I qualified as an Occupational Therapist from Lancaster University in 1999 and I spent over 10 years working in clinical practice. My specialism is learning disability and autism. My most recent clinical position was in a learning disability assertive outreach service, working with individuals who were difficult to engage and in frequent contact with mental health services and/or the criminal justice system. I maintain contact and currency with practice by mentoring and supervising several Occupational Therapists and support workers, working in learning disability and autism services.
I am one of six UK-based trainers for the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS), which is an internationally used, standardised occupational therapy assessment tool and outcome measure. In the UK I have also provided consultancy and developed a follow-up AMPS course looking in more depth at the interpretation and documentation of the assessment.
I joined York St John in 2013, teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate occupational therapy programmes. My research relates to autism and learning disability.
I teach the MSc and BSc Occupational Therapy programmes and also postgraduate courses related to assessment and outcome measurement.
In the OT programmes, I am involved in teaching related to:
- Autism
- Learning disability
- Occupational therapy theory and methods of assessment
- Use of critical reflection in practice
- Emerging areas of occupational therapy practice, with groups and communities
I supervise research students in both occupational therapy programmes.
I am interested in research related to autism and learning disability and have several research publications in these fields. My most recent research centres around the experiences of mainstream schooling for autistic young people. I am currently enrolled on a PhD at York St John. My project is entitled AIMSS: Autism Inclusive Mainstream Secondary Schooling. I am working in partnership with a small group of autistic young people, using narrative and participatory methods to co produce an intervention to support secondary schools to be more inclusive.
I am also interested in research related to parenthood and occupational science perspectives on marginalised groups and communities.
Recent publications
I am an HCPC registered, a member of the British Association of Occupational Therapy and a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am a reviewer for several journals and for the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR). I have authored several book chapters related to occupational therapy theory, models of practice, and assessment.
Within the university, I co-facilitate the York Autism Community Of Practice (with Lorna Hamilton, Psychology and Jonathan Vincent, Education).
