I live in Bristol with my family and I have been an Occupational therapist for over 20 years. I can still genuinely say ‘I love my job’. Working with children and young people to enable them to achieve their potential, is something I am passionate about.
I graduated from The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel in 1998, I worked in Central London for 8 years in a variety of in-patient hospital and community settings. Gaining a wealth of experience, with adults and young people with neurological, physical, mental health needs and learning difficulties.
Since 2006, I have focused on developing my clinical expertise working mainly with children and young people with a wide variety of conditions such as Developmental Coordination disorder (Dyspraxia), Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Downs Syndrome, Sensory Processing Difficulties and Learning Difficulties. Providing both assessment and intervention to address difficulties with fine and gross motor skills, visual perception, sensory processing and handwriting. As an Occupational therapist I work in partnership with children and their families, education and health professionals. My role is to understand how difficulties impact on someone’s day to day function and identify strategies and adaptations to enable them to achieve their potential. It was during this time in my career, I developed my interest and clinical expertise in handwriting difficulties, providing assessment, intervention and specialist training in this area within the NHS and Education settings.
I use a client centred approach drawing upon my skills, experience and training, making sessions enjoyable, interesting and fun.
I went on to complete an MSc in 2011, my research focused on Occupational Therapy Intervention for young people with handwriting difficulties. Following this I have regularly updated my training and skills, attending a number of postgraduate courses. These include; Handwriting Skills and Occupational Therapy taught by Dr Sidney Chu and ‘The Handwriting without Tears Programme’ by Jan Olson. In addition to this, I have completed training and developed skills in Understand Sensory behaviours and participated in advanced training in Dyspraxia/Developmental Coordination Disorder. In April 2019 I attended the 3-day advanced course on ‘The Learning and Teaching of Handwriting’ delivered by the National Handwriting Association at Brunel University, this focused on using evidence-based assessment, intervention and best practice. I use a client centred approach drawing upon my skills, experience and training, making sessions enjoyable, interesting and fun.