Donna has been an Occupational Therapist for 26 years and now owns a small private practice in Cambridgeshire where she provides Occupational Therapy to children, adolescents and adults with neurodevelopmental and / or mental health challenges. Donna was first introduced to Sensory Integration in 2001 and was part of a team that developed a service for school aged children.
In 2003 she began a role in a neurodevelopmental team within a CAMHS service and introduced the concept of using a sensory integration approach within this area. In 2008 she contributed to a chapter in the Occupational Therapy and Mental Health textbook by Creek, and was instrumental in the organisation of the 3rd National Conference for Occupational Therapists in Child and Adolescent Mental Health promoting a focus on Sensory Integration in this area. It was at this conference that Donna presented to peers on the use of sensory circuits in schools to regulate levels of alertness, and where she first met Kath Smith.
Donna is passionate about ASI and how it can enable individuals to participate more successfully in daily activities. She has provided Occupational Therapy provision, training, mentoring and support to many specialist school provisions to enable them to best support their students.
In 2018 Donna started to help on the assessment modules with ASI WISE supporting other therapists during their learning. She is currently deputy lead for the East of England Region of the EASI normative data, reliability, and validity studies, and has recently supported ASI WISE in the delivery of the new assessment to therapists. She has helped to develop and support the ASI WISE community of practice and leads the social media team.Donna is currently completing her MSc in Advancing Practice at Ulster University