Suite A, Bridgefoot Studios   Kelvedon | CO5 9BE

The Acorn Specialists

DIAGNOSIS | INDEPENDENCE | WELL-BEING


At Acorn Autism Specialists, we have a well-established team of specialist professionals who have worked together in the field of autism, including diagnosis, for many years. Our clinicians are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, and their relevant professional body, which means those coming for assessment can be confident about the standard of care provided.


The Acorn Team

  • Dr. Carolyn Gracey
  • Mrs. Christina Ansell

    • The Acorn Team

  • Dr. Louise Godwin
  • Carolyn Gracey
  • Mrs. Christina Ansell

    • DR. SARAH CLAYTON

    BSc. MSc. DClinPsych. DipCAT. CPsychol.

    Chartered Clinical Psychologist
    HCPC Registration Number: PYL26149

    Sarah became passionate about autism during her Psychology Masters degree over 15 years ago, where she worked as a support worker with autistic adults. Before starting her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Sarah worked as an Assistant Psychologist in a local charity supporting adults and children post diagnosis. During this time, she worked in schools, residential homes and day centres for autistic children and adults. Following qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist in 2010, Sarah worked within adult mental health services and qualified as a Cognitive Analytic Therapy Practitioner. In her work, Sarah became increasingly aware of how lack of appropriate support can lead to significant mental health difficulties for autistic individuals and/or misdiagnosis. As such, Sarah completed autism diagnostic training and was responsible for setting up and running an autism assessment service within her local area in the NHS for adults with severe and enduring mental health problems and a queried autism diagnosis. It was through this experience that she became aware of the gaps in the local area for autism diagnosis and became passionate to change this. In 2014, Sarah left the NHS to join a multidisciplinary team in a local charity working with autistic adults and children. In this role, Sarah continued her passion to fill the gaps of autism diagnosis in services, setting up and becoming the Clinical Lead of their Autism Diagnostic Service.
     
    During her career, Sarah has also become a mother to three children, one of whom has additional needs. This experience has made her even more aware of the gaps in services, the fight to get appropriate support and the accompanying frustration. Sarah’s extensive experience professionally and personally has resulted in her specialising in autism assessment for Acorn Autism Specialists. She enjoys the complexity of autism and specialises in understanding comorbidity, differential diagnosis and camouflaging (masking), particularly with females.
     
    Sarah enjoys travelling, camping and being with her children in her spare time, spending most of her time taxi-ing her children between clubs and classes or talking about her specialist interest of autism with anyone who dares to ask.

    MRS. KATHERINE (KATE) WRIGHT

    BA Hons. MSc. MRCSLT.

    Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

    HCPC Registration Number: SL30142

    Kate began her career in education, working with pre-linguistic children with complex needs and autism. Being able to communicate basic needs was fundamental to both the children and their parents, and having the skills to assess and teach those skills was important to Kate, so she retrained, becoming a Speech and Language Therapist. 

     

    Since those early years, Kate has completed much post graduate training becoming an Elklan tutor, and Intensive Interaction practitioner. She is also trained to deliver Picture Exchange Communication (PECs), SCERTS, Comic Strip/Social Stories, Therapeutic Storytelling, high tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display books and Colourful Semantics. An array of interventions which have facilitated communication and a quality of life for those she has worked with. Kate has worked in mainstream schools, Special Educational schools, Adult services and within the charitable sector, leading a multi-disciplinary team consisting of Clinical Psychology, Occupational Therapy, and Speech and Language Therapy. She remains committed to an integrated multi-professional approach to meet the best outcomes for autistic individuals with complex needs. Kate has additionally lectured for the University of Essex, at Colchester Sixth Form College, and at Autism Conferences. 

     

    In her spare time, Kate enjoys being with her three adult children, her two small dogs, and spending time in France, walking, kayaking, and cycling.

    DR. LAURA EMRICH

    BSc. MSc. DClinPsych. CPsychol.

    Chartered Clinical Psychologist

    HCPC registration number: PYL36456

    Laura first became interested in autism when working as an Assistant Psychologist within residential homes and supported living premises for autistic individuals. Prior to starting her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Laura worked within community children’s mental health services where she provided therapeutic interventions for children and adolescents on the spectrum, as well as working with those preparing for and going through the diagnostic process. During her Doctorate and post qualifying Laura has worked within various mental health settings including inpatient, residential and community services, as well as in the education sector supporting both autistic adults and children with co-morbid mental health difficulties. Laura has had the privilege of witnessing how an individual’s quality of life, mental well-being and sense of self can significantly improve if their environment is adapted to accommodate for their specific needs and when the focus is placed on their strengths. Laura’s experience of leading a multi-disciplinary team on an inpatient unit has enhanced her passion for team working in order to provide the highest quality of care for individuals on the spectrum, ensuring emotional, occupational and sensory needs are accounted for. Since qualifying Laura has gone on to specialise in diagnosing autism with the hope that increasing gold standard diagnostic provisions will lead to increased understanding and acceptance of autism and improve outcomes for those on the spectrum in order for individuals to thrive.

    In her spare time Laura enjoys spending time outdoors with her young son, travelling and enjoying good food.


    Laura is Chartered by the British Psychological Society and abides by their code of ethics. She is monitored and regulated by the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) and undertakes regular supervision.


    MRS. NAOMI DAVIS

    BSc Hons. MSc. MRCSLT.

    Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

    HCPC registration number: SL37165

    Naomi has worked with autistic individuals with complex needs for over 10 years across a variety of settings including nurseries, mainstream and SEN schools, inpatient settings, and directly with individuals and families at home.

     

    During her career, Naomi has seen just how important it is for professionals, parents, carers and management to have a good understanding of neurodiversity, and appropriate interventions and support, in order to achieve the best outcomes. This has led Naomi to specialise in autism diagnosis and autism specific interventions. Naomi has prioritised raising awareness and understanding of autism and additional needs with professionals working in education, healthcare and employment settings with the viewpoint that society needs to work to become more inclusive.

     

    She has training and experience in using many interventions including Attention Autism, Intensive Interaction, Comic Strip/Social Stories, high tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication including voice banking, Colourful Semantics, Makaton and British Sign Language.

     

    Outside of work, Naomi enjoys travelling to new places and then cooking meals inspired by her travels. She spends evenings and weekends going for walks along the seafront, with her young son and miniature schnauzer, and meeting up with friends.


    MRS. CASSANDRA (CASSIE) PIERSON

    BA (Hons) MSc Cert MRCSLT MASLTIP

    Specialist Speech & Language Therapist

    HCPC Registration Number: 31062

    Cassie’s first degree was in French with Linguistics where she explored her love of the French culture and learned about the mathematical make-up of language. Eventually she moved to France for a year where she worked with students who found it difficult to speak French. It was there where she discovered the role of the speech & language therapist and her new career. 
    
    Over the past 12 years, Cassie has supported many families of all age ranges to communicate. At the end of her training, Cassie worked with adults with acquired speech and language conditions, those with swallowing difficulties and brain injury. She supported families following strokes and life changing diagnoses. Cassie then used this skill set to support children and families with complex speech & language difficulties, often following a brain or birth injury. This expanded to children with pre-diagnosed and diagnosed autism where communication is the main focus of therapy. 

    Cassie’s interest in communication has been shaped by the people she is surrounded by and the families that she has worked with over the years.  As well as understanding from a professional point of view, Cassie also has a neurodiverse family and Autism is something that is very close to her heart. She personally understands the strengths and challenges faced by families and for this reason, she loves working with her clients and helping them to make positive changes in their own homes. Cassie facilitates parent-child interaction with very young children and helps them to communicate with their families and the significant people in their lives. Cassie has been trained to use a range of different interventions such as Picture Exchange Communication (PECS), social stories, Colourful Semantics, Shape Coding and British Sign Language (level 1). Cassie is a visiting lecturer at the University of Essex and has a keen interest in supporting the development of future Speech & Language Therapist colleagues as part of their training programmes. 

    Family and harmonious balance is often a key focus in therapy and something that extends into Cassie’s life too. You will often find her with her husband and young children going for long walks, cycling or having a picnic in nature’s beauty. 

    DR. LOUISE GODWIN

    PGDipCBT. BSc. BA. MA. DClinPsych.
    Clinical Psychologist

    Louise’s interest in autism (and learning disabilities) began with growing up with an autistic family member who also had a learning disability. This experience enabled her to understand the family perspective and the sometimes difficult day to day decisions being made, as well as the frustrating fight for the right help.

     

    After qualifying as a mental health nurse in 1997 Louise worked on an assessment and treatment inpatient unit with children under 12 for several years, many of those being assessed were autistic. Following this Louise went onto work as specialist nurse in a Child and Adolescent mental health service where she worked with a wide range of children and adolescents (and their families) including many who were autistic.

     

    Following qualification as a clinical psychologist in 2007 Louise began working with adults with a learning disability and autism as part of an NHS community learning disabilities team. During her clinical psychology career Louise has also worked in a specialist autism and learning disability child and adolescent service, inpatient adult learning disability and autism services and an adult autism assessment service. Prior to this appointment Louise worked in an NHS community team for people with a learning disability and often autism.

     

    Louise enjoys gardening and walking as well as looking after her aging indoor rabbit Missy who enjoys destroying the furniture!

    DR. CAROLYN GRACEY

    BSc. MSc. DClinPsy
    Clinical Psychologist

    Carolyn began working with autistic children and their families in different settings in Canada during her undergraduate studies. Her interest in Autism and the autistic community continued to grow and has remained ever since. Her work and research over the years have focused on understanding the perspective and experiences of autistic people with the hope of connecting to individual strengths as well as making any challenges easier to understand or manage.

     

    Since qualifying in 2011, Carolyn has been working in the NHS in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), primarily with autistic children and young people with learning disability, alongside their parents or carers and others involved in their support. She has also worked in private practice specialising in neurodiversity, with people across the age range.

     

    Carolyn has a passion for embracing the strengths that neurodivergence can bring and Autism as a context for helping people understand themselves in a helpful or compassionate way, amongst other strengths and differences. She always hopes to build positive and trusting relationships in her work and spend time to understand what is important to those she works with as well as how to move closer towards the things they value and want from life.

     

    Carolyn enjoys sewing, cooking (mostly the eating part) and giving animals a home who haven’t had a consistent one before.


    DR. AMY CHURM

    BSc (hons). PGCertCBT. PGDipCBT. DClinPsych. CPsychol.

    Chartered Clinical Psychologist and BABCP accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist
    HCPC Registration number: PYL043525

    Amy first started working with autistic people as a special educational needs teaching assistant where she developed and facilitated an emotional intelligence group for autistic young people. Through this experience she noted the extensive use of medication and lack of therapy options for many autistic students as well as students with learning disabilities. Amy therefore trained as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist specialising in adapting CBT for neurodiverse adults experiencing common mental health problems. After six years of working as a CBT therapist in the NHS, Amy completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. During and post qualifying Amy has worked within various mental health settings, including an NHS autism assessment service and both adult and children’s learning disability mental health services. Amy also has experience teaching and training other psychological and medical professionals to adapt their therapeutic practice to better support neurodiverse people. Overall, Amy is passionate about supporting neurodiverse individuals to navigate in a world that is often not orientated toward their talents and abilities.

    Outside of work Amy enjoys baking sourdough bread, travelling, yoga and learning new things she is currently trying to learn Spanish.

    MS. HANNAH REUBIN

    BSc. Hons, MRSCLT
    Specialist Speech and Language Therapist 
    HCPC Registration number: SL039820

    Hannah worked with Hearing Impaired and Autistic children and young adults for many years in both secondary and further education before re-training as a Speech and Language Therapist.

    After graduating with first class honours, Hannah worked in a small private practice delivering therapy to a wide range of clients for speech sound disorders, autism, learning difficulties and developmental language disorder. During this time, she worked closely with parents, education staff and other professionals to ensure the best outcomes for her clients. Hannah developed a particular interest in Autism and enjoyed delivering child-led therapy in a neuroaffirming way, working with the strengths of the child.


    Hannah has since developed her skills in the assessment and diagnosis of Autism and enjoys working as part of a multi-disciplinary team with the child at the centre of the diagnostic process.

    In her spare time, Hannah has a young daughter to keep her busy, loves spending time with her family, reading romance novels and going rock climbing!

    MRS. CHRISTINA ANSELL

    Clinical Administrator

    Christina has held various Administration roles throughout her career working across different industries. This has allowed her to gain a wealth of experience that she now brings to Acorn Autism.


    Her organised, methodical and friendly approach ensures the process of booking an assessment with Acorn Autism is a personal and calm experience from the start.

    In her spare time, Christina likes to read, go for long walks and spend time with her husband and two young daughters    .


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