The SEND Mum Club

Kourtney Wakefield joins me in the episode to talk about her 1 year old son Saint who has brain damage leading to diagnoses of cystic PVL, cerebral palsy and infantile spasms. Kourtney discusses their 6 week stay in the NICU, feeling let down by professionals, how her mental health is so early in her journey and how her friendships changed after Saint was born. 
Kourtney has created a community for SEND mums to come together for support called Bloom Collective Sussex and you can find it on Instagram and TikTok @bloomcollectivesussex
 Tags: SEN parent, additional needs, SEND parenting, IVF

Alex Price joins me on this episode to talk about what happened when her daughter Ayda drowned after eloping. Thankfully Ayda (who was 3 at the time) survived after being resuscitated and put into a coma but understandably Alex has been left with PTSD after the accident. She talks me through what happened that day and the lack of awareness around autistic elopement and what she’s doing to try and change that.
 As well as Ayda’s accident we talk about how all 3 of Alex’s children are neurodivergent and how that presents in very different ways. She also tells me about the impact medication has had on her 2 older children and their positive school experience - after a fight to get there.
 Alex is sharing her story and raising awareness on social media, search for Amazing Ayda on Instagram, TikTok & Facebook
 TW: You may find parts of the story of Ayda’s accident hard to hear to so please take care when listening
 Tags: autism, ADHD, additional needs, SEN parent, SEND parenting

Ciara Burnside joins me in this episode to talk about her 6 month old son Ralph who has Epidermolysis Bullosa, otherwise known as EB or Butterfly Skin. She explains what that is, what it means, and how her health anxiety added an extra layer of difficulty onto dealing with Ralph’s diagnosis. Ciara talks about the struggle to trust anyone enough to look after Ralph due to how fragile his skin is, and how the condition is so rare even medical professionals have struggled to handle in in the right way. 
 Ciara is on a mission to raise awareness of EB and is also campaigning for more research into the condition. You can sign the petitions she talks about in the episode here:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/775393#main-content (UK only)
https://www.change.org/p/fund-a-future-for-people-living-with-epidermolysis-bullosa-eb (worldwide)
You can find Ciara on socials here:
Instagram - @ciaraburnsidex
TikTok - @ciaraburnside
 The charity Ciara mentions is here:
https://www.debra.org.uk/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22557552939&gbraid=0AAAAADil0qsdhFLsFLoFVsqQFpd0rMi9h&gclid=CjwKCAjwifjVBhBKEiwAYx4K9BB3z8MnwM5nVtoPMNEEG9nw3Npj2622cAtkmXlDyucCqnfOeRGOFBoCMagQAvD_BwE

Kelsey Reid is my first guest back after the summer and it’s perfect timing because she’s on to talk about her decision to home educate her daughters Maizie & Maddie. We discuss what that actually looks like and the difficult road that led to that decision. We also talk about how differently the girls’ autism presents and I find out Kelsey’s thoughts on *that Telegraph article.

It’s the September reset and I’m back with a little post summer update and asking what you want to hear on the podcast moving forward. Get in touch via Instagram @thesendmumclub