Our Therapists
Delphine Sayre
Therapist
Delphine is our medical herbalist and diet advisor. She was drawn to work for the Cavendish in 2003 by its ethos of providing free therapy to all and working closely with mainstream healthcare. She is a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, has been working as a herbalist in private practice in Sheffield since 1988 and is also involved in teaching about herbal medicine in a variety of settings.
When not at work, Delphine enjoys being the mother of a teenager, working on an allotment, walking the hills with her dogs and singing!
Helen Ruckledge
Therapist
Helen is a qualified Nutritionist, registered with the Association for Nutrition. Having been diagnosed with breast cancer aged 42, when her four children were at primary school, she is passionate about the importance of nutrition.
Helen is proud to offer trusted, professional advice on a range of issues that are important after a cancer diagnosis. All her dietary advice is rigorously based on scientific evidence, not fads, trends or gimmicks, and is in line with mainstream recommendations from the NHS and the World Cancer Research Fund.
Managing a busy family, Helen understands the dietary issues facing everyone with busy and demanding lives. She strives to inspire people to make dietary changes, by offering practical and realistic nutritional solutions which fit into real life.
Lisa Snelling
Therapist
Lisa is a Shiatsu and Reiki Practitioner and has worked at the Cavendish since 2011. She completed her training in 2005. Lisa has also worked as a health services researcher since 2000 and is presently also studying the effects of Shiatsu with Teesside University. She runs a private practice from Nether Edge, Sheffield. She and her husband Iain enjoy travelling to her native Ireland and the occasional visit to their local micro-pub! Their next adventure though is to grow their own food and take up bee-keeping. Read more on Lisa’s website.
Michelle Esberg
Therapist
Michelle initially trained as a general nurse, and later as a mental health nurse. During her nursing career, her focus shifted towards a more spiritual and holistic approach to health and wellbeing. She developed a keen interest in the Eastern Healing Arts, becoming a dedicated student of Tai Chi and meditation. This led her to discover Shiatsu, which she qualified in in 1999, before going on to qualify in Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in 2005. She practices acupuncture and shiatsu here at Cavendish.
Michelle enjoys walks by the sea, tennis and writing poetry. She also has a lifelong love of learning, which led her to recently embark on a degree at the University of Sheffield, which she finds enjoyable and inspiring.
Pauline Nunn
Therapist
Pauline has been a complementary therapist for over 20 years and began working with Cavendish Cancer Care in 2004. Pauline is qualified and experienced in giving a range of therapies including; Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Reiki, Massage and Auricular Acupuncture, and is also a qualified yoga practitioner. Currently Pauline delivers our Chair Yoga online class and Online Relax class, which can be accessed via our Online Groups and Classes.
Toby Oliver
Therapist
Toby Oliver started volunteering at Cavendish Cancer Care in 2020 as a Co-host for the Online Relaxation Class (ORC) and now he is one of our counsellors here at Cavendish. He is a registered therapist specialising in helping people deal with serious illness, anxiety and grief. He is also a qualified teacher of yoga (RYT-500) and meditation, specialising in therapeutic Dru Yoga, restorative Grief Yoga™ and Laughter Yoga. He runs a private practice in Sheffield and teaches regularly across the UK. Toby began his career working in the arts and local government sectors before re-training as a therapist. He is a Director of the Sheffield-based music theatre company, Mr Bugg Productions – creators of the hit West End show, Miss Nightingale the musical. He is also the co-author of four professionally produced plays and his first book, Rise and Shine will be published by Little, Brown in December 2021. In his spare time he enjoys walking with his husband and their Wire Haired Sausage dog (Lennie), gardening, reading, and going to the theatre. Read more on about Toby’s private work on his therapy and yoga websites.
Vicky Gaughan
Therapist
Vicky Gaughan has been a body psychotherapist since 1994. She has a Bsc in Therapeutic Counselling, an MA in Psychological Therapies and also practices and teaches Hakomi. Vicky is a member of the European Association of Body Psychotherapists. Vicky has been involved in the Cavendish Centre since 2005 and offers counselling to our clients.
Clare Longstaffe
Therapist
After spending 15 years teaching French to secondary school children, Clare decided to put down her beret and pursue her interest in complementary therapies. Fascinated by the power of the mind, she trained in Hypnotherapy in 2009 and qualified as an Advanced Hypnotherapist in 2012.
Clare has worked for Cavendish Cancer Care in Sheffield since 2015 as a therapist, focusing mainly on hypnotherapy. Clare offers a professional, integrative approach to working with a range of issues including: stress, anxiety, pain, phobias and fears and confidence building.
She enjoys trail running, walking, being out in the countryside, reading, arthouse cinema and going on adventures in Latin America.
Marla Bryan
Therapist
Marla is a holistic therapist offering massage, Reiki, and Aromatherapy . She approaches everything with compassionate awareness, treating each person in crisis as an individual with their own needs, and their own pathway to a calmer and more healing space within. Marla has vast experience working with vulnerable people for charities and in clinical settings.
Annette Lucas
Therapist
Annette has been practising therapies since 2000 and is strongly committed to making therapies as accessible as possible. She offers massage, acupuncture and Shiatsu at Cavendish. Her background is working with individuals recovering from the effects of abuse, a drug and alcohol project, sports clinic and in general practice. She also works privately and co-runs a clinic with Lisa Snelling in Nether Edge. In her spare time she can be found hiking in mountains, kayaking on a lake, chasing and trying to keep up with her young son and, if lucky, sitting down to enjoy her favourite Callaloo and Ackee Caribbean meal!
Dawn Kerry
Therapist
Dawn joined the Cavendish team in 2014 as a complementary therapist, working in outreach on behalf of the Centre at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and Weston Park Hospital. She offers Reiki, reflexology and massage.
Dawn also works as a therapist at the Rotherham Maples Centre. she is a member of the Federation of Holistic Therapists and qualified as a therapist in 2007.
When not working, Dawn likes to be outside in the fresh air walking in the countryside or Derbyshire peaks. Dawn is also a doting ‘Granny’ to her young granddaughter.
Sue Saha
Therapist
Sue is a qualified integrative counsellor and psychotherapist and has been working at Cavendish since 2022. She brings years of experience in oncology nursing to Cavendish with specialisms in lung cancer nursing and palliative care. She is also a qualified bereavement counsellor and works at St Luke’s Hospice as a volunteer with the bereavement team. Sue offers counselling at Cavendish and is also one of our Assessors.
Helena Hadley
Therapist
Helena has been working at Cavendish since 2019 but has been practising complementary therapies for 18 years, after becoming interested in how complementary therapies helped with her own ill health. Prior to retraining as a complementary therapist, Helena worked in as a telecommunications engineer. She offers massage, aromatherapy, reiki and reflexology at Cavendish.
Sarah Oldfield
Therapist
Sarah has immersed herself in the healing practices of the East since moving to Sheffield to study in 1996. She spent many years training in T’ai Chi, Chi Gong and Buddhist meditation.
After travelling through India, Nepal and Thailand, Sarah settled in Australia, pursuing her healing practices and qualified in Shiatsu in 2007.
Sarah especially loves sharing Shiatsu and movement meditation with community groups groups with people who might not usually have access to such things.
Sarah has a private practice in Nether Edge in Sheffield, offering Shiatsu and Reiki and is very happy to be a part of the team at Cavendish.
Helen Rufus
Senior Young People’s Service Therapist
Helen has had the pleasure of working with children and young people for 18 years. Since qualifying as a Play Therapist in 2010, she’s worked for a Sure Start Counselling service and an SEN school supporting children and young people with social, emotional and mental health difficulties. Helen began working at Cavendish Cancer Care in 2017.
Play Therapy is offered to children and young people between the ages of 3 & 13, who might have had experiences that have been confusing, frightening or overwhelming to them. Children will often use symbolic play instead of talking to help them sort out their mixed up feelings. Working closely with parents and carers is an important part of the process.
Helen is a BAPT registered Play Therapist and has also completed training in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy. For more info on both see: https://www.bapt.info/ and https://ddpnetwork.org/uk.
Outside of work Helen enjoys eating burritos and dancing, although not necessarily at the same time!
Clare Turner
Therapist – Children and Young People
Clare is a qualified Art Psychotherapist (MA) and a holds a BSc in Psychology. She has worked supporting the wellbeing and development of young people since 2015, in various settings including schools, alternative learning centres, hospitals, and NHS social prescribing.
Clare is registered with the HCPC (https://www.hcpc-uk.org/) and is a full member BAAT. She has recently completed level 2 training in Dyadic Art Psychotherapy meaning she is able to offer individual and joint (parent and child) work. Clare is currently studying for a post graduate qualification in Creative Clinical Supervision and runs her own private Art Therapy practice.
Outside of work Clare enjoys arts and crafts, Lego and watching films.
Claire Furbey – Head of Service, Children and Young People
Claire (She/Her) is a qualified Integrative Counsellor with a focus on Person Centred Counselling. She has over 16 year’s experience of working with children and young people. She has worked within mainstream and specialist educational settings, private therapy organisations and has her own private practice as well as offering Clinical Supervision to therapists and Safeguarding Leads.
As an Integrative Counsellor, Claire draws on a variety of theoretical approaches to be responsive to the child or young person. Throughout this work she is committed to being honest and genuine, and accepting her clients and their choices without judgement.
Claire is qualified in Psychotherapeutic Counselling Practice (Prof. Dip Psy.C). She is a registered member of the National Counselling Society. Outside of work Claire enjoys dog walks, jogging, sea swimming (when she can!) and spending time with family and friends.
Mick Whincup
Therapist
Mick specialises in hypnotherapy and Reiki and has been with us since 2013. He’s had a varied career including 10 years in the Army, where he completed tours of Northern Ireland, Belize and Cyprus, followed by a stint working at a research station in the Antarctic! Mick then retrained as a nurse, working in critical care and then as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Pain Management. He works at The Tim Pryor Centre and is also one of our therapists who you might see working on wards in some of the hospitals in Sheffield as part of our outreach team.
Mick uses his pain management skills regularly on a weekend when he goes to support Barnsley F.C.
