Following all my free daily therapy and advice tips which I posted absolutely everywhere I possibly could throughout Covid and the Lockdowns, just to reach out and keep people going wherever I could, my work was picked up by the lovely Josie Ortiz of the Autism Family Support Group , a free public Facebook group with a large following.
I am truly delighted to have been invited to share a workshop at 1.30pm GMT with families and anyone else who is warmly invited, on “The “Power Of Touch”, where I shall be freely sharing tools, tips, lots of VERY exciting proven neuroscientific knowledge , as well as techniques to self administer and to share on a friends and family basis.
This will be a very empowering and I hope , inspiring, workshop because I really do adore so much sharing all the experience and expertise that I can.
Knowledge is power and when you feel lost or isolated, it is so important to have the tools to be able to cope, survive … and then THRIVE !!
You might not have got the journey you expected but it can still be a very beautiful, rewarding and rich experience.
We really are in this together and as a parent of three out of four neurodivergent children , who were each written off at some stage, and yet have gone on to achieve more than I could have dreamed of, it will be a pleasure to walk with you all for a while as a real person with a real journey, and not just as a professional of 14 years specialised experience to date.
Places can be booked direct from Josie at the Autism Family Support Group and they are totally FREE of charge.
What an honour to be asked by Ebony Jewel ,who is currently in her third year at Aberystwyth University in Wales , if she could do her work experience with me. Ebony is reading Psychology and is in the process of writing her final dissertation. I have shared work experience with lots of students from various schools but this is my first university student. And the first time I have shared with a work experience student during a pandemic!
But in my determined world there is ALWAYS a way !
Even though we are still transitioning through Covid and many of my sessions are private , Ebony is still able to attend my outdoor Rainbow Kids group sessions and all of my online workshops for free.
She is so alive and passionate and nerdy like me about all the incredible neuroscience that goes on behind my therapies that she is just a joy to share with. I was really chuffed too that she has learned information from me that she has not explored or been taught , so it is all adding to what she can bring to an extremely bright future .
I’m so taken by her crazy passion which completely mirrors my own that I am also training her up in all my therapies for free because it will really add to her understanding, knowledge and experience.
I just adore sharing with young people, seeing them find their songs and their gifts and doing everything I POSSIBLY can to help them grow to their fullest potential and SHINE like the stars they are !!
ZOOM LINK PRE-RECORDINGS OF THIS WORKSHOP AVAILABLE.
Take your mental health in hand using self massage, yoga, breathing techniques, positive mindset activities and mindfulness.
Know your RIGHTS and the LAW as well as useful, practical strategies
Bullying can and does profoundly effect lives and even cuts them tragically short.
SAY NO TO BULLYING !
Hosted by myself ; author, advocate , multi-award winning therapist and Charity Wellbeing Ambassador for Anna Kennedy Online Charity and my absolutely incredible, inspirational daughter, Chiara.
This workshop is extremely close to both of my hearts , as some of you will know, due to recent sad events.
Tragically a young lad and friend of my daughter’s, Corey, had been driven to severe anorexia by his relentless bullies.
Even when he was hospitalised they continued to make his life a total misery by making memes of him called ” stick man ” which they then shared all over social media.
On Friday 11th June 2021 Corey pulled out the drip that was keeping him alive , for the very last time, slipped into a coma and passed away leaving his family and all who loved him absolutely heartbroken.
We were all shattered.
In my fourteen years to date of doing my work, I have never “lost” anyone.
This was the first occasion and I haven’t cried so much in a very, very long time.
So my dedication to mental health, bullying and the welfare of our young people has increased even more passionately!
I need to grow light, hope from this darkness and to honour the memory of a truly comical, cheeky, mischevious, creative and sensitive young man who had SO much ahead of him.
The cost is just £10 per person with 50% of the proceeds going to Anna Kennedy Online’s anti bullying campaign “Give Us a Break” and the other 50% going towards other charitable organisations working with young people who are being bullied.
Please email me at info@therapiesforspecialneeds.co.uk to book your place and to receive the Zoom link.
We can’t WAIT to share SO much and moreover to empower you !!!
Just overjoyed to be invited by magazine publisher Amy KD Tobik , an award winning magazine editor,with more than 30 years of publishing experience and Editor-In Chief of “Exceptional Needs Today,to write an article about the neurological power of touch for her November 2021 issue .
After successfully producing an autism magazine for more than six years, Amy branched out to create “Exceptional Needs Today”, a publication that supports families at no cost to them.
“Exceptional Needs Today” is an innovative magazine designed to support ALL individuals in the special needs community. The publication focuses on educating and energising (two of my absolute favourite words !!) families, caregivers, educators and professionals while preparing a healthy path for the future.
Topics covered are managing diagnoses, mobility and accessibility, personal rights, educational rights, occupational therapy, resources, schools and camps, transitioning into adulthood, job opportunities, financial planning, supporting families and carers and so much more .
My article is featured in Issue No 6 so please click on the link below to read it, as well as all the other wealth of information and advice contained within this amazing issue.
I was really delighted to have been invited for an interview with Maisie Moore of the Autism & Us Podcast just before lockdown.
The episode is all about “Love and Hope” . I had no idea of the questions that Maisie would ask me – which I absolutely love and prefer because it’s so much more natural and cosy !It’s the first interview I’ve ever had where I was asked about my own life from childhood onwards. So much was revealed to me during that discussion, perhaps because I spend so much of my time in the layers of so many other people’s lives ! My own neurodiversity was unpeeled whilst I recognised and acknowledged so much that has happened in my own rather extraordinary life. The roots of why I do my work and why I have such tremendous passion for it, such a diving force of absolute belief, became evident to me as Maisie asked her questions.
I also discussed my journey with my autistic son , from birth right up to today, which was quite tough and emotional but also incredibly uplifting as I recalled those chapters. I am even more full of admiration for my son than ever before ! I talked about his severe bullying, the continual fight, my unswerving belief and the incredible support of my other three children.
Some listeners may find parts of my interview upsetting or triggering as I also openly spoke about the domestic abuse we all as a family endured, the continual background of fear , manipulation, cruelty, neglect, abandonment and violence in a home that had also been filled with spyware and cameras.
It was completely gorgeous to chat with Maisie about the passionate work and advocacy I do now.
I realised as we chatted that it is almost as if I was born to do this work ; that my life cards, although hard at times , were all building blocks, steps on a pathway, chapters to be walked through and learned from , so that I could have the heart wisdom as well as the cognitive knowledge to help those who don’t have a voice today.
This is work I will never retire from, work I shall never stop doing until laws change, attitudes change and real education about neurodiversity happens.
I’ve got all the energy in the world !!!
Thank you Maisie for inviting me, for your amazing and insightful questions , and for all the wonderful work that you do.
You are one incredible lady and powerful advocate for autism .
Please click on the link below to hear the interview.
Really super chuffed to have been part of Dr Susanna Pinkus’ June 2021 published articles.
EMRACE YOUR DAILY D.O.S.E. is the title of my (very excitable article !) a proven neuroscientific piece about the power of touch, yoga, meditation and mindfulness and how we can literally take control over our own grey matter and neurological pathways, (neuroplasticity) .
I am absolutely passionate beyond ALL measure about this and seem to fill with more awe and wonder the more I learn about the body and brain !
I am addicted !!
I love sharing this knowledge and seeing the empowerment it immediately brings to all those with whom I work.
So it was a joy to me to share with someone as esteemed as Dr Pinkus.
We have followed each other’s work for years on LinkedIn, sharing a mutual huge respect, and having very similar approaches, so this has been a wonderful collaboration.
The Dr Susanna Pinkus’ articles ” span a wide range of topics, from how to navigate The Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) process, to how to build your online inclusion network, managing transitions …With top tips on how to enable inclusive practice, and more than a little help from colleagues, I hope that a sense of purpose and passion shine through. ”
To read the article please click on the link below.
During Lockdown, the dynamic and innovative founder of Project Aspie , Graeme Croton, kindly invited me to attend via Zoom, some of his Open Space Initiative sessions which are National Lottery Community and Government funded .
They run every Wednesday evening from 7pm – 8pm and are literally an open space for autistic people of all ages , abilities and backgrounds to come together and discuss their challenges, the negatives, the positives as well as advice and support during lockdown and now transitioning into whatever our new “normal” will be. They are particularly crucial during this time of adapting to change, being resilient and focusing on our mental health.
The groups are open, welcoming and friendly.
I couldn’t recommend this more !!
I’ve learned as well as shared so much. It’s been a brilliant idea and so needed !
And it’s all free of charge so that anyone can access it regardless of financial circumstances.
Coming very soon I shall be offering free ten minute “bite size workshops” on various therapies for these Open Space Initiative Sessions. I am SO looking forward to it !!!! And thrilled to have been asked. These sessions have been so helpful to people and actually helped enormously to get them through these strange times so it’s a genuine, heartfelt honour to be invited to be a part of it.
Thank you Graeme !
Please click below to register for the sessions and to find out more about Project Aspie or simply call 0121 312 0587
It was with enormous gratitude and joy that I shared three two hour workshops on massage for autism and ADHD along with the neuroscientific proven research to the Indian Head Massage Community on 6th February, 16th February and 6th March 2021.
As a specialist member of the Panel, it was just so gorgeous to share some tips, techniques and the incredible powers of neuroplasticity as we begin to emerge out of Lockdown. I do get so carried away and we had enormous fun whilst learning and sharing some really important knowledge. We need this work out there more than ever before as mental health hits global crisis levels, not just for the neurodiverse but for the neurotypical too.
A big, warm thank you to Mary Atkinson, Co-Founder of the UK Indian Head Massage Community for so kindly facilitating this.
What an absolutely gorgeous and phenomenal surprise to wake up this morning to the incredible and overwhelming news that I had been nominated for a Positive Role Model award at the extremely prestigious National Diversity Awards !! I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again I’m so excited !! Wow Wow Wow ….I never dreamed that anything like this could ever happen to someone like me !
Some truly inspiring and motivational people have been nominated for various awards. It’s a very humbling and amazing read. Even if I do not win, I am just so honoured to have had my name alongside theirs. Every nominee is a winner to me . What remarkable journeys and people ! I want to vote for them all !
I cannot believe that my work, message and journey have been given such value and such recognition.
I am utterly blown away and just so full of gratitude.
For so many years 18 or 19 hour days have become the norm , so much of it unpaid, as I continually campaign and fight for all the hundreds and thousands of young people just like my own autistic son. His journey birthed this work and my destiny as I grew to realise that so,so many children were suffering and being surrounded by a total poverty of expectation, just as he was. I would go to the ends of the Earth ( and have done at times!) for them and I will do this work until the end of my life . These incredible voices need to be heard. These neurodiverse children have so much to teach us and so much to contribute to our changing world.
If you think that what I do is of value and you would like to vote for me, I would be endlessly thankful ! Let’s hear it for the kids !!! And if I win then I will have a bigger platform fro which to get these hugely valid and important voices heard. Neurodiverse children become neurodiverse adults .. and they have SO MUCH potential !
So please vote for me and spread the word.
Thank you !!
Please click on the link below to vote in this year’s National Diversity Awards 2021
On May 6th 2021 it will be absolutely wonderful to join Anna Kennedy OBE and Kacey Ainsworth, actress and patron of Anna Kennedy Online charity, for an interview with Aston Avery, a fellow Charity Ambassador, at Gateway Radio 97.8 FM at 12 midday.
We will be discussing and raising awareness about the exciting re-vamp and Re-Launch of Take 5, the Charity’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Campaign which Anna asked me to undertake when she invited me to become the Wellbeing Ambassador. I have embraced this with immense passion and enthusiasm !
Following all my free daily therapy and advice tips which I posted absolutely everywhere I possibly could throughout Covid and the Lockdowns, just to reach out and keep people going wherever I could, my work was picked up by the lovely Josie Ortiz of the Autism Family Support Group , a free public Facebook group with a large following.
Just overjoyed to be invited by magazine publisher Amy KD Tobik , an award winning magazine editor,with more than 30 years of publishing experience and Editor-In Chief of “Exceptional Needs Today,to write an article about the neurological power of touch for her November 2021 issue .
My article is featured in Issue No 6 so please click on the link below to read it, as well as all the other wealth of information and advice contained within this amazing issue.
I was really delighted to have been invited for an interview with Maisie Moore of the Autism & Us Podcast just before lockdown.
What an absolutely gorgeous and phenomenal surprise to wake up this morning to the incredible and overwhelming news that I had been nominated for a Positive Role Model award at the extremely prestigious National Diversity Awards !! I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again I’m so excited !! Wow Wow Wow ….I never dreamed that anything like this could ever happen to someone like me !
On May 6th 2021 it will be absolutely wonderful to join Anna Kennedy OBE and Kacey Ainsworth, actress and patron of Anna Kennedy Online charity, for an interview with Aston Avery, a fellow Charity Ambassador, at Gateway Radio 97.8 FM at 12 midday.
