Who am I?

I am passionate about delivering useful, relevant legal training for busy practitioners to support them in developing legally literate good practice in adult social care. I am trusted and valued by a lengthy list of local authorities to provide high quality, excellent value bespoke training to their staff which engages and empowers them as practitioners.

Adult Social Care Law Training

A subject expert with specialisms in adult social care law and in autism, my genuine commitment and enthusiasm for improving legal literacy and best practice in adult social care is evident to those attending my training. I am able to create a supportive learning atmosphere in which practitioners with a range of levels of experience feel confident to express themselves and have the space to develop their skills and reflect on their practice.

My training is very popular with staff because of the relevant content and support they receive in applying the law to practice. I am readily able to answer questions at all levels and give realistic examples to support participants in applying the law to the realities of practice.

I have a particular skill at explaining complex legal topics in an accessible and engaging way and extensive experience in developing and delivering training for the public sector. I create and deliver training on Human Rights and broad Legal Literacy training for Adult Social Care; all aspects of the Care Act; Adult Safeguarding law and practice from Safeguarding Enquiries to advanced legal options for complex case work; Mental Capacity law including CoP case law updates and BIA Refresher training; DOLS and ‘Community DOLS’; Mental Health Law including s.117 aftercare; and Transitions from Child to Adult Services across Social Care, Health and Education. I always deliver all legal training personally. Please see my current social care law courses page for a more detailed list.

Autism Training

I also develop bespoke, practically-focussed training on all aspects of autism. I specialise in autism knowledge specifically for social care, as well as for public sector professionals in health and education. I bring together extensive knowledge of autism and my familiarity with the social care, health and education sectors to support practitioners with practical knowledge such as: communication with autistic people across the spectrum; supporting autistic people to cope with change; responding to and preventing distressed behaviour. I also offer specialist autism training specifically for social workers (including Care Act and capacity assessment of autistic people & safeguarding autistic people) and for AMHPs (including Mental Health Act assessment and autistic people). Many of these courses are now delivered on my behalf by a small group of autistic trainers. We are also able to provide specialist courses in autism for educational settings. Please see my current autism courses page for a more detailed list.

Consultancy, Speaking and Writing

On occasion, I also provide consultancy in both of my fields of expertise providing tailored support, research and specialist knowledge for a range of purposes. For example supporting commissioning teams around Ordinary Residence and s.117 funding issues; change management consultancy within the public sector aimed at service improvement: around autism and/or improved compliance with legal frameworks. If your organisation is interested in consultancy from me, please contact me to discuss your needs further.

I am an experienced and well-reviewed speaker and present regularly at webinars, seminars and at conferences. If you would like me to speak an event, please contact me.

I am also a published author. My book, Social Work with Autistic People: A Guide to Essential Knowledge, Skills and the Law for Working with Children and Adults (Jessica Kingsley, 2020) is the leading text in the field. When time allows, I post on my blog here.

National Autistic Taskforce

I am the Strategic Lead of the National Autistic Taskforce. Currently, I am the co-principal investigator on the EQUALS project, an NIHR-funded research project looking at implementing the NAT Independent Guide to Quality Care for Autistic People in social care services. I gave a plenary presentation at the NAT Forum 2021 and lead the development of NAT’s discussion paper (funded by Skills for Care) on Recognising Behaviour as Distress in social care services [PDF]. I was involved with the development of the Core Capabilities Framework for supporting autistic people [PDF]. I also represent NAT on the Bring Our People Home (from Psychiatric Hospital) network and on the National Mental Capacity Forum.