Hi! My name’s Esther and I’m really excited to be joining the Mindjam team! I have worked with autistic young adults/children and alongside families for most of my working life. I have enjoyed this work so much and I feel so passionately about meeting people’s needs as individuals and building healthy connections. 

I have undertaken courses to better my skills in this area such as young people’s mental health, counselling training, Autism training, safeguarding and more. I’m a mother to two children and both my children at various times have been home educated ( the youngest one remains so !) as at times, they have found the school environment challenging. I feel very lucky I’ve been able to support them at home and give them time to do things in their own way. I have spent a lot of time in the home schooling community and with many children who have struggled to fit into a classroom environment. In these settings I have felt so inspired by how gaming can bridge the gap for things some people may find challenging such as working as a team, building confidence and creating new friendships. When I heard about Mindjam I knew what an amazing combination of support this would bring to so many young people and I could see how it was so successful in this approach! 

Growing up I always loved Nintendo and I still do, I love playing cosy games to unwind at the end of the day or joining my children on fortnite! My favourite games to play are Animal Crossing, Yoshi’s Crafted World, Spiritfarer, Lego games and any Mario games! My other hobbies are spending time with animals (especially my cats and dog) making pottery, being in nature and wild swimming, baking, playing the drums, drawing, watching films (Ponyo is probably my favourite).

I’m really looking forward to meeting the mentees and working with the Mindjam team!