About Aleph

Thank you for visiting my site. My name is Carrie Gaye.

I have twenty years’ experience in working with children and young people in education, and eighteen years’ experience as a counselling therapist.

I specialise in designing and delivering Language and Diversity programmes for young people, with a focus on making literacy tasks stress-free and enjoyable. I have also designed and provided Creative Life Therapy for people who live with cognitive impairment.

I have retired and offer fewer services now. But if you find anything that interests you here, please get in touch as I might still be able to provide it.

Some payments for my literacy and well-being services go partly or wholly to charity. Customers always receive evidence of these payments. You are welcome to ask about the charities I have chosen.

A therapeutic approach

When we take a therapeutic approach to education, we enable children and young people to engage in learning with greater interest. It helps them to make meaning of the topics that they study and to understand difficult concepts more fully. We also find that learners are likely to develop a greater sense of self-worth, along with the confidence to ask questions freely, while growing the skills that they need for discussion and debate.

Unfortunately, many children and young people suffer from learning-related anxiety, but this is rarely detected. An important feature of the Aleph approach is that it creates a stress-free and rewarding experience, where fears about learning are identified and addressed with sensitivity. In fact, many children and young people who appear to be experiencing learning difficulties, are instead suffering from this kind of anxiety. Please click on ‘How my approach is different’, for more information.

My qualifications:

• Advanced Diploma in Education (Language and Literacy)

 • Diploma in Integrative Counselling

• Certificate in Health and Social Care

• Certificate in Delivering Learning

I am an associate of Synthesis Training of Tyne and Wear. My Therapeutic Learning Programme is a module in The Certificate In Groupwork In The Development Of Learning, an NCFE accredited course of learning by Synthesis.

My background and experience:

I was brought up in East London where I lived and worked until 2005. I was a vocational trainer and practitioner for thirty years, and this kept alive my interest in what makes learning enjoyable and valuable. I began to re-train in 2000, qualifying and practicing in the areas of mental and emotional well-being, social care and education. As a student of Integrative Counselling my training placement was in the Secondary Mental Health sector, with the Psychological Therapies Service (NHS) in Plaistow, East London. After qualifying, I stayed on to benefit from additional training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with specialist Denise Abel. My counselling work led to the role of advocate for patients in a secure psychiatric unit.

During this time I also developed my own approaches to play therapy for children in primary schools, along with new ways to empower children and young people in literacy. I have designed and delivered a range of Language and Diversity projects for secondary school students, including an activity-based programme for English as an additional language. Working with groups of young people on issues of inclusion and self-worth, I know without doubt that the language we use to express ourselves plays an important part in how we relate to each other, and how we see the world.