Navigate Neurodiversity Occupational Therapy | Chesterfield, UK
Inclusive Culture Initiative

My name is Alex. I am a 27-year-old queer, multiply neurodivergent, chronically ill Occupational Therapist who uses walking aids and a wheelchair. As an HCPC-registered professional, I founded Navigate Neurodiversity OT to address a gap I experienced firsthand: neurodivergent adults, especially those who are late-identified, LGBTQIA+, women, and gender minorities, are often overlooked by healthcare and workplace support systems not designed for their needs.
During my Master's degree in Occupational Therapy, I received my autism diagnosis. Rather than feeling supported, I encountered discouraging feedback while on placement, including the suggestion that autistic people might struggle to be effective occupational therapists due to challenges in connecting with clients and executive function. This was deeply difficult to process, as I wanted to get into the profession because it seemed so inclusive. A combination of this comment, my increasing chronic pain and chronic illness, and deteriorating mental well-being meant I came close to not finishing at all. Overcoming these barriers required drawing on a range of strategies, including seeking out peer support from other neurodivergent students and professionals and connecting to online communities. Maintaining my commitment to becoming the practitioner I needed as a client helped me to stay resilient. Despite these obstacles, I was determined to complete the degree, and I graduated with merit.
I share this because it is the origin of everything that followed. If I had of let those attitudes succeed, there would be no Navigate Neurodiversity OT, and in the last 3 years, more than 100 neurodivergent adults would not have received the support they needed. The culture I was told I didn't belong in is exactly the culture I set out to change.
Navigate Neurodiversity OT is the UK's first occupational therapy service designed, led, and delivered entirely by a queer, multiply neurodivergent practitioner with lived experience of neurodivergence, chronic illness, trauma, mobility aid use, and the UK mental health system, as well as a background in anthropology. This foundation informs every aspect of my work. I believe an inclusive culture must be embedded in practice and co-produced, not added as an afterthought.
At the heart of the service is the Navigate Neurodiversity OT Framework™, a unique, evidence-informed approach that weaves together neuroaffirming, trauma-informed, and intersectional practice. To ensure the support truly meets the needs of neurodivergent adults. By rejecting deficit and medical models entirely, the framework empowers clients to design approaches that genuinely work for their brains and lives.
This initiative was developed in response to gaps in the support neurodivergent adults receive within healthcare. As an occupational therapist and disabled person, I have seen how many services rely on deficit-based models that can marginalise us as neurodivergent people and overlook our strengths, preferences, and experiences. Therefore, I implemented a neurodiversity-affirming approach that centres accessibility, autonomy, and co-production. A key component of the initiative is embedding my lived experience into practice and ensuring clients actively shape their own goals and support strategies.
The initiative spans multiple pillars of inclusion:
• 1:1 Occupational Therapy personalised, remote sessions where clients are actively encouraged to take breaks, stim, and put their wellbeing first and show up however they need to. I support clients in managing energy levels, addressing sensory needs, understanding their cognitive processes, recovering from burnout, advocating for themselves in various settings, and more. Each session is grounded in respect, kindness, and practicality, prioritising not just survival but the pursuit of a fulfilling and sustainable life. Sessions are holistic, so they also focus on a wide range of co-occurring aspects of health, including ME/CFS, hypermobility, MCAS, POTS, chronic pain, and more.
• Workplace Inclusion Consulting: I support employers to implement neurodivergent-affirming workplace adjustments, and provide detailed workplace adjustment reports and health passports that advocate directly for employees. This directly drives inclusive culture change within organisations.
• Research accessibility consulting: I support researchers to ensure their research premise and materials are neurodivergent-affirming and accessible. I provide detailed feedback on all the materials provided and explain ways to ensure they get the best possible results from their research and ensure that the participants have a positive experience.
• Access to Work Coaching: I offer OT based coaching that removes financial barriers, enabling neurodivergent employees to access the workplace support they are entitled to and receive support that helps them stay in work.
• The Bubble Social Group is a relaxed in-person social group for ND adults