Over the past 13 years in my professional role as a qualified & HCPC registered Speech & Language Therapist, I have supported many families to communicate with one another.  At the end of my post-graduate training, I worked with adults with acquired speech and language conditions, those with swallowing difficulties and brain injury. I supported families following life changing diagnoses and I then used this skill set to support children and families with complex speech & language difficulties, often following a brain or birth injury. This expanded to children with pre-diagnosed and diagnosed autism where communication is the focus of therapy.

I am a Clinical Director in an independent practice where we support children across Essex and the South West of England.  In this role, my interest in communication has allowed me to set up services in schools and deliver gold standard therapies for children with communication difficulties.

My interest in this area has been shaped by the wonderful people around me; the families that I have worked with over the years and the neurodiversity within my own family as well.  I understand the strengths and challenges faced by families and for this reason, I love working with my clients and helping them to make positive changes in their own homes.  I support families with the EHCP process and provide court compliant evidence for legal cases.

Together, we facilitate parent-child interaction with very young children and help them to communicate with their families and the significant people in their lives. I have been trained to use a range of different interventions such as Picture Exchange Communication (PECS), social stories, Colourful Semantics, Shape Coding and British Sign Language (level 1). I am also a visiting lecturer at the University of Essex and have a keen interest in supporting the development of future Speech & Language Therapist colleagues as part of their training programmes.

Family and harmonious balance is often a key focus in therapy and something that extends into my own life too. You will often find me with my husband and young children going for long walks, cycling or having a picnic in nature’s beauty.