I founded The Connection Approach to support schools and organisations to embed trauma-informed practice through staff training, consultancy, and reflective support.
My primary focus is working with adults - because when staff feel confident, supported, and emotionally equipped, children and young people benefit most. I work with teachers, leaders, and wider teams to develop trauma-informed communication, strengthen emotional safety, and create consistent, relational approaches that can be sustained in everyday practice.
My work is grounded in professional training, therapeutic experience, and real-world understanding of the pressures faced by those working with children and young people. I support settings to move beyond theory, offering practical, compassionate approaches that feel realistic rather than idealistic - particularly in environments where behaviour, distress, or disengagement place a high emotional load on staff.
Alongside this core work, I also offer therapeutic mentoring and small-group workshops for teenagers who may be struggling to engage with education, relationships, or their sense of self. This work is intentionally smaller in scale and sits alongside wider systemic support, rather than acting as a standalone solution.
At the heart of everything I do is a belief that lasting change happens when adults feel safe enough to reflect, learn, and respond with understanding. By strengthening the adults around children and young people, we create environments where connection can grow - and where young people feel seen, supported, and able to thrive.
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About
Personal Note From Me
I know what it feels like to have your needs overlooked - to be labelled instead of understood. As a child, my trauma went unrecognised, both within the education system and by me.
What carried me through was a God-given passion for horses. They became my escape and, in many ways, my teachers, taking me across three other countries and offering experiences that shaped who I am today. In time, though, I came to understand that while this passion had protected me, it had also allowed me to stay hidden. Real healing required me to face my trauma, not avoid it.
That realisation shaped my purpose.
I understand first-hand what can happen when systems miss the signs, when behaviour is responded to without curiosity, and when adults are not given the support they need to respond with understanding. This is why my work now focuses primarily on training and supporting the adults around children and young people.
Through The Connection Approach, I bring together lived experience, therapeutic training, and trauma-informed practice to support teachers, leaders, and professionals to create safer, more attuned environments. When adults feel confident, emotionally supported, and equipped with the right understanding, children are far less likely to feel unseen or misunderstood.
Alongside this, I also offer therapeutic mentoring and workshops for teenagers who need more individualised support — always with the understanding that meaningful change happens most effectively when the adults around them are supported too.
My Vision
I dream of a world where every child grows up feeling safe enough to learn, strong enough to grow, and confident enough to shape their own future.
I believe this begins with the adults around them.
I imagine schools transformed - places where staff feel supported rather than overwhelmed, where compassion replaces criticism, understanding replaces judgement, and trauma-informed communication is woven into everyday practice.
I see communities where teachers, leaders, and professionals are equipped with the confidence, insight, and language to respond to behaviour with curiosity rather than control - creating environments where children feel valued, supported, and free to thrive.
And I believe that when systems change, young people are no longer asked to carry the weight of unmet needs alone. They grow into individuals who are resilient in the face of challenge, confident in who they are, and able to move forward with hope and purpose.
