Helen Alexander, BD, Dip. Sw
Helen Alexander is a Minister of the Church of Scotland and trained in Gestalt Therapy before qualifying in Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy in 2001. She also worked for many years in Social Work. She is registered with the British Psychoanalytic Council and is a member of the Scottish Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists and of the Forum for Independent Psychotherapists. She lives in Edinburgh, where she divides her work between part-time Christian ministry and private psychotherapeutic practice.
Helen encountered The Clinical Theology Association almost 30 years ago at a difficult period in her life, and CTA/BPF has since played a significant part in her professional and personal development. She is now an authorised Small Group Facilitator and Chair of the Scottish Gathering Committee. She values BPF immensely for its promotion of the experiential nature of psychological growth work within the framework of theoretical understanding, its commitment to the integration of this with Christian faith and practice, and not least for the enduring friendships she has made.
John Allison, MA, DPhil, CPhys
John has had a long association with the Clinical Theology Association, now the Bridge Pastoral Foundation. He sought help from Frank Lake in 1963 and attended some of his workshops in the 1970s. After Frank's death in 1982 John let his membership lapse but rejoined in 2001.
John has a D.Phil. in particle physics and was Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer at Manchester University and worked for several years at CERN, the European Particle Physics Research Laboratory near Geneva. He retired in 2004 but is now a Director and Company Secretary of a not-for-profit company that supports the (non-military) application of particle physics.
John Barrett, BSc, PhD
John first came across the Clinical Theology Association (CTA), as it then was, in 1987. His church was starting training to set up a counselling centre, and decided to work with CTA. He undertook the seminar programme, and found it invaluable for personal development and self-awareness, and it also provided a huge boost to his confidence and self-esteem, which assisted his subsequent career enormously.
John has attended numerous conferences since 1992, both in Scotland and England, and been a small-group trainee facilitator at several conferences. John became an assistant tutor in 2003, and that same year joined the leadership team, as company secretary, and went on to become a Trustee in 2004. John became Treasurer in 2007, and has continued as a Trustee. From 2006, John was part of the team that developed the new psychotherapy course, which BPF launched in 2008, based at Douai Abbey. John became one of the first students, and in 2011 commenced the 4th and final year. John was re-elected as a Trustee at the AGM in July, and he is pleased to continue to serve BPF through this exciting time of new endeavours and opportunities.
Ann Boyd
Ann is a UKCP-registered psychotherapist and supervisor, who works in full time private practice. She is an active member of BPF, joining the seminars in the mid 80's.
Ann was authorised as a tutor in 1993, supervisor in 2012 and has run primal weekends since 2003. She was a member of the trustees (originally the council) for over 17 years. Ann has worked at the heart of BPF in the planning and training at conferences. She is Director of the BPF psychotherapy course. Ann is experienced in working with individuals, couples and groups, and has a special interest in our struggle to 'be'; this includes early years and primal integration.
Rebecca Chatfield
Rebecca attended her first BPF conference in 2013, and has been returning ever since.
Her experiences at the conferences have had a profound influence on her life and personal growth.
In 2019, she joined the leadership team as a Trustee, and has taken up the position of Membership Secretary.
Rebecca has a Masters degree in Law from Bristol University and practiced as a Barrister in the 1990s, before giving it up to concentrate on raising three children.
Following her introduction to BPF some years later, she became more and more interested in Psychotherapy, and decided to pursue it as a career. She has now completed her psychotherapy training at the Wealden Institute and divides her time between part-time work in a busy opticians practice and client work.
She values BPF enormously and is pleased to continue her involvement with the organisation and to support its ongoing growth and new opportunities.
Marion Ann Hale
Marion has been involved with BPF (CTA) since 1970, when she joined a seminar group in Fleet, Hampshire, led by the Rev. Dennis Hyde. This had a profound influence on her life and particularly how she viewed the way in which she taught, at that time in a girl's comprehensive school. She lost touch with CTA when the organization broke up after the death of Dr. Frank Lake. She went on to qualify as a counsellor. This led her into a training role as a teacher advisor in Hampshire, working in Social, Personal and Health Education, which has underpinned her work in BPF.
After contact with Peter van de Kasteele in the mid 80's she was invited to tutor a seminar group with David Thompson, and did that for a number of years.
She has served on the Council of CTA and then the Executive and was Vice-chair of BPF while Roger Moss was President. Unexpectedly Roger had a quadruple heart operation and she took over as chair of BPF at a very challenging time when there was no executive director and the administrative officer left. BPF was forced to restructure on a team basis with a part-time secretary. There then followed six years of an exciting, challenging and a rewarding time chairing the BPF leadership team. During that time she was privileged to facilitate groups at conferences and assisted in tutor training. She now supervises at conferences.
Marion stood down from the chair role six years ago due to a growing commitment in a new Church and a new role as Chair of the Board of Management of the BPF psychotherapy, counselling and training course. She was also asked during this time to act as Chair Emeritus, which meant she was available to offer advice and support when able. In 2014 she stood down from these roles but agreed to stand again as a trustee and was duly elected.
George Mitchell
George began his association with BPF in 2009, an experience that was to prove instrumental in a decision to change career paths. Originally trained in engineering, George worked as a sound recordist in the broadcast industry. Personal circumstances drew George into his own counselling process in 2007, a process that continues to this day. He began his formal counselling training in 2010, graduating from the University of Strathclyde in 2013. He now works as a student counsellor with the University of Glasgow. Within BPF, George has served on the Scottish Committee since 2012 and has been a trustee since 2017. He is an authorized small group facilitator, accredited person-centred counsellor and supervisor.
Reflecting on his personal counselling experience, George readily allows that his primary resource for counselling work comes not from his formal training on the diploma course, but rather from his own process work and the experience of working in BPF small groups and primal weekends.
Canon Angela Townshend
Angela is Priest-in-Charge at Christ Church, Bath. Angela was born and brought up in Bath, but only began her ministry at Christ Church in November 2011. She is married to Ned with four children and two stepchildren, and lots of grandchildren!
Angela taught in Bristol, served with the Church Mission Society in Hong Kong and trained as a therapist. She returned to full time work as Joint Warden of Leasow House and Tutor at Crowther Hall (the CMS training college in Selly Oak, Birmingham). She lectured in Women's Leadership and Counselling at Westhill College. She was ordained in 1995 and served her title at St James, Hill and was then Vicar of St Paul's Hamstead, both in the Birmingham Diocese. For six years she was Residentiary Canon at Guildford Cathedral.
James L Wilson, BD CPS
James Wilson is a Minister in the Church of Scotland. He first encountered CTA in 1985 when, having completed his preparation for ministry, he came across “Clinical Theology” at the point it was being re-published. Having done some training in psychotherapy during his ministry training, he was attracted to attend the Scottish Gathering in Crieff, where the speaker was Howard Clinebell. He went on to undertake the seminars in Aberdeen under John Grant and subsequently attended almost all the conferences in Scotland and England. He became an assistant tutor and then a tutor, and has been a Small Group Facilitator since 1991. James was a Member of Council and of the Authorisation Panel, before joining the Leadership Team in the newly-named Bridge Pastoral Foundation.
James believes that Frank Lake’s training materials, together with the integrative process of small group work, make the organisation stand out from others. He counts it as a privilege to be associated with both the work and the people involved in it, and wishes to continue to support the organisation in any way he can.