Hello, my name is Max and I am delighted to be working with MindJam.

From a young age I spent a lot of time around people with additional needs and ASD, both of my parents worked in care and routinely involved my brother and I in various work events, regularly meeting and building friendships with people that they supported. It did not take long for me to decide that this is something I would be very interested in doing myself once I was old enough to work.

I eagerly left school at sixteen, having not particularly enjoyed my time at school, I was very excited to start working at a day service for young adults with Learning disabilities and ASD. Our focus was using fun activities to engage and create a safe environment for the people who attended.

I spent a total of six years as a support worker for young adults with Learning Disabilities as well as ASD and ADHD. I found that games served as a great way to bond and build connections with a variety of people from diverse backgrounds. This felt like second nature to me, growing up playing games since early childhood, a large portion of my own social interactions growing up were done through the medium of video games. I truly understand the positive impact that gaming can have on someone’s mental wellbeing.

In recent years, I have also found a great passion for film, I studied and achieved a First Class Honours in Film Production at Brighton Film School. This has resulted in me working on various projects, from small-scale promotional videos for local businesses, to high budget advertisements that have been aired on television.

My passion for games and my passion for film share a common theme, they both allow me to be creative in any way that I want, in a completely free and unrestricted manner. This is something that I personally feel is very important to me. I believe that everyone should be able to freely express themselves in any way that they feel is right for them. I have seen first hand how these forms of media can positively affect someone’s life and this fits in with the ethos of MindJam, something that I wholeheartedly support.

I am enhanced DBS checked and hold several, relevant training certificates including:

o   Safeguarding

o   Online Safety for Teaching Staff

o   Understanding Anxiety and Stress In Children and Young People

o   Data Protection and GDPR