ABOUT ME
Hi, I'm Hanna
I am a registered Occupational Therapist with over 20 years’ experience and postgraduate training in sensory processing and integration. I offer training and consultancy through my Sensory Academy, supporting parents, schools, professionals and neurodivergent people to better understand sensory experiences and regulation. I also support a small numbers of families in the South Cumbria area through my Sensory Success assessment and support package.Â
I am a mum of two children, one is autistic and attends a special school and one is AuDHD and was out of school for over a year but now has an EOTAS package and attends alternative provision (he's the one with the lovely eyes in the photo). I am continually learning from my amazing children but it's not easy! As a family, we've survived the battle for diagnosis, EHCP, special school and EOTAS, as well as the huge emotional turmoil of having a child with anxiety and burnout unable to attend school. Every day brings new challenges and I'm grateful that these experiences mean that I can support other parents with more compassion and a deeper level of understanding. I am also autistic myself and I find this lived experience so helpful in my work.Â
MY PASSION
I absolutely love supporting people to better understand sensory experiences.
Through my Sensory Academy I passionately share my knowledge. I help parents, professionals and neurodivergent people to build confidence and I empower people to recognise and respond to sensory needs. When we understand sensory needs, we can better support emotional regulation, learning, participation and everyday wellbeing.
Through Sensory Success, my assessment findings, training and parent support enables a family and school to make changes that make such a difference to their child's life as well as to the wellbeing of the whole family.
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QUALIFICATIONS
- Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC registration number OT51333)
- Member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists
- BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy (First Class Honours) and MSc
- CLASI Certificate in Ayres Sensory Integration
- Certified to use the SIPT and EASI assessments
- Qualified yoga teacher
- Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
- Fully insured
Children's occupational therapists (OTs) help a child to overcome challenges so that they can participate more fully in home, school and community life.
They look at the child's skills and environment to see what is a barrier to the child growing, learning, playing, socialising and having fun.
Barriers include sensory challenges (such as a need to be constantly on the move, difficulty tolerating haircuts, toothbrushing and noise), emotional and sensory regulation (getting upset, anxious or angry easily or difficulty with attention and focus) and motor skills (difficulty with reading, writing, PE skills, getting dressed, riding a bike, tying laces etc).
The occupational therapist then makes recommendations on how the environment can be adapted and how the child's skills can be developed to enable improved wellbeing and participation in daily life.Â
MY APPROACH
I believe that when someone is struggling, we need to be curious about what is getting in the way, rather than assuming the person themselves is the problem.
My approach is neurodivergent-affirming and focuses on what I call Barriers to Participation. This means looking at the whole picture - the task, environment, sensory experiences, expectations, communication, relationships and a person’s current capacity - and considering what could change to make it easier for them to participate more fully in everyday life.
Sensory processing and regulation are an important part of this, but they are never the whole story. I don’t believe in simply giving people a list of sensory strategies or trying to make someone look calmer, more compliant or more typical. The aim is to understand what an individual needs to feel supported and able to participate in a way that works for them.
I also believe that support should be practical and individual. Whether I’m delivering training, providing consultancy, supervising a professional or working directly with a family, I want people to leave with greater understanding and ideas they can genuinely use, while recognising that the same strategy will not work for everyone.
The person’s own experience matters. I encourage people to ask, offer and observe, to respect preferences and communication in all its forms, and to work with people rather than doing strategies to them.
My approach brings together over 20 years of occupational therapy experience, ongoing professional learning and my own lived experience of neurodivergence. It continues to evolve as I learn from the children, families, teachers and professionals I work alongside.
"I cannot speak highly enough of Hanna and the services she offers. Before I met Hanna I felt like no one understood my son and his needs. The assessments Hanna completed gave me a much greater understanding of my son, it has helped me source him help and support. Hanna’s therapy sessions have been greatly beneficial to my son, they has been great improvements in lots of aspects. Hanna is caring, calm, knowledgeable, professional and she has been brilliant my son. I would not hesitate to recommend Hanna. I can not thank her enough for all of her efforts."
"Hanna is amazing! After visiting Hanna we learned so much about our daughter that we weren't even aware of. Hanna's sensory space is out of this world. Our little girl struggles to communicate but Hanna was patient with her, made her feel at ease, was calming but also made her assessment lots of fun. Hanna is very knowledgeable and we cannot thank her enough, our daughter would not be getting the correct support if it wasn't for Hanna's advice. We will always recommend Hanna and the services that she offers. We look forward to Hanna working with our daughter in the future."
"Our experience with Hanna has been wonderful from start to finish. She is very professional and knowledgable, whilst being kind, empathetic and approachable. Thank you for all for care and expertise, it has made a massive difference to our family. We couldn't have asked for better, with the way you approached our son, and it is evident you want the best for every child you meet. The assessment and feedback is wonderful, and is hopefully the beginning of a more supportive education for our son."
"Excellent help and support from Hanna for my son at a very difficult point, she has helped myself as a parent but also the school he attends to put additional support in place. I now understand the issues and difficulties he faces on a day to day basis and the things we can put in place to make things easier. Hanna was very friendly and supportive and my son felt very relaxed and comfortable straight away; normally he struggles with meeting new people."
"Highly recommended, Hanna recently carried out a very thorough assessment on our grandson. The family were listened to, she has such a calming manner and used various ways to communicate with our grandson that put him at ease and he participated willingly and loved the activities. Several area of sensory need were found during these assessments that the doctors missed. Strategies and activities recommended have already started to show an improvement in behaviour. This lady is professional, caring with a wealth of knowledge and she communicates exceptionally well with all involved. Thank you, we really appreciate what you’ve done. Also learned lots from the Facebook live sensory activities session and would recommend these to anyone not just to those with children with sensory needs."
"I feel I cannot put into words, the impact you have had on our lives. I use the words 'life altering' when I talk about your work. Thank you."