Make a Referral Team Biographies Back to Therapeutic Services Occupational Therapy Psychology Speech & Language Therapy Music Therapy Art Therapy Diana Pierags – Director of DOTS (Diana’s Occupational Therapy Service) for children Working as a Clinical Specialist in Paediatric Occupational Therapist in a variety of settings, I am registered with the Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) and a member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists and CYPF specialist interest section. I qualified in 2010 with a BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy and completed a MSc Advancing Practice in Occupational Therapy in 2016, and am also an advanced Practitioner in Sensory Integration Born in Germany, I moved to Ireland in 2004 and worked as a health care assistant in a hospital for the elderly before studying Occupational Therapy at University College Cork on a four-year degree. After qualifying, I worked with teenagers with ASD as part of a private practice. In 2011, I moved to the UK to work as a Paediatric Occupational Therapist in an NHS trust in Hampshire and Surrey working with children with a variety of conditions aged up to19. In 2012, I started a Specialist Paediatric Occupational Therapy position in an NHS trust in London and was promoted to being a Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist in 2014. I was then prompted to Band 8 Team lead and clinical specialist in the NHS, and am now the director of DOTS for children Ltd. As well as being school AMPS trained, Bobath trained and certified PDA therapist, I have done extensive research in the use of the SCERTS model and supported its set up in varies special schools. I also work as an expert witness for medico legal cases and support EHCP application, implementation and tribunal matters. My passion lies in research, working with children and young adults with complex conditions and backgrounds including LAC, ASD, attachment and sensory processing difficulties. Hayley Clay-Smith - Occupational Therapist (OT) My Kisimul career began at the start of 2020, and I am mainly based at the Swinderby site, but I also work at Acacia Hall. I have been a qualified OT for 10 years and have worked in many areas of medical and healthcare in the NHS, education and abroad. My role at Kisimul includes developing the service, doing 1-1 sessions and class sessions providing input for fine motor, gross motor and sensory regulation, all of which can include doing observations, assessments and equipment provision. An imaginative and creative person who enjoys helping others, I enjoy baking, walking, watching films and spending time with family/friends in my own time. Louise Kennedy-Taylor – Occupational Therapist It is a privilege to be an occupational therapist with Kisimul and it has been a joy for me to work with children and young people for almost 30 years as a teacher and as an Occupational Therapist. Having studied Anthropology and Archaeology at The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (First Class BA honours) I took my Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE Primary University of Leicester 1992), subsequently taking further Post Graduate Diplomas in the teaching of Science and also Multicultural Education. My passion for enabling children and young people to flourish, irrespective of their personal and environmental circumstances, drove my 14 years of teaching in schools across Leicester and Leicestershire in culturally rich and diverse areas and areas of social deprivation. This passion led me to explore further ways to enable young people to lead enjoyable and meaningful lives – a journey taking me to further my studies in Occupational Therapy: holistic and person focused where enablement, choice and positivity are fundamental. As a qualified Occupational Therapist (Coventry University 2005) I have worked at University Hospitals Leicester with people experiencing severe trauma including limb amputation. For the past 12 years I have worked with Leicester Partnership NHS Trust as an Occupational Therapist for children and young people. This has included working in mainstream and specialist schools, with young people in their homes and in a children’s hospice. The young people with whom I worked lived with a wide range of conditions including life limiting muscular dystrophies, acquired brain injury, complex neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions which impacted on their learning, their mental health and physical health. In my practice I use a wide range of evidence based therapeutic approaches including Ayres’ Sensory Integration (qualified ASI practitioner), Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance (Co-op approach) and biomechanical approaches. In addition I am a qualified “performance coach” with the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) and have undertaken training on risk assessment and management: “Managing Safely “(IOSHH). As a member of numerous professional bodies including The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT), The British Association of Occupational Therapists (BAOT), the RCOT special interest group Children and Young People’s Forum (CYP) and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) my professional development and standards are regulated and monitored to the highest possible standard. 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