About me – Lucy Wells, Consultant Occupational Therapist

I have worked as an Occupational Therapist in the NHS for nearly two decades; initially in adult mental health services, and then in specialist services for people with Autism, ADHD, and Dyspraxia / Developmental Coordination Disorder. I also have extensive experience of working with people who have experienced trauma, and people with gender identity issues.

I am an experienced trainer and have presented talks and workshops to a wide range of client groups, the public, and other professionals.

I now work as an independent Occupational Therapist providing assessments and support for people with Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, ADHD, Dyspraxia, Developmental Coordination Disorder, Sensory Processing Difficulties and Mental Health difficulties.

Current roles include:

Neurodiversity Consultant OT for St David’s Catholic Sixth Form College, Cardiff
Coordinator of ‘Roots to Health’ social prescribing community gardening group at Global Gardens, Cardiff
Partner in ‘Lunah Training‘ providing support and training for Therapists and Practitioners working with Neurodivergent Clients
Visiting Lecturer in Occupational Therapy at Cardiff University

Qualifications

Training

My work is firmly founded in the principals of Occupational Therapy and underpinned by the Model of Human Occupation (Gary Kielhofner). Over the years I have accessed a wide range of training which informs my work including:

Sensory Integration Therapy
Motivational Interviewing
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
The Maastricht approach to hearing voices
Mindfulness
Compassion Focussed Therapy

In addition to keeping up to date with NHS mandatory training, I have completed the following:

Therapeutic Listening: Listening with the whole body. 2-day online training presented by Brainsense Therapy.

Disclosure of non-recent sexual abuse: routine enquiry, ethics and the BPS guidance document. DCP conference Wales.

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Intervention strategies for sensory, motor and sensory-based behavioural components across the lifespan. AND Is it sensory or is it behaviour? Changing behaviours to improve functional performance and participation. UK Sensory Integration Education.

Administration & coding of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule 2^nd Edition (ADOS-2) to the level of clinical reliability. AND Administration and coding of the Autism Diagnostic Interview – revised (ADI-R) to the level of clinical reliability. Beginning with A Autism Consultancy & Training.

College of Occupational Therapists Accreditation of Practice Placement Educators’ Scheme (APPLE) Completed through Sheffield Hallam University. (Valid until October 2021)

As part of my MSc in Clinical Research I completed the following:

20-day research placement within ScHARR Mental Health Research Team (University of Sheffield) observing and assisting with research projects to complete competencies in research design, sampling, data collection, data analysis, dissemination, and inclusive research.

Good Clinical Practice training day, National Institute of Health Research Clinical Research Network.

5-day placement at the Clinical Research Facility, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Royal Hallamshire Hospital to observe a range of research processes and complete competencies in research governance.

EPIGEUM online Good Clinical Practice Training, 10 hours.

Experience

Publications and Presentations

Helper in the international normative data collection for The Evaluation in Ayres’ Sensory Integration (EASI) I helped OT colleagues to administer and analyse elements of the EASI assessment. This was coordinated by Sue Delport, University of Cardiff.

Workshop lead: ‘Skills for Life & Getting Things Done.’ Co-presented with Dr Simon Braybrook (a GP with Autism) at the first National Autism Wales Conference “Promoting Autistic Wellbeing” in Swansea. Full presentation available at: https://autismwales.org/en/about-us/national-autism-wales-conference-2019/

Training presented on ‘Using Sensory Approaches as an alternative to seclusion.’ I was employed by the team manager of Sheffield’s Psychiatric Intensive Treatment Unit to provide a 2-day training course for her staff team. The aim of the training was to help the team use their new PICU environment more effectively, understand the sensory needs of their service-users (and themselves), and consequently reduce the amount of seclusion used to manage difficult behaviour on the unit.

Training presented on: ‘Working with people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder’ I wrote and presented this training annually for Sheffield Health & Social Care Foundation NHS Trust, whenever possible I co-presented with a service-user.

Poster presentation: ‘Moving Forward Together – Improving emotional well-being for young adults. Developing a city-wide Transitions Group for young adults with mental health difficulties in Sheffield.’ at the Health Services Research Network Symposium.

Wells, L. & Walker, S. ‘Tackling difficult transitions’, Occupational Therapy News, May 2014, pp.32-33.

Conference chair, budget holder, and joint organiser of: ‘Transitions Moving Forward Together. Improving emotional well-being for young adults in Sheffield’. OT colleagues and I won a bid for funding from Sheffield Health & Social Care Foundation NHS Trust to hold this event. More than 150 people attended, including health professionals, stakeholders, service-users, and others involved in supporting young adults in Sheffield with mental health problems.

Presentation to SUN:RISE (Service User Network: Relevant Inclusive Supportive Exciting) I gave a presentation to Sheffield service-users about my MSc Dissertation research: ‘How do adults with a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, under the care of Sheffield Community Mental Health teams, perceive their condition to impact on their education and employment?’

Training presented on: ‘How to work with adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)’ to South Yorkshire Probation service .

Poster presentation at the UK Adult ADHD Network’s International Congress on “ADHD – A Lifespan Condition” held at Savoy Place in London. My poster highlighted the role of OT for adults with ADHD and the journey of service development in Sheffield, it also outlined my research within local adult community mental health teams. My poster led to psychiatrists, psychologists and OTs from Glasgow, Leeds, Northampton and elsewhere contacting me about how to implement OT interventions for ADHD in their local services.

Presentation to SUN:RISE (Service User Network: Relevant Inclusive Supportive Exciting). I gave a presentation on how OTs in Sheffield may be able to give support to adults suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders. The purpose of this was to consult with service users’ in response to the Autism (Quality Standards) Bill (2010-2012) and the increase in referrals received by community mental health OTs locally for this group of service users.

Professional Registration