What we can offer
We are particularly pleased to offer long term therapy within our services as this is often not available without paying high prices. As well as offering a great service to our clients we also act as a placement provider for national Counselling and Psychotherapy training organisations. We offer a supportive and friendly environment in which trainee counsellors and psychotherapists can hone their skills as they build their required hours for qualification. We offer in-house CPD training workshops.
Our history
Drighlington Health Hub opened in September 2018 as a centre to support the holistic health and well-being of our local community with services including Yoga & Tai Chi alongside Counselling and Psychotherapy.
The low-cost counselling service started in January 2019, originally expecting to provide support to local people in our village and the surrounding area. Since launching the service it has become well known for providing excellent support to clients and the service has grown rapidly.
In response to Covid-19, they launched an online service that began to reach people across the country. This prompted their change of focus to prioritise and expand the low-cost counselling services including the change of name to the UK Counselling Network CIC. The service was originally the dream of founders Sally Benson and Nathan Gould. Sadly in October 2022, Nathan sadly and abruptly lost his life to cancer. Starting Drighlington Health Hub was their way of giving back to the local community. To continue that innovation and clinical excellence, we are extremely privileged to welcome Allan Todd to the Team. The rest, as they say, is history in its making.
Our UKCN Team Members
We recognise the strength of being a small but dedicated team that come from all walks of life. Our team always want what is best for you whether you are a client, a partner organisation, placement or a member of our qualified therapist team. Whatever point of contact with UK Counselling Network, you will be guaranteed a quality and efficient service which is all down to effective communication and collaboration which is the hallmark of our team.
Allan Todd
Allan Todd MBACP practices in both person-centred counselling, psychoanalysis and is also a qualified Group work practitioner. He has a depth of experience in training and development and extensive experience of working in a variety of third-sector organisations. Allan is committed to both the growth of the organisation and the development of its valued staff team as well as the provision of excellent services to its clients.
Sally Benson
Sally Benson, founder of UKCN, is a MBACP is a qualified therapist and Group work practitioner. She has also developed and delivered training for over 20 years. Sally is highly committed to ensure that the overall service provided is of an excellent standard and oversees the Operational aspects of the UK Counselling Network. Sally is committed to ensuring its future expansion and on-going development to meet the needs of its growing client base throughout the UK.
Sally Edmondson
Sally is a qualified person-centred counsellor and placement co-ordinator with the UK Counselling Network CIC. Sally is currently training to work with children and young people. She has spent a number of years as a risk analyst and has a keen eye for detail and assessing the adequacy and effectiveness of business key controls. She will be fulfilling a vital role with the UK Counselling Network as the organisation continues to expand.
Alison Cutt
Alison Cutt MBACP is a qualified person-centred counsellor and has been a part time Project Coordinator with UK Mental Health Solutions since 2022. She has previously held numerous leadership roles, had extensive experience within the field of human resources and is also a qualified coach. She is responsible for supporting our work with the NHS and our Employee Assistance Programmes.
Lisa Stuart
Lisa has a background in travel, banking and technology. She comes to UKCN with a wealth of administration and marketing skills across many industries. Her hobbies include fostering disabled hedgehogs and currently has 23 that she supports. Lisa also has three dogs, two of which that have been rescued from Romania. She really loves reading and spending time outdoors in her wellies.
Rory James
Rory is one our office administrators and brings a wealth of general experience to the team. He joined UKCN as he had been so inspired by his own experiences of counselling since his teenage years. Rory brings with him a high level of compassion for others. His passion outside work centres around music and he enjoys performing with his band as the drummer.
Lisa Glover
Lisa is a qualified person centred counsellor and part time administrator here at UKCN. She has many years of secretarial and administrative work in a variety of settings. She is also a songwriter for The Swansong Project, where she works with the bereaved to write songs about their loved ones as well as people at the end of life who wish to leave a song as an enduring legacy.
June Reynolds
June is an experienced business leader with extensive commercial, programme and operations based knowledge. She was a finalist in Barclays Yorkshire Women in business Awards 2017 (SME Business Award) and has won a BIFM Award for Learning & Career Development. June is responsible for bookkeeping services within UKCN and works on a part time basis.
Sophie Gidley
Sophie is a qualified Psychotherapeutic Counsellor who gained her Transactional Analysis Diploma in 2021. She works with individuals and couples and is a qualified trainer at UKCN. She is a member of BACP and is also working towards UKCP registration. She holds a Level 3 award in teaching and training. Sophie likes to go swimming, walking and reading in her leisure time.
Josh Benson
Josh has been a part of the UK Counselling Network team since 2018, looking after anything that is web based and keeping everything running smoothly. In his spare time, Josh is a Sim Coach trainer, teaching sim racing enthusiasts from all over the world how to race sports cars online. He is also a talented guitarist in a band and loves to perform live music.
Davinder Johal
Davinder is a qualified IT specialist. He ensures that our data is handled correctly and he creates IT solutions for our organisation. He has a background in systems development. He also has many years with local authorities delivering IT solutions for human resources and business solutions. In his spare time, Davinder is a keen photographer and artist.
Jason Hutton
Jason Hutton has been a Chartered Accountant for over twenty five years, working in the local area offering accountancy services, tax and bookkeeping services. He has been working closely with UK Counselling Network since 2018 and his input and contribution integral and invaluable to the continuing success and development of our organisation.
