
About Us
We provide long-term counselling for trauma-survivors and supervision and training for those who work with them.
Who We Are
We are a registered charity and company limited by guarantee. As the first and originally only agency providing refugee trauma specialist support in the southwest, we were founded in Bristol in 2002 to ease the mental suffering of asylum seekers and refugees.
What We Do
We provide vital, free, long-term 1-1 and group psychotherapy and counselling to people fleeing torture, oppression and war. We also hold an essential and unique proactive role in supporting the refugee sector's mental health and wellbeing. We provide supervision and training on a large range of trauma-related topics to the staff and volunteers of charities, local authorities, law centres, housing associations and companies.
Our Values
COMPASSION - We believe in the power of caring
COLLABORATION - We create connections
COURAGE - We face trauma together
Watch Video: How TFSW Makes a Difference
Watch Video: How TFSW Began
Meet the Team
We are a small, friendly team with a huge amount of experience.
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Nicola Hill
Ba (Hons) Politics with International Studies, PRINCE2 Practitioner
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
I am a charity leader with a background in operations, strategy, and service delivery and over 15 years cross-cultural professional experience. I am passionate about social justice and creating systems and services that are compassionate and inclusive.
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Katherine Cox
PhD, BACP Accred
CLINICAL DIRECTOR
I am an integrative psychotherapist and supervisor with experience and interest in working with communities experiencing multiple and intersectional oppression. I have spent most of my professional life in the voluntary sector and am committed to the wellbeing of both service users and those who work to support them.
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Loran Lincoln
BA, Journalism
ADMINISTRATOR
I am an experienced administrator and I have worked with a variety of non-profit organisations from animal charities to young carers. I find working with charities hugely rewarding.
Therapists and Trainers
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Lynn Linsdale
Dip HIP MA HIP
I have particular experience associated with working with clients suffering from anxiety, trauma, depression PTSD, and sexual abuse. I am also a supervisor and trainer for external agencies with TFSW.
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Susan Pontin
BA Dip HIP UKCP reg.
My approach as a psychotherapist places high value on the human relationship between client and therapist. I provide supervision to external agencies for TFSW.
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Katie Hope
BA (Hons), PG Dip HIP
I have 25 years' experience of working with refugees in the voluntary sector. I am a fully qualified humanistic integrative therapist with a special interest in trauma. I'm also a supervisor for
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Ana Jorge
MA, UKCP
I am an accredited psychotherapist working with individuals and couples. I work in an integrative way, which means I am trained in a number of therapeutic approaches. I am a TFSW supervisor for external agencies. I also have a passion for helping people to express themselves through arts and movement.
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Kirstie Adamson
BA, MSc, SEP, BACP(Accred)
Over 20 years experience of working with trauma, transition, adoption, attachment. I am also a somatic experiencing practitioner so particularly work on links between our emotions and the movements and sensations of our body. I am a therapist and trainer with TFSW.
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Ginny Bates
I am a humanistic integrative counsellor with 29 years experience; 12 in the NHS, working in private practice and specialising in trauma. I’m delighted to be working with tfsw.
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Ceinwen Birrell
MA, MFA
I am an art psychotherapist registered with HCPC and BAAT as well as a visual artist, specialising in painting. I work 1-1 and with groups and families. I have a particular interest in working with marginal groups such as refugees and asylum seekers. My work is trauma informed, socially engaged and intersectional in its focus. I run two art therapy groups for TFSW.
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Jessica Bennion
I am a relational and person centred counsellor with an interest in working with trauma. Alongside working with TFSW, I have a private practice, and also work with a Carers Service providing short-term counselling. I have 10+ years’ experience of working with victims of trafficking and modern slavery.​​
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Daniela D'acri
I am an integrative counsellor so I draw on a variety of approaches from psychodynamic, body psychotherapy and the relational school. As well as working with TFSW, I also have a private practice. I have worked in a bereavement service and other low cost services for over 6 years.
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Liz Legum
I am an integrative therapist which means I am not wedded to one particular discipline or technique. Instead, I work with each client to discover what is best for their unique needs. I have worked for ten years in the refugee sector in various capacities and have experience with people suffering from trauma and complex grief.
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Adetoun Grant
My previous role as an operations manager for a Black-led mental health charity was incredibly rewarding. However, working as a counsellor has always been my passion. As an integrative therapist I enjoy working in different ways with different people. Though I appreciate the diversity that my private practice can provide, I'm particularly pulled towards those from marginalised communities. I see my work with these clients as contributing towards closing the mental health inequalities gap.
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Charlene Thomson
MBACP
I’m an integrative psychotherapist and counselling psychologist in training. I am passionate about working collaboratively with people in a way that is relational, trauma informed and sensitive to intersectional oppression. I have previously worked within the sexual and domestic violence sector and currently work in the NHS alongside private practice.
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Addam Merali-Younger
MA MBACP
I'm an integrative, relational counsellor working for TFSW and another charity, alongside my own private practice. I aim for my work to be anti-oppressive, and to support those from marginalised groups and communities. My mum was a refugee at the age of 12, and this personal connection inspires my aim to give time in my studies and work to the support of refugees and asylum seekers.
Discover More
Stories from TFSW Interpreters.
Trustees
Our committed trustees have a wide range of experience. If you’d like to join the trustee team, please contact us.
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Erin Caseley
CHAIR OF TRUSTEES
I am a freelance consultant with 20 years’ leadership experience and particular expertise in strategy, change and organisational development. With deep rooted values around inclusion and social justice I am inspired and heartened by the incredible work of TFSW and honoured to be a trustee.
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Sarah Fairbairns
TRUSTEE
I am a psychotherapist and was one of the first to work with clients with TFSW when the charity was created. After many years I chose to step back from the frontline and become a trustee instead. Since then I’ve had several different roles: fundraising initiatives, organising conferences, marketing and proofreading leaflets.
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John Eames
TRUSTEE
I have worked as a barrister representing individual clients in immigration cases in courts and tribunals. I am a tribunal judge sitting in the social entitlement and immigration & asylum chambers of the First-tier Tribunal.
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Miriam Nye
TRUSTEE
I have over 10 years’ experience as a specialist social worker working with refugees. I currently run a support service for refugees and migrants living with HIV in the Bristol area.
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Liz Murphy
TRUSTEE
I worked as an inner-city GP with a remarkably diverse population for many years. I became interested in the physical, psychological, and social issues affecting the health of people I was working with who had fled war, persecution, or oppression. I became a trustee of TFSW after retiring from clinical work.
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Ellie Palmer
TRUSTEE
I am a freelance fundraising consultant with 25 years' experience of working principally for social welfare charities. I believe we must support those coming to our country seeking refuge and asylum and that we have much to gain from inclusion. I am therefore delighted and honoured to have become a trustee of TFSW.
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Quen Geuter
TRUSTEE
I am CEO of Trauma Treatment International. I have over 20 years' experience working with NGOs to build scale, capabilities and partnerships. I join TFSW in their determination to provide essential mental health interventions to those who need them most.
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Judy Ryde, PhD UKCP reg.
FOUNDER/TRUSTEE
I am a psychotherapist and particularly interested in working across cultures and within the field of intercultural therapy, working with those who are traumatised by war and countries in conflict.
C O N T A C T U S
Learn more about our organisation or inquire about our training programmes.
Our Training
Training sessions are available in person or online as part of our nationally available online programme. We can also offer all the training below or create training for your own needs bespoke for your team.