OUR TRUSTEES

The role of Trustee is to give guidance and advice to the Directors with regard to the management and operation of the Counselling Centre, first of all in contributing to good governance by reviewing and challenging the operation of the centre, and secondly in contributing to future success by adding creative ideas.

Professor Aiden Halligan MA, MD, FRCOG, FFPHM,MRCPI

A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Aidan Halligan was appointed Professor of Fetal-Maternal Medicine at the University of Leicester and Head of Obstetric Services at Leicester Royal Infirmary in 1997.

In 1999, he was invited to become the first Director of Clinical Governance for the UK National Health Service and formed the Leicester-based NHS Clinical Governance Support Team to translate the vision of clinical governance into a nationwide reality.

From January 2003 until October 2005, he served in the UK Department of Health as Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, with responsibility for issues of clinical governance, patient safety and quality of care across the NHS in England. In that role, he was joint Senior Responsible Officer for the National Programme for IT, and the senior director sponsor of the Healthcare Commission, National Patient Safety Agency and National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

In March 2007, Professor Halligan was appointed as Director of Education at University College London Hospitals, and in May 2008, as Chief of Safety at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals.

Andy Birtwell

Andy Birtwell was born in Lancashire in 1945. He was educated at Marlborough, where he specialised in science and Keble College, Oxford where he read Philosophy and Psychology. He then trained in business by spending 5 years in Brand Management at Procter and Gamble after which, in 1975, he set up his own business (a small engineering business which builds water treatment equipment) which he still runs today. In 1993 he started to train as a psychotherapist having done a little therapy over the previous 5 years and started practising in 1998 and continues to do so today working with private clients on a one to one basis. He is an enthusiastic amateur vintage car owner and mechanic. In 1998 Andy and his wife Sally bought a building site and built a large new house, which took 5 years and strained their physical, mental and financial health. This house is used as a conference centre for small groups meeting at weekends to do training in (almost anything including) things like Yoga, Dancing, Singing and Therapy.

 Gail Thomas

As a health professional with many years experience in both care delivery and in education, I am really interested in seeing the development of the Banbury Counselling Centre, as a Trustee. It is an exciting and important venture and I think that all of the Trustees are flattered to have been asked to participate and are keen to contribute to the Centre's success.
Professionally, I began my career as a nurse in Montreal, Canada in 1972. I settled in London in 1977 and worked clinically as a nurse and then a midwife until moving into education in the late 1980’s. In September 2006, I moved to Bournemouth University taking up the role of Dean of the School of Health and Social Care in order to continue to develop my expertise as academic leader, manager, practitioner and researcher. I met Gareth Chick when he very expertly facilitated some team development and have been very pleased to since meet Rachel and become involved in the Centre.
Personally, I am a wife to Bill, mother to Ben and Sam (who are now 27 and 25 years old so tower over their mother, and of whom I am very proud). Our family home is in West London but we also have a little place in Bournemouth where I am based during the week.

Natasha Lyons

 I have business experience of 16 years running shops and wholesale jewellery enterprises. I am nearly 17 years sober  I have a full working knowledge of the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous.

At business level I am used to running small businesses on a tight budget. I have opened many shops and even a café, plus started a wholesale body jewellery company which now turns over in excess of £1million per annum. I started the businesses with very little capital and did not have the luxury of affording design and marketing specialists, instead I have learned how to produce what I need myself, including building and running our websites. This was necessary to reduce costs and overheads. I am used to working in small teams of people and on my own.

 Richard Helyer

My name is Richard Helyer, and I am a 62-year-old recovering alcoholic. I have been a member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for about 24 years, and have not drunk alcohol for almost the last 22 years.My career outside alcohol was in electronics - I was what is often termed a "high-functioning alcoholic", since for a significant part of my working life I was able to run a specialist electronics company which catered to banks, the Police, and other institutional bodies, yet I was drinking heavily, particularly during the last 3 or 4 years.

When I managed with the assistance of AA to stop drinking, I began to question the motives which underpinned my previous use of alcohol, particularly in propellant mode. This meant that whilst I continued to live my "day job" in electronics, I also became involved for the first time in my life with others who suffered either from alcohol addiction, and/or with conditions which are appear to predispose to addictive behaviour. I have not trained formally in any of this, but my experience with a broad section of this segment of society is considerable. Electronics remains part of my working life, but I no longer crave the adulation I so desperately needed before I became sober.

 David Frost

David initially qualified as a Chartered Engineer, specialising in quality management and continuous improvement. He went on to complete a Masters Degree from Loughborough University in Quality and Human Resource Management and he has subsequently spent most of his career in human resources. David is now a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and employed as Group Human Resources Director of Produce World, the largest supplier of vegetables to the food retailers. David is married with two children and lives in rural East Northamptonshire.

 Conelius Toomey

Conelius is our most recent addition to our Trustee team.   Conelius is a fully qualified psychotherapist and he was the Project Director of St Saviours Alcohol Rehabilitation Programme in Chipping Campden.  He has an immense amount of experience, wisdom and local knowledge to share with us.