I have twin girls, one of which was diagnosed with Asperger’s at the age of 14. Prior to that our daughter was diagnosed with an eating disorder, which in our view was her way of dealing with the anxiety of her undiagnosed autism.

I started my career in Human Resources, and at the point I commenced my maternity leave I was a Deputy Director in HR in the NHS. Like many people, after children, I started to look at what I was doing and decided that I wanted to do something that fitted better with my family, so retrained as a teacher.

I discovered Alis and her work in 2014 and felt an immediate connection. I read Aspergers & Me and felt that Alis was writing about my daughter. It helped us make sense of so many things that had happened to our daughter, growing up. The training, books and social media posts were such a fantastic support to our family as we learned to understand the diagnosis and how it presented itself in our daughter. Going forwards, Alis never stops creating new and innovative ways of communicating her experiences of the world and strategies that support it, more recently through her animations and also her own songs. CHP has something for everyone.

I have had the privilege of working with Alis longer than any other team member and have enjoyed helping Alis to build and manage the team of trainers that we have, across the UK. I have enjoyed speaking with Alis at NAS conferences and being interviewed with her on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. During my time at Curly Hair Project, we have developed the range of training offered, now have numerous corporate clients and have also introduced webinars. During the Covid-19 period, this experience proved invaluable as we delivered all training via webinar.

Although I am based in the South West, I am proud to support Alis and CHP throughout the UK, as needs require it. I believe that the work that we offer is unique; written by an autistic adult, delivered by a parent of an autistic child, we are “experts by experience”. For parents and professionals alike, this gives great insight.

On a personal note, I also have 3 dogs and two tortoises! So, apart from working with Alis and looking after our pets, I enjoy reading about autism and mental health and watching crime thrillers.