ABOUT ELLIE

Ellie Finch, MA MBACP (Accred), is a clinical supervisor, counsellor, and social worker who works with children, parents, and families. She is an Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), a Professional Member of the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online (ACTO), and registered with Social Work England.

Ellie specialises in supporting neurodivergent clients and families of children with additional needs or complex medical conditions. She is a neurodiversity-affirming practitioner, which means she does not view neurodivergence as something to be “fixed” or “treated”, but as a valuable and natural variation of human experience. Her approach centres on creating respectful, empowering therapeutic environments that adapt to different ways of communicating, thinking, and connecting.

As a parent of two, including a child with special educational needs, physical disabilities, and a complex medical condition, she brings lived insight to her work supporting families and practitioners.

  • She has worked across CAMHS, schools, private practice, and both local and national charities. She is best known for developing an innovative online counselling service that uses videogames such as Minecraft and other creative digital tools to engage children and young people in therapy.

    Alongside her clinical work, Ellie provides consultancy and training to professionals and organisations looking to embed creative digital tools and videogames into their own practice. She is the founder of PlayMode Academy, a social venture offering structured training in the therapeutic use of creative digital tools. The venture has been supported by Cambridge Social Ventures and received an award from UnLtd.

    Ellie is passionate about increasing access to therapy for children and young people who are often excluded from traditional services. By building a social venture, she aims to demonstrate and broaden the social impact that creative digital tools can have - improving accessibility, enhancing engagement, and supporting better outcomes for children and young people across diverse settings.

    She is also part of the University of Cambridge research team behind Bridging the ChASM: Creating Accessible Services using Minecraft - a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) that explores the therapeutic potential of videogames and how they can be used to create more inclusive mental health support.

REGISTRATIONS & QUALIFICATIONS

  • Accredited Registered Member of the British Association of Counsellors & Psychotherapists (BACP)

  • Professional Member of the Association of Counselling and Therapy Online (ACTO)

  • Registered Member of Social Work England

  • Postgraduate Diploma in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy (University of East London)

  • Masters in Social Work (University of East London)

  • BA (Hons) Social Anthropology (University of Cambridge)

  • Advanced Certificate in Clinical Supervision including Online and Telephone Working (Counselling Tutor)

  • Advanced Certificate in Online and Telephone Counselling (Counselling Tutor)

  • Relate Certificate in Family Counselling (Relate)

  • Couples Therapy Training (The Centre for Relational Couples Therapy)

  • Developing Skills in Couples Work (Tavistock Relationships)

  • Treating Complex Trauma (PESI)

  • Brick by Brick Facilitator (Play Included)

  • Youth Gambling & Gaming Awareness Education Programme (YGAM)

  • Grief and Bereavement Training (Cruse and Winston's Wish)

  • Reflective Parenting - Increasing mentalizing in the parent-child relationship (Anna Freud Centre)

  • The Impact Of Complex Medical Conditions & Serious Illness on Children & Young People & their Families (The Sunflower Network)

  • Online Harms & Online Safeguarding (The Sunflower Network)

  • Qualified Proreal Facilitator (ProReal/Rethinkly)

PUBLICATIONS

Apanasionok, M. M., Paris, A., Griffin, J., Hastings, R.P., Finch, E., Austin, D., Flynn, S. (2025). ‘Digital Psychological Wellbeing Interventions for Family Carers of Children and Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Systematic Review’, Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 38, no. 4: e70081. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.70081.

Finch, E (2024) ‘Game Changer’ in New Psychotherapist published by the UK Council for Psychotherapy, November 2024 (pp.30-34).

Parent Carer Trauma Working Group (2024) ‘Parent Carer Trauma: A discussion paper on trauma and parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Parent Carers): For professionals and parents’. Available at:  https://www.affinityhub.uk/9/Trauma.html.

Finch, E. and Griffin, J. (2023) ‘Parent Carers: We can and should do better by them’, Professional Social Work Magazine, March/April. British Association of Social Workers.

Griffin. J., Finch, E., Yakeley, M., Bonger, N. and Villierezz, P. (2023) ‘Difficult Parent or Traumatised Parent’ in BACP Children, Young People & Families Journal, December. British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Finch, E. (2022) ‘Minecraft: Education Edition - An Engaging Therapeutic Tool’, Minecraft Education, 26 September. Available at: https://education.minecraft.net/en-us/blog/therapeutictool

Finch E. (2022) ‘Using Minecraft as a Sandtray’ In Stone J. Digital play therapy: a clinician’s guide to comfort and competence. New York: Routledge, pp.190-192.

Finch, E. (2021)‘Therapeutic Adventures in Minecraft’, BACP Children, Young People and Families Journal, December, pp. 6-11.