At only 5ft 3 1/2″ it was nigh in IMPOSSIBLE to contain the absolute heart bursting joy I felt on receiving this most prestigious of awards!!!!
I received this award for my work with blending story massage into my Therapies for Special Needs sessions and Rainbow Kids sessions along with all my free YouTube videos (Giuliana Wheater Rainbow Kids Touch Therapy) and my free FB “Online Therapies For Kids and Families” as well as in my regular therapy articles and videos for Anna Kennedy Online and Autism Expo which I set up during the covid-19 pandemic.
Not being able to work, I still felt compelled to reach out, to share and help in any way I could, feeling that if I lost it all, at least I would go down sharing.
I am amazed to say that as the world shut down, mine opened in ways I never expected and I now have millions of children instead of hundreds… and there I was thinking I had stopped at my own four!!
What a huge and unexpected journey my life has been!!
This award means a great deal to me especially as I am the only therapist to have received ,to date, a Best Junior Practice award for all my Rainbow Kids . I never frame my certificates as I would much rather fill my therapy / training chalet with “my” children’s achievements but these two awards will be up on the wall and framed!!
Thank you Mary Atkinson and Sandra Hooper for sharing your fabulous and impactful work. You literally touch the lives of so many and change them for the better. To read more about the award, please click here.
I am full of gratitude to be able to freely share any advice, I possibly can, along with any knowledge, experience, science backed therapies as well as with my personal journey of raising a child with autism. We are all in this together .
Every child counts.
Every life matters.
Every individual deserves to be valued and nurtured to their fullest potential.
In November 2020 I was overjoyed to receive a Story Massage Best Practice Award. I’ve worked so hard and adapted it into so many different needs and ways . It has been a beautiful,valuable, impactful and gently powerful therapy to grow in and it has been so delicious to blended it with my other therapies to give bespoke treatments to every individual whom I am so privileged to work with.
Touch crosses all boundaries and languages with huge benefits.
Story massage has undoubtedly enabled me to meet every child where THEY are and not where I want them to be . We have worked through enormous issues, explored emotions, eased and even erased phobias and I recently had a nine year old non verbal girl go on to write a story massage which her mother asked me to read out anonymously to a group session. As if that wasn’t amazing enough, when the little girl in question saw the wonderful reaction to her story massage, she motioned for me to go close and WHISPERED in my ear ” You can tell them it was me ” !!!!!
My eyes are just swimming writing this….
The eleven other winners of this award each do incredible work and it is well worth reading the blog which Mary Atkinson and Sandra Hooper, the co-founders wrote about the Best Practice Award Winners for 202.0he stories are inspirational and motivational all at once.
What made me extra happy was that two of the winners, Kerry Brooks and Louise Rutt, have also trained extensively with me . It just makes me fill with warmth when we all work together for the best reason in the world ; our children and our future. Thank you Mary and Sandra for sharing your wonderful work !
I was delighted to be invited back yet again by Jyoti Jo Manuel,Founder of Special Yoga, to give an afternoon’s webinar on massage for different abilities, notably autism and ADHD.This was delivered as part of the intensive Level Two Training to become a yoga practitioner/teacher for children, young adults and their families living with special or additional needs as well as being able to take it into schools and their own practices. The insights, demonstrations and neuroscientific ,proven research and knowledge which I shared blended beautifully and seamlessly with the special yoga for the trainees’ future sessions.
It was a delight to be a part of the team once again to help and support so many out there to be the best they can be.
What a gorgeous warm feeling knowing that our combined work will spread and bring such practical help and hope to so many families who just feel so lost and don’t know where to turn.
And to teachers who want to fill in the gaps in their training surrounding additional needs with so many useful tools to help build peaceful, focused, productive and INCLUSIVE learning environments. We are all in this together .
On Wednesday 11 November 2020 I was absolutely delighted and very excited to be interviewed by William.R Drinkwater,M.Ed,CADC-II,LADC-I,LLC and Andrew Bernstein for Episode 53 of their very popular Podcast/Youtube show The MAP.
We chatted at length about mental health, special/additional needs, inclusion, educating, advocating, de-stigmatising and addiction as well as lots of neuroscientific backed therapies and practices to support and help.
I also discussed my own journey of raising a child with autism against a continually fearful background of abuse, desertion, neglect and cruelty, learning as I went …to ending up with not just four but literally millions of children and young adults whom I care about desperately and passionately.
What a blessing my life has been and continues to be in spite of those hard times which ended up being my biggest learnings and launch pads into who I have become . Into who WE as a family have become.
YOU define YOU – no-one else!
It was such a buzz to share the neuroscience that proves it …. How exciting and empowering is that knowledge ?!!
Following on from the interview I was absolutely delighted to receive an email from Willy saying that they loved having me on and want to talk about maybe having a regular show with me about my area of Special Needs with callers !!!! Yaaaaayyyy !!!! How wonderful!
With the global crisis in mental health issues and illnesses since Covid-19 and lockdown, along with the alarming spike in suicide ( an increase of a massive 39% from March – Oct 2020) , we need to really work at de-stigmatising mental health challenges, educating everyone about mental health and above all supporting each other.
My two older boys recently and shockingly lost their oldest and dearest childhood friend William to suicide … a seemingly warm,happy, popular,intelligent young man. Sadly he is one of so many who have recently seen this as their only way out. It has really torn my heart.
In beautiful memory and celebration of William Nicholas Bargate 21/10/1996 -1/10/2020
It felt the worst and most unnatural experience to have stood with my dear, close friend and her family at her baby boy’s graveside and feel so utterly helpless witnessing her harrowing loss and my own boys’ grief as well as trying to contain my own.
I have now vowed in Will’s name to do more and be more than ever before in my fight not just for those with different abilities but also for mental health . So it will be an utter joy to me to be part of The MAP and share all I possible can to help . We are a global community .
On a lighter note I am delighted with the new moniker that Willy Drinkwater suggested for me in an email after the show that actually made me spit out my tea with laughter ….”The British Spitfire of Special Needs” !!!!
That has to be the most gorgeously hilarious and BEST compliment I have EVER received !!
At five feet three and a half it’s a big one to fulfill … but I’m on a mission like never before and I hope to one day build a fleet of them!!
Thanks a billion for having me on guys and I can’t wait to work with you again!
On Monday 12th October at 12.30pm BST and 1.30pm Belgian/French/Dutch time I am so,so thrilled to be giving a Webinar on encouraging and nurturing a Positive Growth Mindset in our children, particularly for those who have a special/additional need or different ability.
Hosted by the chair of this incredibly motivated ,valuable and driven organisation, Beverley Sinton , I am hoping to reach as many families, carers, TA’s LSA’s teachers, headteachers, doctors and other professionals as is humanly possible because I am quite literally BURSTING with so much scientific, neuroscientific research and proof along with very simple but wonderfully engaging , slightly crazy at times (!!), fun activities and games .
I shall also discuss how just the simple way we can change our language can make such a positive difference. When we grow a positive mindset, it gives you lifetime skills, an emotionally and socially intelligent skills set and therefore helps you to reach your full cognitive potential.
Growing a Positive Growth Mindset not only physically grows our neurological pathways and alters our physical, cognitive brains but it even bridges the gap between school and the future workplace and employability ! Oh I could EXPLODE !!
IQ might get you the job but EQ (Emotional Intelligence) and SQ (Social Intelligence) will get you the promotion.
The team players, team builders ,the people builders,the thinkers outside the box and the problem solvers are the way forwards in a future rich, global community of inclusion .
“What fires the brain wires the brain .” (Rick Hanson,PHD)
Every day our minds build our brains.
Our brains don’t build our minds.
Therefore what we tell our children is what they become.
Links to this event will be posted on here very soon and across all my social media platforms. Cant’ WAIT to see you there and share SO much !!
I’m so delighted to have been invited by Tommy Dahlborg to be interviewed for the organisation he founded called Strength Thru Vulnerability. The podcasts he produces are all about sharing the difficult things in our lives ,being vulnerable about those challenges and allowing others to know that they are not alone.
The podcast will take place on Monday 28 September at 6pm BST/1pm EST
Tommy has openly shared his experiences of acute anxiety and OCD .I will be sharing about my own experiences through some incredibly challenging times along with experiences of my son Ollie who has autism , suffered the most terrible bullying at school and college and who also developed acute anxiety and OCD when his dreams and life became so broken . I shall also share stories of other children I have had the immense joy and privilege to work with and talk about some absolutely wonderful, scientifically researched and proven therapeutic tips and techniques to manage ,control and reduce OCD and anxiety.
The link to the interview can be found above . In the meantime if you would like to listen to Tommy’s other incredible,honest and impactful podcasts you can find these on Tommy’s Facebook Page Strength Thru Vulnerability, Strength Thru Vulnerability/Podcast on Spotify, Strength Thru Vulnerability – Mental Health News Radio Network www.mentalhealthnewsradionetwork.com , Strength Thru Vulnerability on Apple Podcasts podcasts.apple.com
To celebrate ADHD AWARENESS MONTH in October I have been invited to give two workshops/webinars for POA learning (poalearning.org.uk)
POA Learning is a hugely valuable and impactful organisation which are the learning arm of the Prison Officers’ Association (union).
They are very forward thinking and supportive of neurodiversity.
Their whole ethos is about unlocking potential which couldn’t be more perfectly in tune with my own work!
POA Learning co-ordinates trade union education and lifelong learning opportunities for all Prison and Secure Hospital employees,members of associated unions, friends,family and local communities.
I’m SO excited !!
This is a cause close to my heart especially because as you read this right now, in just one UK prison alone (HMP Cardiff), 33% of the inmates have ADHD ; some of whom were not diagnosed until they were adults.
With the government still calling conditions such as ADHD,ADD, EDF (Executive Function Deficit) and PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) “Conduct Disorders”, when actually it is not wilful behaviour but a simple lack of dopamine to the brain and therefore a different ‘wiring’, I am very keen to spread awareness and bring positive support.
Those with special needs/different abilities are anything from 2-6x more likely to pick up an additional mental health issue. Boys are twice as susceptible as girls.Those with neurodiverse brains are also born with significantly higher cortisone levels (the stress hormone) than those who have neurotypical brains .
Without the right support and understanding, along with the continual messages of “you’re naughty”,a “behaviourial”, you’re excluded or you don’t belong, these children grow into young adults who are far less resilient to stress, peer pressure, gangs… and more susceptible to later substance abuse.
You could be that one person who is educated and aware enough to be the one pebble on a child’s life path that changes the course of their future.
It is far easier to build a child than to repair a broken adult.
It is this neurological, neuroscientifically proven research, education and awareness that I will bring to this eventalong with many practical tools, techniques,positive growth mindset activities,mindful exercises and proven massage and therapy tips.
Especially as our world deals with the covid-19 Pandemic and mental health is spiking as we try to work out the “new normal”, there has never been a more pertinent time to bring education, support and awareness to conditions such as ADHD. So it is with the most enormous pleasure and massive honour that I have gladly accepted to be part of this very valuable,powerful and special event.
My own workshops will be live on Tuesday 27th October 10-11am and Wednesday 28th October 3.30-4.30pm.
Webinar One will discuss the neurotransmitter dopamine and how our children with conditions such as ADHD,ADD,PDA & EFD simply don’t produce enough of it. I will also discuss the naturally higher levels of cortisone, the stress hormone which is the enemy of the body compared to neurotypical children. I will be addressing the language and neuroscientific ignorance surrounding ADHD from government level downwards. Additional mental health issues will be explored with some hard hitting proven statistics …. and then lots and lots about where WE can all come in and play our part in quite literally rewiring those neurological pathways inside the brain …..!
I’ll be sharing gentle but powerful massage techniques along with self massage that will lead to more dopamine, less cortisone, more melatonin and serotonin and why this is key to reducing challenges, managing behaviour and boosting focus and attention.
Self massage leads to self awareness, self regulation and eventually self management! And therefore inclusion in the learning environment along with the collective benefits to the whole classroom and for teachers.
Webinar Two will be all about sharing other therapies,tools,techniques and positive growth mindset activities which are also proven to reset those neurological pathways and grow the child to their full potential. Therapies such as yoga, mindfulness, meditation, sensory and immersive meditations, guided journeys, gratitude games and activities exploring a whole range of feelings and how to manage them will be shared.You will be BUZZING with ideas!!! I’m just so excited to share all I possibly can to grow the child, help bond families and siblings , get through those feelings of isolation that so many families with a child with an additional need feel and to share ideas that could simply and at little or no cost be incorporated into the classroom too !
I’m going to talking ten to the dozen to fit it all in !! Plenty of resources and ideas will be demonstrated. We are going to have so much fun !! I’ll put some games,massages and activities together on links so that you have it all to hand once you have recovered from my joy !
The whole event will take place over the course of that half term week and all the details can be found on their website at poalearning.org.uk
Anna Kennedy OBE and Katherine Ellison Pulitzer Prize-Winning author are two of the other speakers who will both be holding sessions. How amazing !!
This event has been organised by the incredible Beverley Nolker and Alison Manion of POA Learning . Beverley also heads up an ADHD support group on the Isle of Sheppey. She holds a conference each year which focuses on those with ADHD ,their families and the support surrounding this different ability/condition.
Some people just inspire me to keep doing more, learning more and never stopping until we achieve that true understanding, education and inclusion of those who are neurodiverse.
It was a joy to share an interview with Autism Talk (@AutismTalkAspie) and their 29.5k followers today!! They are a huge voice on autism and how life can be improved for the autism community, especially education! I was interviewed about the proven and researched neuro scientific benefits of my therapies and how I use them to help autistic people, their families, carers and schools.
I have been invited back next month for another interview – so please watch this space! The full interview is posted on Twitter and can be read here!
I am truly so immensely honoured to have been invited to share this valuable online webinar to celebrate World Brain Day!
It takes place from 13h45-15h30 Belgian time / 12.45-2.30pm BST.
This seminar will be exploring “Brain and Mental Health Awareness Across The Lifespan” and is being hosted by ADHD, ASC & LD Belgium, European Brains @Work and Equisito, with myself as the keynote speaker.
Please click on the link above for more information and to book your free tickets for this powerful, impactful, very informative but also fun webinar exploring the strengths that neurodiversity and inclusion bring to our global community.
“What fires the brain wires the brain,” to quote Professor Rick Hanson.
What we tell our children is what they become.
Autistic children , children with ADHD, any child who has a neurodiverse brain, become neurodiverse adults who deserve to bring their passions and gifts to the workplace and to feel seen, heard and included in our society. This webinar will give lots of information and practical advice to teachers, therapists, employers and other professionals along with parents and families on how to achieve this.
On Monday 12th October at 12.30pm BST and 1.30pm Belgian/French/Dutch time I am so,so thrilled to be giving a Webinar on encouraging and nurturing a Positive Growth Mindset in our children, particularly for those who have a special/additional need or different ability.
I’m so delighted to have been invited by Tommy Dahlborg to be interviewed for the organisation he founded called Strength Thru Vulnerability. The podcasts he produces are all about sharing the difficult things in our lives ,being vulnerable about those challenges and allowing others to know that they are not alone.
The link to the interview can be found above . In the meantime if you would like to listen to Tommy’s other incredible,honest and impactful podcasts you can find these on Tommy’s Facebook Page Strength Thru Vulnerability, Strength Thru Vulnerability/Podcast on Spotify, Strength Thru Vulnerability – Mental Health News Radio Network www.mentalhealthnewsradionetwork.com , Strength Thru Vulnerability on Apple Podcasts podcasts.apple.com
It was a joy to share an interview with Autism Talk (
