Elaine Kelman

Head of the Michael Palin Centre and Consultant Speech and Language Therapist

MSc., Cert. CBT, FRCSLT, Reg. HCPC.

Elaine Kelman is a Consultant Speech and Language Therapist and the Head of the Michael Palin Centre. She is the Professional Lead for the Whittington Health Speech and Language Therapy Service across Camden, Islington and Haringey, and a Disfluency Advisor to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. Elaine is the Past President of the International Fluency Association (IFA), Chair of the European Fluency Specialists and an Affiliate of the American Speech and Hearing Association. She is a Certified European Fluency Specialist.

Elaine has a Masters in Human Communication and a certificate in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. She has worked as a specialist in stammering since the early 1980s and has had a key role in the development of the Centre’s core therapy programmes since it opened. She is co-author of the Palin Parent-Child Interaction Therapy treatment manual. Her publications include peer-reviewed papers, chapters and books.

Elaine leads the Centre’s international teaching programme and is regularly invited to speak at international conferences.

Ali Berquez

Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapist

MSc., PGDip. CT, Cert. SFBT, MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC.

Ali has specialised in stammering for many years and has worked at the Michael Palin Centre since 2000. Ali completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Therapy at the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre in 2005 and a BRIEF certificate in Solution Focused practice in 2019. She is a Certified European Fluency Specialist.

Ali has managed and developed the Michael Palin Centre’s Teaching Programme since 2004. She manages new referrals for children and young people, and liaises with and promotes the Centre with local speech and language therapy teams and NHS Commissioners.

Ali regularly presents at conferences. She was Joint Project Lead for the Stammering Information Programme, a project completed in 2010 which aimed to develop awareness about stammering in the UK education workforce. Her clinical and research interests include the use of Solution Focused Brief Therapy in therapy for stammering.

Dr Sharon Millard

Research Lead Speech and Language Therapist

PhD., MRCSLT, Reg.HCPC

Dr Sharon Millard is the Research Lead and a Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapist at the Michael Palin Centre, where she has worked since 1995.  Dr Millard has published research into the efficacy and effectiveness of interventions developed at the Michael Palin Centre and is co-author of the Palin Parent Rating Scales (a free, online outcome measurement tool completed by parents).  Dr Millard has had a number of editorial roles, presents regularly at international conferences and is involved in a number of scientific committees.  She is currently Chief Investigator for an NIHR funded feasibility trial to explore Palin Stammering Therapy for School Children (8-14) and Co-Chair for the Oxford Dysfluency Conference.  In addition to her role at MPC, Dr Millard is a lecturer and clinical tutor at City, University of London. Dr Millard is a certified European Fluency Specialist.

Sarah Delpeche

Senior Speech and Language Therapist

MSc.,BSc. (Hons.), MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC.

Sarah qualified from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2004 and worked in community clinic and mainstream school teams in Haringey, London. She developed an interest in working with children and young people who stammer and joined the Michael Palin Centre in 2012. Her clinical role involves clinical work with children, young people and adults. She also teaches on the MPC national and international training programme, and delivers clinical supervision. Sarah is a Certified European Stuttering Specialist (CESS).

She manages the Centre’s assessment booking process and private route referrals for children and young people, nationally and internationally.  She is closely involved in the Centre’s research programme. Sarah completed her Masters Degree in Speech, Language and Communication at City University, London. Her research investigated the relationship between temperament and impact of stammering in children who stammer under seven years of age.  Sarah has recently published two peer-reviewed journal articles. 

Sarah Caughter (nee Wheeler)

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

MSc., MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC.

Sarah qualified from Newcastle University in 2004 and worked in early years and mainstream school settings until joining the Michael Palin Centre in 2009. Sarah completed an MSc in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with children and young people at the Anna Freud Centre, London, in 2015. She was invited to work as a clinical tutor on the same programme in 2016.

Sarah completed an intensive train the trainers course in building resilience in young children, in Canada, in 2016 and she currently teaches this programme to healthcare professionals in the UK. She has a particular interest in supporting children and young people who stammer who have mental health difficulties and in building resilience. She has recently published two peer-reviewed journal articles on resilience in children who stammer.

Gemma Clarke

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

MSc., NLP Master Practitioner and Trainer, MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC.

Gemma works with children and young people who stammer and their parents, and with adults who stammer. Before working at the Michael Palin Centre she worked in a specialist language unit and held an Early Years clinic caseload where she developed her skills in working with children with a range of language needs including children who’s stammer. She is passionate about working holistically with clients, ensuring therapy is tailored to the specific needs of the child or young person and their family. Gemma is part of the MPC teaching team and teaches a range of MPC courses. She is responsible for delivering the Palin PCI Accreditation Programme and she supports colleagues and external SLTs through supervision.

Gemma has trained in a range of psychological approaches, including Solution Focused Brief Therapy, and she is a master practitioner and trainer in Neurolinguistic Programming. She supports the team to develop their presentations skills, drawing on her experience of NLP. Gemma is involved in small-scale research projects, including a study into the sue of telehealth for assessment and therapy at the MPC.

Victoria Cummings

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

MSc., MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC.

Victoria graduated from University College London with an MSc in Speech and Language Sciences in 2009. Prior to this she studied for a BA Honours in English Studies at Nottingham University. After qualifying, Victoria worked in South West Essex and Westminster in a range of community clinics, primary and secondary schools, children’s centres and nurseries before moving to the MPC to further develop her interest in stammering. She has worked at the Michael Palin Centre since 2013.

Victoria is part of the Centre’s teaching team, running workshops for speech and language therapists within the UK and internationally. She has presented at National CEN study days, the British Stammering Association Conference and the Oxford Dysfluency Conference. She has served on the committee of the South East and London Stammering (SEALS) Clinical Excellence Network (CEN) as Membership Secretary and Chair.

Victoria has an interest in Solution Focused Brief Therapy and the use of Mindfulness-Based Approaches in therapy with people who stammer. She works with children, young people and adults.

Martha Jeffery

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

BA (Hons.), BSc., MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC.

Martha is a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist and has worked at the Michael Palin Centre since 2013.  She graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a BSc in Speech and Language Therapy in 2008.  Prior to her career as a Speech and Language Therapist she studied for a BA Honours in English Language and Literature at Leeds University and then worked in conference organisation and banking. She was previously membership secretary for the South East and London Stammering Clinical Excellence Network and has presented at the British Stammering Association conference.

Since joining the Centre Martha has completed an introductory course in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and BRIEF certificate in Solution Focused practice. She is interested in psychological approaches to stammering (including CBT, Solution Focused Brief Therapy and Mindfulness-Based approaches).

Martha is part of the teaching team delivering workshops at the MPC and within the UK. 

Sophie Card

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

BSc., MRCSLT, Reg.HCPC.

Sophie qualified with a BSc in Speech and Language Sciences from Newcastle University in 2015. Sophie previously worked in Warwickshire and the North West, with a particular interest in children with social communication needs, Autism and children who stammer.

Sophie joined the team at the Michael Palin Centre at the beginning of 2020. She is part of the teaching team, helping to organise course bookings, and also jointly manages the Centre’s social media sites.

Nicola Darby

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

MSc., BSc., MRCSLT., Reg,HCPC

Nicola qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in 2016. She previously qualified with a BSc. in Psychology from Exeter University in 2013. Before joining the Michael Palin Centre in 2021, Nicola worked in Hackney within both the early years and schools teams where she developed an interest in working with children who stammer.

Daisy Hope

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

MA, MSc., MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC.

Daisy qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist from UCL in 2013. She worked in both schools and early years teams within City and Hackney before joining the Michael Palin Centre in 2016.

At the Centre Daisy’s role includes working with children, families and young people, and in group or individual therapy. She is part of the MPC teaching team, delivering workshops in Palin PCI.

Rosie Markland

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

BSc., MSc., MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC.

Rosie qualified with a BSc in Psychology from the University of Sheffield in 2011, followed by an MSc in Speech and Language Therapy from the University of Essex in 2014. Rosie joined the team at the Michael Palin Centre in 2018 having previously worked as part of an early years clinic and specialist stammering team in Manchester.

Rosie has been a clinical researcher at the Centre since November 2023, which involves supporting the delivery of research studies, and supporting the staff with research projects. As part of this role Rosie is completing an MRes in Social Research at UCL, supported by the UCL Unit for Stigma Studies (UCLUS) team.

Rosie works with children, young people and their families at MPC, and is also part of the training team, delivering training in Palin PCI therapy and working with 8-14 year olds who stammer.

Liz Cox

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

BSc, MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC

Liz qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in 2017 from the University of Manchester. For the first 2 years of her career, Liz worked with adults in an independent neurorehabilitation hospital, before making the move to work with children and young people in North London mainstream schools in 2019. Liz has worked across primary and secondary schools, supported students in Pupil referral units and worked with home educated children and families. Her interest in working with people who stammer began when she volunteered at an American summer camp for young people who stammer in 2015, and she joined the MPC team in January 2024.

Hope Kightley

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

BA (Hons), MSc, MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC

Hope qualified with a BA(Hons) in Childhood Studies from the University of Leeds in 2019, followed by an MSc in Speech and Language Therapy from Leeds Beckett University in 2021. Hope joined the team at The Michael Palin Centre at the beginning of 2023, having previously worked as a Community Paediatric Speech and Language Therapist in Nottingham.

Chloe Rush

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

MRCSLT, Reg. HCPC

Chloe qualified with an MSc in Speech and Language Therapy from University College London (UCL) in 2020. Her first role involved working across primary and secondary schools in Hackney with children with a range of speech, language and communication needs, including children who stammer. Most recently, Chloe worked in a special educational needs (SEN) secondary school, developing further specialism and interest in Developmental Language Disorder, Autism and Childhood Apraxia of Speech. She joined the team at the Michael Palin Centre in April 2024 and continues to work at the school alongside her role here.

Before training in speech and language therapy, Chloe qualified with an MSc in Research Methods and Social Cognition from UCL in 2016 and worked as a graduate research assistant at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). She is also part of the research team at the Michael Palin Centre.

Andre Lokenath

Research Assistant

MSci.

Andre graduated with an MSc Human Genetics integrated Masters from University College London (UCL) in 2019, where he completed a 4th year Extended Research Project looking at breast cancer risk loci within the female African population and a 3rd year Investigative Project into the expression of cis-regulatory elements in tissues associated with Type 2 diabetes.

His role as Research Administrator involves supporting the therapy team at the Michael Palin Centre, collecting data from assessments and therapy, in addition to monitoring and processing data. This is Andre’s first job since graduating from university.

Zoe Donaldson

Administrator

Zoe has worked at the Centre since March 2019, having previously worked at St Marys Hospital and St George’s Hospital. She has a diploma in Business Administration.

Zoe is the office administrator. As well as managing the day-to-day running of the office Zoe processes new referrals and funding applications, and is in charge of the admin that supports our training courses.

Zoe enjoys seeing the children who come to the centre and watching them prosper in the supportive and calm environment of the centre. She cares that people are welcomed warmly especially on their first visit.

Andrew Kaygah

Administrator

Andrew has been working at the Michael Palin Centre since 2016. He arranges first appointments, manages the day-to-day running of the office and is often the first face that people see when they arrive! He enjoys seeing families and clients grow in confidence over the time they spend at the Centre. It is fulfilling and keeps him smiling!

Tanzil Mustak

Office Systems Manager

Tanzil joined the MPC team in June 2023, having worked in a number of NHS settings, including Whittington Health. Tanzil is reviewing the admin systems we use and streamlining them where possible whilst supporting the clinical and training course processes to ensure that all our service users have the best possible experience.

Sarah Broadhead

Admin support volunteer

Sarah has worked with the MPC team since before it became the MPC! She helps in the office, answering the phone and door, helping with clinical report distribution, supporting the training course systems and liaisiing with colleageus across the NHS to ensure that as many families as possible can access our services when they need them.

Victoria Bedell

Business Development Manager

Victoria joined the Centre in November 2023 as Business Development Manager. While we are an NHS service the Centre relies on charitable support to fund many of our activities such as our assessments, intensive courses and free helpline. Victoria’s role focuses on projects which generate funds for the Centre so that the team can continue to reach more children and their families.

Victoria graduated from Liverpool University with a degree in English Language and Literature. She then worked in change and communications across a variety of industries including banking and energy. Victoria is new to the world of speech therapy so is enjoying learning more about stammering and the amazing work the Michael Palin Centre does.

Cynthia Dacillo

Volunteer

Cynthia qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in Peru then completed a Master’s degree in Neuroeducation and Psychology in the UK. She currently lives in London and works as a Speech and Language Therapy Assistant in schools in Barnet. She previously worked in Peru as a specialist SLT in stammering and is a Board member of the World Stuttering Network. She is working as a volunteer for one day a week at MPC.