Previously, Rachel spent 10 years working with children and adults with learning disabilities and associated mental health difficulties and is currently studying for a degree in child and adolescent development. She is married with a 4-year-old son and a baby daughter and lives in Norfolk.

Laura Haddow - Project Development Worker

Laura is a qualified youth worker and has been working with young people for the last 10 years. She headed up a youth project in East London for seven years, working alongside young people involved in addiction, crime and a wide range of other issues including self harm.  In this role she also ran a number of workshops for girls specialising in self esteem, sexual health and basic life skills.
As a partner of a self-harmer for many years, Laura is passionate to not only support young people effected by self-harm, but also those around them, and is especially excited about developing this side of the project.
Her role as project developer is to grow and develop the training programme, as well as manage the marketing and communications side of operations.

Laura lives in Brighton with her husband and is often found playing guitar or sat on the beach.

Shaun Parker - Online Development Worker

After spending a few years working with young people and young adults to deal with varies addictions in Colombia, South America, Shaun and his  wife Johana moved back to England to join our team.

Shaun is able to draw from his 10 years of youth work experience and over 20+ years of being a technology lover to take on our online development Role. Most of Shaun’s time will be spent developing our new online support groups along side other future online projects.

Shaun lives with his wife Johana in Luton and you will normally hear Shaun talking about his love for Apple products and coffee.

Julia Hamilton-Crickmay - Sessional Trainer

Julia began delivering training for selfharm.co.uk after being invited to be on the advisory board, after leaving her position as a Learning Mentor to start a family and now, as a parent to two young boys, can now understand the desperation and fear of parents when self-harm arises within their family. Julia has extensive experience of working with young people.

Donna Wade - Young People's Coordinator/Trainer

Donna studied psychology at the university of Hertfordshire and worker for LCET as a therapeutic worker specialising in self-harm. The position was funded by Children in Need and involved running group programmes in secondary schools around Luton. As part of that roll, Donna oversees the Young Peoples Advisory Group that helps run selfharm.co.uk as well as delivering training. She is passionate about seeing young people’s lives transformed and uses personal experience of self-harm to inform her work. Donna is married and lives in Hitchin.

Jo Coleman - Moderator 

Jo is a teacher, and alongside personal experience of self-harm, Jo set up "Behind the Myths", an art exhibition held in Sheffield to raise awareness for self-harm in December 2009.  In her spare time Jo reads a ridiculous amount of books and enjoys competitive sailing.

Consultants 

selfharm.co.uk is supported by a a very generous and gifted group of consultants, all of whom donate masses of time and expertise to the project:

Chris Curtis

CEO of Youthscape. Chris trained in law at the University of Bristol before moving on to work in schools as a youth worker in the early 1980's. He became the first member of staff at LCET in 1993 and, as Chief Executive, oversees the strategic development of the project. In 2001 Chris completed a Master Degree at the University of Birmingham in Educational Psychology (Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties). He writes and speaks widely on education, culture and young people. Both he and his wife Helen are registered Foster Carers and have two children of their own. 

Dr Ralph Harkness

Dr Ralph Harkness works with the Mental Health Team within Children’s Services and in Private Practice in Norfolk. His qualifications include two Fellowships (Maxillofacial and Public Health), a Masters Degree (Maxillofacial Disfigurement), a Doctorate (Psychotherapy) a Post Graduate Diploma in Psychotherapy / Counselling, he is a Registered Psychotherapist and Supervisor with Counsellors and Psychotherapists in Primary Care. Ralph has a particular expertise in oral-facial prosthetic reconstruction because of cancer and trauma, self-harm, eating disorders, substance abuse, child and adolescent psychotherapy and family psychotherapy. His practice and experience includes acute hospital departments, GP practice settings, the private sector, charitable and independent sectors, universities and schools.

More to follow.