Stephen Gilles

Stephen is a qualified Social Worker registered with the GSCC and a qualified Family and Systemic Psychotherapist registered with the UKCP. He is also qualified as a Systemic Supervisor and teacher of Systemic Practice.

Stephen has a twenty year background in social work and considerable experience in many aspects of working with families, young people and children. He is very familiar with the issues and challenges for families in our diverse communities, for children in need and for those children who are looked after. Much of Stephen’s work has been in the many aspects of safeguarding both as a Social Worker and Psychotherapist.

In addition Stephen has worked in a CAMHS setting developing services for families where there is parental mental ill health. He has worked with parents and children who present a variety of child and adult mental health issues. Therapeutic interventions have been informed by systemic and evidence based practice; including family therapy, family and individual work and support packages. 
More recently Stephen has been working in partnership with a London based Social Services as a Psychotherapist. In this context he offers a therapeutic service to families, parents, young people and children. He also offers consultancy to social work colleagues exploring how systemic ideas can enhance social work practice.

Helping parents and children through painful change is challenging. Finding ways of helping parents to make sufficient improvement in their parenting capacity quickly enough for the needs of their children is a task that has challenged social work.
Stephen has a longstanding interest in designing interventions that enable parents and their children to remain together or be reunited within appropriate time scales. This often involves inviting parents and their children into therapeutic processes to overcome the trauma of damaging past experiences and patterns of harmful and destructive behaviour. In this way parents are encouraged to develop new ways of relating and living together.

Qualifications

• Certificate of Qualification in Social Work
• Advanced Award in Social Work
• MSc in Family and Systemic Psychotherapy
• Diploma in Systemic Supervision and Teaching