In the clinical area of perinatal mental health, I have found my true passion. My role as a specialist occupational therapist in this team allows me to utilise my strongest skills in assessment and individual interventions with a focus on human connection. I am firmly trauma-focused and neurodiversity affirming. I believe the transition to motherhood is a time of intense occupational change and therefore a time when skilled occupational therapy interventions can be invaluable. Supporting new parents can have long-lasting benefits for parents, children and the family unit, so I’m honoured to be in a position to help new and growing families. I’ve trained with the School of Babywearing to be able to support parents to carry their babies safely, and am delighted to be currently working towards qualification as a lactation consultant. Future work I hope will focus on the impact of previous trauma on the breastfeeding dyad. I worked for a brief period as a lecturer in occupational therapy at Sheffield Hallam University, but chose to return to full time clinical work as the competing demands of two busy work roles with mothering young children proved to be extremely challenging and left me with little occupational balance. I am very happy to still do some work with SHU as a Visiting Lecturer and really enjoy this work. Academia/ research will always have a strong pull for me; I hope to maintain this interest throughout my career. Previous NHS experience has been in the areas of vascular surgery, chronic fatigue, community mental health and (those given the diagnostic label of) personality disorder. Prior to my OT training I worked at the University of Hull, managing a large team of support workers to work with disabled students. During this time I developed a special interest in autism and completed a postgraduate diploma examining, amongst other issues, the accessibility of higher education for autistic individuals. This is another area of interest which I hope to develop, particularly the experiences of adult neurodivergent women. I have experience of working with people with undiagnosed or misdiagnosed autism/ neurodiverse presentations and am acutely aware that mental health services are often traumatising for these people. I think I can contribute to change in this area. I have a strong interest in individual rights and the concept of recovery through creative discovery. I passionately believe in the effectiveness of occupational therapy and hope to contribute to the evidence base for occupational interventions through further research.