The Team
Who We Are
Johanna Graham
Founding Director (Volunteer)
Johanna Graham (AuDHD) is a creative, entrepreneur, and mother with a fierce dedication to empowering neurodivergent children and families. As both a neurodivergent individual and the parent of a neurodivergent child, she understands deeply the challenges of navigating systems that weren’t built for every kind of brilliance.
With a strong background in creative arts and holistic wellbeing, Johanna brings a unique blend of compassion, clarity, and action to every project she touches. She has founded, funded, and successfully run multiple wellbeing-focused ventures. A trained singer, yoga teacher, and sound therapist, she integrates creativity and embodiment into everything she offers. Johanna’s exceptional organisational skills, visionary drive, and love for community into creating a nurturing sanctuary where neurodivergent children are not only supported but celebrated. Her gift lies in bringing people together, turning ideas into impact, and building spaces where everyone feels seen and valued.
Lucy Holden
Chief Operating Officer
Lucy leads the day-to-day running of NILU, alongside communications and marketing, helping to shape how the organisation grows and connects with its community.
Alongside her role at NILU, she works as a Community Events Manager within the charity sector, bringing experience in creating spaces where people feel supported, connected and able to thrive, as well as supporting fundraising and long-term sustainability.
Lucy is a parent to two young children and has ADHD, which informs how she approaches her work. She is passionate about neurodivergent inclusion and creating spaces where both children and parents can arrive as they are, without pressure or expectation.
At the heart of her work is a deep care for community - bringing people together in ways that feel meaningful, supportive and real.
Jo Liveston
Safeguard Lead and ND Coach
Jo has been a qualified social worker for 30 years, she now works independently. Jo is experienced in both children's services (including safeguarding and education) and adults.
Jo is trained in safeguarding both children and adults to level 5. She is also a qualified coach and a certified trainer. Jo has personal and family experience with neurodivergence, and is passionate about empowering others.
Jo is the safeguarding lead for NILU and will ensure there are suitable policies and procedures in place. She will also provide consultancy for any issues that arise.
Kate Spenceley
Director & Extra Needs lead
Kate is founder of Citizen Checkers CIC, a values-led organisation dedicated to creating more equitable systems for neurodivergent people. With a strong background in community engagement and advocacy, Kate brings a deep understanding of the barriers individuals face in education and wider society, along with a commitment to reimagining what inclusive learning can look like.
In her leadership, Kate combines strategic thinking with a hands-on, collaborative approach. She is dedicated to building learning environments that centre neurodivergent voices, challenge exclusionary practices, and foster genuine belonging. Her approach is relational, reflective, and rooted in lived experience. She is passionate about creating affirming spaces where neurodivergent children and their parents feel seen, supported, and empowered. As a teacher of philosophy, creative writing, and drama, Kate will bring creativity, critical thinking, and emotional literacy into the heart of the curriculum.
Clare Savage
Director & Self Care-Parent Support
Clare Savage is a proud wife and mother to two amazing neurodiverse teenagers, and considers it the deepest honour to walk this path alongside them. Her family’s journey has included mainstream education, specialist provision, EOTAS, and now home education, where her daughter has successfully completed her GCSEs. This lived experience has given Clare a deep understanding of both the struggles and the joys of finding a way forward that truly fits.
Alongside her lived and experience of navigating a Neuro-inclusive household, Claire brings over 30 years of professional practice in holistic wellbeing, spanning reflexology, aromatherapy, kids yoga, and ceremonial spaces. At the heart of her work is nervous system regulation, offering safe ground for children and parents to thrive.
NILU is privileged to welcome Clare’s warmth, wisdom, and gifts into the team, she will be a corner stone in creating an environment where children can flourish as their authentic selves, and supporting parents to find strength and solidarity.
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Tre Christopher
Director & Literacy Consultant
Tre Christopher is delighted to bring her expertise, creativity, and lifelong passion for education to the Neuro-Inclusive Learning Umbrella. Having spent much of her career as a primary school teacher and literacy consultant for Cornwall Council, Tre now leads a thriving literacy consultancy business, working with schools to inspire both teachers and pupils through imaginative and effective approaches to reading and writing.
Her work centres on igniting a love of reading for pleasure and empowering educators with innovative, evidence-informed teaching methods. Deeply committed to supporting all learners, Tre brings both professional insight and personal understanding of neurodivergence, drawn from her experiences in education and from her close community.
Tre is excited to help shape NILU’s evolving vision, contributing her wisdom, warmth, and creative energy to a future of education that celebrates every child’s unique way of learning.
Charlotte Gilling
Dance and Movement Facilitator
Charlotte Gilling has been dancing for around 20 years, training in a wide range of styles including contemporary, commercial, street dance, ballet, jazz, capoeira, and Indian dance. She gained a distinction in dance at college before completing her degree in Urban Dance at the University of East London, graduating in 2014 with a 2:1.
Charlotte has extensive performance experience across the UK and internationally, including auditions for Britain's Got Talent and Got To Dance, and a performance alongside Ollie Murs in 2010. Returning to Cornwall after her degree, she co-founded Believe Academy Performing Arts School CIC in 2018 with her sister Ella, building a thriving community of dance classes for all ages and abilities.
In recent years Charlotte has developed a particular passion for inclusive work, teaching in primary, secondary, and SEN schools across the Penwith area, and running weekly dance classes for adults with additional needs through Drama Express. She and Ella have also run a charity dance show since 2011, raising over £15,000 to date.
Mark Fleming
Swimming Facilitator
Mark is founder of Seadog Swim School and a qualified Swim England Instructor in Swimming and Physical Education. As a high-energy SEQ instructor with a natural ability to read his students, he brings both enthusiasm and intuition to every lesson, knowing instinctively when to bring the energy down for children who are overwhelmed, hyperactive, or working through the quieter disciplines of floating and gliding.
His teaching is defined by a vibrant, dynamic aesthetic that draws out both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in young learners, helping children build genuine desire to progress and find the confidence to overcome fear in the water. He is a fully accredited and insured swim school operator, and brings four years of experience as a Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) lifeguard to his practice.
Mark is an open water swimmer and racer, scuba diver, and snorkeller, as well as a Grade 8 guitarist, poet, and language learner. He also gives back through regular volunteer charity work and fitness classes, bringing the same commitment to growth and community that shapes his work with every child he teaches
Simone Yeomans
Education Coach & Learning Facilitator
Simone Yeomans is a devoted mother of two neurodivergent boys, aged fifteen and five. Being ADHD herself, home is full of play, music, creativity, and outdoor adventures, with animals and nature adding to the lively, nurturing environment. Her eldest has chosen home education, and Simone brings this same spirit of curiosity and hands-on learning to her work with other families. With a Diploma in Childcare and Education (Level 3) and over a decade of experience in schools, nurseries, and home settings,
She has extensive training, including Paediatric First Aid, Child Protection Advance, epilepsy care, administering medication, food safety and The Neuro-profiling tool qualification and child psychology (Level 4).
Simone brings imaginative play experiences to children and families across the region. Known for her intuition, patience, and ability to keep every child’s needs on her radar, she creates safe and joyful spaces where children can grow in confidence and connection. NILU is truly delighted to welcome Simone’s experience, talents, and wholehearted dedication to the team. Her presence enriches the community, ensuring that children feel supported as their authentic selves and that families feel included and uplifted.
Lyndsey Gayle
Learning Facilitator
Lyndsay is a warm, gentle, compassionate, nature-loving mum and trauma-informed counsellor for adults. She is passionate about creating spaces where people feel safe to be authentically themselves and prioritises autonomy at the heart of her work with an underpinning of knowledge of nervous and sensory systems and regulation.
Lyndsay’s love of the natural world has been with her since childhood, and she has facilitated outdoor or nature-based and forest school–style groups for children. She values an approach that is flexible, curious, adaptable, and child-led, meeting each individual where they are.
Lyndsay proudly navigates life in a neurodivergent family with complex and often conflicting needs, and understands the challenges of the SEND system, all of which strengthens her advocacy and fuels her commitment to NILU’s vision of inclusive, nurturing spaces where every person can flourish as their authentic self.
Current Vacancies
We'll soon be recruiting learning facilitators for art, maths, singing/choir, music and science. Expressions of interest welcome, please do share with anyone you may know.
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If you have interest in any of these roles, we'd love to hear from you. Please email connect@nilu-cic.org with a short introduction and any relevant experience.