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Ruth Pearse
Founder and Chief Executive
Ruth has over 16 years’ experience as a CEO in the charitable sector. She has a passion for ensuring that parents/carers are supported at any stage of their children's lives. She sees the importance and value of partnership working and has developed strong partnerships within the charity sector. Ruth is a mental health trained practitioner, a specialist parenting and sleep practitioner, a former primary school teacher with experience of working with children with special educational needs and was previously a chair on a local parents' forum. She is also a parent of neurodiverse adults.
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Tess Eagles
Partnerships Manager, Children and Young People Lead
Tess has over 25 years experience in business, finance and project management including over 15 years in the charitable sector and has personal experience of the issues faced by PSC families. She has a passion for Inclusion and believes every child/young person should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Tess is chair of a local charity and spends her free time fundraising.
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Zobia Kalim
Director of Family Services, Funding and Commissioning Manager
Zobia is a Specialist Parenting Practitioner with wide-ranging training and experience of developing & delivering programmes for families of special needs children, including those with early life trauma, across the UK since 2003. She is also an accredited trainer, a Mental Health First Aider, a Sleep Practitioner as well as a mother of two special needs children, one of whom is adopted.
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Jo Lavelle
Finance Manager
Jo is a qualified chartered accountant, with over 10 years experience in voluntary sector finance. She has personal family experience of Autism, Sleep issues and Sensory difficulties.
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Polly Lewis
Administration Manager
Polly is a former Information Officer with the Civil Service, working in Knowledge Management and Freedom of Information/Data Protection. She is involved with The RAFT Club, a play club and support group for autistic children and their families in Reading. Polly has personal family experience of Autism, ADHD, Dysgraphia, Sleep issues and Sensory difficulties.
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Charlie Taylor
Helpline and Support Groups Manager
Charlie provides information for anyone needing help regarding special needs via the phone and email. She co-ordinates our Support Groups and supports our practitioners at Autism and ADHD workshops.
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Jo Billington
Parenting Practitioner and Neurodiversity Advisor
As well as working for PSC, Jo is a doctoral researcher in the Centre for Autism at the University of Reading researching the lived experience of autistic school children. She is a Mental Health Trainer for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, and Affiliate Lecturer in Child Development, SEN and Inclusion at Oxford Brookes University.
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Peter Burton
Parenting Practitioner and Trainer
Peter is a qualified teacher, counsellor, trained mediator and NLP practitioner. He has also been a foster carer. He is involved in delivering workshops within the Trauma & Attachment Service and facilitates the ‘Dads & Male Carers Support Group’.
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Helen Cattermole
Sleep Practitioner
Helen is a registered nurse in learning disabilities (RNLD), and worked within Berkshire Foundation Healthcare Trust as a challenging behaviour specialist, working with adults with learning disabilities and their families and carers.
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Denise Challis
Parenting Practitioner
Denise previously worked with children and families, many of whom had experienced life with special needs, within an educational setting. Her particular interests are ADHD and mental health, and she is an accredited mindfulness teacher.
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Olive Kayongo
Parenting Practitioner and Peer Supporter. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor.
Olive uses her lived experience of caring for her neurodivergent children to provide parent/carer peer support. She facilitates the support group that runs alongside our social group for Autistic Girls: The A-Team. She also facilitates ‘My Family’; a monthly peer support group for parents/carers of young people aged 11-25 with mental health challenges based in Marlow, which is a collaboration between PSC and ‘Brighter Futures Together’.
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Donna Levy
Child and Family Support Worker: Auticulate & Social Interaction Groups
Donna is from the Berkshire area and has lived there most of her life. She studied Modelmaking at University of the Creative Arts in Kent before returning to Berkshire. She has many years experience working with children with additional needs. She is a qualified lifeguard and also works as Playwork Supervisor and Short Breaks Co-ordinator at Camp Mohawk.
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Amy Plumer
Paediatric Occupational Therapist
Amy works as a paediatric occupational therapist at Windsorian Occupational Therapy. She co-facilitates our social group for Autistic Girls: The A Team, and facilitates the Sensory Processing and Interoception workshops.
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Helen Tracey
Sleep Practitioner
Helen has worked with disabled children and their families for many years and works part time as a Social Worker in a Short Breaks Service for disabled children. Helen has personal family experience of Autism, ADHD, anxiety, Sleep issues and Sensory processing difficulties.
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Mary Van Der Merwe
Parenting and Sleep Practitioner
Mary facilitates our social group for Autistic Girls: The A Team, as well as delivering autism-focused courses and workshops. She also supports the TAS and Parenting teams with administration.
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Carolanne Beecher
Helpline Support
Carolanne works on our Helpline and volunteers additional hours for calls, emails and admin. On the personal front, Carolanne is an adoptive mum of a daughter with special needs.
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Anna Cook
Child and Family Support Worker
Anna is an MSc Clinical Psychology graduate with experience of neurodivergence, additional needs and mental health in her professional, personal, and family life.
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Sue Moore
Administration Volunteer
Sue supports us by processing our event bookings.
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Sarah Roy
Events Coordinator
Sarah has a background in education, working as a primary school teacher for 15 years. She first found PSC whilst looking for support for her neurodiverse adopted daughter and was amazed by the services they could provide for her and her family. She joined the charity in 2024 as Events Coordinator, putting her 12 years of school PTA experience to good use in planning and assisting with fundraising and events.
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Rosie Smith
Child and Family Support Worker: Auticulate
Rosie is pleased to be working at Auticulate. She has previously worked as a volunteer mentor for the A Team. Rosie is looking to pursue a career in speech and language therapy in the future.
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Julie Spencer
Social Media and Marketing Volunteer
Julie has a background in journalism and is supporting PSC with social media and marketing.
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Zobia Kalim
Director of Family Services, Funding and Commissioning Manager
Zobia is a Specialist Parenting Practitioner with wide-ranging training and experience of developing & delivering programmes for families of special needs children, including those with early life trauma, across the UK since 2003. She is also an accredited trainer, a Mental Health First Aider, a Sleep Practitioner as well as a mother of two special needs children, one of whom is adopted.
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Peter Burton
Parenting Practitioner and Trainer
Peter is a qualified teacher, counsellor, trained mediator and NLP practitioner. He has also been a foster carer. He is involved in delivering workshops within the Trauma & Attachment Service and facilitates the ‘Dads & Male Carers Support Group’.
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Mary Van Der Merwe
Parenting and Sleep Practitioner
Mary facilitates our social group for Autistic Girls: The A Team, as well as delivering autism-focused courses and workshops. She also supports the TAS and Parenting teams with administration.
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Eleanor Greaves
Parenting Practitioner and Education Advocate
Eleanor is an experienced teacher and qualified Teacher of the Deaf. She has worked in special education for many years, working with a wide range of children with complex needs. Eleanor has an MA in Psychology. She is the mother of three children, including her adopted son who has special needs.
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Nuala Hemphill
Parenting Practitioner and Trainer
Nuala delivers workshops and courses for the charity as well as supporting the Trauma & Attachment Education Advocacy service. She has over 35 years’ experience as a teacher and manager in SEND. She is also an adult psychotherapist and a specialist trainer in trauma defences, reactive attachment, foetal alcohol syndrome, anxiety and ADHD. She adopted many years ago and is now a kinship grandparent carer.
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Katie Holmes
Volunteer Peer Supporter
Katie is a volunteer with the Trauma and Attachment Service and helps to facilitate a peer support group. She has previously worked as an Adult Nurse, a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse and as a Project Manager to a peer support project. She is mother to 4 children, with experience in parenting autistic children and children with a history of trauma.
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Dawn Rimmer
Volunteer Peer Supporter
Dawn is a volunteer with the Trauma & Attachment Service and supports parents as well as events. She is involved in a number of local and online support groups and is Kinship Carer Champion with Grandparents Plus. She is a special guardian to her autistic grandson and also helps run the monthly Kinship Carer support group for PSC.
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Ellie King
Chairperson
Ellie works as a registered childminder, and was part of the group who set up the Diagnosis Support Service.
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Sam Coombes
Treasurer
Sam first made contact with PSC as a service user at the end of 2017 following her daughter’s Autism diagnosis. Sam has worked in the financial services sector for 18 years. With her experience working in a corporate environment and a strong financial background, Sam has a particular interest in supporting PSC on future strategy.
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Nabila Ahmed
Trustee. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor
Nabila works as a Higher Level Teaching Assistant at a special education needs school in Berkshire. She has experience working with children with profound and multiple learning disabilities including Autism, ADHD and Global Development Delay. Nabila has 15 years’ experience of supporting children with disabilities within her family, as well as 6 years professional experience.
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Sarah Croxford
Trustee
Sarah was introduced to PSC in 2018 by Berkshire Health, for her youngest son with ASD, ADHD, SPD and hypermobility, and also more recently with her eldest son who has ADHD. Sarah has worked in sales and marketing roles within the technology sector for the last 20 years and brings skills in accessibility, digital and health strategies.
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Fiona Joy
Trustee
Fiona is a registered nurse and health visitor with over 40 years’ experience of working in the NHS. She has a wealth of knowledge of working with families experiencing adverse events, vulnerabilities and where safeguarding is a concern. She is a practice educator and works with a local university to help deliver training for specialist community public health practitioners. Fiona is also a parent of neurodiverse adults.
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Jo Billington
Neurodiversity Advisor and Parenting Practitioner
As well as working for PSC, Jo is a doctoral researcher in the Centre for Autism at the University of Reading researching the lived experience of autistic school children. She is a Mental Health Trainer for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, and Affiliate Lecturer in Child Development, SEN and Inclusion at Oxford Brookes University.
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Dr Blandine French
Neurodiversity Advisor
Blandine completed her PhD in Applied Psychology investigating the awareness and understanding of ADHD in primary care, specifically how well GPs understand ADHD and its care pathway. She developed and evaluated an online educational tool, coproduced with GPs to increase their awareness of ADHD. As well as having ADHD herself, Blandine facilitates support groups for parents of children with neurodiversities and adults with ADHD.
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Olive Kayongo
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor. PARENTING PRACTITIONER AND PEER SUPPORTER.
Olive uses her lived experience of caring for her neurodivergent children to provide parent/carer peer support. She facilitates the support group that runs alongside our social group for Autistic Girls: The A-Team. She also facilitates ‘My Family’; a monthly peer support group for parents/carers of young people aged 11-25 with mental health challenges based in Marlow, which is a collaboration between PSC and ‘Brighter Futures Together’.
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Dr Ify Mankee
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor
Ify is a mother of children with special needs. She brings both her parental experience, and professional experience of primary care, to the EDI advisory board.
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Dr Ruth Moyse
Neurodiversity Advisor
Ruth is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton, a Director and Associate at AT-Autism and a Mentor for Scottish Autism's Affinity project. Her main research interests are the experiences of autistic girls in mainstream schools.
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Toshiko Tani
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor
Toshiko previously supported our Admin Team, and our Partnerships Manager in sourcing funding opportunities for PSC.
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