Meet your Area Managers

simon@inclusionproject.co.uk

I have been fortunate and humbled to have acquired the following accolades and awards along the way: 

· 2021 - Queen's New Years Honours List

· 2020 - National Autistic Society - Autism Professionals Awards - Outstanding Adult Service in Health or Social Care

· 2019 - AFA Franchise Leader of the Year Award 

· 2018 - St Albans Contribution to Disability Sport Award

· 2017 - Hertfordshire Care Awards - Outstanding Achievement in Learning Disability Support 

· 2015 - Hertfordshire Sports Awards - Disability Coach of the Year Award

I am passionate about The Inclusion Project and believe in what it can achieve for adults with Learning Disabilities. To say it's a passion would be an understatement, it's part of who I am - starting The Inclusion Project has meant that my vision for community inclusion for all is well on its way. 

In Hertfordshire we have created a few clubs. My passion is basketball and to see what group sports can provide is just magical; a sense of belonging; friendships; healthy competitiveness and camaraderie. I always wanted that when I was at school and know how important sport is; getting a good dose of exercise is good for the soul. 

We have also since introduced football, boxercise and yoga sessions. 

Integration into the local community, trying a variety of activities, making friendships, having fun and a lot of laughs.

ethanie@inclusionproject.co.uk 

I bring over 10 years' marketing experience to The Inclusion Project, and have always been a part of the organisation; working behind the scenes on all things marketing and as a Director. Over the years my role has grown and developed; looking after Hertfordshire as an area as well as some HR.

I have worked in big corporations, as well as a consultant for independent businesses. 

Working in a care setting runs in the family, and has always felt close to my heart. The Inclusion Project would've been a lifeline for my own family had it been available in the '90s. 

eveningsandweekends@inclusionproject.co.uk

I have experience in different care settings over the past 20 years, including working in a special educational needs collage for 6 years before joining The Inclusion project in 2017. 

I have a real passion for helping and supporting individuals to reach their full potential to enable them to be as independent as possible.and we are committed to helping them do so.

cameronwalters@inclusionproject.co.uk

I have been working with young people with Learning Disabilities for almost a decade now. I started my career working for a small care company in St Albans, before moving on to working at a college, supporting students with varying levels of Learning Disabilities, eventually gaining a teaching qualification.  

I relished the chance to run my own area of The Inclusion Project, and have never looked back.

I am very passionate about people, and working with The Inclusion Project was a fantastic opportunity for me to be to put my skills and personality to good use; helping others to develop and grow.

In the North West London Area, we offer a whole range of unique and interesting opportunities to our Participants, and their families.  

We have our own community social club that we use throughout the week, mainly for developing life skills such as: cooking classes; group discussions on a wide range of topics - from work experience, to accessing the community - and developing friendships.  

We regularly run travel training sessions, whether that be learning a new bus route into town, or catching the train into central London for one of our exciting music sessions, where the Participants can record their own songs, in a professional Music studio.

Participants joining The North West London Area can expect to develop a wide range of skills, from learning how to handle and organise their money to developing their communication with their friends and peers.

Participants also get a step closer to working life, but most of all, they will have a great deal of fun and in-turn will develop a great amount of self-esteem.

leannewalters@inclusionproject.co.uk

I’ve been involved with The Inclusion Project since its inception 9 years ago, but only on the fringes, looking on.

Since then I’ve become more and more involved and now work full time with Cameron helping to run the North West London area. 

Prior to that I worked for a theatre company doing sales and marketing. With The Inclusion Project I have found my ikigai-my happy place.

peter@inclusionproject.co.uk

I started working with young adults with Learning Disabilities in 2012, and joined The Inclusion Project in 2016. 

This was a complete career change for me. Previously I had worked in the financial services industry as an Independent Financial Adviser, and also worked in the training department of a large insurance company.

When I took redundancy in 2013 I decided to change career direction completely. 

Because it fills a gap for young adults who have finished school and/or college, who may have lost contact with most of their friends and have little or no social life outside of their family. 

I like the way that in addition to getting Participants out in the community The Inclusion Project brings together different people who make new friends, and in many instances meet up with old friends. 

I became the North London Area Manager because I see it as an opportunity to take the service into an area that would not otherwise benefit from the service provided by The Inclusion Project.

There are 3 areas that I like to concentrate on:

1. In North London I particularly look to encourage friendships to develop. So most of the time 2 or 3 groups will meet together so that there is more opportunity to socialise.

2. At the same time I look to respond to requests from Participants to try something new. This can mean that Participants in the same group have to compromise with their fellow Participants on what activities they do. I believe that this is a valuable life skill to have.

3. In September I started up our evening clubs: On Mondays it is football, Tuesday is basketball, and Wednesday it is Drama. These are all well attended particularly by those Participants who are at full-time school or college, who we might otherwise only see in the school holidays. 

camerongreer@inclusionproject.co.uk

I have worked in the care sector for over 14 years. Working for 8 years in an educational environment at Herts based Special Educational Needs College. I have also worked for several other schemes including the St Albans Special Olympics.

After several years working in education it became apparent that there was a void for young adults with Learning Disabilities post college or school. 

The Inclusion Project addresses this and it was the main reason I joined. It’s great to be part of something that offers so much to young people after their college years and beyond. 

Relationships are vitally important to my area. 

Over the last couple of years I have built up positive relationships with various local facilities, schemes, councils, schools and colleges. 

It is also vital that we focus on life-skills. 

The activities that we offer are built around the main goal of getting our Participants to become as independent as possible and integrated into the local community as much as possible. 

Fun. Building new friendships. Perhaps rekindling old friendships. 

Flexibility, we can offer lots of variety and build around the Participant's likes and dislikes. 

bea@inclusionproject.co.uk

I'm full of beans, really motivational and will always have the welfare and best interests of the people in the team (be that Participant or Group Leader) at heart.

I am Mum to two young ladies. I parented them both on my own and am proud of them both in equal measures for several reasons but mostly for the patience and encouragement they have extended me, to pursue the career paths I chose. 

I love everything Marvel, enjoy reading, love great thought provoking films and interesting facts which ignite a persons imagination. I love art and history and have enjoyed several The Inclusion Project sessions creating pieces of art with our Participants. 

A little about my knowledge and experience:

I have supported young persons with Learning Disabilities in a variety of roles for more than 21 years, my initial interest being ignited when a family member was diagnosed with Autism.

I began my path as Teaching Support Assistant with a Moderate Learning Disabilities (MLD) secondary school working as classroom Support Assistant and then quickly moving up to the role of PE Department Support Assistant. Tag rugby being my forte at the time. 

I wanted to go into a teaching career at that time but felt I needed more experience specific to supporting and teaching persons with a diagnosis of Autism, I then worked with the National Autistic Society for two years to further my knowledge. 

I was then offered a position as Area Supervisor in domiciliary care where I oversaw the efficient running of care provisions for adults ranging from 16-102 years old!

I missed working within SEN and returned to work in supported learning at a local college pursuing a teaching career and becoming a Tutor for a period of four years before joining The Inclusion Project. 

I now manage South Bedfordshire for The Inclusion Project and enjoy every single day.

Having worked in education as both classroom support and much later a Tutor, I built relationships and friendships with students and parents alike and had regular contact with parents. 

I would meet with parents and guardians in person several times throughout the year, particularly when review meetings were held. 

I would often wonder what our young persons might access post education and would have discussions with parents and students around this with much of the conversation being that it was a total abyss, and there were few routes into jobs, few opportunities to promote continuation of social skills and friendships or guidance to further those skills acquired at college. 

I questioned year after year why that was.

My colleague Simon Jackson-Turner thought outside the box and founded The Inclusion Project, this intrigued me and the more I heard about how those students and their families that I had once had discussions with were using the services of the Inclusion Project, the more I wanted to be involved. I was delighted when I joined our ever expanding team of Area Managers.   

Each day Participants are using skills around budgeting, time telling, road safety, personal safety and independence so that at some point in the future, their support needs will lessen and their independence will increase. 

Specific to South Bedfordshire all Participants are encouraged to make use of our brand new local Resource Centre and are currently working towards life skills around use of the library, signing on to computers and taking out books with independence. 

We are one of only a few areas to have run Saturday sessions for the past two years and also added the personal touch in both schools and colleges of spending time in lessons with newly signed up Participants to become a familiar face; helping reduce any anxiety to aid a smooth transition for several of our Participants at a time when everything they have been used to for the past 3/7 years, is due to change. 

This personal touch has supported parents and Participants in making the decision to choose The Inclusion Project over college and some of the area Participants now attend four/five days a week.  

We have local links to some big community profiles in Luton and Dunstable. We are currently speaking with both Dunstable Rangers and Luton Town Football Club about how we can get more involved and support our local teams.

We have been in discussions with the Community Lead at Dunstable Downs and have been asked to be their local link and trial projects with them in 2020.

We also have links with Jeakins Weir who are the Local Borough Council contractors and have organised to support them in community clean up.

Also specific to the area, we have a regular fitness session which has been successfully supporting to keep our Participants fit and healthy since we began in the area.  

To be included, involved and independent.

Participants should expect to be recognised for the person they are, to be encouraged to be the best person they can be, to be involved in decisions, to be respected and to be able to have their voice heard. 

Participants will experience this in an environment where they have fun and make friends, not only with peers within their groups but with the people involved in their support and care and to know they can trust The Inclusion Project will always support each individual to thrive.

Participants will be encouraged to take small steps outside their comfort zone to experience new things and to return home after each session fulfilled with a sense of achievement having enjoyed their day. 

jamesgraham@inclusionproject.co.uk

My journey working with people with Learning Disabilities started when I was in primary school, I was a ‘befriender’ and used to spend lunchtimes playing with the ‘special needs kids’ in the separate building on my school’s grounds. 

When I was at secondary school, I used to volunteer in summer schemes which my mum, who was a Special Educational Needs (SEN) Tutor at the time, organised. 

These eventually stopped when funding was cut. 

I was working as a part-time Student Support Assistant at a local Hertfordshire college whilst I was studying Music Performance, and when I finished the course (and passed :-)), most of my friends moved towards London to get into the music scene but I had already found my calling. 

I worked at the college in Herts for almost 12 years in total within the Supported Learning departments, starting as a Support Assistant, gaining my DTLLS and becoming a Tutor. 

I met and taught with Simon Jackson-Turner, we team taught our own sports sessions together. When Simon started The Inclusion Project, I wanted to join once the academic year was over as I did not want to let down my students at the time and help people after their educational lives. The Inclusion Project is the answer to that.

As a personal tutor at college, I saw that there was very little for my students to progress onto doing once they had finished their courses with us. 

It was quite difficult when I first started at The Inclusion Project as I was working with Participants that I had taught in previous years that had lost lots of the skills I had taught them due to lack of activity/not being challenged, pushed or reinforced, so we had to start again – I joined The Inclusion Project to put an end to that happening to others. 

I bring experience, understanding, fun and someone who really, genuinely, enjoys working with people with Additional Learning Disabilities (ALD) and watching them develop and integrate into their local community.

We do not run to a timetable, it is completely led by the Participants.  All of the activities that we access are what the Participants have suggested/want to do or have spotted while we have been out in the community.

We support our Participants on a weekly basis to discuss what they would like to do the following week, which is fantastic to see, we then put what they decide in place for them.

We facilitate what people, regardless of whether you have an additional need or not, SHOULD be doing – going out with your friends, making new ones, being healthy, experiencing new things, having fun, being safe,  making your own and others’ worlds better and enjoying life.

To come out, have a great time with us, experience new things, gain independence and confidence, make new friends and being supported to be in control of your own experiences and goals.