Daniel Smyth is the founder of Beyond The Present and a BACP-registered psychodynamic therapist.
For more than two decades, Daniel has worked directly alongside schools, supporting children and young people experiencing behavioural, emotional and social difficulties while helping teachers, SENCOs, pastoral teams and school leaders better understand what behaviour is communicating.
Alongside developing Beyond The Present, Daniel founded Sport and Thought and Pause Reflect Progress (PRP), therapeutic initiatives that have supported schools in providing effective alternatives to exclusion while creating psychologically informed environments where vulnerable pupils can reflect, re-engage and succeed.
His work combines psychodynamic theory with practical school-based intervention, translating complex psychological concepts into strategies teachers and leaders can apply confidently in everyday practice. This frontline experience forms the foundation of Beyond The Present, making more than twenty years of therapeutic expertise accessible to schools through CPD-accredited professional development.
Daniel’s work with adolescents experiencing behavioural and substance misuse difficulties has been recognised by the UK Home Office on two occasions. He has presented at national and international conferences, including in Qatar, appeared on national television and radio, delivered seminars at the Freud Museum London, and published peer-reviewed papers exploring psychologically informed practice and therapeutic work with young people.
Today, Beyond The Present enables schools across the UK to benefit from the same psychological insight, practical expertise and evidence-informed approaches that have shaped more than two decades of frontline therapeutic work. Through whole-school training, Daniel’s aim is to help teachers and school leaders intervene earlier, strengthen relationships, reduce exclusions and create more psychologically informed school communities.
Published Work
Smyth, D. (2014). Sport and Thought: Football as Therapy – A Year in the Life of an Inner City Project. Psychodynamic Practice: Individuals, Groups and Organisations, 20, 104–115.
Smyth, D. Sport and Thought: Development of a Sport-Based Therapeutic Intervention. Contemporary Psychodynamic Psychotherapy.
Wayne Clarke is Operations Director at Beyond The Present, where he oversees organisational strategy, operational delivery and long-term growth.
Wayne is also the founding partner of the Global Growth Institute (GGI), based across the UK and the Netherlands. From 2007 to 2012 he was Managing Partner of the advisory division of Best Companies, the organisation behind The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For rankings.
Beginning his career with Arthur Andersen, Wayne went on to lead employee engagement for BDO, helping the organisation achieve a Top 20 ranking in The Sunday Times Best Companies list. An economics graduate, he has spent more than twenty years helping organisations improve performance through stronger leadership, culture and employee engagement.
Throughout his career, Wayne has worked with more than 700 CEOs, executive teams and boards across over 30 countries, designing and delivering strategic growth programmes for organisations in both the public and private sectors.
An internationally recognised keynote speaker, Wayne has been named by HR Magazine as one of the world’s 25 Most Influential Thinkers for four consecutive years. He is also a visiting lecturer on the MBA and International Business Master’s programmes at Cass Business School in both London and Dubai.
In 2012, at the JCI/United Nations Partnership Summit in New York, Wayne was awarded the title of JCI Ambassador in recognition of his contribution to promoting the principles of JCI and the United Nations Foundation.
Ashley Price – Development Director:
Ashley is our Development Director of Beyond The Present. She works alongside our colleague Rose in the Growth department. Together they develop and deepen new and existing relationships with education settings worldwide to aid their ambitions of creating high performance for both colleagues and students alike. Ashley spent the majority of her career working with corporate organisations helping to develop the best people cultures and employee engagement levels, her focus whether in the boardroom or classroom is to get the very best out of people and to help them win.
A mum of two, Ashley is also Chair of a preschool committee and just received ‘Good’ in a recent Ofsted inspection.
Rose Leach – Programme Director:
Rose is our Programme Director at Beyond The Present. She works alongside our colleague Ashley in the Growth department. Together they develop and deepen new and existing relationships with education settings worldwide to aid their ambitions of creating high performance for both colleagues and students alike. Rose spent the majority of her career working with corporate organisations helping to develop the best people cultures and employee engagement levels, her focus whether in the boardroom or classroom is to get the very best out of people and to help them win.
Rose is focussed on delivery, from processes to systems she ensures a seamless and enjoyable programme for you and your colleagues to participate in.