» Meet the Team

Hello, I am Gail Evans, founder and Director of The Academy: S.P.A.C.E Ltd

I have been involved in supporting people who are in emotional and other life difficulties most of my working life, initially in volunteering, then in social work. My path from becoming a counsellor, to psychosexual therapist, trainer, clinical supervisor, university lecturer and author started in 1983. From 1993 to 2010 I worked for Sheffield Hallam University teaching counselling and later heading the Counselling Studies Unit. In 2006 I set up a counselling centre in Sheffield (Cornerstone) with a colleague, which continues to thrive. In 2010 when SHU ceased professional training for prospective counsellors I sought permission to set those courses up as part of a private training initiative. SHU was very supportive, and so The Academy: SPACE came into being. The motivations for all my work have been a wish to relieve suffering and to experience the joy of seeing others grow and develop (and, of course, to heal some of my own wounds on the way).

Julie Howorth is a Director at The Academy S.P.A.C.E, a Counsellor, Tutor and Supervisor

Julie is Development Director. She also tutors on the Diploma, and oversees the running of for the Foundation and Diploma courses overall.

Formerly a primary school teacher, since qualifying as a counsellor has worked as a counsellor at Doncaster Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre. and Sheffield Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Service, where her role also included Placement Coordination and Supervision. She also works as a counsellor and supervisor in private practice. Julie has taught counselling at Certificate and Diploma level at Doncaster College, Sheffield Hallam University and The Academy: S.P.A.C.E. Ltd

Sally Lee – Director of Operations, Placement Co-ordinator & Counsellor

As Operations Director, Sally is responsible for managing the administration, marketing and finances at S.P.A.C.E as well as coordinating placements and the Professional and Development Forum.

Formerly Clinical Manager for a Counselling Service in Chesterfield and Practice Manager at Wellforce Integrated Medicine Service in Sheffield. During training as a counsellor she had placements at SRASACS, Sheffield and the University of Sheffield.

Emma Garrard – Counsellor & Supervisor

Emma is a BACP Accredited Integrative Counsellor in private practice. Previously she has worked for a number of years as a school and college counsellor and group therapist, and has also worked for Samaritans as a Listening Volunteer. Emma has taught counselling at certificate and diploma level at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology and Dearne Valley College; she has also worked for a number of years as a Learning Mentor and taught English at Wickersley Comprehensive School. Emma has a PGC (level 7) in Clinical Supervision.

Emma is an active member of Yorkshire Existential Society (YES), which aims to explore existential thinking and living, and she has a particular interest in the role of philosophy in improving emotional and psychological health and well-being.

Suzy Henry – Tutor (Diploma), Supervisor and Therapist

Suzy is an independent person-centred counsellor/psychotherapist and supervisor working in Sheffield. She has published chapters on working within the diversity field for books including Anti-Discriminatory Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy (2010), The Person-Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy Handbook (2016) and has co-authored a chapter addressing diversity and intersectionality in the 4^th edition of The Handbook of Person-centred Counselling and Psychotherapy coming out in the Spring of 2024.

Suzy was born with a cleft lip and palate; her appearance informs her writing, which explores the impact of discriminatory behaviour on the identity of people who are viewed as ‘different’ or ‘other’ in their society and who have suffered oppression and marginalisation precisely because of this sometimes indirect and subtle psycho-social phenomena – influences from which therapists are not immune.

As a young woman, Suzy trained in fine art, before working in a bookshop during her twenties. Whilst training as a therapist, she worked as a support, time & recovery worker for the NHS in Sheffield‘s Crisis Intervention Service and then for eight years as a therapist working with children and young people in the voluntary sector.

She is former Chair of the Person-Centred Association in the UK. Her interests include the effects of power within therapy relationships, in the effects of trauma and abuses of power, personally, politically and culturally, and the question of how self-hatred develops, who enables it, what are its consequences and how to work therapeutically with people experiencing internalised oppression and identity wounding.

Claire Wood – Tutor (Foundation & Diploma) Counsellor & Supervisor

Claire has worked within the field of eating disorders for ten years, both as a Clinical Manager and Counsellor in a voluntary sector community setting, and in more recent years as a manager within an independent sector inpatient unit, working in contract with the NHS.

She qualified as a Counsellor in 2008 and alongside her other work has a private practice based at Cornerstone where she sees a range of clients with a variety of presenting issues.

Claire has worked with The Academy: S.P.A.C.E Ltd for several years, delivering the Foundation course including workshops on Eating Disorders. Claire has expanded her role and is facilitating the learning for our Year 2 Diploma students and is a Supervisor on the Diploma.

Annabel Marshall-Foster- Supervisor & Counsellor

I qualified as an Integrative counsellor/psychotherapist in 2016, after gaining a Professional Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy from The Academy: S.P.A.C.E Ltd in Sheffield. This led me onto work within an eating disorders charity has a counsellor and later into a role as clinical coordinator managing a project covering South Yorkshire for individuals living with and experiencing an eating disorder and their carers. Alongside this, I worked with the IAPT service working with people experiencing depression and anxiety. In 2019 I trained as a Clinical supervisor at The Leeds Centre of Psychological Development and gained my qualification as a Clinical Supervisor in January 2020. In 2021 I set up in private practice offering counselling, Psychotherapy, and clinical supervision. alongside delivering supervision for trainee counsellors at The Academy: S.P.A.C.E. Ltd