We are This Can Happen 2021 Award Winners

A forensic psychologist, Jo Clarke spent 23 years working in prisons. Her work with offenders led her to shift focus and explore criminal justice staff’s exposure to trauma for her PhD. Later, while Director of MSc in Forensic Psychology Department at the University of York, Jo founded Petros, gathering together a highly qualified and experienced team with expertise in critical occupations, including maximum security prisons, high security psychiatric hospitals, policing and children in care.

Today, Jo and the Petros team support and deliver training to multi-nationals, blue light services, schools, families and individuals. Swiftly tailoring flexible online delivery during the COVID-19 health crisis, Petros’s wide range of mental health support includes the pioneering Decompression Sessions, MindHealth for Mangers and train the trainer programmes for self-supporting organisational training. A national and international speaker, Jo holds the UK and European licence for the Challenge of Change™ resilience programme and is the only UK accredited deliverer of Dr. Ross Greene’s Collaborative and Proactive Solutions™ model for challenging and disruptive children.

Petros’s pioneering work continues to gain commendations, including from DCS Mark Kameen, Merseyside Police:

“In genuine appreciation of your support, professionalism and commitment delivering a series of six bespoke mental health and resilience presentations to over 900 staff… you have raised our collective awareness around the critical nature of our role and how this might lead to psychological injury… how to manage this type of injury and coping mechanisms to prevent it.”