Sue Bell OBE has over 30 years’ experience working therapeutically with children, young people, adults, and families. Her professional journey began in the performing arts, drama therapy, and psychology, where she developed a deep commitment to helping young people find safe, embodied ways to express themselves. Even during her early teaching career, she was consistently drawn to those at risk of exclusion, many of whom found refuge, belonging, and voice within her drama studio.
Sue later trained as a Psychodynamic Counsellor and Integrative Arts Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, specialising in work with children and young people who have experienced abuse, neglect, and early relational trauma. Many of those she worked with were not living with their biological parents and presented with complex patterns, including disordered eating, self-harm, substance use, abusive relationships, educational exclusion, and social isolation.
In 2007, Sue founded Kids Inspire, a UK children’s mental health and trauma-recovery charity. From its inception, she embedded a family-inclusive therapeutic model, ensuring that parents and carers received parallel therapeutic support alongside the child. This relational approach was designed to foster safety, repair attachment ruptures, and support sustainable, long-term outcomes across the whole system.
Sue has undertaken extensive training in NeuroAffective Touch, Somatic Experiencing, NARM, Integral Somatic Psychology, Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Creative Arts Trauma Therapy, and related body-based and relational modalities. Central to her clinical philosophy is the belief that developmental trauma cannot be fully healed without attuned, relational touch. Her work focuses on restoring the connection between mind and body, meeting younger developmental parts with compassion, and supporting nervous systems to experience safety through co-regulation and relational presence.
Her clinical practice spans the lifespan (ages 4–84) and includes working directly with children, adults, and parents/carers. She also supports families and caregivers to understand and apply NeuroAffective Touch principles within everyday relational contexts, strengthening attachment, regulation, and felt safety beyond the therapy room.
Sue is an experienced trainer, supervisor, and mentor, and is deeply committed to supporting practitioners to develop confidence, clarity, and ethical sensitivity in relational and touch-based work. She has been actively involved in assisting and teaching across NeuroAffective Touch trainings since 2020, a role that feels like a natural extension of her clinical, developmental, and teaching roots.
In recognition of her contribution to children’s mental health, charity, and education, Sue was awarded an OBE in 2021, and in 2025, she was invited to be a Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, recognised for her public service and work with children and families.
