Donna joins The Cavendish School as our Occupational Therapist and we’re elated to welcome her to the team. Find out why she loves working with young people who have special educational needs below:
- Tell us a bit about your background…
My family and I live in Cambridgeshire, where I have worked as an Occupational Therapist for more than 26 years in different health, social care and educational settings. Working in special education settings is particularly enjoyable for me because I love working with children, young people and adults to enable them to participate in activities that are meaningful to them. I am also a tutor for other Occupational Therapists, who are completing post-graduate training in Ayres Sensory Integration, which allows me to share my passion for this particular approach with the wider community of practitioners.
- How did you get started with your current work?
I started to work with young people with neurodiversity 20 years ago, and have remained committed to working in this area ever since. Every day brings new joys and challenges and that keeps me motivated.
- What challenges have you previously faced?
Balancing work and home commitments is always difficult and this has probably been the consistent challenge during my career.
- What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishments?
Supporting my family and the people I work with to achieve the goals that are important to them. Keeping the individual at the heart of what I do is something I prioritise, and sharing my experiences and knowledge with others to enable them to make changes is very rewarding.
- What inspires you?
Collaboration at all levels! Being part of a community that shares ideas, knowledge and experiences to enable, support and include others is one of the reasons I am excited to join the team at The Cavendish School.
- What are you currently focusing on?
My current priority is for Occupational Therapy provision to be accessible to the children and families I work with. Ayres Sensory Integration can have such an impact on a child’s ability to participate in the daily activities that are important to them; I want people to know how important it is to provide a good assessment and to plan targeted provision to support participation based on the results. Working with staff, children, and families at The Cavendish School is something I am really looking forward to and I am very excited to be involved in such an amazing project from the start.