From Burnout to Breakthrough
Blending evidence-based psychology with personal experience and lived understanding
My Story
After 17 years as a teacher, I loved my work, but the system was breaking me. Government policies and funding pressures had transformed education from nurturing young minds into an endless cycle of box-ticking and exam preparation. I was teaching to specifications, not to students. The pupils I worked with, those who didn’t fit the narrow results window the school valued, deserved better.
I spent two years searching for a way out, trying to find work that would still pay the mortgage and support my two young sons. As a divorced parent working 60-hour weeks as the main caregiver, leaving felt impossible. The fear of financial loss, of losing my identity as a teacher, kept me stuck.
The system finally broke me. What followed was the hardest year of my life, stepping away from teaching on health grounds, facing the fears of financial insecurity and identity loss I’d been avoiding, and slowly learning that burnout wasn’t my failure. It was the system’s.
Rebuilding took years. My autism diagnosis in 2020 reframed everything. I finally understood why the rigid systems, the sensory overwhelm, the constant masking had cost me so much. I’d been trying to fit a neurotypical mold while drowning in imposter syndrome. No matter how well I performed, I never felt I was doing it right.
But the diagnosis also helped me understand why I’d gravitated toward the students others found difficult, the behaviour classes, the special educational needs groups. I understood what it felt like to struggle, even while being academically gifted. I understood them because I was them.
The Turning Point
Psychology became my lifeline. After my autism diagnosis, I started researching how the brain works, why I’d struggled for so long, and what actually helps people change. In February 2022, I began an MSc in Psychology. Not because I thought I should, but because I genuinely wanted to learn.
During strengths-based exercises in my course, I realised something important. Supporting others through change, educating, and deep listening weren’t just teaching skills. They were core to who I am. My values of helping others, connection, and self-improvement hadn’t been wrong. The system had just made it impossible to honour them.
My dissertation research focused on what makes therapy effective for autistic adults. I’d experienced therapy that set me back and therapy that transformed my life. I wanted to understand why. What I discovered was that it wasn’t about the therapy type. It was about the therapeutic relationship and whether the practitioner was willing to adapt.
That research became too important to leave as a dissertation. I published it in a peer-reviewed journal and created CPD-accredited training to help therapists work more effectively with autistic clients. My personal crisis had become professional expertise.
Professional Background
Education
MSc Psychology
17 years of teaching experience
Research
Published peer-reviewed research
Autism and therapy
Accreditation
CPD Standards Office Provider #50848
Certified Coach and Mentor
Memberships
British Psychological Society
Association of Coaching
In 2023, I completed the National Austistic Society’s Autism Support Workers certifications and the National Association of Disability Practitioners certification on supporting Autistic Students. In early 2025, I completed my coaching qualifications and launched Coaching South West. I wanted to help people who were where I’d been. Stuck, overwhelmed, trying to force themselves into systems that didn’t work for their brains or their values.
My recent ADHD diagnosis in 2025 added another layer of understanding. The pieces continue to click into place, and that ongoing journey of self-discovery informs everything I do.
What Drives Me
I’m not interested in motivational quotes or vague “positive vibes.” I’m interested in what actually works. Evidence-based methods combined with genuine understanding of how different brains operate in a world not built for them.
What makes my approach different is the combination:
- Academic rigor – MSc in Psychology, published research, CPD accreditation
- Teaching expertise – 17 years breaking down complex concepts into manageable steps
- Personal lived experience – I’ve navigated burnout, late autism diagnosis, rebuilding identity
- Neurodivergent-affirming practice – Strategies that work WITH different brain types, not against them
- Systems thinking – Understanding when the problem isn’t you, it’s the system you’re trying to fit into
My core values haven’t changed since those overwhelming teaching days: helping others, genuine connection, and continuous growth. Now I’ve built a life and business that actually honours those values rather than crushing them.
Life Beyond Work
Practising What I Preach
I still work two days a week in a special needs school because I genuinely love being in the classroom with autistic teenagers. Nearly all our pupils are autistic, and I support them in training for the Ten Tors and Jubilee Challenge on Dartmoor. This year, I completed my Moorland Walking Leader training so I could lead groups safely across the moors.
My relationship with Dartmoor is what keeps me balanced. My walking buddy and I are attempting to visit all 176 tors with my dog Woods. A few hours in the wild with no phones, no emails, no pressure. Just connection, space, and peace. I also wild swim off the Devon coast whenever I can.
I study Stoicism and practice mindfulness, gratitude, and acceptance to support my own well-being. I’m much more aware of my needs now and build my life around what supports and enriches me, not what I feel I “should” be doing.
Being a Mum
My two adult sons taught me that you can never give up. That teenagers do grow through their challenges into caring, successful, happy adults. The one principle I always held onto was unconditional love. Even when I’m angry with them, I tell them that being angry doesn’t mean I don’t love them. It just means some behaviours upset me sometimes.
That understanding, that no one can make you angry (the trigger and emotion reside in your own perceptions), shapes how I work with clients facing difficult relationships and life transitions.
Lets Work Together
Whether you’re navigating burnout, seeking support after an autism diagnosis, or looking to enhance your therapeutic practice with autistic clients, I bring both lived experience and professional expertise to the work we’ll do together.