About - Breakthrough

The Charity

Trauma Breakthrough, which also works under the name Breakthrough, was founded in 2013. We are a charity based in Bath and operating across the south-west of England. We provide specialist mental health services and support for adult survivors of abuse and all forms of trauma. We also offer training and consultancy to organisations and individuals who want to learn to support survivors more effectively.

Head to the ‘About Trauma‘ page to find out more about why we do what we do.

The Team

Giles Lascelle – CEO & Clinical Director
Giles has over 30yrs experience as a psychotherapist and trainer. He’s worked in the NHS, social services, foster homes, and with a number of voluntary agencies in the fields of mental health, addiction and homelessness. He worked with the first ever NHS Staff Support Service, providing therapy and training for NHS and Emergency Services staff. Giles is a full clinical member of the UKCP and was previously part of the executive committee for the British Psychodrama Association (BPA).
He specialises in helping adult survivors of childhood abuse and trauma. He also has a passion for seeing communities and organisations trained and equipped to support to survivors and develop a greater understanding of mental health needs – because ‘it takes a village’!
Giles lives in Bath with his wife Ally and an insanely overindulged cat, Marmite.

Louise Turner – Therapist
Louise has worked in many mental health charities and services over the years and currently works for the NHS in Bristol running specialist clinics for FGM survivors. She loves yoga, making pottery and slowly turning her home into an indoor jungle. Louise is a huge fan of all things creative, runs our Art Therapy Group and is interested in using creative activities to help people to work through their difficult experiences. She is also the queen of weird but wonderful questions and Netflix recommendations!

Holly – Services Manager
Holly is the glue that keeps Breakthrough going. She heads up the operational side of Breakthrough (both in Bath and further afield), from client support and staff training, through to running all our services, crisis support, and drop-in. She’s usually your first point of contact when getting in touch with us, will talk you through the process of starting therapy or training, and answer any questions you have (big or small!).
Should you ever need post-therapy chocolate and a natter, she always has some chocolate in her desk drawer for those who need it. She lives on coffee and snacks, and has an unnecessary number of photos of pretty looking meals on her phone that one day she may remember to put on Instagram!

Ella L – Placement Student
Ella is doing a placement year with Breakthrough until June 2021 as part of her psychology degree at Bath University, and will be working with the Breakthrough team and helping out in all areas. She’s really interested in meeting new people, understanding their experiences, and gaining the skills to hopefully one day work in the field of mental health. More than anything, whilst away at University she is missing her dog and two cats, and would smuggle them with her if she could!
As far as we are concerned, Ella is amazing, and we are so sad that she’ll not be spending every day with us come June – we can’t imagine Breakthrough without her.

Jessica Barber – Trainee Therapist
Jess is in her fourth year of an MA in Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy. Jess is on a part-time placement with us supporting our 2 therapy groups and seeing a small number of clients, and is absolutely lovely! Jess has been a riding instructor and a teaching assistant. She has a large family and too many pets!

Eve B – Placement Student
Eve will be taking over the reigns from Ella in August 2021 as our new full-time Placement Student.
She will be with us until June 2022 working in our office, helping with our various services, and supporting our therapy groups.

Alicia Ridley – Trainee Art Psychotherapist
Alicia is in the middle of an MA in Art Psychotherapy at the University of South Wales and working with our Art Therapy Group as part of her training. She loves how art can make people think and feel beyond words and the healing it can bring. She lives in a village east of Bath with her family and two Italian street cats plus Milo the Lurcher.

Becca C – Placement – June 2021
Becca is on a work placement here for 4 weeks as part of the Women’s Work Lab. She has 10yrs experience working in various mental health settings and is looking to restart her career after raising her children as a single mum. Becca lives just outside of Bath in the countryside with her 2 boys, their cat Ninja, and 2 stick insects! Besides family, music, the sea and books are her favourite things as well as a fondness of fancy food 🙂

Lucy – Therapy Cat / Kitten
Lucy is the latest addition to the Breakthrough team and is already having great fun being a therapy cat. She’s a kitten, so has boundless energy and loves to fall asleep on people’s laps when she’s all played out, or curl up in her bed an purr away (she has a very loud purr!). And she LOVES to try and steal the staff team’s lunch, as far as she’s concerned, all food is Lucy’s food.
We know that cats offer something really special for people who are feeling triggered and need something soft to stroke or a bit of a distraction. Their purrs help regulate breathing and heart rates, and they’re just generally fun to have around 🙂

We also have a wider team who help us do what we do: from Amanda who cleans our Support Centre, through to Befrienders who support our Service Users, and volunteers who help at events, with our projects, with decorating, or with serving tea & coffee at training courses.
Breakthrough has always been and will always be something that’s built on community, done together, and for anyone who needs us.