Stephen Barry (Lead Clinician/Clinical Team Manager)
Stephen is a qualified social worker and psychotherapist, registered with Social Work England and accredited as a psychotherapeutic counsellor with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy. He has provided advice to National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Public Health Advisory Committee on the development of Guidelines (2016), to the Centre of Expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA) and child sexual exploitation (CSE), on sibling sexual abuse (2021), and development of cross agency guidance (2017, 2021). Stephen currently chairs the SARSAS (Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support) and Rape Crisis England and Wales (RCEW) project advisory group for the Home Office-funded Sibling Sexual Abuse project. In collaboration with Be Safe colleagues, Kent University Tizard Centre and partner agencies, Stephen developed a treatment manual, Keep Safe, for young people with learning disabilities who’ve harmed sexually, and their parents or carers. He was instrumental in implementing a trauma-focused CBT programme for children with problematic sexual behaviour, and their parents, and recreating and adapting a programme for children with problematic sexual behaviour, and their parents or carers, developed by Oklahoma University Health Sciences Centre. In collaboration with a local sexual abuse counselling service, Stephen has developed a Restorative Project and has had two recent publications in the area of harmful sexual behaviour.
Alice Hunt (Senior Specialist Therapist)
Alice is a qualified probation officer and therapeutic counsellor. After working for many years as a probation officer specialising in therapeutic group work, Alice worked for the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a child protection charity dedicated to the prevention of sexual abuse, where she specialised in treatment of boys aged 15 – 18 years with harmful sexual behaviour, providing assessment, treatment and training in this area. She currently works part-time for Be Safe and the rest of her time as a freelance trainer, counsellor and consultant, providing services for a variety of organisations.
Toni Douglas (Social Worker/Specialist Practitioner)
Toni joined the Be Safe tean in July 2021. She completed her MSc in Social Work at the University of Bristol in 2014; prior to this she worked in an adult LD team. SHe has since worked with "Off The Record" (a youth mental health charity), in the Early Intervention in psychosis team, CAMHS Intensive Outreach Team and under CAMHS within the Bristol Youth Offending Team.
Rachel Marcarian
Rachel is a Preceptorship Forensic Psychologist with 18 years of experience working with problematic and harmful sexual behaviour, in the community, youth justice, and secure settings. Her previous roles have included work with those with mental health difficulties, challenging and violent behaviours, learning disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and those with histories of trauma and abuse. Rachel has experience of risk assessments and assessments of needs, and interventions tailored to the needs of the individual. Rachel has been involved in Home Office Research and has delivered the findings of this at conferences nationally and internationally. Her doctoral thesis explored criminal and sexual exploitation of children.
Megan Simmonds (Clinical Psychologist)
Megan qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 2016 from the University of Leicester. All of Megan’s post-qualification experience has been within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the NHS, including working with severe and enduring mental health difficulties, eating disorders, children in care, and harmful sexual behaviour. Megan enjoys working with young people and their parents and carers to make sense of their difficulties, and helps them to find ways to reduce their distress and enhance their safety and wellbeing. Her areas of expertise include working with trauma and attachment. Megan is registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and is a member of the British Psychological Society.
Andrea Clay (Senior Administrator)
Andrea has an administrative background and has worked with Be Safe since 2013. She has a GNVQ level 2 in Business and Administration and RSA level 2, and has also attended several training courses for important aspects of her role such as telephone call handling and customer care.
