About Me
I'm a former NHS strategist turned psychotherapist, writer, visual artist, consultant and storyteller, living on the edge of the Yorkshire moors in Ilkley, where the wild beauty of the landscape inspires and informs much of my creative work.
My work sits at the intersections of identity, difference, vulnerability and what it means to be human. It brings together storytelling, lived experience, therapeutic practice, creativity and over two decades of experience in strategic leadership, systems thinking and community development.
I'm the author of two books: Rediscovered (2025, JKP), which has been translated internationally, and my memoir Still Living (2026), published under my own independent imprint. I also produce and host The Late Discovered Club, the number-one-ranked podcast for late-identified autistic women, alongside the NHS-funded Autism Central podcast.
Over the last two decades I've worked across healthcare, education, charity and community settings - leading large-scale transformation programmes, shaping national NHS programmes, and creating pioneering peer-led spaces for connection and support. Alongside this, I've supported hundreds of women through therapy, peer support circles and community.
Today, I continue to work with individuals, practitioners and organisations through consultancy, facilitation, training and reflective practice. Empowering others through my Gather and Belong Circle Design Programme, I help people create their own trauma-informed, neuroinclusive and deeply human spaces where others can feel seen, heard and valued.
My perspective is also shaped by my own experiences as a disabled woman, a two-time breast cancer survivor, and someone living with ME, chronic illness and pain. These experiences have profoundly influenced how I understand identity, vulnerability, care and the importance of spaces where we can belong and show up as we are.
Alongside my therapeutic and professional work, writing and art offer other ways of exploring these themes. My visual practice is rooted in colour, embodiment and the wild landscapes around me, as well as the inner landscapes of lived experience.
Across all my work runs a belief in the power of stories to challenge what we think we know, make space for difference, and remind us of our shared humanity - creating possibilities for deeper understanding, connection and belonging.
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Why work with me?
My work moves between stories, strategy, spaces and systems - four interconnected strands that bring together my professional experience, lived experience and creative practice.
Stories
Through writing, visual art, podcasts, conversations and creative expression, I explore identity, difference, loss, healing, nature, embodiment, relationships, neurodivergence and belonging - and the stories we carry about ourselves and one another.
Strategy
Bringing together psychological insight, strategic leadership, systems thinking and creativity to help individuals, teams and organisations see new possibilities, navigate complexity and create meaningful change.
Spaces
Designing, creating and nurturing spaces where people can feel heard, valued and able to belong. From therapeutic relationships and peer support circles to communities and professional learning environments.
Systems
Connecting people, ideas and lived experience to challenge established ways of thinking, influence transformational change and help make the systems we live and work within more compassionate, inclusive and human.
My Approach
Across my work, I bring an integrative, grounded and relational approach that is trauma-informed, experience-sensitive, strengths and compassion-focused, person-centred and inclusive.
I value difference, curiosity and the knowledge and wisdom we carry through lived experience, recognising that there are many ways of knowing, understanding and making sense of the world.
I'm also a visual and strategic thinker with a deeply creative mind. I see connections, patterns and possibilities, bringing together ideas, perspectives and disciplines that might otherwise sit apart.
Whether I'm working with individuals, groups, communities or organisations, I seek to balance thoughtful reflection with creativity, compassion and meaningful action.
My Work
My work has taken many different forms over the last two decades, and although these might appear to be different worlds, I see them as deeply interconnected. They each offer another lens through which to explore human experience, challenge established ways of thinking and create possibilities for change.
My experience includes leading multi-million-pound community programmes, heading up transformation within a large NHS acute trust, and co-designing strategic advisory and patient forums to inform the development of a £5 billion NHS strategy.
More recently, I was appointed as an Associate to co-author and deliver the PEERS framework for the £6 million NHS-funded National Autism Peer Education Programme, alongside producing and hosting its Autism Central podcast.
Through my independent consultancy, I collaborate with organisations and practitioners on programme development, service transformation, training and reflective practice.
This includes my work as an Associate with the Anna Freud Centre in London, guest lecturing the next generation of neuroaffirming therapists at UCL, as well as developing national training content and training hundreds of mental health professionals as part of the NHS National Autism Trainer Programme.
I've developed and facilitated pioneering peer-led spaces and continue to support practitioners, facilitators and organisations who hold space for others.
Across all these different forms of work is a shared curiosity about the stories we carry, the spaces we create together, and how both can influence and transform the systems we live and work within.
My visual art is another expression of this curiosity and in 2026, my work was included in a curated exhibition at Tinker Gallery in Ilkley.
Qualifications & Professional Memberships
My academic and professional training includes a degree and MSc in Psychology, a Diploma in Effective Psychotherapy and a Postgraduate Certificate in Leadership.
I'm a graduate member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and have held a licence to practise with the National Council of Integrative Psychotherapists (NCIP) since 2015. In 2019, I was awarded Fellowship of the NCIP in recognition of my outstanding commitment to the profession.
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