It came as a bolt from the blue when on Monday (29th March – incredibly the first day of Autism Awareness Week too ! ) when Anna Kennedy OBE invited me to be the Well-Being Ambassador for her charity Anna Kennedy Online.
It is very difficult for me to cry for myself as I have had to be so strong for so long on my journey – but I cried …absolute floods of tears !!
I am just so humbled, so full of gratitude and joy, and just thrilled and blown away to now be a part of this welcoming, fantastic, driven, positive, motivational family. I am welling up all over again just writing this…
Needless to say I will be giving this valuable role everything I’ve got and more !
I’m actually a little bit proud of myself which is a strange but lovely feeling.
I am delighted to have been invited by Graeme Croton, founder of the Aspie Project, as a special guest to take part in the “Special Open Space Initiative” Online Group Event on March 31st from 7pm-8pm GMT.
Open Space One-to-One Initiative, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Government, has been helping and supporting autistic people throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been and continues to support with online One-to-One mentoring sessions and online Zoom Group sessions focusing on adapting to change during Covid-19 and autism shared lived experiences,behavioural challenges, isolation, loneliness, mental health and wellbeing, amongst a whole host of topics.
This initiative is geared towards bringing the autism community together throughout Covid-19, to support each other, gain advice, brainstorm ,share ideas and help each other. What an absolutely wonderful concept !!
On Wednesday 31st March the Open Space Initiative will be focusing on Adapting To Change during Covid-19 from an autistic perspective.
This Special Online Group Event is a build-up to celebrating World Autism Day on 2 April 2121 and Autism Awareness week.
I am SUPER PROUD to be a part of something so special and so invaluable.
I am absolutely delighted to have been invited as the guest panellist to the “Live Wires” seminar with Emma Willars on 22 April 2021 12.30-1.15pm GMT for the Bright Minds’ Work & Family Event.
This webinar is about Parenting Children and Young People with Autism, ADHD and Asperger’s.
We will be chatting about balancing work and family when you have a child with special needs and I will be sharing tips, advice and experience about this as well as arming yourselves with as much SEN knowledge as possible . It will all be live, with question and answer sessions included, which I especially love because it is real, natural, direct and impactful.
The audience capacity will be up to 3000 people who I literally cannot wait to meet, share with and also learn from .
Emma has worked in Learning and Development for over 20 years. Director and lead consultant at Work Life Now, she supports employers and employees with models and solutions for better work-life integration: creating content – facilitating virtual workshops – forwarding diversity and inclusion strategies. Emma organises 10 seminars a year for Bright Horizons Work & Family Academy which she supports by delivering events for working parents and neurodiversity. A dedicated and motivational lady who is right up my street !
An absolutely ENORMOUS,warm and heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported my charity fundraiser this year. This charity has a very deep place in my heart. Together, we raised just shy of £1,900 , with some of my friends and contacts from abroad and LinkedIn sending money direct to the charity !!!
When my older boys lost their oldest childhood friend last October,Will’s family raised money for YoungMinds as it really is a lifeline to those suffering with mental health.
I promised at that sad and traumatic time that I would do more and be more in Will’s memory, through my work with young people, so this has made my year!!
Really delighted to be invited back again onto the Bryan Leaker radio show at www.westsomersetradio.co.uk where I talk about all my extensive freely shared therapy work throughout Covid and the launch of my new free online magazine Rainbow Kids Touch Therapy and Relaxation on 21st March 2021 !!!
The first airing of the interview will be on Tuesday 16 February and the second airing will be just after 3.30pm on Monday 22 February. Bryan deserves a medal for all the headaches I give him during interviews !! Another MBE for him perhaps ??! ……
I could actually spontaneously combust with the news that a dream come true for me is about to happen ! With the invaluable help and technical knowledge of my co-editor in chief ( !!! ) Millie Cooper, Rainbow Kids Touch Therapy Online Magazine is going to be launched Spring 2021!!!! I have a special birthday during this time and to mark this milestone, this is my gift, in some small way ,to the global community we have all become during these scary and challenging times.
It will be a banging first issue too !! We will be leaping into Spring with an interview with Anna Kennedy OBE , articles by Mary Atkinson, founder of StoryMassage, Jyoti Jo Manuel, founder of Special Yoga, the story of Kratu the famous therapy dog and how he met his “muvver”, the inspirational and extraordinary Tess, along with articles about Kratu’s work with autism and mental health.
There are real life motivational stories and journeys too of young people who were totally written off and yet have gone on to bust all the myths and achieve the most tremendous things.
In this issue we hear about a young man named Michael who is profoundly deaf , his heartbreaking but triumphant story, and who has gone on to read a degree, live abroad and will begin work later this year for a top investment bank !!
Sadly even at university level his parents were fighting a system that falls far short of being educated or inclusive of those with neurodiversities.
But triumph has overcome everything …I love it !!
We need real and achievable hope, advice and light in the face of the constant stream of negativity from the Press and all over social media.
Not that we are glossing over anything by any means.
Mental health especially amongst our young people has hit global crisis levels and the suicide rate continues to soar. So in this magazine there is lots of advice, neuroscientifically backed and proven therapies, techniques and tools whether you are self isolating alone or within a bubble, whether you are disabled, differently-abled, neurodiverse or neurotypical, in a wheelchair or a hospital.
IT IS INCLUSIVE OF EVERYONE regardless of budget or situation.
It is for individuals of all ages , families , therapists , teachers and other professionals .
It is for the unemployed, those on furlough and those still working, especially if they are in the “front line’ as key workers.
There is something for everyone and every need.
There are even ready to go yoga stories, story massage stories, positive growth mindset games and exploring feelings games which are very bonding and often very funny.
The touch therapies I myself have included can be self administered or shared in your “bubbles” …. Touch boosts immunity !! We need it more than ever.
We ARE in this together and I hope with all my heart that there will be something for everyone within these pages of a very special , unique and much needed magazine . It will come out quarterly for just £2.99 so it is affordable to everyone but covers my magazine platform costs.
I am absolutely overjoyed and full of gratitude to be invited back again this year to speak at the Anna Kennedy Online AKO AUTISM EXPO. Apparently my talk last year was “very popular” which was just so lovely to hear because everything I do, I do with all my heart and with so much thought.
The expo will take place on Friday 26 – Saturday 27th March 2021. Details can be found at www.annakennedyonline.com and I will post a direst link to the event nearer the time.
I remember buzzing for weeks and weeks after the 2020 AKO Expo because it was a glorious and very powerful two days of listening to some truly great and inspiring people.
I learned so much from them and felt motivated and full of even more energy than usual after listening to them !!
I cannot wait to hear all the amazing speakers who will be joining me at this very valuable event and I look forward to learning and growing even more in this much needed field . It is a powerful feeling to be surrounded by positive, motivated people all giving their time because they believe so much in this work.
Thank you for asking me back !
Click on link below for all information and tickets:
MASSIVELY EXCITINGLY I was invited by presenter Andra Iuliana Stanoiu to be interviewed for her entire show to celebrate International Day Of People With Disabilities on 3 December 2020!
Her international listeners are in the millions and millions so I wanted to value this absolutely unbelievable opportunity to shout from the rooftops about the need to get our special children seen, heard, valued and included… to give as much of a voice as I possibly, possibly could to this hugely important and significant part of our rich global community.
At the end of the show I was almost in tears when Andra asked me back for a SECOND interview for her next episode…thus making December on The Healthy Debate Show all about “Special Needs”. Andra was probably close to tears too… with a gigantic migraine! I did talk… and then some !I am just so dedicated and determined both personally and professionally to try to give a voice to all those millions across the world who don’t have one.
Thank you, thank you Andra for inviting me to such a truly awesome show!
I will be appearing on it again a few months into 2021 too! Details to follow nearer the time…
The link to the first show is enclosed below and will air from Tuesday 8 December 2-3pm British time and daily for a whole fortnight INTERNATIONALLY! Wow!
Please use the player below to listen to the broadcast.
For more information, please visit the UK Health Radio’s website here.
The next show will be aired in two weeks time and again I will add the link .
My strong,determined,gifted son has defied all the odds set against him during our often utterly heartbreaking and exhausting journey together where everything that most families can take for granted was a fight and we were told he would “never achieve ‘ simply because he has autism … and today found out the INCREDIBLE news that he has passed his Masters in Creative Writing with flying colours !!!
He is now more qualified than the eight teachers who told me that Ollie would “get two GCSE’s at the very most” and I have lost my tonsils somewhere across the other side of the Bristol Channel from my absolute scream of joy and pride !!!!!!
I am crying as I write this.
Oh this is exactly why I do all I do ….my battle for my son has blessed me with the learning,experience and fight to believe in and grow so,so many others . Many of my long hours are often unpaid but today I feel like the richest woman in the world .
What lovely news !! I heard today that I have been selected, along with 23 other award winning story massage instructors, that I am being featured in their advent calendar …. door number 10 !!!! How joyful ! Congratulations to everyone else who has also been featured and I wish Story Massage every success with their sales .
Happy, healthy Festive Season everyone and warmest wishes to all of you . Thank you for all your ongoing support this year!
It came as a bolt from the blue when on Monday (29th March – incredibly the first day of Autism Awareness Week too ! ) when Anna Kennedy OBE invited me to be the Well-Being Ambassador for her charity Anna Kennedy Online.
Needless to say I will be giving this valuable role everything I’ve got and more !
I am delighted to have been invited by Graeme Croton, founder of the Aspie Project, as a special guest to take part in the “Special Open Space Initiative” Online Group Event on March 31st from 7pm-8pm GMT.
I am absolutely delighted to have been invited as the guest panellist to the “Live Wires” seminar with Emma Willars on 22 April 2021 12.30-1.15pm GMT for the Bright Minds’ Work & Family Event.
Really delighted to be invited back again onto the Bryan Leaker radio show at www.westsomersetradio.co.uk where I talk about all my extensive freely shared therapy work throughout Covid and the launch of my new free online magazine Rainbow Kids Touch Therapy and Relaxation on 21st March 2021 !!!
I could actually spontaneously combust with the news that a dream come true for me is about to happen ! With the invaluable help and technical knowledge of my co-editor in chief ( !!! ) Millie Cooper, Rainbow Kids Touch Therapy Online Magazine is going to be launched Spring 2021!!!! I have a special birthday during this time and to mark this milestone, this is my gift, in some small way ,to the global community we have all become during these scary and challenging times.
MASSIVELY EXCITINGLY I was invited by presenter Andra Iuliana Stanoiu to be interviewed for her entire show to celebrate International Day Of People With Disabilities on 3 December 2020!
