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 Life Changes Counselling

Life Changes recognises that our clients are the foundation of our service. Our relationship with them is based on the principle of mutual respect. We aim to build on what we do well and develop our service to respond to meet changing needs.

Meet the Team

Chris Orton
Chair

Liz Rose
Coordinator 

Amy Thomas
Asst Coordinator 

Trustees:

Ben Rose
Secretary/Trustee

Philip Meakins
Trustee

Anne Hall
Trustee

Catherine Jones 
Finance Director/Trustee

Steve Maidment 
Trustee

Chris Orton / Chair 


Chris is a chartered engineer who has spent half his career working as an engineer in senior civil service roles and the other half as a Management Consultant within the Health Sector, with a focus in Primary care and procurement. He has considerable operational management experience and is keen to use this to help Life Changes maintain a sustainable future. As CEO of a local GP federation he has direct experience of LCC, having contracted them to deliver services to their patients.



Philip Meakins / Trustee


Philip a retired GP and previous Chair of Life Changes Counselling has maintained a special interest in Mental Health issues and many years ago was the first GP in the area to employ a counsellor as part of his practice team. His involvement with Life Changes came about because he wanted to improve local Mental Health provision.


Liz Rose / Coordinator 


Liz has 26 years of small business experience, and is a qualified Gestalt Counsellor with her own successful private practice. Liz is our Lead Coordinator at LCC offering support to the Clients, Counsellors and Trustees.

Liz has had a connection with Life Changes for many years, by volunteering firstly as a student counsellor and continuing to offer her services once qualified before taking on the role as a supporting coordinator. Liz fully endorses The Life Changes Mission Statement, as she feels it is important to be able to offer affordable counselling services to those in our community who need it most.


Steve Maidment / Trustee 


Steve has been practising as a counsellor for over 10 years and has qualifications in Person-Centred Counselling (Dip(HE)), Humanistic & Integrative Counselling (BA(Hons)), Clinical Supervision (PG Cert) and an NCFE Level 3 Award in Education and Training.  Previously to counselling, Steve worked as a Youth Support Worker and has an associated qualification – Level 3 LDSS (Learning, Development and Support Services for Children, Young People and Those Who Care for Them) and also attained a City & Guilds Level 2 qualification for IT users (ITQ).


Steve uses the knowledge acquired from all of these courses to enhance his own practise and the administrative processes within the two charities and two college counselling services he currently works for, as well as his own private counselling and supervision practice which is just entering its fifth year of operation. Until recently, he was also lecturing on a level 5 counselling course within one of the two colleges.


Steve holds membership of the BACP and accredited membership of the NCPS and intends to study towards becoming a Counselling Psychologist at some point in the future.  Whilst he prefers to avoid using the term specialism when referring to his counselling practise, Steve has an amplitude of experience in supporting people through bereavement and loss, depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal ideation, stress (including work related stress), bullying, substance misuse, sexuality and gender identity. 




Amy Thomas / Asst Coordinator 


Amy is a qualified person-centred counsellor in private practice and has professional and personal experience in supporting individuals with their mental well-being. She began her journey with life changes in 2020 as a volunteer counsellor. Since qualifying with a 1st class honours degree, Amy continued to offer her services as a counsellor with life changes but has more recently taken on the role of assistant coordinator, alongside her flourishing Private Practice.  Amy has a kind, caring and compassionate approach and is committed to making a difference in people's lives and the community as a whole.


Ben Rose / Secretary - Trustee 


Ben is a practicing solicitor specialising in commercial and data protection. As well as his legal career, Ben has always had a personal interest in mental health which led to his involvement with Life Changes Counselling. 



Anne Hall / Trustee 


Anne Is a retired Humanistic / Gestalt counsellor , supervisor and trainer, whose main role was developing and coordinating a counselling department at a local college. With a background in modern language teaching Anne originally saw the need for wider mental health provision in schools, later moving into counselling adults in the NHS and private practice.  Anne is committed to supporting Life Changes in its mission to offer accessible, affordable counselling to the community.


Catherine Jones / Finance Director - Trustee 


Catherine brings her vast experience in the banking industry; in addition to a passion to make a difference to others. Having attained a First Class Honours in Person Centred Counselling and a Post Graduate/ Masters in Teaching and Education. Catherine currently offers a successful counselling/supervision clinical practice as well as inspiring counselling trainees by teaching a pluralistic Approach to counselling underpinned by Humanistic way of being.

Our Thanks...

Polly Clark
Founder & Trustee (Retired March 2022)

Polly's passion and commitment to introducing Life Changes Counselling in the Community and her ongoing drive and commitment throughout the years has been nothing short of inspirational.  An experienced counsellor and supervisor Polly built up many years' experience as a counsellor, both in private practice and public service, as a Supervisor and as Coordinator for a number of counselling services.  Polly was Coordinator from the start of Life Changes, retiring from this particular role in 2018. Polly has an MA in Counselling from Reading University.

Jeremy Clark
Charity Secretary (Retired December 2021)

Jeremy's contribution to Life Changes Counselling has been invaluable since the on-start of the Charity.  Now retired, he spent his working life in executive roles in Motor Engineering, Contract Hire and Coach Travel. He combined this with involvement in various neighbourhood and community organisations. These roles have included hands-on as fund-raiser and events organiser, committee roles as treasurer and secretary, and management committee roles in youth work and in a probation hostel. He is now involved in voluntary work in charities involved mainly in sailing and the sea.
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