Breakthrough can only run with the help of some exceptional people.
We know that going to a new building or an initial appointment with someone can feel quite scary, so we’ve created dedicated sections of our website where you can have a virtual look around our Support Centre before you arrive, and find out a little about each of it’s team members, from the therapy team through to support/admin staff, and even the office cat!
Office & Senior Management Team
Giles Lascelle – CEO & Clinical Director
He/Him
Giles has over 35yrs 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’!
Holly – Operations Manager
She/Her
Holly is the glue that holds Breakthrough together. She heads up everything that is Breakthrough, both at our Support Centre and with our training and partnerships. She oversees all our day-to-day activities from our referral pathways and people starting therapy, through to running all our services, our drop-in support, clinical placements, and trauma training programmes for organisations. It’s a busy job! She’ll talk you through the process of starting therapy and is there to answer any questions you may have (big or small!). Should you ever need post-therapy chocolate or a natter, she always has some chocolate in her desk drawer for those who need it and will find a way to give people time even when it’s manically busy. 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!
Therapy Team
Charlotte Flothmann – Clinical Team Leader
She/Her
Charlotte has been working in mental health for over 10yrs and has a special interest in supporting people with experiences of trauma and complex mental health issues. She is a chartered psychologist and has contributed to a range of services including a young person’s crisis team, adult addiction support, and family services. She has also worked in trauma support and refugee centres in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Living and working in different contexts has given her a passion for supporting people impacted by discrimination and social injustices and for understanding how that changes the way we experience the world.
Charlotte is the Clinical Lead at Breakthrough supporting the wider team and offering therapy in English, French, German and Spanish!
Louise Turner – Psychotherapist
She/Her
Louise has worked in many mental health charities and services over the years and currently works for Bristol’s specialist NHS clinics for FGM survivors. She loves yoga, making pottery and slowly turning her home into an indoor jungle. We jokingly call Louise our office goat, it’s not as harsh as it sounds! She finds an artistic use for almost anything we’re about to throw out, so our art cupboard is full of weird and wonderful bits of scrap she’s gathered from around the Support Centre! Louise is also the queen of weird but wonderful questions, “shower thoughts” (Google it!) and Netflix recommendations!
Maddie Jessel – Psychotherapist
She/Her
Maddie is a qualified, HCPC registered Art Psychotherapist with a background in the creative arts. She has worked at the Notre Dame Refugee Centre (NDRC) in London, where she ran an art psychotherapy group for asylum seekers and refugees, and set up a 1-2-1 therapy space for LGBTQIA+ clients. She currently works at a therapeutic artistic community in Bristol, supporting adults with complex mental health difficulties. She loves swimming, basketball, experimental cooking (often with questionable results), cups of tea, and carpentry… favourite project so far has been helping build a treehouse for adults!
Alicia Ridley – Psychotherapist
She/Her
Alicia worked with Breakthrough on placement across 2020-21 with our art therapy group, and has now joined the team part-time as our new Art Psychotherapist. She has worked with community art groups, schools and youth groups and is currently working for a perinatal mental health charity in Bristol. She loves Dance and Dance Movement Therapy , making things out of clay and mixed media art making. She lives near Bradford on Avon with her husband, two boys, two Italian street cats and Milo the lurcher.
Johanna – Psychotherapist
She/Her
Johanna will be joining the team in Spring 2023 working with our Friday psychotherapy group, START programme, and activity groups.
She’ll be updating her bio on our website soon so you can get to meet her before she joins us.
Gareth Thomas – Trainee Psychotherapist
He/Him
Gareth is from Bristol but has lived in London for 18 years before moving to Bath just before lockdown. He has mostly worked with disadvantaged young people, offering them information, advice and guidance. Between jobs he has done manual labour and also some care work. Gareth is currently a 4th year trainee in Gestalt Psychotherapy. He is a jewellery designer and maker, and has a strong interest in making art in many different mediums. He is also a new dad, so is mostly exhausted. He meditates daily in an attempt to hold on to his sanity.
Gareth is working with our Men’s Sexual Abuse Survivors Psychotherapy Group as his placement.
Georgie – Trainee Psychotherapist
She/Her
Georgie will be joining our Friday morning Psychotherapy Group on placement from January 2023.
Georgie is on the third year of a five-year MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy at Metanoia Institute in London and volunteers with the Samaritans and Mind. Previously, she worked at Channel 4. She is a keen bread and ice cream maker and lover of Stephen Sondheim musicals.
Support Team
TBC – Student Support Worker
TBC
Each year Breakthrough offer a 9 month placement for psychology students looking to build their experience in mental health settings. Our placements run from August to July each year, with interviews taking place across April and May.
So watch this space and we’ll introduce our new student soon!
Craig – Yoga Instructor
He/Him
Craig has been teaching yoga for 2 years and started practicing after a life-changing event in 2018, which saw a significant change of career and direction. Craig is Trauma Sensitive Yoga trained and has led Julian House clients in yoga classes.
Outside of yoga, Craig has worked for Julian House since 2019 and currently runs a Day Centre for rough sleepers in Bath. Craig also practices Vipassana (silent meditation), which those who know him find slightly comical as he also loves to talk! Craig lives in Bath with his wife and three children – and three cats!
Lucy – Community Cat
After 18 months of cat antics, due to the Support Centre being so busy and needing to re-shuffle some of the space for different uses, Lucy will be moving out of Breakthrough and back in with Holly from late Aug 2022.
We know everyone will miss her (and she’ll definitely miss how many visitors bring her Dreamies), but there aren’t enough rooms in the building to give her her own space.
But we’ll still give service users the odd update and ‘postcards’ from her new home!
New Staff!
We have new staff members joining the team over the coming months:
TBC – Fundraising & Communications Coordinator
TBC – Psychotherapist
TBC – Group Psychotherapist
TBC – Men’s Therapy Group Facilitator
TBC – Clinical Team Admin Assistant
We’ll be updating their bios in the coming weeks so you can “meet” them before any appointments with us.
Trustees
Breakthrough is governed by a Board of Trustees whose job it is to oversee the operation and development of the charity.
Our amazing Board of Trustees are:
Jen Cowderoy
(Chair of Trustees)
Hannah Cox
Emily Curtis
Jon Bees
Elena Hailwood
Sarah Thomas
Susan Crichton
TBC