Meet the team
Our team come from a range of professional backgrounds, and they each have a wealth of experience in working with autistic children, adults or families. The team includes autistic and neurodivergent colleagues, and we bring a wide skill set of knowledge across the range of courses and consultancy that we deliver. See below for further information about each team member.
Alongside our permanent team, we work with a range of external trainers and co-facilitators, many of whom are neurodivergent.
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Niki joined the National Autistic Society as a Senior Training Consultant in 2012. She has worked in the field of autism since 2002, initially supporting children and their families and later working within services for autistic adults. She has a psychology degree and an MSc in child development. She has been involved in autism research with various research groups and completed her PhD in autism in 2011. Since joining the National Autistic Society, Niki has been involved in a variety of consultancy projects and has delivered a range of training courses to professionals across the country and internationally.
'My favourite part of my job is meeting such a wide range of professionals and sharing knowledge and experience. But the best part of the job is working with and learning from autistic people themselves.'
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David is a Senior Training Consultant and jointly manages the training team. He joined the National Autistic Society in 2006 initially as a help! Family Support Programme Officer, which involved delivering post diagnostic information seminars to parents and carers. His previous roles include Head of Casework and Family Support and National Volunteering Development Manager. David has experience in the management and delivery of a range of services aimed at supporting families, autistic young people and autistic adults.
David has considerable experience delivering a wide range of training, seminars and workshops to both parents and professionals, including the Licenced User parent programmes. He led the revision and update of the EarlyBird and EarlyBird Plus parent support programme and the accompanying Licenced User Training.
Due to personal family experience, David has developed a special interest in restricted diet and sensory differences.
'My role has many amazing aspects but my favourite part is the feeling of satisfaction when the advice and support I share with parents and professionals has a positive impact of the lives of the family and/or the individual.'
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MSc Autism
Rachel is our Online Training and Development Manager who project manages the development of any new online training modules. She has helped to develop modules relating to autism in the police service, sport, managing money and safeguarding. Her latest module is the women and girls module, having a personal interest in the subject after gaining a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome in 2014, having self-identified as autistic since 2011. She also ensures the autistic voice is strong within our face-to-face courses as well as online content. Rachel has worked for the National Autistic Society since 2005 in a range of positions including befriending, mentoring, support work, research and delivering training across Scotland to families and professionals. She enjoys learning from a variety of professionals but particularly enjoys hearing from autistic people themselves.
'I am very fortunate to work within a team that understands and assists me to be the best version of myself. My favourite aspect to my job is working with others on the autism spectrum to create our online courses for professionals, the varying perspectives and ideas mean I get to constantly learn on a daily basis.'
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PGCertEd Autism
Lorraine is an Autism Training Consultant who has worked with autistic people and their families throughout her career and is passionate about increasing understanding of autism. Joining the National Autistic Society in 2005, Lorraine has delivered a variety of autism training to both professionals and families, covering a range of topics including sensory differences, continence, sexuality and women and girls. She has lectured on autism at a variety of UK universities and has spoken at several conferences on autism and related subjects.
Her publications include Toilet training and the autism spectrum: a guide for professionals (2016) with Dr Eve Fleming, 'Toileting problems in children with autism' (2014) in The Nursing Times, and the National Autistic Society's Teen Life workbook. Lorraine developed the new National Autistic Society Teen Life parent support programme and accompanying Licensed User Training, and has written a variety of articles on Network Autism, covering topics such as catastrophising and toileting difficulties.
Lorraine was one of the content writers for the National Autistic Society's online training module on women and girls.
'My favourite part of the job is the opportunities I get to constantly learn more about autism, often from autistic people themselves, and to share that knowledge with those who come on my training.'
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Mandy is an Autism Training Consultant. She began her career as a primary school teacher and then worked with children with learning disabilities in a large residential school. Following this, she moved into working with young adults in residential services, becoming a team leader. In 1996, Mandy began her career with the National Autistic Society as a manager of a day resource and independent living service for young autistic adults in Northamptonshire, instituting the SPELL framework at the service. With this experience, she began training other staff and then took on a role as an autism training consultant in 2002. Mandy’s main role is training across a wide customer base, providing consultancy support, teaching on HE courses and developing training materials. She also recently worked on a large consultancy project overseas.
'I have many favourite parts to my job. Most recently it has been the opportunity to work with a staff team over many months and see how training and support resulted in them developing best practice and autistic children being happy learners.'
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Sarah joined the National Autistic Society in 2012 as an Autism Training Consultant. She has 15 years of experience as a primary school teacher in both mainstream and specialist education and has a PGCE in Special Education: Autism (Children) from Birmingham University. Sarah has worked as a Specialist Advisory Teacher for an Early Years Communication Interaction Team, supporting pre-school children and their families. She delivers a range of autism workshops and has trained a diverse range of professionals. She consults in schools and nurseries and delivers bespoke packages of training, including training developed by the Autism Education Trust.
'What I love most about my job is the wide range of inspirational people I get to meet and work with on a daily basis.'
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Deborah Garland is an Autism Training Consultant. She delivers a wide range of training programmes, has been involved a number of research studies and also works in a Tier 4 Specialist Autism Service providing post diagnostic support to families from the North East and Cumbria.
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Julia joined the National Autistic Society in April 2021. Julia trained as a primary school teacher specialising in Early Years and has worked directly with families for over 15 years. She spent 11 years working as a Portage Worker as part of a local authority children with disabilities team where she became an EarlyBird Licenced User delivering this programme to many groups. Julia was also a trainer for the National Portage Association. Prior to joining the National Autistic Society Julia managed family support services for another national charity which involved running a helpline, providing family support and overseeing delivery of short break programmes. Outside of work Julia is a volunteer for Girlguiding as part of the North West Region safe practice/inclusion team.
'My favourite part of the job is sharing my passion for supporting families and knowing that professionals will go on to deliver our EarlyBird programmes which will empower families by giving them the knowledge and tools they need to help them understand their children.'