About Echoes Charity

Maria began her counselling career in 2003 as a founding member of DACS, a charity supporting women struggling with domestic abuse. She then moved to WDVSS, working as a counsellor with children and families affected by domestic abuse. Over the past seventeen years, she has worked as a school counsellor in several schools across Warwickshire and Leicestershire and was briefly, through Children First, a service provider for the NHS.

With extensive personal experience of autism, Maria has become particularly knowledgeable in this field. She recognised the need for greater understanding and better access to free support around autism and other mental health difficulties, and founded Echoes Charity with her colleague Elissa Vale.

In her private practice, New Level Therapy, she supports individuals, families, young people and children on a one-to-one basis. Through Echoes Charity, she aims to make that support available to many more people. As well as supporting parents, her long-term goal is to promote awareness and understanding of autism and mental health, share supportive and effective strategies in education and the workplace, and help children, young people and adults who might otherwise struggle to feel more comfortable and able to thrive.

After studying Psychology and Philosophy and completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Elissa Vale went on to teach in primary schools in London. She then worked in business as a conference organiser, office manager and senior account manager for international organisations.

Elissa later retrained as a psychotherapist and counsellor, qualifying and registering in 2001. She co-founded an Emotional Literacy training company, working with teachers and businesses, and began her own private therapy practice. Alongside her private work, which she continues part-time, Elissa worked at Signpost, a young people’s counselling service in Watford, and at Relate, where she trained therapists to work in schools. She later co-founded Echoes Charity with her colleague Maria Robinson.

Elissa works with individuals, couples, families and groups at her practice, Your Safe Harbour, in Rugby. Her work focuses particularly on communication and relationships, and she also specialises in bereavement, autism and other forms of neurodiversity, IVF and supporting people who have experienced abuse. Echoes Charity reflects her ambition to make mental health support available to everyone who needs it, regardless of circumstance.

My name is Toni Jackson and I am a founding trustee and now Chair of Trustees for Echoes Charity. Most of my working life has been spent in public-sector roles, often helping and supporting people with mental health needs and hidden disabilities. I am passionate about providing help and support in ways that are accessible to the people who need it.

I have a daughter and a step-daughter who are both in their late twenties, and it has been a delight to watch them grow and flourish as they have got older, supporting them as they have navigated life’s obstacles. I have recently started running and am part-way through half-marathon training, although I do continually ask myself why I am doing this! I love reading and cannot relax to sleep without reading for at least half an hour. I enjoy sci-fi and fantasy novels but have surprised myself recently by embracing crime fiction.

Andrew has a passion for HR and a strong belief that his clients should receive the highest quality service and advice. Following a successful career as a people manager in banking, he moved into corporate HR within the same industry and found his calling. He went on to lead HR departments in the UK and overseas before leaving corporate HR to establish his own consultancy, which now supports clients across the country.

He believes staff are a company’s greatest asset, while also describing himself as an HR consultant who does not do ‘pink and fluffy’. He balances personal and business needs, helping clients simplify employment processes, resolve HR issues, remain legally compliant and use HR as a tool to add value to their business. He has also worked extensively on mental health in the workplace, helping managers develop the confidence and skills to identify early warning signs.

After completing a BA Hons degree in French at London University, Rayna went on to complete her Postgraduate Certificate of Education at the Institute of Education in London. She taught in leading London schools for over 25 years before retraining as a counsellor. She became the first trained counsellor in the school where she taught and established three new counselling services for Signpost, a young people’s counselling charity, where she volunteered and later became Chair of Trustees.

In 2000, Rayna left teaching to focus on her private practice and the Emotional Literacy company she co-founded with Elissa Vale. She continued her studies and became both a UKCP-registered adult psychotherapist and a UKCP-registered child psychotherapist. Rayna is also a UKCP-registered clinical supervisor, trainer, tutor and former examiner.

After leaving the two Girls’ Day School Trust schools where she worked as lead counsellor for several years, Rayna now supervises many of the Trust’s Safeguarding and Pastoral Leads and helps co-ordinate counsellors across the Trust. She also continues to work with children, adolescents, adults, couples and families at her private practice in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire.

Rayna is excited to help Echoes Charity achieve its aim of providing mental health support to everyone who needs it, especially people who may otherwise be unable to access that support.