As well as counselling my professional background also includes fifteen years experience working in mental health settings, specifically with clients with acute psychological disturbance.

As a therapist I have particular interest in working with clients who would be labelled as challenging, with respect to age, loss and other aspects of psychological experiencing. This has developed into working creatively with adults and children and young people with expressive therapy and therapeutic play being central in these relationships.

This fundamentally challenged me to make links between Person Centred theory and expressive medium within the therapeutic relationship in innovative ways.

My organisational experiences include:

• The National Health Service
• Voluntary organisations
• The private sector

I work with clients and supervisees in a private setting alongside relationships that involve mentorship and coaching roles on an individual and organisational level. I would describe myself as a classical person centred therapist with a creative twist!

PCCS training partnership

Part of my professional history includes fifteen years as a Director of PCCS Training Partnership in Manchester, an independent training organization that provided accredited Professional Counsellor training and a programme of professional and personal development. In PCCS Training Partnership I and others developed and delivered short and long courses ranging from:

• Diploma in Counselling
• Diploma in Supervision
• Diploma and Certificate in Person Centred Therapy
• PCCS Diploma and Certificate in Person Centred Play therapy, the first in the North West.

Alongside these courses I developed weekend courses for personal development and training. My special interest are in groups, congruence, women and power, Children work, spirituality, expressive and creative therapies and the social and political context I find myself working in as a counsellor, supervisor and trainer.

It was both a privilege and challenge to be a part of this innovative organization for over 15years. This organisation ended in 2009 and from this time I provided the following training courses under the name Traceywalshawpccs:

• Introduction to Person Centred Expressive Therapy.
• An introduction to Person Centred Play Therapy.
• Working with Children, Young People, Puppets and Dolls Houses.
• Introduction to Group Facilitation and Expressive Medium.
• Sand play and working with miniatures.
• Working with Couples and Families within a Person Centred Approach.
• Women, Power and Creativity in the Person Centred Approach.

More detail about these courses can be found in the Workshop section.

My work as an artist

This has had profound effect on me as it is a vehicle to dialogue with about issues close to my heart. I had been searching for many years for a medium to facilitate a dialogue about issues especially those relating to social justice that was accessible to all levels of society. My pieces tell stories that mean something to me but can also be interpreted and mean something different in the eye of the viewer.

My current exhibition Transploration is displayed at Manchester Museum. This evolved from wanting to bring awareness to communities about kidney donation and particular live donors. The central piece being called 'Lets Hear it for The Donor!'.

My artwork can be viewed at www.traceywalshawmosaics.com