantifiable methods of assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of dramatherapy and understanding the symbolic significance of the moving body in therapy.

Relevant Qualifications: MA in Drama & Movement Therapy (Sesame); MSc in Social Anthropology; Member of the Health Professional Council, Sesame Institute & BADth.

 

 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES CHILD AND FAMILY PRACTITIONER

Liz Holmes

Over the past 8 years Liz has worked with children, young people and families as a counsellor, nursery nurse, play worker and teaching assistant within various educational settings.  More recently she has worked within a counselling and advisory role on a number of help-lines including Respond, ChildLine, Kidscape and NSPCC and currently works part time as a child therapist for Step up.

 

Relevant Qualifications: MA in Psychodynamic Councelling; Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling; BA (Hons) Sociology.

   

The team's services are externally supervised and evaluated by experts in the field of sexual trauma and learning disability.

 

CLINICAL SUPERVISOR - RISK ASSESSMENT

Kiriakos Xenitidis

Kiriakos is a Consultant Psychiatrist with the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry. His main clinical area of work is mental Health in Learning Disabilities and specialising in the assessment and treatment of offending and other behavioural problems. He is a member of the Institute of Group Analysis, London and has a special interest in the theory and application of group and family psychotherapy in people with learning disabilites. In addition he has an MSc in Human Sexuality from the University of London and has an interest in sexuality issues in people with learning disabilities. His research interests include: psychotherapy outcomes, sexuality and health services.

CLINICAL SUPERVISOR - INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

Anne Alvarez

Anne has recently retired as Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, and co-conveyer of the autism service at the Tavistock Clinic. She has written numerous papers on psychotherapy with borderline patients.

Publications: Autism and Personality, Findings from the Tavistock Autism Workshops, Routledge 1999 (Co-editor); Live Company, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with the autistic, borderline and deprived and abused children.

CLINICAL SUPERVISOR – YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES

Leon Redler, MD

Leon's practice of psychotherapy and supervision is informed by psychoanalysis, existential-phenomenology as well as by Tai Chi, Yoga and Zen practice.  Inspired and provoked by the work of philosophers Levinas and Derrida, his work is moving in an ethical-deconstructive direction. This practice, which his colleague Steven Gans and him call ‘Just Listening,’ involves: A turn away from (centripetal) me-centeredness; a (centrifugal) turn toward the Other and the opening of a space for hospitality and for thoughtfulness, outside the grip of totalising theories.

Leon qualified in medicine in the US, with post-graduate training in paediatrics and psychiatry. He is a member of the Philadelphia Association and a past Chair of that organisation and of its Psychotherapy Training Committee and Faculty.

 

 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Board of Trustees come from a wide range of experience and backgrounds.

TRUSTEES

Nigel Thorpe - Chair

Nigel is the Chair of Respond.  Nigel finished a career in the Diplomatic Service as Ambassador to Hungary and then worked for Vodaphone, where he ran two coporate charitable grant making trusts.  He is now heavily involved in the voluntary sector and is a trustee of two other charities.

Isabel Clare - Vice Chair

 

Mark Brookes

Mark is a trustee with a learning disability.  He has worked as a Project Worker at Values into Action since 1999 on various projects such as decision making and advocacy projects.  He is also involved with a number of other learning disability groups.  He speaks at and runs workshops at conferences in the UK and overseas.

Ayesha Janjua 

Ayesha a Fellow in the Health and Social Care team at the Office of Public Management - an employee-owned not-for-profit research and development organisation. She has previously worked as a Senior Policy Advisor for Learning Disability at Turning Point, the leading social care organisation that provides a range of support to people with learning disabilities, the Charity Commission and also has a background in Media and Parliamentary Affairs.

 

Andrew Scull 

Charles Taylor

Charles worked in finance, as a banker and a broker from 1979 to 2009. He is now, among other part time interests a non-executive director at Schneider Trading Associates.