About BACP CYPF
Making a difference for children, young people and families

Emma Davies, Chair 

Emma is a director of The Exchange, a specialist counselling and psychological wellbeing service for children and young people. She provides school counselling services for local authorities across Wales and Scotland, with a team offering counselling and psychological wellbeing interventions across 400 primary and secondary schools.

Over the past 12 years, Emma has created the resource-based approach to counselling children and young people. She set up Exchange-Resource to educate and train counsellors, psychological wellbeing practitioners and school staff in applying this approach to support the psychological development and resilience of children and young people.

Emma also acts in a consultative role with governments and local authorities in integrating this approach with getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) principles to achieve a whole school approach to supporting psychological wellbeing. Her special interest in promoting a holistic understanding has created a strategic model of psychological wellbeing for children and young people.

Claire Harrison-Breed, MBACP

Claire is founder and Company Director of Broad Horizons therapy centre based in Northamptonshire. She has worked with children, young people and families for over 30 years, in social care, health and education settings. A counsellor, Gestalt child and adult psychotherapist, play therapist and social worker. Claire specialises in working with trauma, dissociation, and attachment issues, and is currently in the fourth year of her PhD researching trauma and dissociation in children.

Before becoming company owner, she worked as a therapist for organisations including the NSPCC, Northamptonshire County Council and Children Fund Research projects. She is also a senior lecturer in counselling and psychotherapy for the University of Northampton teaching on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and developing research in the counselling field.

Rebecca Wemyss MBACP (Accred)

Rebecca currently works for Winston’s Wish as bereavement counsellor for children and young people in primary schools, high schools and up to age 25 and has a lot of experience working therapeutically with children and young people online and adapting to digital / remote working. 

Previously, Rebecca worked as a high school counsellor in several schools around Manchester, including as part of a mental health support team (MHST) and has volunteered for a number of charities as well. She is really passionate about the young person’s voice being heard and making sure services intended to support CYP are more led by children and young people themselves. 

Having spent some time abroad, Rebecca also has an interest in how culture and language plays a role in children and young people’s mental health and can impact their access to counselling and mental health support. She has worked with children in the USA, Romania, South Korea, Thailand and Myanmar in different capacities and also for a short time with refugees from North Korea, Tibet and Syria. 

Linda-Jayne Elliot

Linda-Jayne is passionate about early intervention, working in primary and special school settings. A counsellor and clinical supervisor, Linda-Jayne works for Apex Counselling Antrim and is also independently delivering school Counselling, and 1-1 sessions and workshops with children and parents. 

Linda-Jayne has a background in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), working with the National Autistic Society in NI, and is an advocate for young people with special educational needs accessing counselling services. She developed online groupwork for young people and parents, including children moving to post primary schools, during the pandemic. Linda-Jayne is a mum of two boys who are her light