Dr Hugh Palmer is a systemic psychotherapist, academic, and author with over three decades of experience in mental health and systemic practice. Based in Pocklington, UK, he is the Systemic Lead for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Hull. Hugh’s work integrates Gregory Bateson’s systemic thinking and William Blake’s Fourfold Vision into an ecological, relational framework, integrating appreciation of immanence and connection in therapeutic and wider contexts. A keen photographer, Hugh combines his professional expertise with a deep personal commitment to exploring interconnectedness and the sacred unity of life.

Paul Andrews is a Family and Systemic Psychotherapist based in North

Lancashire. He has been working in the area of Child and family mental health services for 25 years. He has worked in a number of different settings both statutory and in the voluntary sector, based mainly within the north of England.

Pauls many experiences include working with parents and families affected by trauma, loss, ill health and coping with significant life events. He has worked in residential care settings as well as an inpatient adolescent unit as a systemic practitioner. Following his qualifying course in family therapy he has worked in CAMHS services as well as palliative care based in a bereavement team at a nearby Hospice. During his career he has often worked in the outdoor environment initially working for the Outward Bound Trust prior to his professional training. He has since developed his interest in working systemically in the outdoors with individuals, families and groups. He has a particular interest in narrative approaches to his work in the outdoors. He is passionate about his therapeutic work in the outdoor environment and is keen to share his knowledge and skills with others new to this approach. As both a Quaker and activist he believes in adopting an environmental approach to both his personal and professional life.

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Gemma is a relational psychotherapist and supervisor with a special interest in working in outdoor spaces and with nature to support mental health and wellbeing. Gemma works in a specialist NHS service for military veterans, often working with trauma, loss and moral injury. Much of this work is carried outdoors, where developing meaningful relationships with nature complements and enhances evidence based practice.

Alongside this, Gemma runs a small private practice and is a lecturer at the University of South Wales. Gemma also offers nature-based supervision, supporting practitioners to work in and with nature, fostering a deeper relationship with the natural world, both professionally and personally.

You will often find Gemma in the welsh mountains, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying a flask of tea!

Charlie works as a family and systemic psychotherapist for a local authority children's services therapeutic team in South Wales.  She has a commitment to supporting families and individuals to find a closer connection to each other and to their natural environment.  She offers outdoor family sessions and walk and talk to families and colleagues.  She is an eco-systemic voice in the Cymru branch of the Association for Family Therapy and is due to deliver eco-systemic training on a systemic training foundation course in 2025. 

Charlie has historic family connections to Quakers.  She has a hope to progress the work of her grandfather and support both an outdoor meeting space for people and the natural diversity of a place where her ancestors convened.  She is a keen walker, amateur gardener and a summer season wild-swimmer!

I started my professional employment as a youth worker however I have worked in Outdoor and Environmental Education for over 34 years. I am lucky to have worked outdoors in the UK, Europe and North America. Currently, I am the Programme Leader for a degree called Outdoor Adventure & Environmental Studies and I teach on the MA for Outdoor Experiential Learning at the University of Cumbria, based in Ambleside. Often people perceive my work is solely fun, where we go out and just enjoy ourselves. I do not deny some of that, but I do challenge the students’ ideas about the places, people and environments they encounter. As an ecologist, I want to inspire the students to learn both positively, about numerous incredible relationships and critically, regarding local or global challenges in environmental degradation, injustices and power imbalances: ecology is cultural, social and political. The students study ways that the outdoors could be a therapeutic environment but keep a critical perspective on how environments (in its widest sense) impinge on our own health and well-being.

One of my privileges has been that I work with and develop students over three years and beyond. As such I have presented my experiences and insights via talks and workshops at outdoor related conferences, some international. I find working outdoors offers serendipity, challenge and humility: it reminds me of our fundamental needs. My personal outdoor passions are activities that involve journeys: cycling, sea kayaking and mountaineering.

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Leah is a systemic practitioner – a psychotherapist, a supervisor and an educator working in multiple contexts in the UK. Leah works with the NHS Wales with families and communities, mostly in mental health services. She is co-director and course lead for The Centre for Systemic Studies (cic) – hosts of The Family Institute who have provided training for family therapists and systemic practitioners in Wales for over 50 years. She is also a tutor and supervisor for the Professional Doctorate in Systemic Practice Programme at the University of Bedfordshire; and has co-written contributions to the field of ecosystemic practices with her colleague, Gail Simon. She is widely published and is former editor of Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice. 

Leah lives in South Wales, on the coast, and has a passion for storytelling, dancing, walking, exploring the coast line, animals, trees, and all ecological matters. She has been involved in eco activism locally and more widely.

Practice and research interests include narrative research and practice as social activism, solidarity practices, group work with women, storytelling, resisting psychopathology, Transmaterial Worlding, ecosystemic practice and developing systemic practice beyond human systems. Leah’s publications can be found on Researchgate.

Julia Evans is a Co-Director at the Centre for Systemic Studies and has been the Course Lead for the Foundation Level Training from 2022-4. Additionally, she serves as a Course Tutor for the Qualifying Level Training. Her systemic journey, deeply rooted in the values and ethics of the Family Institute, began with her studies there, culminating in her qualification as a systemic psychotherapist in 2013.

Julia has gained diverse experience working across various settings, including the NHS, the third sector, local authorities, and private practice, providing her with invaluable insights into the needs and challenges faced by individuals and families.

Currently pursuing a doctorate in Systemic Practice at the University of Bedfordshire, her research explores how systemic thinking can influence and enrich the experience of "liminal living." She brings a strong ethical focus to her work, reflecting the enduring influence of the Family Institute's culture on her practice.

In addition to her roles at the Centre, Julia is a reviewer for Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice and contributes to the teaching and marking of the systemic module on the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology. Her work continues to unfold through her teaching and leadership within systemic practice.

Chiara is an experienced psychotherapist who combines traditional ways of doing therapy with the healing power of nature to support children and families through difficult times and restore hope.

On first moving to the UK  from Italy (1998), she attained a first class Social Science and Psychology Degree from the University of Brighton (2002). Then going on to complete a clinical Master Degree in Systemic and Family Psychotherapy (2008). Chiara is a UKCP registered Systemic and Family Psychotherapist and fully qualified systemic supervisor since 2012.

Chiara has worked in a statutory agency for 10 year developing a dual expertise in social care and systemic psychotherapy working with children and families at high risk. In addition over the past 9 years she has been providing post adoption therapeutic support to traumatized children and their families in the South East. More recently developing community projects and ecotherapy with children, couples and families.  

Chiara has considerable experience in supervising, teaching and training in systemic theories and skills having been a visiting lecturer and tutor on systemic courses since 2008. She has also developed tailor-made trainings for a fostering agency and children’s homes.
Chiara has published several papers on the national Family Therapy magazine, Context, the Journal of Human systems (2016 – 2017) and Murmurations, (2018-2019-2021). and has presented at several national and European conferences.