Our member Lisa Cromar overcame her nerves to take part in a radio interview about making counselling more accessible for autistic people.
Lisa appeared on Anna Kennedy’s All Things Autism programme on the Women’s Radio Show to talk about her personal experiences as an Asperger’s woman who was diagnosed later in life.
She talked about being a mum to two sons who are Asperger’s and autistic, about how counsellors can help autistic clients and about her own experiences of counselling.
Nervous
And Lisa admitted it was a daunting prospect, not least navigating the journey from her home in Cheshire to the radio studios in London’s Covent Garden.
“I have dyscalculia and my husband had to print out the directions for me,” Lisa said. “I had to catch a mainline train and make two tube stops, for me that was quite complicated.
“I was nervous. I was anxious about it until I heard the playback and then reflected that was not as bad as I had thought.
“I wanted to get the balance right between making sure I sounded like I knew what I was talking about and explaining how counselling relates to autism to the listeners.
“I didn’t want to say too much about my family and couldn’t talk about clients, so it was trying to get the messages across in a way that would not break confidences.”
Anna Kennedy OBE is a UK autism ambassador and founder of the autism charity Anna Kennedy Online. She invited Lisa on to the programme after they met at an event in London hosted by the Creative Counsellors Club.
Honour
“It was an honour to have been in Anna’s company for the day and to appear on her radio show,” Lisa said. “She is one of my autism heroes and I hugely admire her work and her dedication to raising autism awareness and the positive light she brings to us autistic people.”
Lisa is one of several our members who have been interviewed by the media in recent weeks. Armele Philpotts was interviewed on Love Sport Radio about sibling rivalry following the resignation of Jo Johnson from his brother Boris’s government.
Lesly Ludlow, Chair of our Private Practice Division, and Cheshire-based member Louise Tyler spoke to the Huff Post about looking after your mental health during political turmoil and Jo Holmes, our Children, Young People and Families Lead, also spoke to the Huff Post, this time about shifting attitudes to therapy in the UK.
Our member Hilda Burke was in the Huff Post talking about eco-anxiety and Elle online on the subject of Brexit.
And our member Sally Brown talked to Yahoo Finance about anxiety before work while Natasha Page appeared on BBC Radio Essex to talk about bereavement and counselling.