Meet members
of our team

Caroline is Head of the School of Education, Language and Psychology and Associate Professor. Leading the School means working with several complimentary departments: Psychology, Languages and Linguistics; CYPE; Initial Teacher Education and Counselling, all of which have strong links to partnership and social justice.

Previously a primary school teacher and deputy head, Caroline has a particular interest in Initial Teacher Education.  She has completed a Bed, MA, Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, PhD and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests include Philosophy for Children, assessment and feedback.

Trish is Associate Head for Counselling and is a BACP registered and accredited counsellor and qualified supervisor. Previously she worked for many years in the voluntary and university counselling sectors. She trains counsellors and works with experienced counsellors in the NHS.

Trish is a humanistic counsellor working from a process-experiential position who privileges the relational aspects of counselling.

Penn is a Senior Lecturer in Counselling and Programme Lead for the BA Counselling courses at York St John University.

She is a Chartered Psychologist and a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. Penn is a humanistic-integrative counsellor with a particular interest in understanding the meaning individuals give to their experiences as well as in exploring creative and relational ways of working.

She has worked with adults, children, and young people in a variety of settings including clinical wards, third sector charities, universities, and housing organisations. Her research and therapeutic interests are in trauma, mental health rehabilitation and recovery, and bereavement.

John is a BACP accredited and registered counsellor He is a Visiting Research Fellow of York St John University and Director of the Bereavement Service of the Communities Centre. He has specialised in bereavement counselling for 26 years. His book, 'Supporting People through Loss and Grief: An Introduction for Counsellors and other Caring Practitioners' (2014, London: Jessica Kingsley) is used widely to train bereavement counsellors. His second book, 'The Plain Guide to Grief’ (2020), is written for bereaved people. From his online studio, John teaches bereavement counselling to large national and international audiences around the globe, as well as teaching as a guest lecturer on several university courses.

John's hobbies are crafting things from wood, photography and wildlife gardening. He plays drums in a Yorkshire rock band, Coil, which he first joined in 1980.

Nikki has managed the York St John Communities Centre since February 2022, overseeing its daily operations, including groups, services, and partnerships. She leads on safeguarding, health and safety, and risk management within the Centre, ensuring a safe and supportive environment. In addition, she provides line management support to the team of Centre Coordinators, Placement Students, and Volunteers.

With a strong background in safeguarding and mental health, Nikki has extensive experience in the education sector and children's residential care. She holds an undergraduate degree in Equine Therapy and Rehabilitation and is a qualified Humanistic-Integrative Counsellor. Alongside her leadership role, she maintains a small caseload of clients, offering support through both the YSJ Communities Centre and her private practice.

Gracie is the Operations Manager for the School of Education, Language and Psychology.

As a member of the School Leadership team, Gracie is responsible for the day-to-day operational management of the School and ensures the delivery of agreed performance outcomes for the School's strategic plan.

Gracie works within the Communities Centre Leadership team to align the vision and strategy of the Centre with the School and provide additional operational management and support.

Gracie has worked at York St John University since 2016. She has a background in project management and events through a number of roles across higher education, hospitality and voluntary sectors.

Helen joined the Centre in October 2024 as our Counselling Services Manager and plays a key role in ensuring counselling is delivered safely, ethically, and effectively, while collaborating with the Centre Manager developing our services.

Helen is also a BACP-registered counsellor and has worked in York's mental health charity sector for the last 10 years, including York Mind and York Women's Counselling Service.

Anne joined the team as Centre Coordinator in February 2023. Anne has a background in higher education administration in student recruitment and access and outreach.  She has also worked within local authority school governance and leisure centre management.

Anne's role is a broad role that has taken into account the needs of the Centre holistically. This role includes working on the Reception in the Clarence Street premises, where she greets service users as they enter the building and helps to answer any questions or queries that they may have about the Centre. Anne also supports with the allocation of clients to appropriate practitioners and provides support with a range of administration tasks to help facilitate all Centre groups, services and partnerships.

Ella joined the York St John Communities Centre in 2022 as a placement counsellor during her training. She qualified in 2024 and now works 1 day a week as a Centre Coordinator.

Having completed her training placement at the Centre, Ruth joined the team as Counselling Service Coordinator.

Ruth is also a BACP Registered counsellor and supports clients through her private practice.

Sara joined the Centre team in April 2023 as a Centre Coordinator, and part of Sara’s role involves providing administration support to the Centre's Online Bereavement Group.

Working on the reception is also a pivotal part of Sara's role as she offers service users a warm welcome, assists to answer queries, and promotes a positive service user experience. Sara also supports the allocation of clients to appropriate practitioners.

Sara has a background in managing and coordinating events, running a business, and providing educational and emotional support to children with autism. Sara has an undergraduate degree in Health Studies.

Suzy has volunteered in various roles, including bereavement group support, Chat Café, and Cuppa and Conversation. She also completed her placement counsellor training at the centre. Suzy is now qualified as a counsellor and is continuing her study masters level. She still volunteers as a counsellor and works as a centre coordinator.

Stephanie started working at the Centre in February 2021, and had been involved with the Centre in a volunteering capacity since February 2020. Stephanie has previously worked at a number of charities and organisations, and has worked as a project and account manager, resource and business analyst, managed marketing and social media, co-ordinated events, and more previously worked at a women's Centre working with groups and starting a service user forum. Stephanie also completed her Counselling, Coaching, and Mentoring degree at York St John University, and is a Wellbeing Coach for the Centre and privately.

Stephanie's role within the Centre is vast and varied but mainly sees her managing all aspects of the Centre's marketing and social media and the development and implementation of new Centre services.

Margaret started volunteering at the Centre in November 2024. Her background is in university administration and management, working in several northern universities. Her most recent experience has been working for Citizens Advice, Witness Service. The service provides support for witnesses coming to court to give evidence. Her role included administrative duties, recruiting, training and managing volunteers as well as supporting witnesses.

Margaret's role in the Centre includes reception and general administrative work.

Carolyn started volunteering in our Centre reception in May 2024. She welcomes clients and assists with queries in person, on the phone or by email alongside other general administrative tasks. Her background is in primary and secondary foreign language teaching and teacher training. She worked with many primary and secondary schools in York, co-ordinating the primary foreign languages programmes and language assistants.

Sally joined the team through the YSJ Internship Programme in summer 2025. She is currently an undergraduate Psychology student at YSJ and previously worked as a Management Accountant, bringing valuable financial experience to the Centre.

In her current role as Centre Coordinator, Sally works closely with the Bereavement Team to ensure the smooth delivery of services. She also contributes to the team supporting the client process, coordinating referrals and assisting with assessment and allocation to appropriate practitioners.

Joy has over 25 years experience as a humanistic, integrative and relational psychotherapist, counsellor and supervisor in many different contexts including the NHS, Relate and private practice. She was a Senior Accredited Member of BACP and was UKCP registered as a Gestalt Psychotherapist. Since 1998 she has taught counselling and psychotherapy in many different settings including the Metanoia Institute and most recently at Leeds Beckett University where she was a senior lecturer and course leader on the BACP accredited PG Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Passionately committed to the highest standards of ethical and professional practice she worked with the Clinic for Boundary Studies (formerly 'The Prevention of Professional Abuse Network') to educate health and social care professionals about the importance of boundaries.

In the 2021-22 civic year Joy had the privilege of representing the city as Lady Mayoress of York and during her time in office lost no opportunity to promote mental health issues and celebrate mental health professionals.

Professor Rob Mortimer has been working for York St John University since December 2020 and leads the University's Research, Enterprise and Knowledge Transfer strategy.

Professor Mortimer is an Environmental Geochemist who works on the cycling of nutrients and trace metals in the environment, and their impact on ecology and biodiversity. He has received research funding from a range of government and industry sources, including: AERC; BNFL; British Council; Environment Agency; EPSRC; EU Marie Curie; Irish EPA; Komex; Leverhulme Trust; NERC; Royal Society; Tarmac; Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

Professor Mortimer is a member of the Natural Environment Research Council Peer Review College and a Grant Assessor for the Australian Research Council. He is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Geological Society.

Dr Andrew Reeves is an Associate Professor in the Counselling Professions and Mental Health, a BACP Senior Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist and a Registered Social Worker.

He had over 30 years experience as a social worker and therapist working with a full range of clients, including those experiencing mental health crisis. He is Director of Education for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust and is past-Chair of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and past Editor-in-Chief of 'Counselling and Psychotherapy Research' journal. He has published articles, book chapters and books in his specialist area of working with clients at risk.

Ian runs his own business based in York. He is a Customer Experience Director with insight6, and partners with local businesses that care about their customers and staff. They look to his services to improve customer retention, team motivation and more sales, through measurement and training.

Before being invited to join the advisory board to provide us with a different perspective from the business community, Ian had been a participant in one of our Cuppa and Conversation Groups, and subsequently volunteered for the Chat Café drop-in service we offer, and is an advocate of our work.

Dr Steve Wright is an early intervention psychiatrist and deputy medical director with Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust. He is the clinical lead for Mental Health for Humber Coast & Vale Health & Care Partnership and Clinical Advisor to the Yorkshire & Humber Early Intervention Clinical Network. He has a long-standing interest in youth mental health and is currently involved with national studies looking at the therapeutic benefits of social connectedness and reducing the physical health inequalities faced by people with mental illness.