Elaine Marren
Office Manager

First port of call, and soothing presence... for students anxious about assignments, tutors demanding last minute paperwork... Elaine has been involved with The Sherwood Institute since its early days and one of her great attributes is her ability to remain patient and smiling amidst crisis. Her official role is Office manager, providing administrative support to staff and students in training, liaising with University office staff, and answering enquiries from members of the public.

Shelley Bowyer
Administrator, Recruitment, Marketing and Finance

Shelley joined the Institute Office in February 2011 after a career break raising her family. She previously worked in Newcastle, London and Nottingham specialising in Undergraduate Admissions and HE Administration since completing her BA (Hons) Fine Art in 1995, and a subsequent PGCE in 1999. Her role is to support applicants from initial enquiry to enrolment in their chosen training programme. She assists the Director of Recruitment, Marketing & Finance on fees.  

Alison Fookes
Director of Finance, Marketing & Recruitment

Alison joined the Institute in 2008 as director after a 6 year career break to have her two children. Prior to this she worked in Social Services for 17 years initially as social worker and then in various managerial roles within the learning disabilities field. During that time she developed an interest in social work training and undertook further training to equip herself as an adult educator. She then worked within the practice learning team, managing and supporting the vocational training of social work students through supervision of students on placement and their supervisors.

She brings a wide variety of skills to her role as company and finance director and really values working within a team and in close collaboration with students. Her family and children are focal and Alison continues to divide her time between her director role and bringing up her two young boys. She even manages to find some time to continue learning to play the piano (a work in slow progress!) and to pursue her love of cooking. 

Ruth Layzell
Director of Training;  Tutor: BSc (Hons) in Counselling & Psychotherapy

Ruth Layzell, Director of Training, has over 20 years of experience of training in the field of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Before being appointed to her present post, she worked for 10 years as a social worker, for a further 10 years as Lecturer in Pastoral Care and Counselling and then as Director of Counselling Training at St John's College, Nottingham. For a further 10 years she was then Director of an independent training consortium, the Institute of Pastoral Counselling. She has held various External Examiner and External Assessor posts and is a BACP accredited counsellor with an independent practice which she runs alongside her work at the Sherwood Institute. She has a particular interest in the interface between Christian spirituality and counselling practice and is currently undertaking research in this area by pursuing a Doctorate in Practical Theology at the University of Chester. She has written about adoption, religious abuse and counselling in religious contexts and is co-author of a course on relational skills for congregations (The Beta Course).

Michelle J. Cooke
Director of Business Continuity and Development
Programme Leader: MSc in Person-Centred Psychotherapy & Counselling

Michelle is a UKCP registered psychotherapist with several counselling and psychotherapy related qualifications, including an MA in Person-Centred Psychotherapy. She has worked within a variety of therapeutic settings and maintains a private practice providing psychotherapy and supervision to individuals, couples, and groups.

As a trainer, she strives to ensure her delivery is grounded within the core training model in order to provide trainees with an experience consistent with the philosophical, theoretical, and practical application of their chosen approach. Her interests include the evolution of person-centred theory in light of ever-changing thinking within the therapeutic world and beyond. In addition, she is specifically interested in issues relating to the process of self-criticism, gender, and social change.

Catherine Austin
Programme Leader: BSc (Hons) in Counselling & Psychotherapy

Catherine is a Registered UKCP psychotherapist with an MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy and an MA in Humanistic Counselling. She has a background in counselling training in Further Education and is now involved in the development of undergraduate training at The Sherwood Institute. She has worked for counselling agencies in Nottingham for a number of years and has a private psychotherapy practice, working with individuals, and also supervising qualified and trainee counsellors and psychotherapists. She lives in Nottingham with her husband.

Lorraine Price
Programme Leader: MSc Integrative Psychotherapy

Lorraine’s background was in the Civil Service and Local Government, where she ended her career in staff training.  It was in this role that she became interested in psychology and counselling and started to attend a number of CPD trainings in this area.  She then undertook a PG Dip in Counselling. She followed this by joining the Masters programme in Integrative Psychotherapy at the Institute, and then completed her Diploma in Supervision.  Her next step was to train to be a tutor, becoming Programme Leader in 2010.  It has been a journey that she have cherished, although sometimes difficult, and her aim as Programme Leader is to help others to develop in their chosen career and become professional and ethical practitioners who are assets to the profession.

She is currently engaged in researching for a Doctorate in Psychotherapy at De Montfort University.  Her subject is therapeutic regression.

Rosemary Langford-Bellaby
Programme Leader: Supervision Training

Rosemary has extensive training and experience as a counsellor, psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. From a Psychotherapy perspective, Rosemary is trained in both Gestalt Psychotherapy and Integrative Psychotherapy, and has completed additional elements of training in Transactional Analysis, Behavioural Therapy and Client-Centred Counselling. She was previously course leader of the Person-Centred Counselling programme at The Sherwood Institute.

In all of the different trainings Rosemary related to her interest in the interface between spirituality and psychology. She has been a tutor on the Counselling Programme at St. John’s Theological college in Nottingham and completed a second MA in Theology and Pastoral Care. In addition to psychotherapy training, Rosemary has trained as a supervisor and trainer and currently runs the Supervision training at SPTI. Prior to her advanced counselling/psychotherapy training, Rosemary was a qualified Psychiatric Nurse and has more than twenty years experience working in the NHS, including a specialist role as a Nurse Therapist. She is accredited with the UKCP and runs a private practice working with individuals, couples and groups.

Peter Orlandi-Fantini
Co-ordinator: Mental Health Placement Programme

Peter is a UKCP accredited Gestalt psychotherapist with prior qualifications in counselling and a Master’s Degree in Education. He has been a clinical teacher in psychiatry and a lecturer in Psychiatric Studies within the NHS. Peter brings his considerable experience of teaching a wide range of professional groups to his work at the Sherwood Institute where he is responsible for teaching the Mental Health workshop and co-ordinating the Mental Health Placement Programme.

Until recently he ran the Masters in Gestalt psychotherapy programme at the Institute and was also a Tutor on the Diploma in Humanistic Psychotherapy programme. He has an interest in the synthesis of a variety of theoretical perspectives that may inform and support the practice of psychotherapy in the areas of mind, body and consciousness, with a particular interest in neurobiology. Peter approaches education from a holistic perspective and endeavours to realise the major tenets of humanistic psychology in his teaching practice. He runs a clinical practice working with individuals, couples and groups.

Anissa Chung
Programme Leader: ABC Awards: Counselling Concepts Course; Tutor: Foundation Access Course

Anissa’s first career was as a maths teacher in secondary schools, and she then changed direction to train as a BACP accredited counsellor. She has a well-established private practice for adults and has been working with young people in a school setting for a number of years. Her special interest is in loss and bereavement, and she works with trauma as a trained EMDR therapist.

In September 2010 She joined the Sherwood, where she combines her counselling and teaching skills as a trainer. She thoroughly enjoys her roles as Programme Leader on the Counselling Concepts course and as a tutor on the Foundation Access course. In the last couple of years She has expanded her practice to include supervision, and is currently working towards gaining BACP accreditation as a supervisor. 

Anissa has published an article entitled ‘Daring to be Different’ in BACP Journal Therapy Today, May 2007, where she explores the implications of ethnicity in a predominantly white British counselling world. Her passion is to enhance personal development in those who want to explore their own counselling journey.

Ambika Connelly
Programme Leader: Foundation Access Course and Tutor: ABC Awards: Counselling Concepts

In addition to working as Programme Leader of Foundation Access Course, Ambika is one of two main tutors involved with the two introductory level courses at Sherwood: Counselling Concepts and Foundation Access course.

During this academic year, Ambika will also be offering Academic Writing Skills Workshops and guest lecturing on the MSc Person-Centred courses.

Special interests include relational depth research, diversity (within and with others), the embodied process and creatively exploring how the art of therapy can be translated into words.

Michelle Oldale
Tutor: MSc in Person-Centred Psychotherapy & Counselling.

Michelle is a Person-Centred psychotherapist and trainer with experience of work with Deaf and Hearing clients and students. She is an active writer and researcher with a particular interest in the areas of training, power, disability and culture. She is currently researching aspects of power in the therapeutic relationship with Deaf Therapists and Hearing Clients as facilitated by Sign Language Interpreters as part of an internship with Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre at University College London.

Debs Mendham
Tutor: BSc (Hons) in Counselling & Psychotherapy

Debs is a UKCP registered psychotherapist with a MA in Humanistic Person Centred Psychotherapy. Over the past 20 years she has trained in Gestalt, Person Centred and Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy. She has worked within a variety of therapeutic settings and now manages a private practice providing psychotherapy, counselling and supervision to individuals, couples, families, and groups. She has been involved in developing the undergraduate training at SPTI and is a tutor on the BSc (Hons) programme. Prior to this she has worked within Further Education providing various counselling programmes and was also a partner of a consultancy providing training to health professionals within the NHS and Social Services. Debs has a background within the NHS and Social Services working as a nurse, social worker, development officer, and manager. She has a particular interest in issues of identity, gender and shame.

Dave Mann
Tutor: BSc (Hons) in Counselling & Psychotherapy

Dave Mann MSc, Dip Supervision, Dip SPTI, Dip Coun, TSM (SPTI), ATSM (GPTI), RMN Dave is a UKCP Registered Gestalt Psychotherapist, Supervisor, Trainer and Published Author. A member of The Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute since 1990, he has delivered Psychotherapy and Counselling training up to Masters level at several training Institutes across the UK and internationally. He is a former Assistant Editor of the British Gestalt Journal and examines trainee psychotherapists nationally.

Dave's passionate interest in creative and academic writing (are they really separate!) has led him to authoring, amongst other publications, 'Gestalt Therapy: 100 Key Points & Techniques' (Taylor & Francis 2010) and 'Assessing Suicidal Risk' to be published in 2012 in  'Gestalt Therapy in Clinical Practice' edited by G. Francesetti, M. Gecele, J. Roubal. Outside the world of psychotherapy Dave's passions include keeping fit, his grandchildren and struggling to learn to play the violin. 

Norman Wright
Tutor: BSc (Hons) in Counselling & Psychotherapy

Norman is a research minded UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy) registered integrative psychotherapist and clinical supervisor and has been working as such for the last ten years. As a state registered (GCSC) social worker with over twenty years he has extensive experience in working with children, their families and adults within residential care, children and families, education, Youth Justice, adult, child and adolescent mental health, in a variety of social care and health statutory, voluntary and independent settings. He has also held clinical and managerial responsibility for a voluntary sector counselling service for adults.

Norman is also a member of an advisory group member and visiting tutor on ecological perspectives and practices to PQ (post qualified) social work practitioners students at Nottingham Trent University. As a consultant he provides professional proactive support, advice and information to social work practitioners and teams, foster carers and parents who have care for or have statutory responsibilities for, primarily but not exclusively, African, African Caribbean and South Asian children.  

Dr David Tune
Tutor: BSc (Hons) Counselling & Psychotherapy. 

David Tune: Phd. UKCP. C.Psychol. Af.BPS. David started his training as a Body Psychotherapist in New York in 1980 after taking his MA in Counselling there and then joining a ‘Bioenergetic’ training group for two years. On return to England he went on to do a full holistic psychotherapy training at the ‘Chiron Centre’ in London. He has been practising as a Psychotherapist for over 20 years and he is also a Chartered Counselling Psychologist (he was recently made an Associate Fellow of the BPS). After living abroad and in London for many years David returned to his home county of Yorkshire, where he runs a practise, lectures at university and supervises practitioners. He is especially interested in group work and has facilitated training and therapy groups for many years. He describes himself as an ‘Integrative Body Psychotherapist’, who integrates experience and training in Gestalt, and psychodynamic concepts into a body orientated approach.  David’s particular area of interest is ‘the body-mind split’ and ways of healing it. His doctoral thesis was on the ‘therapeutic use of touch’ and he has published chapters related to body psychotherapy and integration in a number of books in the UK. He has recently had research into the phenomena of ‘presence in groups’ included in a book by the American Association of Gestalt Trainers and Therapists. This research was co-conducted with a colleague who is a musician and psychotherapist and focused on groups in counselling training and orchestras. David is also a member of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and a regular presenter at national and international conferences. 

Alan Frankland  
Tutor: MSc in Person-Centred Psychotherapy & Counselling.

Alan originally trained in Couples Counselling and was accredited by BACP in 1984 (and is currently a Fellow of the Association); he is now a Consultant Counselling Psychologist, Chartered by the British Psychological Society and Registered by HPC and a Foundation/Senior Practitioner member of the BPS Register of Psychologists Specialising in Psychotherapy. He has worked as a therapist for nearly 35 years in Nottingham (APSI) although his main job for 30 years from 1971 was as a teacher of developmental and applied psychology and counselling (and latterly he was Head of the Division of Counselling and Psychotherapy) at what is now Nottingham Trent University.

Alan has also been the BPS Registrar for Counselling Psychology, and for three years job-shared an NHS Consultant post in London. Alan has published in the areas of Accreditation, Supervision, professional issues and aspects of the Person-Centred Approach (including being co-author of a best-selling textbook). Although still very engaged with practice and training commitments in Nottingham and London, Alan spends a lot of time in Picardy where his partner, who runs a B&B, now lives.  

Lorna Goree
Tutor: MSc Integrative Psychotherapy

I am a UKCP registered Integrative Psychotherapist. I have over 20 years experience of working in the NHS as a clinician, manager, supervisor and trainer. My first degree was in psychology and I  trained as an Occupational Psychologist. I worked for Trent Strategic Health Authority as a project manager specializing in workforce development. My interest in personal growth led to my training as a psychotherapist. I have an MA in Integrative Psychotherapy. 

I currently work as a psychotherapist and supervisor for Derby Psychological Therapy Services and I have a private practice. I  offer both short term and long term therapy.  My model of Integrative Psychotherapy is attachment based and emotion focused with an emphasis on the moment to moment experience of the therapeutic relationship.   I also work as a consultant in emotional well being to a School Improvement Service.  I have taught on the MSc Integrative psychotherapy programme for 2 years. My particular interest is in research and the opportunities it provides for discovery about our ways of being in the world."