London Team
Dan
Dan has been head of James' Place London since his arrival in February 2021, following a year as interim CEO of a local branch of Mind in South London. He is a qualified UKCP Psychotherapist and has over a decade of experience as a mental health support worker, service manager, counsellor and coach working with men and women experiencing homelessness. Passionate about finding new and effective techniques to help people find change in their lives, he is particularly interested in developing improved service models for people who do not fit mainstream services. Dan's focus on suicide prevention has been a mainstay throughout his career and training, he is now focused on expanding our work and the evaluation of our work into London.
Robyn
Robyn is the centre manager at James’ Place London. She has a background working to support mental health teams. Most recently, she has worked at the Anna Freud Centre in their under-fives team facilitating psychoeducational parenting groups for new fathers and adoptive families. Robyn has been a supervising volunteer at The Listening Place providing listening support for people who are suicidal for a number of years and also tutors new volunteers.
Anja
Anja is a Wpf-trained and qualified Psychodynamic Psychotherapist with 25 years’ experience of working with adults in extreme and, at times, suicidal distress. Volunteering at Samaritans in her mid-20s set in motion a wish to work psychotherapeutically with people and if possible, within suicide prevention. This led to her volunteering and later working for several years at the Maytree Respite Centre. She has worked as a programme counsellor at ITV This Morning, seen clients in private practice and more recently, her work has taken her into university settings where she sees students with mental health difficulties and sometimes SEN. This has also involved supervising university mental health staff.
Rob
Rob has primarily worked in the field of complex bereavement and life-limiting illness, helping clients work through these challenges with talk therapies in an NHS setting. He incorporates a person-centred approach to develop a positive therapeutic relationship while using approaches such as CBT and mindfulness to help clients process and find meaning behind challenging emotions and experiences. Rob also has many years’ experience of working in Cancer Services in the NHS, providing support for patients and their families.
Lesley
Lesley is a qualified UKCP psychotherapist. Her approach is person-centred, focused on providing a safe, non-judgemental space for her clients. She has worked for a number of years for a homeless charity and then most recently in a prison counselling service in men’s prisons in London. She combines her work at James’ Place with work at Suicide & Co, a charity that supports people who have been bereaved by suicide.
Naz
Before moving to London, Naz qualified as a clinical psychologist in Turkey. She has worked as a mental health support worker in community-based services and is experienced in supporting people with complex care needs as well as immigration and cross-cultural conflicts. Training as a psychodynamic psychotherapist, she believes bringing awareness to the influence of our past experiences on our thinking and response to current challenges can increase our problem-solving capacities. Naz also provides psychotherapy in a specialist service in the NHS and is passionate about reaching out to diverse communities without barriers.
Amina
Amina is a qualified UKCP Transpersonal Integrative psychotherapist whose personal style is anchored in a natural sensitivity, creativity, and sincerity. Having worked within private, low-cost, and charity counselling services, she has years of experience working therapeutically with people from all walks of life, and through different personal challenges. Her therapeutic approach aims to support, and empower, clients in achieving authentic and holistic healing.
Miles
Miles is an integrative BACP registered counsellor and psychotherapist whose approaches are drawn from person-centered, psychodynamic therapy, and mindfulness. Prior to joining James’ Place, Miles has worked with sexual and violent crime trauma survivors in a charity in the United States. He also worked in private therapy service serving university students, international students, boarding school survivors, LGBTQ+, immigrants, and couples. Having worked with people from marginalised groups as well as people from multicultural backgrounds, Miles is passionate in cross-cultural communications and issues. He believes that addressing intersectionality is essential in developing therapeutic relationships in therapy. He also incorporates his linguistics background in helping clients write and rewrite new narratives to their healing journey and growth.
Dan
Dan has a background in the legal sector, community and social care, as well as content writing, editorial and creative start-up roles. A former user of James' Place intervention, Dan's experience has led him to manage all aspects of our community engagement in London.
Maureen
Maureen has worked in a variety of roles within the health and charity sector. Before joining James’ Place she worked in a busy NHS breast screening unit in St. George’s Hospital, and at Macmillan Cancer Support providing support for people affected by cancer. She has previously volunteered as a receptionist in the London Lighthouse for the Terrence Higgins Trust, and at ChildLine as a volunteer counsellor. She feels that the most important part of her role is to create a warm and welcoming environment so that every man that uses our service feels at ease, safe and valued.