Meet Your Neurodiversity Coach

For more than 20 years, I worked as a social and educational researcher, trying to understand people, their experiences and the systems around them. I was a Senior Research Manager with extensive experience leading and delivering research and evaluation projects focused on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), inclusion, and education workforce development.

Recent projects (funded by DfE) included the Evaluation of the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme, research into inclusive SEND workforce models in schools, and the Evaluation of the SEND National Professional Qualification (NPQ). Through this work, I contributed to understanding effective approaches to inclusion, workforce development, and support for children and young people with SEND.

 

In short, I've always been fascinated by the same question: 

What helps people to thrive -  and what gets in the way?

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I've spent a lot of time listening to people describe what life actually looks like from their perspective. It was always hard to tell the extent to which government departments (who were directly funding this research) were listening to the results and able to take on board our recommendations.

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I wanted to make more impact.

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From research to coaching 

Alongside my research career, I became increasingly interested in the individual experience behind the research. 

I wanted to work more directly with people, not just study their experiences or evaluate services, but help someone make sense of their own situation and work out what might actually help. My own personal experiences with chronic fatigue and supporting a neurodivergent household, alongside some failed attempts to source support for myself and my family, led me to want to do more for others facing similar challenges.

That led me into professional coaching. 

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Since I started coaching in 2022 I've completed 140 hours of further training as a Holistic Life Coach and Mind-Body Practitioner, with training exploring the relationships between stress physiology, sleep, nutrition, nervous-system regulation, mood, motivation and behaviour. I learnt so much about neuroscience and positive psychology which I continue to share with my clients today.

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My early days of coaching felt like magic (and still do), I could see that my clients felt heard, held, supported and strengthened by their sessions and I wanted to be in the best position to support them as I could.  I read books, listened to podcasts, but ultimately, more study awaited.

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I loved learning and went on to complete my core coaching training with The Coaching Masters, an ICF accredited coaching programme involving more than 60 hours of coach-specific education, live coaching practice, and observed assessment.

The training gave me a strong foundation in professional, client-led coaching, including powerful questioning, deep listening, goal-setting, accountability, confidence and identity work, coaching through fear and resistance, problem-solving and perspective-shifting. 

I also became a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Pracitioner. NLP provides tools for exploring different perspectives, identifying patterns in how we think and respond, and experimenting with alternative ways of approaching situations. 

 

Becoming a neurodiversity coach 

As I developed my coaching practice, I became increasingly interested in neurodiversity. My daughter and I are both neurodivergent and I could see how the tools, perspectives and neuroscience that I was learning would be invaluable to people like us.

I went on to complete an ICF accredited Neurodiversity Life Coach qualification, involving more than 60 hours of coach-specific training, assessed practice, mentoring and written assessment. 

The training explored contemporary approaches to neurodiversity, including the social and medical models, executive functioning, sensory processing, motivation and energy regulation, and the psychological and environmental factors that can influence self-perception and behaviour. 

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It also explored how cognition, emotions, stress and nervous-system responses can interact across different areas of life. 

I learned approaches for adapting expectations, co-designing sustainable routines, supporting self-awareness and confidence, and helping neurodivergent people develop greater self-advocacy. 

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I specifically chose this training because it was designed and delivered by people with lived experience of neurodivergence. That was important to me. I wanted my understanding of neurodiversity to go beyond learning about diagnostic characteristics and towards understanding different ways of experiencing and navigating the world. ​

I've also undertaken additional coaching modules and CPD exploring approaches including CBT, DBT, EFT and somatic approaches, and these have been invaluable for informing the tools and strategies I build alongside by clients to support their communication, stress, emotional and nervous-system regulation. 

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My interest in people and wellbeing isn't based solely on coaching training. 

I have a degree in Politics and Sociology, and during the pandemic I completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education, a Level 7 postgraduate qualification. This involved 60 UK academic credits, representing around 600 hours of study. The course covered the influence of social, cultural and environmental factors on mental health, research-informed approaches to wellbeing promotion and prevention, safeguarding, ethical practice and multi-agency working. 

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Bringing it all together 

I now work as a neurodiversity coach alongside my role as a part-time Employment Specialist within the DWP-funded Connect to Work programme, supporting people in my local community with long term health conditions (and other disadvantage) to move towards and sustain meaningful employment. 

I bring together evidence, professional training, research experience and real-world experience, while keeping the person in front of me at the centre of the work. 

I'm interested in strengths as well as difficulties. In curiosity rather than judgement. In finding strategies that are sustainable rather than creating another list of things you "should" be doing. 

That's ultimately what I mean by neuro-affirming coaching. 

My role is to help you understand yourself better, recognise your strengths, make sense of the things that have been difficult, and find practical ways of moving towards a life that works better for you.