Our Team
hannah clarke
Hannah first encountered complex childhood trauma when as a primary school teacher a child joined her class who had suffered terrible abuse. He presented incredibly ‘challenging’ behaviours that she and her colleagues did not understand and were at a loss to help. Hannah went on to work on a detached youth work team supporting children and young people on the streets, many she recognises were trauma victims.
Recognising the power of relationships in healing psychological wounds lead Hannah to study integrative psychotherapy and develop a deeper understanding of how trauma affects development and, more importantly, how we can help. She has studied with field leaders including Bessel Van der Kolk, Babette Rothschild and Daniel Siegel.
For the past eight years Hannah has worked predominantly with children and young people (and their families) who are fostered or adopted. Hannah is determined to use her specialist understanding of trauma and helping skills to make a difference to as many lives as she can.
Tony France
Tony began his professional career as a social worker before training as a psychotherapist. His interest in psychological trauma grew during his work in addiction services where he noticed significant levels of common trauma histories in those presenting for treatment. Tony became involved in the development of support and treatment services for children and families and, once again, trauma was the common theme in their lives.
Inspired by the work of Bruce Perry, Bessel Van der Kolk and Peter Levine amongst others, Tony has spent many years working nationally and internationally on projects and approaches that are mindful of people’s trauma experiences. This has included developing practical resources for parents and professionals and numerous keynote presentations at conferences.
Central to his work has been a belief that it is relationships that heal trauma and that the people who spend the most significant amount of time with those most vulnerable, are the people who need the trauma informed skills.