Who Are We?
Aurora is staffed by a team of skilled therapy practitioners and facilitators. Team members are qualified, professional and compassionate individuals some of whom are survivors themselves. All staff are fully insured and have enhanced CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) clearance.
The Aurora Team consists of:
| Susannah | Chief Executive, Counsellor, Group Facilitator |
| Nick | Business Development Manager, Group Facilitator |
| Anna | Counsellor |
| Annie | Counsellor |
| Belinda | Complementary Therapist |
| Chhaya | Counsellor |
| Dan | Counsellor |
| Helen | Complementary Therapist |
| Hilary | Complementary Therapist |
| Jo | Counsellor |
| Lou | Complementary Therapist |
| Yvonne | Complementary Therapist |
(Please note that details of some of the team are still being updated.)
Susannah
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Susannah, a qualified Psychological Counsellor, is the founder and Chief Executive of Aurora. She is herself a survivor of both male and female sexual abuse in childhood and using her pseudonym of Lucy Jenner, has participated in TV documentaries and Radio Phone-Ins to highlight the huge issue of sexual abuse of children and its often emotionally paralysing effects on adulthood.
Susannah has spoken at Conferences & Marches in London and been part of Training Schedules for Child Protection Programmes.
During her own healing process Susannah found that talking therapies were just not enough:
“I found that there were so many barriers I had built up over the years that 1 or 2 hours a week talking about my issues would not open up the areas of deep despair and shame. I realised I couldn’t just let go......I needed to find other holistic therapies and healing to access and move through my pain. A range of sensitive and empathic complementary therapists and counsellors I found along the way helped me to gradually come out of my emotional prison.
It wasn’t until I briefly visited a crisis centre where Movement and Art therapies were accessible on site that I began to see the effectiveness of having a place where a range of therapies and services were available. It was the beginning of my journey to find the key to open my own Pandora’s box in a safe and caring place.
It has taken me a lifetime to find the therapies that have helped me. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. My vision for the place I call the AURORA HEALTH FOUNDATION is to put all those therapies in one place to better help survivors find their way through their own personal hell. It is my life purpose to bring this vision of healing to fruition and enable others to reclaim the joy and happiness that was stolen from them in childhood.”
Up to now, Susannah's work has been carried out under the pseudonym of Lucy Jenner, but after some recent events she has decided to come ‘out’ and speak candidly about her own experiences to encourage and inspire other survivors that it is possible to heal from early violation and trauma.
Nick
Nick’s main area of work has been mental health research and evaluation. Originally training as a mental health nurse (RMN), Nick went on to complete an honours degree in psychology (and later a Masters) followed by many years in the academic mental health field, most recently for the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (now the Centre for Mental Health) in London.
Nick is the Business Development Manager for Aurora.
Anna
Anna is deeply committed to supporting adults who have experienced abuse as children and offers an integrative approach to therapy, providing a safe and welcoming environment which allows a trusting therapeutic relationship to develop over time.
Anna is currently completing a diploma in therapeutic counselling, having already studied for over a year. Anna also works for Breast Cancer Care supporting people affected by breast cancer and it is in this role and volunteering as a Samaritan that Anna discovered her passion and natural ability for supporting people in emotional need.
Annie
Annie is trained in Core Process Psychotherapy, an integrative, humanistic approach that is rooted in Buddhist philosophy. This approach works with the understanding that we are all intrinsically whole and healthy, that previous experience may have caused our access to our own health and strength to be distorted or blocked but ultimately it is there, waiting to be uncovered.
Annie is thoroughly committed to helping people find their own inner resource and health, regardless of their experience, understanding that whilst we may have been shaped by our earlier experiences we do not have to be ruled by them and can go on to live lives with greater freedom, spontaneity and joy.
Belinda
I am a Holistic Beauty and Massage Therapist who is registered with the FEDERATION OF HOLISTIC THERAPIST. I have spent 14 years in the industry specialising massage therapy and have studied over 10 different types and styles of massage. My passion lies in attuning to your needs and creating a bespoke treatment for you.
I offer treatments that include the full body massage, clothed body massage, neck and shoulder massage or we can discuss your needs and start at a place where you feel comfortable – I have often found that a lovely starting point is a pedicure or manicure where we can spend some time talking about what you would like to achieve from a massage and coming up with a treatment plan for you.
I am happy to tailor a treatment according to your needs. There is no such thing for me as a treatment that we cannot do – I have a unique way of creating treatments that will suit your needs. I have experience and knowledge of working with crystal energies, the breath, mindfulness, deep relaxation and meditation. I encompass the whole person when I work and look at lifestyle and nutrition as a big part of the healing process.
Manicure and Pedicures are available and I ask that if you have a particular colour in mind that you bring that colour with you so that you are 100% happy.
Manicures include the following – nail shape, cuticle work, hand and arm exfoliation and massage and application of colour as well as a pressure point scalp massage.
Pedicures include the following – nail shape, cuticle work, dry skin buffing, lower leg exfoliation and massage and application of colour (please remember to bring open toed shoes).
Chhaya
Chhaya has been a complementary therapy practitioner for over 10 years combining a variety of body therapies depending on her clients needs. She is currently in her third year of training as an integrative counsellor and has completed specialist training in domestic violence, sexual violence, self harm and suicide, working with young people and working with bereavement by homicide. Integrative means that there are significant connections between different therapies and whilst remaining respectful to each approach, integrative counselling draws from many sources in the belief that no one approach has all the truth. It may involve examining past hurts, present difficulties, future hopes and the habits, beliefs or patterns underlying your way of being.
Chhaya believes in a holistic approach combining mind, body and soul in her work as she believes that there is no separation between each of these and that we are all inter-connected and part of a wider universe. Often your body may tell you there is something not quite right but you may not be able to access what is troubling you. During therapy Chhaya may use a variety of modalities including talking, images, art materials and other objects. She believes that an important part of therapy is the journey towards becoming more comfortable in your own body and with your identity. This can be very important when you feel different in the outside world. She looks forward to sharing the laughter and tears with you on your journey towards greater self awareness and self acceptance.
Dan
Details to be added
Helen
Helen is a Shiatsu Practitioner specialising in women’s health and is also studying medicine to become a doctor. She hopes to one day be able to provide integrated healthcare to individuals which links both conventional and complementary medicine.
Shiatsu is a traditional Japanese body therapy that works on the individual as a complete being. Shiatsu means “finger pressure” and is one of the oldest forms of medicine - healing with hands. Whether it be a physical complaint or emotional blockages that stand in your way, Shiatsu works with the physical structure and the inner-energies of the body to assist the body’s natural healing process and to restore balance.
Shiatsu is carried out on a comfortable mat with the recipient wearing loose comfortable clothing. Pressure is applied to the body alongside stretches, rotations and manipulative techniques which allows for treatment deep into the meridians (energy lines), muscles and joints. Shiatsu is a therapeutic practice which supports individuals in moving towards greater health and well-being.
Using intuitive touch Helen works deeply with the body to reach the areas in your life that feel empty, stuck, lost or incomplete. Touch can enable each of us to reconnect with our own abilities for self-healing. Shiatsu is an opportunity to reach past the physical and emotional symptoms to the core of who you are where healing can take place. Helen uses a variety of other techniques alongside the Shiatsu such as visualisation and breath-work to allow for deeper energetic shifts.
When words are too painful, difficult, or when you feel fed-up with speaking, the body can do the talking and Shiatsu connects deep to support that place; to listen. Shiatsu touches the places where our story lives in the body, where our experiences are stored.
Hilary
I am Hilary and I offer Biodynamic Massage and Body Psychotherapy to clients at Aurora.
"Biodynamic" refers to the life-force or vital energy which keeps you alive – uniting body, mind & spirit.
The aim of Biodynamic Therapy is to support and encourage the free flow of this vital energy, which can get stuck or misdirected when you haven’t been able to interact in a satisfactory way with your environment (including the people around you). This can lead to physical and mental health problems.
Body Psychotherapy can help you connect what is going on in your body (sensations and symptoms) to what is going on in your mind (feelings, thoughts and beliefs), and offers you the opportunity to interact in a safe and appropriate way, so your energy can flow freely again and you can begin to heal.
Biodynamic Massage can help to improve the energy flow in your body, which is restricted by muscle tension, shallow breathing, fluid retention, inflammation etc. It can also improve the efficiency of your digestive system, which is often badly affected by stress and trauma.
Biodynamic Massage is offered as a treatment on its own, or as part of a Body Psychotherapy process.
Jo
I'm in my third year of training in integrative psychotherapy. I recently heard a new definition from Susannah: "Survivor Therapist". This is meaningful for me as I have come to this work as a result of my own journey of recovery. I know through experience the effects of dysfunctional relationships in family of origin and beyond, in Patrick Carne’s words, "the self becomes inconsolable".
It is in relationships that we sustain damage, and it is in relationships that we need to heal. I believe that as humans, we have inside us a truth-seeking and health-seeking part of us.
Many people who have experienced abuse have also experienced distortions and denial of reality. This can be crazy-making - and lead us to be unsure - and our ability to act on the basis of our own values and beliefs is weakened. In the recovery relationship, I would like to help you identify and strengthen your own abilities, your independent initiative, and sense of what is right, as part of your journey towards a life where you are able to fulfil the best of all you have to bring to the world.
Lou
Lou is a Tai Chi & Chi Gong Instructor and Energy facilitator. Also, a Lifestyle and well being Coach. Lou believes in a body, mind and spirit connection and working with all three, as when a person heals one part of the whole, the rest is affected or one realises that the other parts need attention and healing too. She trained as an Instructor in Tai Chi and Chi Gong in 2005 and has been training herself for about 12 plus years now and still continues her development and training in this area.
Lou qualified as a Life Coach earlier this year, with a distinction and is building her business in these two areas. She works with the frail and elderly and a young man recovering from a Drug induced Psychosis, as well as private clients and Aurora. She is very passionate about working with young people again, having done a great piece of work with this client group and their families, a few years ago. Lou believes wholeheartedly in connecting with one's energies and that everything is energy and one must find the authentic self, nurture the child within and allow it to grow with the adult and have fun doing so and then follow one's own path. She is embarking on some joint ventures next year, taking workshops and talks and opening up to her own path of sharing, caring and teaching others to help themselves.
Having come from experiences of Counselling, Psychotherapy, other therapies, Inner Child work and her own experiences of working through and overcoming adversity, Lou now wants to help others to realise life can be beautiful and is to be lived to one's full potential. Lou is very pro-active, positive, caring and has great intentions, for herself, those she works with and has great dreams to build her own business, help others and in turn help herself.
In the way of the Taoist teachings, 'stand like a tree and flow like a river' and Lou's own belief, 'build more within' and then the rest takes care of itself.
Lou is also half way through her Healing Trust (NFSH) course and can also bring Healing into her work.
Yvonne
Yvonne has been Reiki Practitioner since 2005, then went on to study Reflexology at the London School of Reflexology and qualified in 2006.
Both therapies can help clear congestion in the energy systems within the body, to restore balance and stimulate the bodies own healing process.
She enjoys working with people holistically and uses her treatments to help bring together and integrate the physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual dimensions, to promote better health and wellbeing.
As a part of Yvonne's commitment to continual practitioner development she regularly attends courses and workshops and has post graduate diplomas in: Spinal Reflexology, Preconception Pregnancy& Post Natal Care and Indian Head Massage. Yvonne is a Member of the Association of Reflexologists (MAR).