Her career began when, at the age of 14, for work experience she was placed at the local institution for people who have a learning disability and autistic people. She enjoyed it so much that she just carried on, first as a volunteer then as a care assistant. Eventually she chose occupational therapy, qualifying in 1994 with a BSc (Hons).
Throughout her career, Karen has worked in a mixture of NHS community, hospital and forensic settings. She sat on the governing body of her NHS trust and established meaningful inclusion of people with learning disabilities and autistic people. She holds a PG Cert (with distinction) in sensory integration and has an interest in the role of sensory integration differences in the formulations of individuals who have offended or who are cared for in restrictive environments. Karen is an e-facilitator for the Sensory Integration Education’s Association of Sensory Integration Practice.
Karen has her own independent practice offering clinical work, supervision, mentoring and training. She believes there is a real need to provide high quality assessment of individual sensory needs which is informed by the underlying neuroscience. She believes this is the way forward in supporting the person to participate and achieve the best possible outcomes in relation to quality of life, as they perceive it.
Karen continues to support Care Quality Commission inspections as a specialist advisor and works as a clinical expert and chair for Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (C(E)TRs). She actively networks in these roles and, as an associate of the NDTi, she has been involved in clinical expert recruitment and has co-produced and delivered training for C(E)TR chairs, clinical experts and experts by experience, and various professional groups.
As an occupational therapist, Karen sees leisure time as important and through this tries to establish her own ‘sensory diet’! This comprises of regular exercise, including walking her two dogs and dancing.
