"Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”. Margaret Mead

Who Makes Up Lion Therapy CIC?

If you are reading this and decide to fund our work, then you are LION Therapy CIC, since we cannot do it without you! But, in terms of who is involved day-to-day and who sits on our Board, we are:

Annie Pesskin (Founder & Director) is a BPC-accredited psychoanalytic psychotherapist, supervisor and reflective practicioner in Oxford and London and a Senior Member of the British Psychotherapy Foundation. She is the author of The Kids Are Crying Again and has been seeing care-experienced clients for some years now.

Hazel Cringle (Director) is a British Association of Social Workers’ independent member with over 30 years of experience working with children and families in a range of statutory children’s services in both operational and strategic roles, from practitioner to senior manager, She specialises in safeguarding, children in care, fostering and adoption.

Jackie Atkins (Director) is a Social Worker who has worked in the public sector for over thirty years in both front-line and leadership roles in the statutory, voluntary and health sectors.  She set up and managed Pause Oxfordshire from March 2021 to 2025, which is a national charity supporting women who have had a baby taken into care.

Gwen Adshead (Non-Executive Director) is a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist in the NHS who has worked in Broadmoor High Security Hospital for over three decades. She was the BBC Reith Lecturer in 2024 on the theme of Violence and is the bestselling author of The Devil You Know. She has worked as an expert in family courts with women who struggle to care for their children for many years.

Sean Veitch (Non-Executive Director) is a BACP-accredited counsellor and supervisor. He was fostered multiple times and spent his early teens in residential childrens’ homes. He felt "written off" by society, leaving school with no qualifications and experienced homelessness while trying to access an entry course into higher education. He later explored the impact of inadequate therapy provision within public healthcare systems for his MSc in Therapeutic Practice at Oxford University.

Marie Bridge (Non-Executive Director) is a training therapist and supervisor for Child and Adolescent Mental Heath Service (CAMHS) psychotherapists in the NHS. She also works with children and adults in private practice including work with the Adoption Support Scheme. She is an adoptive parent herself with personal experience of the system since her adopted daughter’s children were taken into adoption and foster care.

Fiona Millar (Non-Executive Director) is a writer and journalist specialising in education policy. She was a special adviser at 10 Downing Street between 1997 and 2003 and has been chair of three charities: The Family & Parenting Institute, The National Youth Arts Trust and the Young Camden Foundation. She is currently a Director of the Careers and Enterprise Company, the national body for careers education in England.

Alan Pesskin (Fundraising Officer), is a business development and branding specialist. Alan worked nationally as a property developer, helping to found a business called British Health Enterprise, which created innovative NHS main entrance retail centres (similar to airport retailing). At no risk or cost for the NHS, the business achieved a great deal of success. The ownership of the developments ultimately vests with the NHS. More recently Alan worked for Oxford University Press and currently works as Housing & Enterprise Officer for Aspire Oxford, a charity which supports people coming out of prison to find employment and housing.