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.
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!
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!
Jessica Barber – Trainee Therapist
Jess is in her fourth year of an MA in Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy. Jess spent 10 months on a part-time placement with us supporting our 2 therapy groups across 2020-21, and will be joining the staff team in September 2021. She 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 (our 2020-21 placement student) 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.
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.
Trustees
Breakthrough is governed by a Board of Trustees whose job it is to oversee the operation and development of the charity. The Trustees are:
Dr Fergus Law MBChB. BSc. MRCPsych
Hannah Cox
Kerry Badger
Sarah Thomas
Jon Bees
Vacancies for new trustees!
Partnerships
We wouldn’t be able to keep doing the work that we do without the support of our partners and funders.
The National Lottery Community Fund
Avon & Somerset PCC
Souter Charitable Trust
3rd Sector Group
LocalGiving
Foyle Foundation
Arnold Clark Community Fund
Neighbourly
Community Fund
Business Partnership - Charity of the Year
We are so excited about becoming charity partners with Royds Withy King for the next two years and be involved with a firm that is committed to raising awareness and helping those who are struggling. Each year the staff at RWK come together to choose a charity they free passionate about and who they want to support across the next two years – and for 2021-23, they chose us!
“I’m really looking forward to the next 2 years supporting this small, but incredibly important charity. They have not long moved to the support centre which gives their users a safe space to relax, attend therapy and participate in group sessions. Their big dream is to buy a respite house for trauma survivors – a facility that is not currently available in our area. It would be great if we can help them achieve that through our fundraising efforts over 2021-23!”
Sophie Webb, Charity Committee representative at RWK