At Firefly London, we support children whose development, sensory needs or learning styles fall outside the pace of traditional settings. We blend therapy, education and community to create environments where children feel safe, curious and connected — and where their development can unfold in its own time.
On a bright morning in the garden, a small group of children gathers around the water table. Light dances across the surface, laughter bubbles, and calm curiosity fills the air. What looks like simple play is actually meaningful learning — shaped by years of experience in child development, therapy and inclusive education.
comes before learning
Children learn best when their nervous systems feel safe, supported and settled.
are the foundation of development
Growth happens through attunement, not instruction — through shared joy, co-regulation and trust.
matters
Rhythm, nature and sensory balance help children find their pace and sustain attention without overwhelm.
Our work draws on a rich, integrated blend of approaches that honour connection, intrinsic motivation and child-led discovery:
which celebrates exploration and child-led discovery.
supporting the development of functional foundation skills through an indepth understanding of the brain and pychology behind movement.
strengthening reflective practice, attunement and relational communication.
guiding how we listen, speak and build compassionate relationships.
Together, these approaches weave a practice that values presence over performance, connection over correction, and curiosity as the heart of growth.
Our role is to attune, not direct. We offer stillness, presence and safety so children can explore their inner world at their own pace. By nurturing interoception — the felt sense of “what’s happening inside me” — children begin to build the foundations of emotional regulation, confidence and self-understanding.
We balance movement with rest, exploration with reflection. Days flow with rhythm, creating space for curiosity, connection and the gentle unfolding of skill.
Our experienced team of therapists and facilitators brings together diverse expertise — and a shared belief that every child deserves to be seen, understood and celebrated.
Firefly London is a sociocratic, not-for-profit organisation grounded in kindness, fairness and inclusion. Our structure reflects a simple belief: every voice matters, and access to support should be a right, not a privilege.
We use sociocracy — a collaborative, transparent decision-making model. This means:
• every director and team member has an equal voice,
• services evolve in response to the needs of the people we support,
• kindness and fairness guide every decision we make.
This approach helps us create spaces where children and families feel safe, valued and empowered.
Firefly is led by seven directors who bring lived experience and professional expertise across neurodiversity, therapy, education and inclusion. Their perspectives help us stay connected to the communities we serve and remove barriers to learning and wellbeing.
Firefly is more than a service — it’s a warm, inclusive community where children feel safe to try, explore and grow, and where families feel supported, welcomed and understood.
Ellie Barton is a highly experienced Neuro-Developmental Therapist with a holistic approach to supporting children and families. With a career spanning nearly 20 years, Ellie began her journey in paediatrics in 2008, working at NHS Medway in a pioneering paediatric team that championed interdisciplinary collaboration. She spent more than a decade in the NHS and has worked since 2010 in the private sector (initially alongside her NHS work then solely as an independent practitioner).
Ellie’s approach is deeply informed by her work and teaching experience with Jean Pierre Maes at MAES Therapy, focusing on long-term developmental and coordination outcomes. She is also trained in Bobath therapy, Ayres Sensory Integration, and VERVE Child Interaction Therapy, which supports self-regulation and learning. Additionally, Ellie is an accredited Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) practitioner, a tool she values both personally and professionally.
Alongside her professional commitments, Ellie home-educates her children with her husband. Together, they balance the education of their secondary school-aged sons and their preschool-aged daughter.
Ellie plays an active role in the professional community, serving on the London committee for the Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists, organizing learning opportunities, and attending conferences. She also guest lectures at the University of East London and volunteers weekly as a Woodcraft Pioneer Leader for children aged 10-12.
Ellie’s dedication to lifelong learning and her passion for helping others make her a trusted and inspiring therapist, educator, and advocate for children’s development and learning.
Zorana was drawn to work with children and young adults as soon as she finished University in 2003, where she studied to become a physiotherapist. She found that being in the presence of children, connecting with them, meeting them on their path of potential and helping them learn, transform and thrive is her calling.
The children Zorana works with have neurodevelopmental, coordination and/or interaction challenges.
Over the years she’s taken training in Bobath therapy, but has been most strongly influenced by working with and learning from Jean-Pierre Maes, using MAES therapy principles and philosophy in her work today. After having done the basic Verve approach training, Zorana enjoys exploring using the transformationl power of quiet when working with children.
Parallel to growing the experience as a physiotherapist and working with the body and mind, Zorana felt guided to explore more about what life is like “beyond the seen” and trained in Reiki in 2021 which she has been practicing since. Reiki helped her find stillness in herself, deepen the intuition and understand better the connection between the physical and non-physical and develop even more meaningful relationship with the children and parents she works with.
Zorana lives in Wanstead with her husband and two young children.
Johanna has over a decade of experience as a speech and language therapist in the NHS, charity sector, and independent practice.
She has a breadth of experience from working in homes, schools, early years clinics and youth justice settings. She also managed the speech and language therapy service on the remote island of St Helena for two years.
Johanna is delighted to be joining Firefly, and loves the vision of integrating therapy into day-to-day routines and facilitating dialogues for learning. She brings an in-depth knowledge of how play, regulation and communication develop and benefit each other. Johanna specialises in VERVE (video interaction therapy), working closely with children and the adults involved in each child’s care to support the interactions which make a real difference to families’ lives.
Johanna is a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (reg number - RC0032266) and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (reg number - SL30588).
She lives in South London with her husband and young son.
Roxanne is an experienced and highly specialist children’s Music Therapist. Roxanne draws on ten years of learning from, and making music with, children and their families within the NHS, SEND schools, children’s hospice care, and neonatal care.
Roxanne celebrates the capacity for all of us to engage in meaningful relationships, regardless of the complexities in life that disable us. Music is the tool Roxanne uses to form relationships with others, to support therapeutic change. Roxanne acknowledges the capacity for music therapy to facilitate connection, communication, emotional wellbeing, and the processing of our experiences.
Roxanne supervises music therapy trainees from several training courses and offers guest lectures at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, alongside a private supervision practice. Roxanne is a network coordinator for the ‘Children, Young People and their Families’ network & interest group for the British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT). Roxanne is a member of BAMT and is registered with the HCPC: AS15596.
Bev began her teaching career in a pre-primary school in Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa, and since then has spanned every year group, including teacher training. With a love of travel, she has seized opportunities to work around the world in North America, Asia, Africa and Europe. With a carefree childhood, running barefoot in Swaziland (now Eswatini), Bev developed a passion for play and experiencing nature, which have come with her into every classroom and learning environment.
When her fourth baby developed Cerebral Palsy after surviving a very premature birth and brain injury, Bev embarked on a different journey, still in the realms of education. She ran an inclusive playgroup in Cape Town and worked closely with teachers and parents of disabled children in the townships. Embracing Conductive Education, she and her three-year-old moved to Leek, Staffordshire where Bev taught in both the Special School and local primary schools. Bobath therapy brought them to London where Bev taught, and governed, at her child’s mainstream and other local primary schools. She also lectured trainee teachers at the University of Middlesex, where she co-authored a distance-learning module around disability. She was commissioned to write a book for the newly democratic South Africa’s education system looking at Special vs. Mainstream education.
Working with the charity KIDS for over ten years, Bev supported parents of disabled children to develop services in partnership with local councils, as well as empowering them to nurture themselves and their children. Bev hopes to bring her experience and expertise to Firefly London, but to continue to grow and learn alongside this community.
Ananda is a certified Special Yoga Senior Practitioner and Trainer & Sound Healer.
She specialises in working with children with cerebral palsy and complex needs, helping young people find connection, build body awareness and develop their neural pathways.
Special yoga is a technique and teaching designed with a range of adaptations to meet different physical or emotional needs and ability levels. Yoga can be a wonderful way to bring about a feeling of internal regulation, help bodily functions such as digestion & sleep. Ananda works intuitively and will call upon a range of energy practices as and where they may be beneficial, these include breathwork, reflexology, sound therapy, chanting & Breath Body Mind practices.
The precepts from which she works is one of invitation for participation and establishing a connection, a practice of deep listening, there is no pressure to perform in any particular way and as such a session may not resemble the western image of a yoga session but will be guaranteed to be authentic and meaningful.
Above all Ananda believes in co-regulation and finds real magic in working with both parent and child.
Ananda is really interested in the role of sound to change the brain state, help regulate the nervous system, aid ailments and as a non verbal communication tool and often uses singing bowls as part of a session. In addition stand alone sound healing sessions can be booked also.
Special Yoga Senior Practitioner and Trainer
Sound Healer Level 1
Reiki Level 1
DBS number 001934790758
BGi.UK Insurance SPEC/GILLAN2/24/5
After graduating from the University of Huddersfield in 2024 with a degree in Physiotherapy. When she discovered Firefly, she reached out to gain some experience, and soon realised she had found much more than a placement.
Now a full-time member of the team and one of our youngest directors, Isla has found both a family and a career here. Her work blends physiotherapy, childcare and art, and she loves supporting children to explore movement, confidence, and joy in their own unique ways.
Isla describes Firefly as a place where everyone is supported to grow, contribute, and do what they love most. Outside of Firefly, she enjoys spending time with her family, exploring new places, playing hockey, sharing her love of music, travelling and learning about other cultures. Isla is also a qualified sports massage therapist.
Following a 12-year career as a primary school teacher in London, Rosie is now completing an MA in Integrative Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and joins Firefly in the final stage of her clinical training.
Rosie brings a wealth of experience in working with children from diverse backgrounds and with a wide range of emotional and developmental needs. In addition to her teaching background, she has spent the past two years providing both 1:1 and group therapeutic support in schools.
Her therapeutic approach is flexible, relational, and developmentally informed. Drawing on a range of psychological theories—including psychodynamic, attachment-based, and humanistic models—Rosie tailors her work to meet the unique needs of each child or young person. Her aim is to support children in processing emotional difficulties, developing a stronger sense of self, and building healthier ways of relating to others.
Rosie integrates creative and play-based methods into her work, offering a safe and containing space for children to explore their inner world and express thoughts and feelings that may be difficult to articulate verbally.
Sessions offered
1:1 psychotherapy therapy for children aged 4-18
Sessions offer a safe and confidential space where children and adolescents can explore their thoughts, feelings, and experiences at their own pace. Rosie uses a play-based, creative approach, allowing self-expression that feels natural and accessible, especially when words are hard to find.
1:1 Reflective parenting support
Reflective parenting is an approach that emphasises a parent’s ability to understand and respond to their child’s inner emotional world. It involves the capacity to reflect on what might be going on in the child’s mind: their thoughts, feelings, intentions, and needs.
Children don’t always have the words to express what they’re feeling. Reflective parenting helps bridge that gap and over time, supports a more connected, secure parent–child relationship.
1:1 adult counselling
Rosie provides a confidential, compassionate, and non-judgmental space for adults to feel truly heard and supported. In this safe environment, you are invited to explore your thoughts, emotions, and life challenges at your own pace. Together, you will work to deepen your self-awareness, process difficult feelings, and uncover underlying patterns that may be impacting your wellbeing.
Susannah has over 15 years experience as a speech and language therapist in the NHS and independent practice. Her experience involves working in clinics, children’s centres, schools and homes.
Susannah is also a Makaton tutor and worked as an assistant choir director for 5 years for the Include Choir, part of the Include Charity, which aims to create a world where no-one is excluded because of communication needs.
Susannah is a Lis’n Tell: live inclusive storytelling Core Practitioner. Lis’n Tell uses rythm, role, rhyme and repetition and other developmentally relevant ways to make stories accessible to differently abled children and to support learning and attention. Susannah hopes to bring this into her work with colleagues, children and families at Firefly.
Susannah is excited to be joining Firefly and deeply appreciates its ethos.
Susannah specialises in VERVE (video interaction therapy), working closely with children and the adults involved in each child's care to support the interactions and communication development.
Susannah is a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (reg number - RC0030637) and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (reg number - SL28345).
She lives in central London with her husband and dachshund.
Hannah has always loved working with children and feels privileged to have spent 8 years as a primary school teacher in London. During that time, she supported children with a wide range of needs and abilities. After becoming a parent herself, she was drawn to a more flexible career that would allow her to connect with children on a deeper, more individual level.
Hannah began working alongside a childminder, caring for children aged 1-4 years old, whilst retraining as a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. This training has deepened her understanding of a child’s emotional world, enabling her to create a soft and nurturing environment where children feel understood, celebrated and a deep sense of belonging.
As a childminder, she draws inspiration from Steiner philosophy and the Forest School approach. Through the use of natural resources, nature-based songs, stories and crafts, she fosters an unhurried environment that makes room for stillness, inspiring imagination and creativity. She believes that exploring nature and spending time outdoors builds children’s confidence in their bodies, inspires curiosity and a greater sense of independence, whilst also creating a deep love and appreciation for the natural world.
She is fortunate to share this journey with her daughter, who joins her at work each day, and together they build and embrace a setting which is centred on play, warmth and connection.
