Our team

Jo-Anne-Karlsson

Jo-Anne Karlsson MSc MBPsP, NBCC, LCDC, PG Cert, LEAP

Director and Senior EFP/L Practitioner

Sarah-Hopton-LEAP-Equine

Sarah Hopton MSc, MBACP (Accred), MNCS (Prof Accred) FACCPH Adv AP

Programme Director and Senior EFP/L Practitioner

Natali-Khilkova

Natali Khilkova

Executive Assistant and Office Administrator

Lisa-Bruin-LEAP-Equine

Lisa Bruin

International Horsemanship Trainer and Instructor

Heidi-Dawson-LEAP-Equine

Heidi Dawson MNCH (Acc.) MAC

Senior EFL Practitioner & Tutor

Delia-Wilkinson

Delia Wilkinson

Senior EFL Practitioner

Robyn-Emond-Virtual-Assistant

Robyn Emond

Virtual Assistant

CLAIRE-COLE-Senior-EFL-Practitioner

Claire Cole

Senior EFL Practitioner

McKenzie-Jevnikar-Virtual-Assistant

McKenzie Jevnikar

Virtual Assistant

Jo-Anne Karlsson MSc MBPsP, NBCC, LCDC, PG Cert, LEAP

Director and Senior EFP/L Practitioner

Jo-Anne Karlsson is the Owner and Director of LEAP and is a key member of the Senior Therapeutic Team. Jo-Anne is a Systemic and Solution Focused Family Therapist and Addiction Counselor gaining her qualification in the United States of America; as well as a Clinical Supervisor having qualified from Derby University. Jo-Anne began her career at the Child Institute of Mental Health in London researching the Autism Spectrum but then went on to be a mother of three step-children and having two of her own, before returning to studying Family Therapy. Jo-Anne is also a National Certified Counselor in the State of Illinois and an experienced EFL/P practitioner since 2012 having practiced in the USA, Singapore and the UK in residential, community and private environments.

Jo-Anne was among the first graduates of the LEAP EFP/L Practitioner Training Programme and now runs her own successful private practice in and around Berkshire. Having a mixed herd of ex-polo and rescue ponies, Jo-Anne allows the herd to have a choice of who and how they work with individuals, with the majority of clients being young people aged between 8 and 24 years of age. Jo-Anne has a postgraduate qualification in clinical supervision and is interested in studying a Ph.D. in Psychotherapy and Philosophy, specialising in Trauma issues and adolescence.

Sarah Hopton MSc, MBACP (Accred), MNCS (Prof Accred) FACCPH Adv AP

Programme Director and Senior EFP/L Practitioner

Sarah worked for many years in blue chip organisations providing change programmes and coaching for management teams. She was in a world-class procurement change team for Rolls Royce PLC and was involved in delivering business plan development and strategic sourcing globally. She has negotiated multi-million-pound global contracts within a complex multi-vendor environment, understanding this complexity allows her to work with a variety of national and global organisations providing leadership development. She uses her own equine therapy centre at Life on Dreams to offer unique leadership development, change management and business strategy development in a truly immersive and unique experience.

Sarah has also ran a successful procurement consultancy and worked for a number of global organisations including Vodafone, Rolls Royce PLC, E-on, Northcliffe Media, Associated News including the Daily Mail. Her work at Vodafone saw her shortlisted for a Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Chain (CiPS) award. During this time, she was able to train with some world-class horsemen and subsequently went on to train in Horse Accelerated Transformation (HAT) with HorseJoy, which set her up to integrate strategic skills with a horse-focused leadership development programme.

While completing her MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy, Sarah studied with LEAP as an Equine Facilitated Psychotherapist (EFP) and after graduating with a distinction, she went on to launch Life on Dreams Limited.

Life on Dreams is a fulfilment of her dream, to create a specialist centre offering well-being services in South Derbyshire and Staffordshire. Working with corporate leaders including CIOs and Company Directors, adults and young people struggling with anxiety, stress, depression, PTSD, addiction and trauma, Sarah has cumulated thousands of clinical practice hours.

In 2016, Sarah joined the LEAP senior training team where she is able to bring her experience as a coach and psychotherapist into the experiential training offered by LEAP for those wishing to become EFP and EFL Practitioners.  She is responsible for co-running the Level 4 and Level 5 Diploma’s  and supervising trainees and LEAP Practitioners.  She co-created the Addiction CPD course with Mike Delaney and is passionate about developing new course and material for LEAP. Sarah co-created the Level 4 Diploma in Equine Facilitated Learning: the LEAP Method which launched in 2020 offering an externally recognised and accredited course for those wishing to move into the field of EFL.

Natali-Khilkova

Executive Assistant and Office Administrator

Natali is the person who keeps the wheels of LEAP moving, she is responsible for office & course administration. If you call the office you will most likely speak to Natali and she works really hard to ensure students and clients feel valued and heard. She has a BA in Business Management and has over 6 years experience working as an Executive Assistant.

Coming from a diverse professional and personal background, Natali is passionate about customer experience and helping others, including our learners on the training journey with LEAP. She is interested in the field of equine facilitated therapies and while not experienced with horses, her interest in supporting others, organisational skills and business skills make her an invaluable team member.

Lisa Bruin

International Horsemanship Trainer and Instructor

Lisa has spent her life working with horses; she has travelled worldwide working and training with some of the world’s top horsemen. She has trained and spent time with Ray HuntLeslie DesmondPhil RodeyPhilip Nye and Steve Halfpenny.

Lisa teaches our Horsemanship courses and offers a relational way to work with our horses. The emphasis of her teaching is to create an understanding between horse and practitioner, developing trust and confidence right from the start. Alongside teaching with LEAP, Lisa helps people with difficult horses and youngsters and teaches clinics across the UK and Europe. She has competed internationally in Cowboy Dressage and was in the GB Working Equitation Team in 2018 with her little quarter horse Skeeter.

Lisa’s passion for horses is evident in all her work and our trainees have all learned a lot from her teaching, learning about relationship, leadership, feel, timing, equine body language and much more.

Lisa Bruin

International Horsemanship Trainer and Instructor

Heidi enjoyed a successful 20-year-long corporate career, holding senior roles in organisations including RHM Group, Greggs PLC and Edmund Nuttall Ltd and also acting as Consultant to a number of organisations, including the Environment Agency.  But, she always felt there was something missing!  So, during this time she also trained and practised as a professional coach and hypnotherapist.  She finally took the plunge, leaving behind her ‘safe’ Corporate role to focus on her coaching and therapy practice in 2006.

A number of opportunities arose from this move, most notably being invited to deliver internationally accredited professional coach training programmes in London, Edinburgh and Brussels.

In 2010, Heidi established Success Unbridled and introduced equine facilitated learning into her work, focusing primarily on delivering leadership and team development programmes. 

However, she was asked to do a piece of work with a local secondary school and this opened her eyes to the possibilities that can unfold when young people are given the chance to work through their challenges using experiential learning methods.  This broadening of Heidi’s offering led to the formation in 2013 of Glint, a not-for-profit, social enterprise.  Heidi is Glint’s CEO and Lead Facilitator. 

Heidi has first-hand experience of the benefits of time spent with horses and ponies, having experienced bullying as a young girl and finding solace in their company.  30 years later, she had cause to reflect upon the strength they gave her; the courage to stand up for herself; the wisdom to see that it’s actually ok to be different to everybody else.  Now, she takes those experiences and puts them to good use in the Horse Assisted Development programmes she develops and delivers with Glint.  Whether it’s leadership and team development, or supporting young and vulnerable people in improving their life chances, Heidi believes that interaction with horses and ponies can and does create real and lasting learning on many different levels.

Delia Wilkinson

Senior EFP Practitioner

Delia has owned/been around horses all of her life and started her counselling/therapy career in 2014, after working in I.T for almost 20 years.

Her EFP work since graduating from LEAP in early 2022 brings together both of these passions to work with a client-centred approach, with the horse as a facilitator to rebuild the often lost connection between human, animal and nature.

Delia is psychodynamically trained and work with all age groups of clients; children, adolescents and adults, privately or via Local Authority. Psychodynamic work includes work with the conscious, unconscious, defences, emotions, thoughts, early life experiences, past relationships and how these affect present relationships.

She offers General Therapy, including work with Autism, ADHD, Trauma Focussed work for those who have experienced trauma, complex/developmental trauma and PTSD. Delia also works with survivors of Domestic Abuse including rape and sexual violence.

Delia is a member of the BACP and works for a Northamptonshire based charity offering EFP to all ages individually and group work. She also works on-line and privately offering short-term/long-term EFP and General Therapy sessions via a private psychology practice based in Buckinghamshire.

Delia is a Senior EFP Practitioner and proud to be joining the Leap Training Team in 2024.

Robyn Emond

Virtual Assistant

Robyn is an experienced Virtual Assistant known for her dedication and strong work ethic. With over a decade of experience in high-level administrative roles, she has developed her skills in providing crucial support to businesses at various stages of development. Robyn’s expertise lies in organizing and implementing backend business tasks, showcasing her attention to detail.

Passionate about customer experience, she takes pride in offering comprehensive assistance to clients and learners. She is committed to supporting individuals on their LEAP journey, which is evident in her self-motivated and results-oriented approach. Her adaptability ensures that she thrives in dynamic work environments, making her a valuable asset to the team.

Claire Cole

Senior EFP Practitioner

Claire comes from a background of working in Television Production.  The career allowed her to travel and enjoy working with a wide variety of team members and crew.  During this time Claire was based in London but still managed to keep a link with horses which have been a passion from a young age.  During her 20s Claire was given a ticket to go and watch Monty Roberts doing a demo which began to change the way Claire looked at horses and from there she decided to study the Kelly Marks foundation course in Intelligent Horsemanship.  During that course Claire shared a profound experience with a horse which with hindsight was very much one of those moments we are privileged enough to witness between our client and horses in the EFL / EFP field.

 

Many years later after moving back to her birthplace, the small island of Guernsey, getting married and having a family.  Claire felt a huge drive to get horses back into her life.  Once this happened, she started to explore the opportunities in the EFL world and attended a LEAP taster weekend.  It was immediately clear to her that this was what she wanted to do and this was also the organisation with which she wanted to do it and enrolled on the LEAP EFL Practitioner training programme, qualifying in 2019.

 

Since then, Claire has set up her own EFL business, the first of its kind in the Channel Islands and she works with a range of individuals with differing needs.  Claire is a Senior EFL Practitioner with a broad depth of experience and training working with Clean Language, which she feels perfectly complements the processing element of EFL sessions.

 

Claire knows just how grounding the horses can be from her own experiences of coping with challenges that life sends along, she feels it’s an honour and a privilege to share this work with others and help them to connect with what is their true, authentic self.  Be brave, be bold and let the horses guide. 

McKenzie Jevnikar

Virtual Assistant

McKenzie is the technology focused virtual assistant for LEAP, a wife, mom, and avid animal lover. McKenzie, her husband Evan, and their daughter Noah live in the states with their two crazy dogs, Benny and Luke, and cat, Maggie. She doesn’t have any horses *yet, * but she grew up riding and her parents have two horses back home! McKenzie has a BS in Zoology, a minor Psychology, a master’s in biology, and a master’s in education from North Carolina State University. McKenzie has a diverse career background in clinical research, project management, and entrepreneurship. She is passionate about small business owner’s customer experiences and creating/maintaining a high-quality learning environment. Partnering with small business owners to provide support for learners on their training journeys is her dream turned into reality and she still pinches herself that she gets to do this everyday!