Testimonials

"I think that the services and support you provide are incredible. They have made an enormous difference to our life as a family."

"I feel like the therapist understands us and our home life. They speak with experience and give advice that is workable and implementable rather than the theory."

"Everyone at Beacon House makes excellent connections with children."

"The help I received was invaluable and has helped me immensely."

"Our family have used Beacon House for the last 5 years and we have always been very impressed with the therapists and support staff. Thank you!"

"The reception lady was always very smiley and happy. Jane in referrals is very efficient at responding to e-mails "

"I felt very listened to and I was talking to people who actually understood and cared in ways I haven't experienced in mental health help before."

"It felt very personalised and was very responsive. Above all Roy’s treatment has been a life changer for our son."

"I am midway through the Developmental Trauma training now and it is the best training I have ever taken. Thank you. So much information and so relevant to my work. Worth every penny and more"

"Thank you to Laara last night, having what seemed a very successful session with my daughter, she seemed brighter. Beacon House is so lovely and relaxing and Laara was fantastic with her please relay my thanks. Oh and the gorgeous therapy dog – wonderful."

"I had been struggling for some considerable period of time after the death of a terminally ill close relative for whom I had cared with increasing intensity for more than three years. After her death I experienced a range of very intrusive and troubling symptoms which were hard to understand and to cope with both for myself and my family. After a particularly upsetting episode, I decided that I should seek help. My first approach to Beacon House was via a telephone call which was so sensitively and supportively handled that I came off the phone feeling enormous relief that someone understood what I was going through and felt that a period of therapy would enable me to make a full recovery from the chronic stress from which I had suffered for so long. I had never heard of EMDR but immediately found it an easy procedure in which to engage. The bringing to mind of memories, (which also inevitably spanned other very difficult periods of my life), was painful but through the process of EMDR these recollections dimmed very significantly and on each journey home I felt more and more freed from their painful hold on me and more confident that I was “recovering”. The period of therapy was short and intense but by the end of it I felt that I was back in control of my life, my confidence had returned and I was ready to pick up the threads of my old life and to enjoy its challenges!! I also felt and continue to feel a great sense of peace and wellbeing."

"I nearly wimped out until I heard your secretary’s lovely voice"

"I would like to say I sincerely thank you for everything that you have done for me. I feel that you have honestly opened my eyes to myself and that is life changing for me. It has been such a massive weight off my shoulders to talk to you about all the things I have been carrying for most of my life. You have been so supportive and I wish there were more words than just Thank you. I will truly miss our sessions."

"The family was at breaking point; screaming down the phone to social services for help and begging for child to be taken back into care ! Couldn't get much worse. Our clinical psychologist took time to get to know child and gain her trust. Taught her strategies but more importantly showed she understood child. Helped her understand "voices in head" and flight feelings. Taught us parents about brain development and trauma. Helped us understand emotional reactions and how to deal with it."

"Family therapy has helped us understand a different way to parent and to understand concepts like blocked care."

"I think Beacon House is an amazing dedicated resource to the generally unrecognised difficulties of parenting an adopted child."

"This has made a significant difference to my and my son’s life. Moving past a feeling of desperation to some hope although there is still much to do. The joint working with other professionals was appreciated."

"We appreciated the support we received and found everyone very welcoming."

"Without our sessions at Beacon House our family would be in deep crisis, in fact I am not sure we would still be a family. It has been lifesaving and the prospect that it might all stop in 2020 when our son is only just starting to engage and has so many needs is, quite frankly, terrifying."

"Our Beacon House therapist has proved to be extremely diligent and understanding of our concerns and encouragingly reactive to each aspect that arises."

"We feel due to the very specific nature of sensory processing issues in trauma affected children, it is really difficult to access the support without knowing how to navigate the correct agencies to get that support. Going to Beacon House is like a light being turned on and everything suddenly making sense."

"A great service, hard to access and pay for. Should be more widely available."

"The daily difficulties experienced in our family were not sustainable. There was a real chance of our adoptive placement breaking down, due to challenging circumstances and a general lack of support and understanding from the local authority. As soon as we spoke to a Psychologist at Beacon House we immediately felt listened to by a professional who understood our challenges. It has given us the chance to become the family we wanted when we adopted the children. We owe them so much, Thank you all."

"We have been lucky enough to have had the support of Beacon House right from the beginning of our parenting journey. We have been supported through getting to know our angry and sad little boy. He is currently on a rocky but definitely upwards path towards hopefully becoming a happy and functioning person because of how we were enabled to parent him therapeutically by the grounding that was given to us by beacon house."

"Without BH we would have experienced total family breakdown and our child would be back in care. Things still pretty tricky at times but we are now equipped with tools to deal better with life, maintain a relative sense of calm at home which makes day to day family life better and will help our son come to terms with his past and give him a better future."

"Beacon House literally saved my family from falling apart. Thank goodness we can access a provider who understands Developmental Trauma and to treat it on a deep and meaningful level alongside really caring passionately about what they do."

"Thank you for sending this information and the final report so promptly. I wanted to feedback our pleasure in receiving so much information about the challenges that our son faces, the information about these challenges and the steps that we can take to support him in his development. The document showed that we had really been listened to and that time had been taken to understand our son as an individual, including the progress he has made and all of the positives that he has shown. We feel empowered to support him from the information that we have been given and that we can be the best possible parents for him as a result. The care and attention that has been taken by Kathryn and Ruth is reflected in the report and in the conversations that we have had about meeting his and our needs. The approach has been flexible and fitted around our individual family. We were also informed throughout about what the process will involve, time scales and next steps which we felt reassured by and very well-informed. Both Ruth and Kathryn have communicated really well with each other and ourselves in creating the report and also in the way that they worked together so effectively in the meeting we had together. They have been very empathetic and careful with the decisions and observations they have made, knowing that it is a sensitive subject for all concerned. We are extremely grateful and look forward to working together to make things even better for our family."

"I feel less anxiety and it has given me the tools to work with when I feel anxious. Beacon House has provided me with a safe space of my own to explore my feelings and get a better understanding of my self and my family dynamics. I am definitely feeling more centered, stronger and I have learnt that 'I matter'. Beacon House feels like a high end practice. Totally professional from start to finish. I would like to thank my therapist, for her understanding; patience; warmth; and the best anchoring hugs; and all the staff at Beacon House, who gave the whole place a lift, with smiles at the door and offers of tea and coffee."

"The yoga was fabulous and the training in why and how to use with others was perfectly paced."

"I love the seminars at Beacon House they are so open and friendly. I have been to others where I have sat and listened but not felt able to actually participate. I find myself asking questions and getting really involved when I come to Beacon House it really is a breath of fresh air."

"I just wanted to thank you and the team at Beacon House for an absolutely brilliant day - my head has been buzzing with a million ideas since the course. Thank you for everything you are doing, and for sharing your knowledge and experiences."

"I can't really put into words how grateful we are that my daughter was seen by yourself. A year ago, I knew I had to hand her over to someone and put my trust in them completely. All I had to go by, was that you came highly recommended, you had a kind face and installed me with a great deal of of confidence when you called me. It was the best decision we made - thank you for helping her, she is moving on with genuine positivity, an open mind, but most of all, her eyes are smiling again! She said she will always have your voice in her head when she needs to hear it and that gives her more strength."

"I have been meaning to write to say how inspiring the trauma-informed schools workshop was. It was the best training day on any topic that I have attended. Thank you."

"I very rarely give 10's at training but this has been very informative and also resonated with me and my interest in yoga and mindfulness."

"I just wanted to let you all know how revolutionary I found your training yesterday. I am a psychotherapist working in private practice in Bedfordshire, and I work with traumatized children/adolescents at home and in schools. I have long been aware of your approach and embed your videos in my training to schools. Attending the days workshop was something different! It has changed the way I assess and I will be recommending it to whomever I come across in the field. Thanks for your amazing insights!"

"I could have happily thrown away everything that had ever been written about C before Jo saw him, as she was the first person who really understood and accounted for his circumstances and needs – it was the most insightful view of my son and really explained to us how things were for him and what might help."

"Thank you so much for all the help you have given me this year! I cannot thank you enough and I honestly do not know what I would have done without you! You have helped me gain my confidence, learn to control my emotions, learn to deal with the school, and so much more! I do not know how I survived this school year but I do know that it was because of how much you helped me. I will never be able to thank you enough but thank you! I will see you next year! I hope you have an amazing summer!"

"I wanted to thank you - I’ve really appreciated your support over the last 18 months with this family. The quality of care, support, and level of communications with the family and network has been has been excellent. I have found your support invaluable on this really tricky situation."

"I have read quite a few reports, but this was the best report I have ever read – I was really impressed by the quality of the work."

"Kate has worked with my daughter right through from pre-school to year 1 at school. Her help and support has been invaluable. Kate was able to help us manage this huge transition and help give the primary school the tools to help my daughter. Kate has observed my daughter in pre-school and school and given constructive feedback, attended meetings and ran training sessions in the school to help them understand my daughters needs and was able to develop very a good relationship with the school. Kate was also able to recommend SAI therapy for my daughter and work in conjunction with the OT. Kate’s help and experience has made a huge difference for us."

"I would like to formally thank you for your support with this student and helping us to understand his specific needs and supporting us to co-ordinate working with parents and other agencies. Moreover your expertise in explaining and helping us to understand the enormity of attachment disorder and providing relevant strategies to us all in SEN (which we have been able to pass onto teaching staff) to use with both Michael and other students. Equally I appreciate your personal support and advice for me in planning intervention and working together for meetings, etc. Your support has been invaluable and has made a real difference for Michael too."

"We are in such a better place from a year ago it is amazing...thanks to you and all at Beacon House. We are so thankful truly...I know it is a professional job but there is an underlying care that has been part of this process for us that has been a lifeline. To go from feeling like failure and despair to hope and love again has been transforming. We have a way to go but we know we have the support and tools now that will give our boys the best they deserve."

"When we first arrived at Beacon House our family was on the verge of breakdown. Happily, thanks to the sensitive, kind and trauma informed approach by this amazing team, we all - both adults and children are emotionally and physically stronger. Without this special teams’ intervention, I am not sure we would be in the strong place we are now."

"You’re both different experts and slightly different styles but the warmth and knowledge comes through. There's a clear philosophy and framework that Beacon House uses however within that the family centred personal approach shines through. I can see the passion and interest you have in what you do. In the short time we have met during the assessment there have been many light bulb moments for me. You manage to keep to time and make the amount you pack into a session with a nice welcome & close look effortless."

"I have been searching for years for a service that understands complex trauma, and I feel that I have finally found an amazing place that not only understands trauma, but who can hold my hand and take me slowly and carefully through the maze of treatment. Already I have felt such big changes, and I think that just knowing you guys are there has fought half my battle. I can’t thank you enough."

"Coming to Beacon House is my oasis. All week I feel better knowing that I’ll be coming here and feeling cared for – probably for the first time in my life."

"Beacon House has been brilliant. My 12 year old son has been coming for a long time now. Life was very hard for him back then. Ruth Stephens has helped him begin to like himself and has been given strategies for coping with life and with what were frequent meltdowns. It has also given me, his mum a new insight to helping Jamie in new more practical ways. Thank you. I can highly recommend Beacon House."

"Louise really enjoys her sessions and I can tell when she is ready for a session too. She is so much more relaxed and her body seems calmer, she always sleeps well after sessions."

"Beacon House is an amazing place. From the moment you walk in the door and are offered a drink by the lovely office staff we feel like we are in a place where people really do care and want to help and support."

"I would like to say that Joseph has been doing wonderful over the last many many months, and I get really good reports from the school, the carers, and other professionals working with him, and I believe this is because of the therapy that he has been having with you. I feel this therapy has really helped stabilise his school placement and the foster care placement. It's been wonderful to experience this change with him and I am so pleased he is doing well. Thank you for all the time and effort you have put in with him."

"Candia, thanks again for all your help, despite only having a couple of sessions with you, I really feel that the advice you have given has been incredibly useful and Sally is already benefiting from this every day."

"I know our last session was at the end of August as I was preparing to go back to school. I am really happy to say that I have gone to all my lessons this year and all other commitments as a result of the confidence you helped me to build. I do still struggle with the anxiety sometimes, but I feel much less ashamed of it and have found ways of dealing with it, so much so that I have only really had one negative moment with it this year. I have done my university applications and have places at King’s College and UCL to study chemistry, something I could have never imagined happening last year. So I just want to say thank you for all the help you gave me, your support and guidance is something I will never forget."

"Our son was referred to Candia Slaughter for sensory attachment intervention at Beacon House. Following ten sessions, five parent sessions and a school visit our son has been given an awareness and a 'toolbox' to help him deal with everyday life at both home and school. The intervention has dramatically improved our sons (and our) understanding of what his body needs and helped his self esteem and confidence. Candia is fantastic and has become an integral part of his development building a trusting and reassuring relationship. She is kind and caring and highly qualified explaining all processes along the journey. She has given us the tools and understanding as a family to assist our son along the way. It is an ongoing process and we all look forward to further working with Candia."

"We initially approached Beacon House in a private capacity on recommendation as we were struggling to get help from our LA and our family was in crisis. I very much valued the detailed telephone consultation with Shoshanah, I felt she really listened and completely understood where we were coming from and what could be done to support the family as a whole, and our son in particular. Weekly therapy sessions were put in place for our son quickly and we funded them ourselves for a while until the LA assessment and ASF application was done. We were obviously relieved to get ASF funding and our son has definitely benefited from his sessions, which ran for around 12 months until June 2016. What worked well was the way the therapist engaged our son through play (he is 13 so that can be difficult) and gave me support over the phone along the way. We really feel that the therapy team care about how we are doing, and they have offered and facilitated other suggestions such as sensory work and external workshops to help us understand what the interventions might help with. We are now at a stage where other family members are going to get support, which is desperately needed. Our son is very traumatised from his early experiences and the family is at times under extreme pressure. Access to experts is so limited and demand is so high, eg Karen Milton OT at Beacon House, that you do have to wait a while for support and also joining things up with school or social workers is tricky. We have been very fortunate to get this support and I feel strongly that all adoptive families should have the opportunity to access services like Beacon House. It's a shame we had to reach crisis stage before we got support. So many families are on the edge or breaking up but often don't want to ask for help or don't know where to turn."

"It’s so important to have this time and space to reflect. Your questions helped me to challenge the way I have been doing things in a positive way. Thank you – it has been super, mind-stretching and very interesting. I appreciated the use of self-disclosure of the trainer to encourage sharing and honest reflection. The trainer was engaging, interesting, attentive and sensitive."

"All of the training was very nurturing, safe and accessible, thank you. It has been so helpful to be given practical ways of implementing interventions. The training was very clear, with lots of helpful explanations. I enjoyed the sharing of good practice and the ideas about how we should take care of ourselves when working with other people’s trauma."

"Professional, approachable with excellent lines of Communication and a Friendly disposition – We are able to refer to Beacon House in the knowledge that our pupils are in safe hands."

"I feel Laara is helping me get on better at home with mum and L. It makes me think about things more. I understand what I do when I am angry but I can't always help doing it. I like going to see Laara. Laara is calm and she doesn't make me say it straight away, she waits for me to say it when I am ready. I can tell mum stuff more like smoking and being bisexual since seeing Laara."

"After my horse riding accident, I was left feeling very insecure and uncertain about my future. With the help of beacon house and the amazing Shoshanah, I slowly started to feel like myself again. Therapy helped me smooth away every single worry and fear I had. I always felt safe and comfortable with shoshanah. If it was not for shoshanah I would not be thriving and enjoying life as much as I am know. Therapy helped me put things back into perspective and without her help over the past year I would hate to think where I would be. I can highly recommend the Beacon House team and thank them for everything they have done for me."

"All members of staff we have had contact with have been understanding, helpful and reassuring. This includes Lyn, yourself and Laara. The initial phone call with yourself gave us hope and started us on a positive path. Laara has been amazing support right from the start. We feel comfortable with her and totally trust her. She has made us feel at ease. Coming to our house took another pressure of us and helped us to open up and show her our vulnerability as a family. The assessment was thorough and the recommendations are good. Sarah 's support in being offered in our home which helps keep her anxieties as low as possible."

"We never thought we would need professional help for our son, but when he started secondary school he changed overnight from a confident, very happy child to an angry tearful stranger. By the time we discovered a few months later that he was being badly bullied, he was in a terrible state. Shoshanah and her team were fantastic: they quickly honed in on what mattered and then provided some very specific and successful treatment. Their input was short and swift, but it worked brilliantly and we are now delighted to say we have our happy confident boy back again. We can't thank or recommend them enough."

"We are looking forward to working with Beacon House in the future with regards to training staff and informing and sign posting parents and carers. Equipping staff with tools and techniques to support young people in everyday life whilst empowering them to identify and implement interventions where appropriate is the way forward."

"I would just like to say that Alison is a fantastic psychologist. I enjoyed working with her and we reached my goal in a much shorter time frame than I had expected. She is an asset to your team. Continue the good work."

"Before coming to therapy I felt confused about who I was and who I wanted to be. I was insecure and anxious about many things. Therapy has helped me understand that my problems are not built in, and how to recognise and celebrate my strengths while changing those things that feel unhelpful. I looked forward to therapy sessions, as it always felt warm, welcoming and safe, and I knew I would walk away each time with new ideas and tools for living a healthier and more balanced life."

"Adoptive parents can face challenges trying to work through their child’s trauma-induced behaviours. Many people think these are simply ‘naughty’ behaviours. So the child (and your parenting) are not really understood. It was a relief to come to Beacon House where they did understand and wanted to work in partnership with you to help your family."

"Louise quickly developed a relaxed and comfortable rapport with her therapist, Alison, and has enjoyed her therapy sessions. We are delighted that Louise has now been able to do sleepovers at friends’ houses as her anxiety has gone. Hopefully she will now be able to go off to university in a years’ time if she wants to. Louise is happy to end the therapy sessions now and knows that Alison's door will be open if she ever feels that she would like to see her again."

"I had struggled with years of unexplained aches & pains as well as extreme fatigue. I went back & forth to the Drs but there was never an explanation. One day a conversation with a very good friend led to the concept of therapy - in my case trauma therapy and how my symptoms matched those linked to unprocessed trauma. I was put in touch with Beacon House who matched me with Kristina, a therapist who specialises in processing trauma. Therapy is hard, emotionally exhausting & at times harrowing BUT Beacon House provides a safe, calm environment that gave me the confidence to face my demons. I cannot recommend Beacon House enough and finally feel less consumed by my past and able to focus on the future."

"We would like to say the work they do at Beacon House is invaluable in some many ways. The help and advise helped us to understand so much, just being able to talk to Kate and Mel. It was like the weight was taken off our shoulders many times over."

"Beacon House has literally saved our family."

"ITS BEEN ENORMOUSLY HELPFUL TO HAVE THE CONTINUED HELP AND SUPPORT OF BEACON HOUSE. WE HAVE FOUND THE THERAPEUTIC PARENTING SESSIONS REALLY HELPFUL WITH ATTACHMENT ISSUES, BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES ETC AND THE EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT HAS ENSURED THAT OUR CHILD HAS CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR THE DAILY CHALLENGES THAT THEY FACE WHILST AT SCHOOL. WITH HELP, WE HAVE FORMED GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE SCHOOL AND WITH BEACON HOUSE SUPPORT STAFF THIS HAS HELPED OUR CHILD FEEL SAFE AND SECURE TO START LEARNING."

"Beacon House is an incredible place, I cannot think of any way you could improve it. I don't know what we would do without the ASF."

"Amazing staff, and so knowledgeable - i felt very supported - identified and supported that my daughter had complex needs which have now been diagnosed."

"I found Alison very quiet at first and thought that I would not be able to interact with her easily. However, as time went on and she listened to 'my story' I realised that she was clearly taking it all in and spoke to me in such a way that, although I didn't think it was helping, over the weeks it clearly was. A difficult experience to put in to words but, the therapy clearly worked over time. I found Alison very understanding, non-judgmental and she made me look at life and my past in a completely different way, which helped enormously. I enjoyed my time with her and came away with very positive thoughts."

"I got on really well with my therapist, Alison, as I found her a very approachable and friendly person who I was happy to share my thoughts with. She was extremely understanding and has had a huge impact on my life as a result of therapy with her. I am confident that she has helped resolve my issues and I know that I can approach her again if I ever need her support in the future."

"Yes, surprisingly Sally has improved very rapidly. Our therapist, Alison, was lovely: she has a very calming, serene way about her and although we didn’t seem to talk about anything that hadn’t been discussed before, Sally has clearly benefited from these sessions. Alison described situations and gave examples that made things much clearer. I would definitely recommend her to anyone else. Your service has all worked very smoothly, from the very comprehensive “welcome pack”, to the invoicing at the end of the month, to the very calm and comfortable room. Thank you."

"For my whole life I felt that there was something very wrong with me but because nobody I spoke to understood me, I believed I must have been a bad person. Coming to Beacon House transformed my life. For the first time somebody could see that my problems were a result of trauma in my childhood, and for the first time I was given hope that things could feel different. Slowly but surely, having EMDR combined with Shoshanah’s unmovable commitment, has freed me from the ghosts of my past. My bad memories will always be there, but I can think about them without falling apart inside."

"Since working with Beacon House as an organisation we have found them to be very flexible and supportive in meeting the varying needs of our children. Beacon House staff are working not only with our children through direct one to one work but have been invaluable in offering support and consultations to our staff teams. Beacon House have been able to support our staff through some very challenging behaviours exhibited by our children, and have left the staff feeling confident, listened to and well supported. They have also developed training specific to our learning needs, showing insight into the challenges our staff teams and children face on a daily basis. Shoshanah and her team are always available and quickly respond to our needs putting plans and consultations in place in a very short timescale. As an organisation we feel very well supported by Beacon House team and look forward to continuing to work with them for the development of our children and staff."

"Dr Lyons has been available for meetings and conference calls, which have been invaluable with regards to the advice she has given both in terms of best practice generally and more specifically when speaking about individual cases. Beacon House have been able to accommodate our request for a therapist promptly and they used careful consideration with regards to matching the ‘right’ therapist to our student. The staff at Beacon House have been quick to respond to any and all correspondence, with any other business conducted swiftly and professionally."

"Kind, caring and compassionate therapists who have taken the time to listen and work with my son. Thank you Beacon House for all you have done for him. He is in such a better place and the time with you has been very valuable."

"Beacon House has the multidisciplinary composition, and specialist Attachment Disorder expertise, to offer a comprehensive therapeutic needs assessment and recommendations for intervention, and the team to deliver it. The systemic intervention through school is vital – mainstream schools, that I have come into contact with, do not have any expertise in Attachment Disorder or recognition that they do not have this vital understanding, and so continue increasingly angrily to try to force anxious and insecure children to conform by trying to make them fit the round-hole, using behavioural principles, perceiving them to be wilfully disobedient/oppositional, and their parents to be pandering and neurotic. Having Beacon House professionals corroborate our views, gives the school the confidence to broaden their perspective, and consider the need to approach our children in a different way if they are going to be able to settle to learn. Those children with parents who do get it, and have resources like Beacon House to support them, are able to fight for things to be different through the EHCP process, but there are lots of very insecure and anxious children in the mainstream school system who are just being blamed at school - if an audit were done I am sure that many of the children receiving school sanctions would have a history of disrupted attachments, some of whom would be adopted children. Schools can be amazingly blaming and bullying, and parents who feel frustrated and stressed and unable to figure it out either can easily hand down the blame to the children if they do not feel confident in their views about their child’s presentation. If all newly placed adoptive children and their families were automatically seen within the first few months of placement, by an organisation like Beacon House, to normalise the traumatic, stressful, overwhelming event that this episode in all of their lives necessarily is, it would make an amazing difference. If it was routine then people wouldn’t feel fearful that they specifically were failing - just that this is amazingly hard, impossible to anticipate until you are going through it, and difficult to describe/admit to anyone else, and also impossible for birth families to comprehend – therefore all of your existing friends and family think you are stressing, embellishing, just not into parenting yet – which means you feel all at sea without support, unless you have other adoptive families to refer to. Maybe Beacon House could offer a link-up service to families who don’t have any other adoptive-family contacts? Initially (last October) my Post Adoption allocated worker was able to get quick approval from the ASF for my son’s assessment, and I was sent timely appointments from Beacon House. It did however then take about 6 weeks from the time of our last assessment appointment to our feedback appointment, and it was then that our Therapeutic Needs assessment and recommendations for intervention were forwarded to the ASF for consideration, and it then took another 2 months for a decision, which was ultimately approval, to come through. Within 2 weeks I have been offered appointments to begin, but due to the summer holidays and busy diaries we cannot really get going for another 6 weeks. Whilst this isn’t crisis intervention, waiting for intervention to begin is very difficult when your child still has to go into school everyday and as a parent I have to support, and defend, and explain, and try to get people to adjust their thinking and approach almost daily. We have benefitted hugely by the ASF, I am quite certain my son would not have been offered the specialist services that he has if it were not for this funding. He would almost certainly not still be in mainstream education. I hope that this is helpful in planning the ongoing implementation of the ASF, both locally and nationally. Our children really do have a lot of ground to make up, and access to specialist therapeutic services, that facilitate them being able to settle to learn at school, and remediate their attachment styles it vital. "

"I always thought that therapy was not for me, until I was in a horrific car accident and felt like I was going mad afterwards. I felt like things were ruined forever, and then I started treatment at Beacon House. EMDR has changed my life. I do not have PTSD anymore and even better, I have discovered things about myself that I would have never have known. The best thing is that I know that the door is always open and I can come back any time."

"The best thing about coming here is that I can say whatever I feel like saying and I know it’s okay. I like the biscuits and juice as well."

"As parents the support you have given us to pick ourselves up and keep going has been huge. Even when we have got it wrong you have encouraged and been our cheer leaders … so few people really understand what adoption looks like and being with folk who do and champion us as parents is massive and has kept us in the race. Thank you."

"We have found Beacon House to be an extremely supportive, helpful, empathetic and encouraging place that has helped us holistically as a whole family. Everyone is very warm and it is obvious how much expert knowledge the staff have. Thank you for everything you do to support adoptive families, ASF funding is greatly needed and extremely valuable - we could not have afforded the therapy otherwise."

"We are so grateful to Beacon House which has helped our family to be much closer now we understand what our child has experienced, and still struggles with. We have quite a way to go but feel our home is more stable and alot less stressful than it was. Thank you so much."

"As a SENCO in a busy school I have found working with the professionals at Beacon house extremely positive and informative. We have been able to use recommendations to improve and enhance our support for children with attachment disorders, the advice and meetings have proven to be beneficial in building a greater understanding of a child’s additional needs. The greatest element of what Beacon House can offer us as a school, is the long term involvement, the continuous support offered in order to get the best outcomes for each individual child."

"I was recently in the Nepal earthquake. I was stuck in the mountains for 3 days surrounded by death and destruction. Once i returned to England it was very hard to return to normal life due to post traumatic stress. Shoshanah recommended EMDR therapy to help treat the PTSD. At first I was a bit sceptical, as I had never had any kind of therapy previously. But I was willing to give it a try. I feel the EMDR has been a great success. Shoshanah was very understanding and reassuring, which helped alleviate the feeling of isolation that came with PTSD. Shoshanah has enabled me to understand and control the powerful emotions I had been experiencing and has helped me to come to terms with the difficult decisions and personal challenges I have experienced along the way."

"The fact we have been working together and the young person is engaging with the process. I can finally see that we are hopefully able to support the YP with her early trauma."

"I just want to use this time to say Thank you, for all you have done for us, at a time we felt we had nowhere else to turn, you were there offering help and support. We have a come along way, and understand Jonathon so much better now, and feel more confident about where he needs extra support. Jonathon is a lot happier, and is better understood, which causes him less frustration. I will keep hold of your contact details and would highly recommend your services to anyone seeking help in the future."

"Coming here helps me find ways of coping with myself. Laara understands me and helps me work on my emotions."

"I actually don't think my husband and I would have been able to continue to co parent if we hadn't accessed the therapeutic parenting sessions with Jo. It's been a real life line. My son is so happy to come to Beacon House and really enjoys being there. I can see the benefits of the work he is doing with the drama therapist."

"If we had not had ASF funding we would not have had the resources to finance the support we have had. The level of support we have received has given us the chance to make a real difference to the lives of our children. The needs of adopted children are complex and having intervention for them but for us as parents as well has been the key to our success as a family. Without access to these services life would be very different for many adoptive families."

"Prompt, efficient, courteous service. We came to Beacon House after many years working with CAMHS and local authority. Our prior experience was that while we were met with courtesy, neither CAMHS nor local authority were able to offer prompt or efficient service. We understand this is because they are under-resourced: individual workers doing their best while overwhelmed by demand. But adoptive families need timely responses. We also appreciate the effort taken by Beacon House to secure appropriate consulting rooms – light, airy, suitably furnished, not ‘clinical’ or ‘institutional’. Again, our experiences of CAMHS and LA rooms has been dreadful – hot, airless, no windows, dirty toys, manky carpet, no access to water or tea/coffee. We wish that those in charge of procuring estates/facilities in the public sector could understand how it is important that our children (and us) have a calm, nurturing environment to help them recover. We have appreciated ‘being believed, heard, and understood’ by Shoshanah on first meeting her. As part of her systemic family work with us, Kate has been able to make a dramatic intervention on our behalf to help school understand why our daughter behaves as she does: the (probably lifelong) legacy of a toxic mix of developmental trauma, domestic violence and neglect."

"Despite the intensity of the work, our students have found the environment calm, comfortable and welcoming. Our students have benefitted from the range of techniques used, with one commenting that being outside with the therapist helped him to engage in something he had been worried about. The students that have attended therapy at Beacon House appreciated having this service off of the school site and away from their peers. One acknowledged that had he had to wait for months on a waiting list, he may have changed his mind and so was grateful that Beacon House did not have a waiting list."

"Everything! I usually find the CAMHS service ‘bitty’ and it can be a bit hap hazard or only 4/5 weeks are booked in, the YP doesn’t engage etc.,. As you know , the young person for the first time is engaging with Laara which has been amazing as often YP would refuse to work with professionals. The fact we have been working together and YP is engaging with the process is working really well. I can finally see that we are hopefully able to support YP with her early trauma."

"The work Inbar has done with our son has had a deep meaningful impact on him and our family as a whoile. It is an absolute delight to see him 'free' of his worries and anxieties most of the time and managing them well when they do appear. Thank you so much! Thank you for all my cups of tea!"

"I cannot think of anything that would make the service better. The support we receive as a family is amazing and a lifeline, without which I do not think we would still be standing or still be together."

"The service has been highly personalised, expert, well considered and delivered with care. Could not have survived as a family without it."

"We believed that we knew a lot about trauma as we had received a lot of training when we adopted our two children. When we hit a crisis point Beacon House were amazing at connecting us to what we already knew, giving us new ideas and most importantly, helping us feel close to our children again. Thank you Beacon House."

"I know that we as a family were in crisis and it felt as if no one listened to us or cared, we were desperate. Then we met Vicky and we finally began to feel that someone did care. The difference to our lives has been immeasurable, and it's thanks to Vicky we have been able to make people listen and get the right support. Without Beacon House & Vicky I would hate to think what would have happened to us."

"I like coming here. I know that I can say whatever I want even if it makes me sad it is okay here. I thought I was okay and Shoshanah has helped me to see that I was hiding my feelings deep inside. It is still scary but I can talk about them."

"I truly believe the service you provided both at family and individual level kept our family feeling strong and also enabled all of us to have a better understanding and appreciation of each other."

"We are so grateful for Beacon House and how we have been supported. The therapists have been a lifeline for our son and for us as parents. We can’t recommend you enough to our friends."

"We have valued and appreciated the support from Beacon house in the first instance that this support was in place before the placement started at our home. The open communication and transparent way of working in partnership within a multi-disciplinary team and with the young person has been essential and vital in moving forward with the young person in an individually tailored approached to her needs. We look forward to continuing working with Beacon house now and in the future."

"I returned from the earthquake in Nepal after being stranded on a mountain for 3 days. The level of devastation and trauma was huge. After returning home, I was in deep trauma and shock and knew something wasn’t right. My life did not feel the same as it did before, i couldn’t stop crying and couldn’t stop seeing images from the earthquake. I was constantly on high alert and was reacting to any noise or vibration, which made me incredibly jumpy and anxious. I went to my doctor and was told i would have to wait 3 months for therapy but my feelings were getting worse and i couldn’t wait for help. I found Shoshanah and she specialised in trauma therapy. I felt so isolated and alone before speaking with Shoshanah and never thought i would be the same again. Shoshanah was patient and listened, she reassured me instantly and made me feel at ease and that i wasn’t going mad, she finally gave me hope. I was in fact suffering from PTSD. Shoshanah recommended EMDR which i was sceptical about as i had never heard of it before. I can honestly say it has changed my life. We discussed the earthquake and also discovered i was experiencing layered trauma from my childhood. I had always had a level of anxiety and never understood why, until we used the EMDR. I have experienced a journey of self discovery and faced a lot of traumatic memories and experiences from my past, which i can now be more positive about as i now understand my reactions and emotions. I have had counselling in the past regarding my child hood however it never took the anxious feelings away. EMDR has helped me."

"Beacon House is reliable, expert and very understanding. We have referred many of our children to them and they always provide an outstanding service. We wish all of our children could access the support from Beacon House."

"Beacon house have been fantastic throughout. They have been supportive, caring and assisted us and our children in taking positive steps for the future. An absolutely fantastic service and one we couldn’t do without."

"Beacon House gave us the best assessment report we have EVER received about our son. Huge level of understanding from the very beginning. We have accessed 3 different therapists on our journey to understand, repair, reframe and move forwards. The next stage we are at is the Therapeutic Life Story work."

"I value and appreciate the thorough assessment and diagnosis of trauma and dissociation, the readiness to diagnose and the explanation of 'this is my theory' - you allow your YP to be involved with their diagnosis and then the treatment plan There is continued dialogue with the parents without betraying the trust of the YP which in turn helps build the working relationship between everyone. You are also the first practitioner to understand that the trauma suffered doesn't just impact upon the injured party, it affects the rest of the family and you work with those people also. Others haven't yet realised this (although I do inform them)."

"I like therapy because I got all my feelings out and everything I was worried about and spoke about all the problems at home and in school. I have learnt how to deal with my problems more…I was sad and now I am happy. I would recommend this to anyone in need of therapy and friends. It’s useful to talk and not to keep your feelings in."

"It was hugely beneficial to both our son and ourselves to receive the compassionate and constructive help offered by Beacon House. Going to see Alison each week was an oasis of calm as we all struggled to come to terms with the sudden onset of our son’s distressing and violent panic attacks brought on by his move to secondary school. Her guidance was invaluable, both in confirming that we were doing the right thing to help him and giving us insight and ideas as to the best way to move forward. He felt comfortable and able to talk freely; she helped him to explore and rationalise his feelings and gave him courage to attempt to achieve the gentle goals set for him week by week. We are very grateful for your quick and caring response at a very dark time in our lives."

"Managing school life is a big ask for children who have developmental trauma. Having a caring professional from Beacon House go into school and support what you are saying has been a marvellous experience. Our children need advocates."

"Inbar is a highly skilled therapist who has hugely supported our family over the last 6 months or so. She listens and understands in a non judgemental way and is always kind and caring whilst being totally professional. We are so grateful to her for all the work she has done."

"I feel that we have been listened to both individually and as a family and our specific needs addressed rather than trying to make us a fit a service. There has been good communication. We feel that things have been addressed in a respectful way. Beacon house has been flexible in offering us times for therapy that suit us. Beacon house was quick to respond to our needs after the assessment and therapy was put in place without delay. Kate and Laara are both friendly and professional in their approach which is essential when building up relationships and working with us as a family. Kate has respond to different needs and has adapted the sessions accordingly. We appreciate the fact that her approach is flexible and not rigid."

"It was always a wonderful hour talking to Hamish, engaging and supportive and always provided us with food for thought. It has really helped us move forward as a family."

"Beacon House has delivered prompt, courteous and efficient service from start to finish. The process was streamlined and straightforward. What’s more, we felt listened to and ‘in the loop’."

"Sarah is showing lots of really positive signs. She seems more confident with her sense of identity and I have the feeling that she has got quite a bit off her chest with you. She's finding problems easier to deal with and she has made some, I think, good decisions on her own. She seems freer and is starting to thrive. I keep hearing from other people that they've noticed a real change in her and what they describe is her showing the quirky, funny, chatty side of her personality which I see most of the time but know she doesn't always show elsewhere. She's also choosing much more creative things to do with her time. It's lovely. I'm interested to know what you said to her. Thank you!"

"Beacon House is an amazing place. I dread to think where we would be without the ASF funded work, it is invaluable and absolutely essential. The team we work with are so dedicated and caring and we know they really do want to support us and help to bring about lasting change. My child loves coming to Beacon House. Every time when I am ready to give up they are so supportive, encouraging and caring and help me to keep going. Beacon House is a light in a very long and dark tunnel. Thank you."

"When Josey came out of her first session with Alison, she said to me that she didn’t want to go back! The following week she felt a bit happier and said she could go back and then from that point I think she really looked forward to her time with Alison, being able to talk through what had been troubling her. Alison is a lovely, very kind and caring person and always made Josey (and me) feel at ease, especially during tricky conversations. She always made me feel that my views and points were important as well and we were even able to enjoy lighter moments, sometimes even laughing. What I value is the fact that Josey looked forward to her sessions and with all of her challenges, she felt safe and happy to share things with Alison, even if sometimes I had to push a bit. Josey is putting some of Alison’s strategies in place and I still use Alison’s name to try and help Josey, “what would Alison have said”. I really do see a difference in Josey from before we started the sessions. She is having less panic attacks and anxiety and is having a go at doing more things and seems generally happier. Overall we really enjoyed our time with Alison and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone. Please pass on my thanks to Alison and to know that she is there if we need help in the future. I really enjoyed speaking to Alison. Although at first I wasn’t so keen, I definitely opened up after time. She made me feel really safe and like I could tell her anything, and although sometimes it took a bit off pushing, I always eventually told her my thoughts and feelings. I have already found that its helping, I have found strategies to help with my anxiety and I further understand why and how to cope with the way I see and feel things. She has made me a lot more happier and confident with myself, and has shown me that not everything is going to be negative."

"The support we have received so far has been very professional. There is a great insight in understanding and care, not just the presenting situation but the deeper and more complex issues. There also is a network of experts so the whole person is considered. We have also been kept aware of where we are in the process of referral so communication is good."

"What you’ve done has transformed our family. Honestly I don’t think we would be together now without you."