Seamus Barnes (Chair)

Seamus is the retired Principal of St Gabriel’s College in Ardoyne.  He joined the Board of New Life Counselling in 2005 and took on the role of Chair in September 2010.

Mr Robert Peel (Vice Chair)

Retired Bank Manager joined New Life Counselling in 2009 and was appointed as Vice Chair in September 2010

Donal Brady  (Treasurer)

Donal, an accountant by profession, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and currently works for the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.  Within New Life Counselling, Donal holds the post of Treasurer and also chairs the Resources Sub-Group.  He joined New Life Counselling in June 2000 and is its longest serving director.  He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for the Court District of Belfast in 2004, where he continues to serve.

Dr Saleem Tareen (Secretary)

Dr Tareen joined New Life Counselling in 2009 and is currently working as a Consultant Psychiatrist in Causeway Hospital Coleraine.

His special interest is psychological treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He has a keen interest in teaching and training. He has been practicing EMDR since 2005 and is an accredited EMDR Europe Consultant. He has organised EMDR trainings overseas, and has supervised EMDR practitioners. He has presented at the Interational Trauma Conferences.

Dr Tareen also runs teaching courses on Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). Dr Tareen is the chair of Therapeutic Services Sub Group in New Life Counselling.

Karen Copeland

Mr David Gilliland

David is the Assistant Director of the CAMHS team in the Northern Board area and joined New Life Counselling in 2009

Caroline Bloomfield (Director)

Caroline Bloomfield is the Community Development Worker for the Belfast Health Development Unit which was formed in March 2010 and brings together staff from the Public Health Agency, Belfast City Council and Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.  She has held this role since 2001 when she joined Belfast Health Action Zone which then merged into the Public Health Agency.  The Belfast Health Development Unit aims to tackle inequalities in health and wellbeing through partnership working, adopting a broad social model of health. Caroline previously spent seven years working for ATD Fourth World, an international anti-poverty organisation, in France, London and Manila, and before that worked as a solicitor for three years.  Caroline joined New Life Counselling in 2009.

Miss Jenni Barkley

Jenni joined the Board of New Life Counselling in 2010.  She currently works as Communications Manager for Musgrave Retail Partners NI.  Jenni has experience managing sponsorships and fundraising and in her previous role with a PR agency she worked with many charities.  She studied English and Spanish at Queen's University, Belfast and in her spare time she helps run a Girl Guide unit.

Mr Geoff McGimpsey

Geoff joined the board of directors for New Life Counselling in 2010. He has a wide range of experience in social media, public affairs and public relations roles. Following his work as an account manager for Morrow Communications, Geoff founded McGimpsey Communications in June 2010 specialising in corporate communications services, public affairs and social media.

An NCTJ-qualified journalist, Geoff has written columns on blogging for the News Letter and the Belfast Telegraph online edition and he also writes a personal column for EnVie magazine. An Associated Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (ACIPR), Geoff holds a degree in Classics from the University of London and a Diploma in Economics from the Open University.

Mr Paddy McGrath