POP Therapy Ltd was established in February 2024 following its growth from a soletrader start-up as POP Power of Play Therapy which started in 2019, with Mim Jannetta-Hagan. POP Therapy Ltd is a fast growing company with a heart to ensure that the children of Buckinghamshire have access to the support that they need and partners with 9 POPstar Therapists working across the county.
With POP, we are keen to establish a service which supports families who want to overcome challenges together and also which supports schools who want help to empower their children for success. It is important that the children and young people are given the best support to be released to reach their potential.
About Mim
Mim has always had a big heart for children and families who are overlooked and unseen. After leaving school she travelled the world volunteering and supporting many projects, including working with street children in Colombia, with widows and orphans in war-torn Kosovo, and supporting projects with abuse victims in the Philippines.
However, it wasn’t until she worked as a teacher in the UK that she realised that there were many overlooked and unseen children here in the UK in her own classroom. She noticed that very little support was being offered to help them heal from past or ongoing trauma and achieve their potential. Mim started her Play Therapy journey with PTUK in 2017 and has loved every minute of this career change and watching the power that play has to heal the children who need it most.
Journey to understanding a gap in provision
A large part of Mim’s journey towards understanding the poverty issues families in the UK were facing, came from leading the Make Lunch project through Aylesbury Vineyard which Mim established in 2014. During the school holidays hot healthy meals were provided for families struggling financially in Aylesbury. Mim was lucky enough in 2016 to join the national Make Lunch team and train churches across the country during weekends off teaching, travelling as far as Aberdeen.
The national Make Lunch project is now run by TLG, and in 2018 Mim enjoyed working part-time to provide support to Make Lunch projects across the country while training to be a Play Therapist and saw the realities for struggling families are widespread.
Mim came to understand the reality of struggles some families were facing across the country were not just food related but also, a lack of support for mental health and well-being. This was particularly important for families who had experienced domestic violence to gain freedom over their past and heal. Alongside issues she saw in her classroom as a teacher, she felt a call to step up and fill this gap in provision. After researching options, Mim joined PTUK to train to become a Play Therapist with APAC and Leeds Beckett University.
As well as serving private clients and schools, Mim was keen to ensure some of the families impacted through trauma were helped and established a partnership with Aylesbury Vineyard Storehouse. POP Therapy Ltd profits and grants fund access to provide well-being and mental health support for families living in poverty or on low incomes in Aylesbury impacted by Domestic Abuse or war and conflict. Currently named, POP@VineyardStorehouse. If you would benefit from support through this project, please email [email protected].
Please get in contact Mim if you would like to join us on the journey of developing POP Therapy Ltd and establishing the very best mental health practices for those who have experienced some of the very worst that life has to offer. Perhaps you are already keen to train? We would love to support you! Do get in touch.
Mim is a Registered member of PTUK: 201701883
You will find Mim on the play therapy register accredited by PSA
