Our Trustees

Nicholas is chair of the Board of Trustees having become a trustee in October 2017. He is a barrister based at No5 Chambers in London and specialises in high value and complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution arising from breaches of contract and professional negligence. He acts for clients in the UK and overseas, including governments and multinationals. Listed as a leading junior in the Legal 500, Nicholas has over 20 years of third sector governance experience and is currently serving as a governor of the Royal Russell School and a director of Nazari Digar, a Down’s Syndrome charity.

Helen originally trained as a social scientist and worked at a social research institute, where she focused on qualitative investigations exploring the motivations behind human behavior. After taking a break to complete a degree in fine art, Helen, retrained as a therapist. Her background in depth interviewing and facilitating focus groups proved useful, though she found her personal experience of therapy to be even more valuable.

Helen went on to become a group analyst and spent over twenty years working as an individual counsellor and group therapist across a range of settings, including universities, the NHS, and various therapy organisations. She has proudly served as a HCC trustee since 2017 and lives locally in Muswell Hill.

Sheena was invited to become a Trustee at Highgate Counselling Centre in 2017. A local Highgate resident, she feels privileged to contribute to the centre’s ongoing success. Her career spans extensive experience as a clinical nurse across inpatient, community, and outpatient settings. In addition to her clinical background, she is a qualified teacher and has taught in higher education within the faculty of health sciences.

Nicholas co-founded Symvan Capital in 2013, a venture capital fund manager specialising in investments in technology and software businesses. His career encompasses experience across equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity, with roles at institutions including BNP Paribas and Lehman Brothers. Nicholas holds an MBA from Imperial College London and a BSc in Statistics from UCL, and he is also an accredited coach. In addition to his professional work, Nicholas serves as a trustee for two charities focused on community health and life-saving medical treatments.

Janet is a retired Consultant Psychiatrist who has served as a trustee of Highgate Counselling Centre for several years. Her connection to the Centre spans decades when as a medical student, she attended one of HCC’s earliest short training courses for counsellors.

Following her medical qualification, Janet undertook preregistration house jobs and worked as a trainee assistant in general practice. During a career break while raising her young children, she returned to HCC as a volunteer counsellor. She later began working part-time in psychiatry, eventually earning her MRCPsych in 1983. After serving for several years as an Associate Specialist in Haringey, she was appointed Consultant Psychiatrist within the Barnet, Enfield, and Haringey Mental Health Trust. During her time there, she also held the role of Associate Medical Director.

As a trustee at HCC, Janet contributed her psychiatric expertise by acting as an adviser to counsellors, a role she held until her initial retirement in 2009. She continued to work part-time for two further years before retiring fully in 2012.

Janet lives with her husband, John, between Highgate and Muswell Hill. She remains closely involved with the Counselling Centre and has greatly valued witnessing its development and growth over the years.

Vivien’s early professional career was rooted in human resources, where she held various personnel management roles within the NHS. Later, Vivien pursued further training in mental health, obtaining a Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling from Highgate Counselling Centre. Throughout her time with HCC, she worked as both a counsellor and administrator at the Centre, where she also served as a staff representative.

Now retired, Vivien continues to dedicate her time to voluntary roles. She is an active volunteer with Attitude is Everything, a charity that advocates for better access to live music events for disabled people. She also volunteers at Alexandra Palace, supporting community engagement and cultural events.