What LION Therapy does

LION offers care-experienced people up to three years of once-weekly, trauma-informed psychotherapy.

Clients access this support at a fee they can afford but LION tops up their fee so psychotherapists who are 5 years+ qualified can be paid a fee of £50/session. This is on the low side for private psychotherapy but far more than LION clients are able to afford, thus enabling vulnerable individuals the opportunity to be treated by the expert, committed psychotherapists they need.

LION provides precisely the kind of support recommended by the Care Leavers’ Report Caring for Better Health (Department of Health, 2017) by attending closely to:

• Feelings of abandonment and isolation

• Complicated attachment issues

• The need for services which respond to individuals rather than fitting them into pre-existing, rigid service boxes.

“It can be really hard to connect with people after trauma, and we can even lose the connection to ourselves—forgetting who we are and how to be. The important thing is to start to practise the art of connecting. This can be with anything—nature, animals, spirituality, anything with purpose; learning meaningful activities or hobbies.” Beverley Chipp, Trauma Survivor.

LION’s Therapy CIC’s Treatment Model

LION clients have high Adverse Child Experience (ACE) scores and present with a history of ruptured relationships with their primary caregivers.  Complex PTSD is their most common diagnosis (if they have had the luxury of a referral to a psychiatrist in the first place) as a result of experiences in abusive/neglectful homes and then later in care.

In 2025, the diagnosis of Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) was added to the ICD (11) for the first time.  The British Medical Journal (BMJ, Jan 2025) recommends a tripartite therapeutic process to help patients with this diagnosis which LION adheres to:

Phase 1 – Stabilisation and Safety

Trauma breaks trust and this initial phase of treatment is about helping the patient discover you are a safe person to be with. Careful relationship building and time are key to this phase.

Phase 2 – Trauma Processing

High rates of attrition in existing treatment modalities are common due to prevailing difficulties in avoidance and the unpleasant somatic and psychological consequences of working through trauma (nightmares, flashbacks, attachment ruptures).

Phase 3 – Reintegration

Difficulty forming healthy relationships leads to chronic isolation and loneliness. Phase 3 treats the long-term nature of recovery by challenging the idea that trauma can be ‘fixed’.  Instead, we integrate the knowledge, skills and processing work completed in Phase 1 and 2. Social prescribing can be helpful here too.

Each phase presents a set of unique challenges that require both an appropriate treatment period and experienced clinicians capable of safely guiding patients through the tripartite treatment process of C-PTSD.  This is why LION offers weekly treatment to clients for 3 years.

LION therapists receive expert group supervision to ensure the therapeutic relationship is at the lowest possible risk of breaking down.  Our supervisors (Dr. Gwen Adshead and Dr. Carine Minne) are both Consultants at Broadmoor Hospital and have between them over 70 years of experience working with highly traumatised clients.

Who can become a LION Client?

LION clients can be referred by Social Services, GPs, Family Nurse Practitioners or through self-referral. But LION Therapy can never be mandated by Social Services or Probation and can only be entered into voluntarily. LION Therapists will never report to Social Services about their LION client and client confidentiality is a fundamental aspect of the therapeutic relationship.

At LION Therapy CIC nothing is more precious than a client’s trust.

If you are interested in being a LION therapist, please click here.

If you would like to refer someone or yourself, please click here.