Autism/Neurodivergent Carers Online Support Group
A supportive, friendly group for parents, partner, spouse and friend carers of autistic/neurodivergent adults 16+.
Online
13 October 2026 10:30 - 12:00
Available: 20 spaces of 20
Meet and share with other carers, as well as take the opportunity to learn about support available to your role
I’m delighted to be a trustee of Carers Support West Sussex, and looking forward to working with the team and contributing to the vital work they’re doing supporting carers across the area.
I’ve been working in digital, marketing and communications in the charity sector for more than fifteen years, including for organisations working in mental health, addiction and international development. I’m especially interested in increasing the reach and deepening the impact of charities through the strategic use of digital technology, and creating environments where teams can do their best work.
Outside of work I’m a keen and eclectic cinema-goer, a frequent visitor to galleries, and an occasional maker of lino-cut prints. I love spending time exploring the beautiful countryside or being beside the sea in Sussex, and am also a huge fan of escape rooms and other brain-testing puzzles.
I am passionate about carers being listened to, supported and empowered through all phases along their caring journey. My focus is for carers to have a voice, feel supported and to be involved in decisions about services which will bring a positive impact for unpaid carers.
As a Trustee I aspire to help guide CSWS to advance and successfully implement Sussex’s strategic priorities for carers, keeping a focus on outcomes and increasing opportunities for partnering. Gained through a 40 year career in Manufacturing and global IT services, I bring skills and experience in transforming practices and evolving services. Being collaborative, embracing diversity and being inclusive has been a central approach to achieving successful outcomes.
Since taking early retirement in 2017, I have undertaken volunteer roles with Citizens Advice, CarersUK, NHS England and local Healthwatch.
I enjoy spending time with family, cycling and reading, especially on a warm beach.
Caren is a trauma informed carer coach with counselling training, over ten years’ experience in the care sector, and her own lived experience. She has worked across several teams at Carers Support West Sussex, including the Response Line, South Team, and Carer Engagement & Outreach, giving her a strong understanding of the diverse needs of carers.
Her coaching draws on a gentle, empowering approach that helps carers recognise their strengths and prioritise their wellbeing.
Caren has also facilitated coaching style groups for a mothers’ charity, supporting new mothers and those living with birth trauma through peer support and writing and wellbeing workshops.
Newly qualified in coaching, Caren combines professional expertise with lived experience to create supportive, reflective spaces for carers.
Tor is a passionate advocate for self-care; a lesson she learned the hard way. In her younger years, Tor worked as a professional performer. While the lifestyle was filled with glitz and glamour, it also carried a darker side. After prolonged periods of stress, she faced burnout. That pivotal moment led her to make a lifelong commitment to her well-being.
True to her nature of giving her all, Tor has spent the past 12 years practicing and teaching mindfulness and underpins her coaching techniques with mindfulness and compassion-based approaches. Having attained a master’s degree in MBA’s she is studying for the advanced diploma in coaching, having already certified as coach with the Centre for Coaching.
Tors connection to caring came from over 20 years of lived experience as she cared for her late Mum, this makes Tor an empathetic coach “I really have lived the life of a long term carer, therefore I can closely identify with the people I am privileged to support”.
As a member of the coaching team, Tor considers it an honour to help carers navigate their personal journeys, she loves supporting carers in exploring their inner world, empowering change, and embracing self-development.
I joined the charity in 2016 to use my Board and management expertise and skills to give something back to society.
I ensure there is a clear purpose, vision, strategy for, and proper governance of, the charity. My wife and I have been voluntary helpers and befrienders for elderly vulnerable people in the community for many years – making regular visits and phone calls, helping with errands and shopping, and trying to alleviate loneliness during lockdown.
This has been rewarding and life-enhancing for me. I have held senior Group HR Director roles at The Rank Organisation, Gala Coral Group, Inspiring Learning, and other organisations. I moved into HR Consultancy and Executive Coaching in 2009 and ensure a proportion of my work is in the Third sector. I am a Trustee Board Director of two FTSE Pension Schemes, Chair of a Gibraltar Pension scheme and a Mentor for students with Momentum Mentoring at the University of Brighton.
I live in Kemp Town with my wife, have two grown up children, three grandchildren and am a keen animator, cyclist, and Harlequins Rugby FC and Brighton & Hove Albion FC supporter.
PAPA stands for Positive Approaches Partnering Autism.
We have joined with NeuroProsperity to offer six PAPA online information and discussion sessions. The sessions are aimed at parents and partners who are
living with or caring for an autistic person aged 16+. They provide an opportunity for carers to discuss and learn more about autism whilst being with others in a similar situation.
Carers can book all sessions (preferred) or individual sessions and Can be book through Events Calendar on website or links below:
Diane brings a deep personal understanding to her work at Carers Support, drawing from her own experience in a caring role. This perspective gives her profound empathy for carers seeking guidance.
Her lived experience has reinforced the vital importance of prioritising self-care and personal wellbeing. Diane believes, “Meeting your own needs as a carer helps sustain you in your life and your caring role. One cannot be void of self-care and expect to care well for someone else.”
As a Certified Coach and Person-Centred Practitioner, Diane employs a Trauma-Informed Approach to her work. She has extensive experience supporting vulnerable families, children, young people with special needs, parents, and carers. Diane is dedicated to helping carers overcome challenges, break down barriers, and create new opportunities for growth and achievement.
Penni has over 20 years of experience as a qualified coach. Coaching has been a way of life for Penni, with it becoming a core part of who she is. Penni can vouch for the effectiveness of coaching having used the process to successfully guide her through some of her life’s challenges. This ranged from navigating health and education systems while supporting her daughter through school, college, and university, to caring for her late father from a distance, and now supporting her neurodiverse granddaughter.
Penni’s lived experience inspired her career in supporting unpaid carers. This allowed Penni to blend practical insights with coaching to empower others in their caring roles.
In 2024, Penni decided to formalise her coaching skills by achieving the IAFPD Certificate in Coaching from the Centre for Coaching. To complement her previous qualifications in career, youth, and group coaching, she also achieved an ILM-endorsed program in wellbeing.
Penni feels privileged to use her personal experience and skills to lead on this life changing coaching programme for unpaid carers.
I have worked for the NHS for over 24 years, specialising in ensuring the voices and experience of those that use NHS services, and their carers, are sought, heard and effectively influence change and improvement. I’m particularly passionate about ensuring the involvement of some of our most marginalised people and communities in local health services. I left the NHS in October 2024, taking up a role in Brighton and Sussex Medical School as a lecturer- educating the clinical leaders of the future!
I am a carer for my mum; whilst in my NHS role I was proud to champion the important role of carers across my work and the local health and care partners, and to see the great work of this amazing organisation. I am delighted to now become a Trustee, and look forward to using my knowledge, skills and experience to support the charity in the future.
In my spare time, I enjoy musical theatre, visiting museums and gardens, doing my own gardening and looking after my two granddaughters who keep me on my toes!
It’s a privilege to become a trustee of CSWS – a Charity doing such remarkable work on behalf of the thousands of unpaid carers of West Sussex.
My background is in the travel industry, where I led sales teams for various airlines and cruise lines, including Virgin Atlantic and P&O Cruises. For the last 20 years I have been a volunteer and then an employee at a homelessness charity in Sussex, specialising in drug and alcohol work as part of their outreach team. Since 2018 I have looked after fundraising, partnerships and income generation in order to keep the Charity thriving. Our success has been based on building and nurturing strong relationships across the community. I hope that some of this experience can be useful on the trustee board at CSWS.
I spend free time holidaying with my wife, playing football and tennis (badly), enjoying time with my 3 children and 3 little granddaughters, and watching the great Crystal Palace FC.
I became a Trustee of Carers Support West Sussex in 2021 as I wanted to support a charity benefitting my local community, whilst also supporting a cause very close to my heart.
I have experience being a carer to close family members affected by learning disabilities and dementia, and have many friends in unpaid caring roles. So I’m very aware of the important contribution unpaid carers make and the challenges they face. Carers Support West Sussex makes such a difference to help people in their caring roles, providing vital information and support.
I bring over 20 years’ senior leadership experience in the charity sector with significant experience of governance, compliance, HR, finance, safeguarding and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with family and friends, making the most of the nearby coast or walking in the South Downs.
I joined Carers Support in 2012 as an Information Worker on our Response Line. Since that time it has been a privilege to watch the organisation grow and change to best support the needs of Carers in the County. I am now Head of Information and Advice, leading our amazing Helpline, Carer Assessment and Welfare Benefits Advisor teams.
Initially training to be a primary school teacher and following a change of heart I started my career in retail. I moved into Health & Social Care in 2004 and have stayed there ever since. Prior to Carers Support I had management roles in a careers service, providing information and guidance to young people. I had a brief stint with the NHS, providing administrative services for the GP contracts team but then I saw the role advertised with Carers Support and have never looked back!
I feel very privileged to work with such dedicated and passionate staff and volunteers right across the organisation – carers always come first.
I’m a global digital transformation professional with over twenty years of experience across a wide array of industries and sectors. Informed by a multidisciplinary background that includes technical development, innovation, design disciplines, coaching, and strategy, my focus in recent years has been in leadership excellence, culture, Agile and change management. In other words, I’ve helped companies around the world adapt to the changing times that digital has brought along, and helped both staff and users thrive by designing meaningful experiences that make a difference.
As someone who comes from a family of carers and who is transitioning into more of such a role myself, I’m passionate about the work that Carers Support West Sussex is engaged in, and I will aim to apply my professional background to create meaningful experiences for the charity, our carers, and the supportive carer community.
Outside of work I enjoy travel, the cultural arts, indulging the foodie within, and lengthy chess tournaments with my husband.
I am a Chartered Member of the institute of Personnel and Development and have worked in Human Resources for over 30 years. I have experience working across Not for Profit and Healthcare sectors and have also spent time working as an independent Human Resources consultant. I’m passionate in the delivery of good business practices through a businesses’ most important asset – their people.
Having lived experience of caring for my mother-in-law I’m delighted to be able to support the work of the many unpaid carers and through the work of Carers Support hope that I can in small part make a massive difference in their lives.
I am delighted and honoured to join an amazing organisation doing such good work.
Outside of work I’m a keen motorcyclist and passionate fan of Arsenal FC. I also enjoy spending time with my family and friends and taking long walks over the Sussex Downs with my Wire-Haired Fox Terrier, Alfie.
I’m delighted to join Carers Support West Sussex as a trustee – alongside a talented and compassionate group of people – allowing me to support a local charity and one that works in an area close to my heart.
My day job for much of the past 30 years has involved marketing, comms and digital – specifically at a number of national charities since 2010. I enjoy understanding audiences and their needs and then giving them what they want, as well as getting to grips with new technology and learning how it might be best used to improve and develop the organisations I’m working for.
I live in Hove, and have two daughters in the latter stages of full-time education. I sing in a local indie choir, am a year-round sea swimmer and have a passion for learning languages – currently numbering nine, at various stages of fluency.
I always thought that when I retired from full time work, I’d have lots of time to enjoy myself, of course, but also take up some opportunities to contribute to the work of some of the fantastic organisations on my doorstep in Sussex. Life took a different turn when my husband John had a major stroke while we were on holiday in Wales, just a few months into my retirement. I’m now a registered carer, grateful for the support and resources available through Carers Support West Sussex, but also intent on continuing to contribute and enjoy life.
I’ve spent my life working in health and social care services with a strong emphasis on volunteering as a way to get things done and make sometimes radical changes to improve services. I’ve enjoyed director roles in UK wide charitable organisations with hundreds of staff and thousands of volunteers and latterly was a hospice chief executive. Supporting families and carers through illness, death and into a different future is a particular focus for me.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to join the talented and experienced board of trustees, staff and volunteers of Carers Support West Sussex and look forward to being able to learn from them as well as share some ideas of my own.
I am a resident of West Sussex and live with my elderly parents. As a carer, I wanted to support Carers Support West Sussex as a Trustee since I appreciate the joys and challenges that caring can bring and how the right support can make all the difference.
I am a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). In my professional life I have focused mostly on internal audit, risk management, governance and controls, largely in the Financial Services sector both in the UK and overseas. I have also worked for a charity supporting the homeless in East London. I am currently a Trustee and Treasurer for CancerWise, a local charity based in Chichester which supports adults and children living with cancer by providing counselling, support group, social and complementary therapy services. It is very rewarding to see the difference this can make for people on an often difficult journey.
I have also spent many years volunteering with a charity to take children and adults living with disabilities on holiday to France, providing one-on-one care for them and giving families some respite back at home. This gave me a real appreciation for carers and it has been a truly formative and life-enhancing experience for me.
I love living in West Sussex and enjoying everything the county has to offer. I am really delighted to have the opportunity to join Carers Support West Sussex, and I am looking forward to contributing to their valuable work in any way that I can.
I am an experienced IT professional with over three decades of diverse experience in both enterprise and SME organisations within Finance, Technology and Professional Service sectors. I am used to working with complex systems to deliver business objectives, ensuring business outcomes, and driving innovation and efficiencies. As a business strategist, I am excited about what we can achieve in Carers Support West Sussex and the difference we can make to the lives of unpaid carers.
My goal is to make sure that we do that safely and effectively for everyone. Three out of five us will at some time be an unpaid carer and my role as a Trustee is to support the Charity to make a difference to those people.
I am excited to have joined a dedicated and compassionate team.
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I enjoy cycling and skiing when I can, am a keen sports fan and enjoy following cricket, football, rugby and motor sports.
I am a member of the Board of Trustees which is responsible for ensuring that the charity operates properly and effectively. I take a lead on financial aspects of the charity on behalf of the other board of trustees.
The role and positive impact of unpaid carers is huge but largely hidden from view. I believe CSWS has a critical role in supporting carers; giving them a strong voice and influencing how services for carers are designed and run. Like many families, mine has carers looking after elderly relatives with dementia, long-term conditions and life-limiting illnesses. I have worked for the NHS for over 30 years and held several senior finance posts across London, Kent and Sussex.
I enjoy watching sport, paddle boarding, gardening and reading golden-age crime novels.
I was delighted to join the team at CSWS in 2018, having known the Charity for a number of years, and admired and respected the work which they do. I became Vice-Chairman in 2021.
My husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at around the time that I joined, and I have since become a registered carer for him.
My family business is in Funeral directing, another caring profession and I hold a non-executive role. My career has been spent in local politics and public service. I held a variety of roles across all tiers of local government with a primary interest in health and social care, in which I hold a professional qualification. I also served as Chairman of an NHS Trust and worked with a range of charities and voluntary organisations.
I trained and worked as a nurse in Brighton and after time off to bring up my family, I returned to work in a charity as a volunteer and then managed carer support teams across multiple counties and boroughs before working here at Carers Support.
Knowing our work makes a real difference to friend and family carers across the county is particularly important to me.
My children, grandson and husband, my three dogs, and cat are important parts of my life. I enjoy music and theatre. I love travelling and visiting cities, especially in Italy.
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