People

Chair – vacant

Vice chair – Jennifer Ayling

Jen is the newest clinical member of the board, having been elected as vice chair by the membership. She started in post in March 2024. She is a psychotherapeutic counsellor with a background in digital technology and a strong clinical interest in how digital technology impacts human health, happiness and social cohesion and what this means for psychotherapy as a profession.

Trustee – Michelle Briggs

Michelle is a person-centred psychotherapist in private practice based just outside Nottingham. Relatively early in her psychotherapy career, Michelle brings a wealth of experience from her 1^st career in finance. She is also, a member of the Finance Risk and Audit Committee, she always challenges the other trustees, making sure they stick to process and is keen to improve project governance. She became a trustee in February 2023.

Trustee – Will Daniel-Braham

Will is a humanistic integrative psychotherapist and is the longest-serving trustee, having been on the board since March 2021. Will brings an enormous amount of experience from other not-for-profit organisations, where he has had several roles as chair. He is an out and proud member of the Queer community, a man of colour from a working-class background and lives with a number of ‘hidden disabilities’. He is the EDI liaison trustee and is also a member of the Equity Diversity and Inclusion (BIIDE*) Committee, the Strategy Working Group and represents UKCP at the Coalition for Inclusion and anti-oppressive practise. Will provides robust challenge and drives us to ensure representation is a thread through all our work.

*Belonging, Intersectionality, Inclusivity, Diversity and Equity

Trustee (co-opted) – Pippa Donovan

Pippa is an integrative psychotherapist, co-opted to the Board in October 2023, initially to support the organisation in its strategy development. Pippa brings expertise in leadership, organisational transformation and strategy development in the national not-for-profit sector. Following the EGM, Pippa led the CEO recruitment process, and supported the re-building of the Board of Trustees and governance processes. Pippa is a member of the Finance Risk and Audit Committee, the Conference Working Group and alongside the CEO, is leading the Strategy Working Group. Pippa is working to ensure we look forward yet manage better the day-to-day complexities of UKCP. 

Trustee – Peter Gregory

Peter is a sex and relationships psychotherapist and has been a trustee since February 2023. His previous experience includes being a trustee of a carer’s charity and chair of a professional standards board. He has worked as a psychological therapist in the NHS. Before becoming a psychotherapist, he was a project manager in the building services industry.  

Lay Trustee – Matthew White

Matthew was appointed as a lay trustee in February 2024. He is a practising solicitor who brings legal and regulatory expertise to the Board, as well as a particular personal interest in the psychology and neuroscience of mental health. His previous experience, drawn from acting as a trustee for other charities, has given him the ability to provide a focused perspective on governance and risk analysis in relation to trustees’ legal duties and responsibilities.

Trustee – Courtenay Young

Courtenay is a humanistic integrative psychotherapist and has been a trustee since February 2023. He has been on the board of UKCP on two previous occasions, on the boards of several other professional psychotherapy associations and has been intensely involved in the work of the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP) since 1996, developing psychotherapy as an independent profession. He has worked clinically in the NHS in Scotland for nearly 20 years, as well as working in many different settings and having a private practice. He is currently the Editor of the EAP’s open-access International Journal of Psychotherapy.