I always thought that I wanted to be a Clinical Psychology or Counsellor but after completing several workplace experiences, I knew this wasn’t for me. In the summer of 2014 between my second and third year of university, one of my friends signed up to volunteer for a charity who took children with disabilities and their siblings on trips throughout the school holidays. As I was keen to get as much experience as possible, I decided that I should also sign up. It was this volunteering experience that initially made me realise that I wanted to work with children and young people as I realised how rewarding it was. Fast forward a few months to a one-off lecture on Applied Behaviour Analysis and I knew instantly that this was for me. It felt like everything suddenly made sense to me. As soon as I walked out of the lecture, I booked on to the open day for the Masters course in Behaviour Analysis at the University of South Wales.

I completed my Masters in 2016, with my dissertation focusing on comparing types of token economy systems with children with Emotional and Behavioural Disorders in a Pupil Referral Unit. After this, I then started a Postgraduate Diploma course at the University of South Wales to start collecting my hours to become a Behaviour Analyst. Throughout this time I undertook placements in a specialised education school, an Academic Intervention Service where we helped to teach reading, and an Early Intervention Service. In my spare time I also worked as a self-employed Lead Therapist on home and school programmes with multiple children. After becoming a Behaviour Analystin 2019, I started working at the Early Intervention Service where I had previously trained. As well as being a nursery for children with autism and developmental delays, it was also a training clinic run by the University of South Wales. During my time here, I worked directly with the children and also trained many students to become both behaviour therapists and consultant behaviour analysts. I also assisted in running the 40-hour Practical Skills in ABA course to teach almost 30 parents and professionals about ABA to become Registered Behaviour Technicians.

I have been working at Skybound Therapies since 2022 as a Consultant Behaviour Analyst. I have learned so much during my time here, from learning more about ACT, to TalkTools, to PEAK. I have also presented at ABAI on some of the fantastic progress that Skybound has been able to make, which was an incredible experience. I have worked with children, young people, and adults from ages 2-20 years old. I have worked with diagnoses such as Autism, Pathological Demand Avoidance, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Anxiety, Fragile X Syndrome, Down Syndrome, Dyspraxia, and Apraxia. My proudest moment in my career so far has been working with people who have had difficulty accessing settings outside of their family home. We have been able to build cooperation and expand their world, which helps to improve their wellbeing. This has helped them to access the community and find activities that really put a smile on their face!