Our Senior Team

Tappy Twins are so excited to have the award winning actress Kate Ford as our Patron. We could not be more honoured to have this lovely lady supporting all the amazing children we are privileged to work with.

Award winning actress Kate Ford became a household name as the dark, manipulative and dangerous Tracy Barlow on the character’s return to the legendary Coronation Street in 2002.

Here she remained in until 2007 ensuring Tracy became the person that the population loved to hate, with Kate’s enthralling performance of the Street’s most intriguing bad girl.

On the back of Tracy’s popularity, Kate went back to Weatherfield in 2010 and remains a pivotal character on the show.

During her time on Coronation Street, Kate has been rewarded for her success receiving: Awards at the British Soap Awards in 2004 and 2005; “Best Storyline” (alongside Samia Smith and Bill Ward) at the British Soap Awards in 2007 and “Best Actress” also at the British Soap Awards 2007.

Aside from her role as Tracy she has also appeared in other well-known programmes: Blue Murder in 2007 (alongside Caroline Quentin); Missing in 2010 (alongside Pauline Quirk); a spinoff of Eastenders in 2002 (alongside Sid Owen and Patsy Palmer) and also starred in the daytime soap Doctors in 2001.

Kate is well known for her animal rights campaigning outside her work as an actress. She actively supports the Anti-Fur trade in China campaigning to prevent the skinning of cats and dogs. She supports Compassion in World Farming and is also the Honorary Vice President of Baby Lifeline campaigning to raise funds for new equipment for neonatal and maternity units across the UK.

Kate says

I am very excited to accept the role of Honorary Patron of Tappy Twins. The work that they do has a very real impact on some of our countries most vulnerable children. I am proud to be able to be part of it. Together we can make such a difference.

Areas of Expertise : Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mental Health First Trainer/Aider, Prevent Lead, EFT Accredited Trainer and Master Practitioner, PTT, Matrix Reimprinting, NLP Practitioner, Mindfulness Practitioner, Meditation Teacher, PSTEC Advanced Practitioner, Fully Trained Childline Counsellor, Family Support Practitioner, Personal Development Coaching and Training, Business Coaching and Training and Public Speaking.

Known for her infectious enthusiasm, energy and ability to help others to be exactly whom and what they want to be. Through Tappy Twins, over the years, Suzanne has worked with a huge range of clients, from entrepreneurs to primary school children. Now she dedicates all of her time, with her team, working within Schools and Colleges; whilst tirelessly developing Tappy Twins and Teenline to ensure that the young people that need support nationally get just that.

She is enthusiastic and passionate about sharing and teaching young people, how to use Energy Therapies for emotional healing, personal development; and to gain powerful relief from the physical and emotional stresses of everyday life. It is her belief that people deserve to be the best they can be despite personal circumstances. Suzanne has a real passion for helping children overcome any challenges they face, enabling them to reach their full potential.

When she is not developing Tappy Twins, Suzanne actively campaigns to raise awareness of vital issues our younger generation are facing. National Press repeatedly approach her to speak about a variety of important issues; such as the ever-increasing levels of self-harm amongst children as young as 4 years old. You can see her on BBC and ITN National News, talking about self-harm.

http://www.itv.com/news/2018-02-09/teachers-demand-support-amid-dramatic-rise-in-children-as-young-as-three-who-are-self-harming/

I believe that every child deserves to be a child and not exposed to anything that harms them emotionally or physically. It is their right to feel safe, loved and happy. The reality is that there are countless young people out there right now, who don’t have this right and are very unhappy and need someone to talk to and help them. Therefore, Tappy Twins, Tappy Town and Teenline were born. They act as a platform for any young person to visit and get the support they need, when they need it.

Winner of the Inspirational Woman of the Year 2018 – Ladies First Awards 

Areas of Expertise: Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, Speech and Language Specialist, EFT Master Practitioner, Special Educational Needs (SEN) Teacher, Mentoring.

Abigail is a trained Speech and Language Therapist who fell in love with working in schools whilst on her student placements. It was this love for working in schools that led her down the path of training as a teacher. Since qualifying, Abigail has worked in two Resource Bases which support children with a diagnosis of Autism. These bases are a stepping stone between the mainstream classroom and a specialist provision. Abigail manages her current base where she works with her children to support them and provide them with strategies with the aim that they will return to a mainstream provision. She feels very passionately about supporting and working with children who are at a disadvantage and wholeheartedly believes that all children should be loved and supported equally irrelevant of their background or additional needs.

Abigail is a Designated Safeguarding Lead and is an EFT Master Practitioner. She has much experience in mentoring and teaching children using a variety of strategies and techniques. She hopes to train in Matrix Reimprinting, Picture Tapping and to do a course in counselling. She firmly believes that learning, whatever age you are, never stops, including what we can learn from our young people.

Areas of Expertise: A Person Centred Counsellor, EFT Master Practitioner, Picture Tapping Practitioner and PSTEC Advanced Practitioner.

Kuli has had an immense passion from quite early on of working with children and young adults.  Although she began her counselling career working with adults using the person centred approach and found this very fulfilling her passion of working with children remained.  After having 2 boys of her own this was only re-affirmed.  She brings a lot of experience and is extremely personable and passionate.  Working in schools as a school counsellor has enabled her to work with and help some very vulnerable children.  She finds it is so important to help the children with their emotional development, which quite often can be overlooked.

She believes the work she does with children to help with their emotional development helps them to become healthier and happier adults. Kuli has helped countless children overcome their issues and fears and be able to move forward with their lives. She has been working with children for a few years now and delivers excellent results in both 1-2-1 sessions and her group work.

Kuli says

I have always felt a need to help others, in particular children and young adults hence the move from the corporate world towards counselling some time ago.

Areas of Expertise: U.K.C.P Accredited Psychotherapist. Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Master Practitioner, trainer and Facilitator, NLP Master Practitioner, Neurolinguistic Psychotherapist and Matrix Reimprinting Practitioner. Associate Trainer for The National for Eating Disorders in London and an Associate trainer for BEAT Eating Disorder Charity.

Bridin has a broad base work background that has equipped her with a vast resource of experiences that are invaluable to her as a therapist, enabling greater understanding and effective progress in client’s therapy. She has a particular interest and experience in working with the ASD spectrum and emotional management of Sensory Processing Disorder.

After qualifying as a psychotherapist Bridin has further trained at The National Centre for Eating Disorders and Obesity in London and is an affiliate member of their professional network, holding specialist qualifications for working with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, obesity, eating disorders and associated mental health conditions.

Bridin is the Managing Director and Founder of Northern Ireland’s first clinic treating obesity and eating disorders using evidence based psychological treatment models.

I am delighted to be introducing this exciting project into schools and community groups throughout the Province.

Sharon has over 25 years’ experience of working with children and adults who have mental health difficulties, learning disabilities and complex needs. Having trained with the Institute of Applied Behaviour Analysis and worked in clinical and therapeutic settings, her speciality is in undertaking behaviour / risk assessments and providing behaviour management plans.

She teaches for the NHS ‘Expert Patients Programme’, the Recovery College, Adult Education, the Isbourne Holistic Centre and is part of an Outreach Project delivering well-being sessions within the HM prison service.  Also she is working with the Steiner School to provide a behaviour clinic, behaviour assessments, plans and bespoke training and support sessions for their staff.

She has been recently published, contributing a chapter in a book called ‘EFT for Everyone’. In the 2016 Health and Social Care Awards, she was also a finalist for the ‘Empowerment’ and ‘Outstanding Achievement’ Awards.

Areas of Expertise: A person Centred Counsellor, NLP Practitioner, EFT Master Practitioner, Picture Tapping Practitioner and Mindfulness Practitioner.

Sharon brings a wealth of experience of working with children to adulthood, receiving referrals from Social Workers, GP’s and Support Groups. She sees the role of a school counsellor as an essential part of the school team, where she is able to guide students with their emotional development into a healthy path towards adulthood. Getting to the heart of the young people’s problems is what she does best; listening to their words and understanding their context and experiences, from their perspective.  Her relationship with the students has been extremely successful, and she has definitely found her niche in the counselling world.

To date, she have worked with many diverse issues such as self harm, forced marriages, disclosure of rape and its repercussions, suicide, depression, anxiety, anger, family breakdown, pressures and worries over exams.  She is also experienced working with people that have been labelled with conditions such as Borderline Personality Disorder and Manic Depressive.   Whilst confidentiality is so important to foster with the students, she is also aware of her responsibility to Safeguard and adhere to School Policies with regards to such matters.   As a member of the BACP, she is also bound ethically to their Codes of Practice.

Sharon says

I see us as the glue that holds everything together for students.  School counselling is critical for students to achieve optimal personal growth and acquire positive social skills.

Encourage and nurture the young and they will believe in themselves and prosper

Areas of Expertise: Emotional Therapeutic Counsellor, Art Therapist and Qualified Nurse

Leann an Emotional Therapeutic Counsellor with a passion to help make a difference to the lives of young people within our communities today. She feels it’s tough being young and with so many external pressures for some life just gets too much.

Her background is nursing and has worked within healthcare for over 25 years. She went through a personal trauma that resulted in her changing the direction of my career. She now understands why she went through what she did and how she now  uses it to help others.

Leann says

I am so excited to be working with Suzanne and team at Tappy Twins and look forward to supporting lots of young people guiding them to see: life can be OK.

Areas of Expertise: Counselling, Mindfulness, Bereavement Counselling, Lego Based Play Therapy, Personality Disorders, Autism Awareness and Self- harm and Suicide

Jo trained as an Integrative Counsellor, inspired by her terminally ill dad, followed a 20-year career in the hospital industry. The life experience of supporting her family through this challenging time led to re-awakening her yearning to learn and grow. She now runs a successful counselling practice in Ballycastle, NI.

She also supports adults, children and young people where she offers mediation and mindfulness sessions and runs Lego Based Play Therapy to groups and 1-2-1; privately and in schools.
She is passionate about enabling and empowering children to accept, embrace and evolve themselves to cope with the pressures they face in society today. Jo believes in ‘planting a thought seed’ when working with children to instil self- belief, self- worth and hope in their futures.

Areas of expertise: Person Centred Counsellor, Triple P Facilitator, Mental Heath First Aid and Child Sexual Abuse

Elizabeth qualified as a person centred counsellor and has vast experience working with both adults and young people.

She has experience working both one to one and facilitating therapeutic groups. Elizabeth is passionate about working with young people. She that every young person should have access to a safe, confidential space to explore difficulties they are experiencing.

Some of the difficulties Elizabeth have experience working with include, anxiety, suicide, anger, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, family breakdowns, loss, addictions, self-harm and mental health difficulties.

I believe that being given the time and space to explore our feelings today will be the beginning of our journey to understanding, healing and acceptance for our tomorrows.