I love gaming for the experience of escapism, I find it very important in helping to regulate real world emotions and boundaries. I was lucky enough to grow up with a sister that I could play games with and experience these amazing worlds together with and I know how crucial that was in helping me to socialise during a very difficult time at home.

My gaming journey started very young when me and my sister would play Sonic the Hedgehog together on the Mega Drive, as the younger sibling I, of course, was always Tails and was always left with the rubbish controller. I then got a PS1 and loved Rayman, Dino Crisis, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and of course Spyro. Then I got a Gamecube and absolutely fell in love with the Zelda and Mario games, through Wind Waker and Super Mario Sunshine. I then got a PS2, mostly for Star Wars games (Star Wars is a huge special interest for me.).

I found an affinity with First Person Shooters through the first few Halo games when I switched to the XBOX consoles, and found myself quite good at these kinds of faster paced games. I’m currently playing through Star Wars Jedi Survivor and am absolutely loving the journey I’m on with it.

I currently own an Xbox Series X with Games Pass, a PS4, and a Macbook, although I am soon hoping to get a Nintendo Switch and aim to eventually have a gaming PC setup.
Growing up as a neurodivergent child, I often had a lot of difficulties with poor schooling and being misunderstood by teachers and other students, these days the majority of my friendship group are neurodivergent themselves and I realise how important that level of understanding from those around you can even help you to understand yourself better too. I feel that being heard, acknowledged and treated as an equal is vital to both children and adults alike, being able to communicate more confidently and without masking. I don’t believe people should ever feel they have to hide who they really are in an attempt to fit in. Having a space where you feel listened to is very helpful.

I believe by bringing my lived experiences as a person with ADHD and Autism to this role as a mentor, I can effectively use them to help me understand the young people I work with, and how their experiences with the world could have been so far, and give them a place to voice that without judgement. I feel that having someone to explore, teach, learn, and discuss your special interests and hobbies with can be really important in helping to develop communication skills that can be applied to any life situation. I have made most of my friends through music, and often have deep conversations with them about this. I also connect with friends about Star Wars and all its lore. I can see that even these kinds of conversations can help make it easier to engage in dialogue with people about the stuff I am confident in talking about, as well as the stuff I don’t know so well.