I have always been passionate about helping others and have advocated for mental health and wellbeing in many ways including starting up a group for this at university.  I am also very passionate about supporting people who may not have been afforded the same opportunities as I am and have supported children and adults with learning disabilities and/or mental health issues both professionally and personally.

I feel strongly that children should be given opportunities that suit their personal ability and that the current education system is flawed.  They should be able to have an environment in which they can learn comfortably and to the best of their individual ability, where they feel comfortable.  Their education should be an enjoyable experience that draws on their strengths which I think MindJam does well to provide outside of the school environment.  

I have been working in support for young adults with learning disabilties and Autism and have experience volunteering in Romanian orphanages to help troubled young people.  I also have experience as a tutor for both school and university students and I have a MSc in Research Psychology.  Within my degrees, I focused a lot on Autism, gaming, mental health, and pain management.  I have also completed extensive training on safeguarding, autism awareness, adult and child protection, first aid, suicide prevention, child development, data protection, etc. I also have an up to date PVG (the Scottish equivalent of DBS) and an SVQ that I completed through my time working in care and support.

I have loved gaming since I can remember, with a lot of my fond family memories being based around playing the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1 with my family, so I’m glad that I can combine this personal passion with my professional abilities and passion to support children and young adults with MindJam.