Board member/ Coach/ therapist

Philip is our co-founder and has over 37 years experience working in mental health, in the NHS, not for profit, for profit organisations and in independent practice. Having been a Board member in different NHS organisations, and a 5 year diversion into practicing human rights, regulatory and discrimination law at the Bar, Philip returned to his therapy roots. Having originally trained as a Registered Mental Health Nurse and then in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. He now combines an integrative therapy approach with working with horses.  He first trained in Equine Facilitated Learning and then as an Equine Facilitated Psychotherapist.

Horses have always been his passion, his home place. His clinical interest is in the treatment of PTSD, Complex PTSD and other forms of psychological trauma, alongside a broader range of mental health problems. He is particularly interested in how coaching and therapy can act as agents of social change. He is also experienced in Internal Family Systems (IFS) and is training with EQUUSOMA (TM) in working with humans with traumatic experiences and horses using the principles of somatic experiencing. He also trained as a Forest Therapist, in Shinrin Yoku and further in hypnotherapy.

Brought up on the Quantock Hills, he values the spirit of the place and finds that our natural environment can be a great support to our  mental health and our innate needs for connection and healing. Little known fact about Philip is that he has hyper mobile joints, and to strengthen the collagen and connective fibres in his body he trains regularly at a functional fitness gym, runs very very slowly and is giving kick boxing a try. When recently away for a couple of days he texted his partner to ask “How is the love of my life ?”. The response came “Pedro is really well”. Pedro is of course Philip’s Irish Sports Horse.

Qualifications, membership bodies and further information

• Registered Mental Health Nurse • MSc in Mental Health Studies specialising in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guys and St Thomas’s, University of London• LLB with first class honours, Birkbeck, University of London• Studied hypnotherapy at UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy• Studied EMDR at EMDR Academy• Studying Internal Family Systems at IFS Training UK• Studied Equine Facilitated Learning at the HERD Institute• Studied Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy Level 5 with LEAP/the Crossfields Institute• Studied Transformational Coaching at Animas• Studied Team Coaching at Barefoot Coaching• Studying with EQUUSOMA in trauma informed care and recovery with equines and somatic experiencing skills.• Studying MSc Psychology (conversion) at Brunel University London

Registered and regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council

Accredited coach and team coach with the ICF and EMCC

Member of EMDR UK

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine 

Member of the Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine Section of the Royal Society of Medicine

Member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple

Member of the International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ)

Member of the Federation of Horses in Education and Therapy International AISL (HETI)

Kate is a highly experienced coach and coach supervisor who came to this through a long career in mental health and therapy, and particularly Gestalt. She loves the relational coaching experience. She works through helping people to expand their awareness of themselves and they relates others and society. 

Alongside her mental health qualifications and experience, Kate undertook the Therapist to Coach Training to become an EMCC accredited Coach and Coach supervisor. She holds the Relational Change Certificate coaching and a Certificate  in Coaching Supervision from Oxford Brooks University. 

Kate is a Registered Gestalt Practitioner in Organisations with the European Association of Gestalt Therapists. She supports people to explore and expand what is within them to expand the resources they can draw on as part of their self discovery. She helps clients and teams to creates choice in how they act, navigate work, relationships and their lives.

Kate is passionate about creating opportunities for people who have are often socially excluded.

She specialises in working with new entrepreneurs and start ups. She is Lead Supervisor for the Coaching organisation Sanctus who provide coaching for mental health and well being with corporate partners. She also supervises coaching for Spark inside who work with young offenders in prisons. She coaching directors in the NHS and NHS England.

Kate authored a chapter on working in difficult environments in {Kate add in book title}. Kate works to encourage and create resilience through encouraging psychological safety and supporting people to their creativity.

Kate loves cycling, even in the rain, seeing places from the perspective of her camper van, her grandchildren, people, and Minky the Maine Coon cat.

Jon's background is in Project & Programme Management. He is a Chartered Construction Manager with a specialist interest in digital construction. Not only does he lead groups in his current work, but he is a former British Army Officer having served as a Platoon Commander and Operations Officer in Afghanistan. Nowadays, he has a more complex set of challenges as a Scout Leader! He and Philip met whilst training with the British Horse Society and became firm friends. 

When not riding or enjoying various pursuits on the Quantock Hills, he spends time with his partner, Debbie, their 2 young children and his Spaniel, Huxley. 

Jon is passionate about promoting mental health and well being as well as building resilience in young people. Our events provide much needed funding for our social enterprise initiatives and Jon coordinates these. As well as being the events manager, he coordinates the activities of CIC as our business manager and as a board member brings his wider business knowledge to the future strategy of the CIC. During group coaching sessions involving the horses, he takes an overview of equine welfare in support of our coach practitioners.