In today’s episode, I am going to be interviewing Sassy Smith, who is an expert in neurodiversity. She is a qualified coach, mentor, and trainer, and is the founder of Aphantasia Academy, where she teaches coaches and other professionals how to work with neurodivergent people.

We are discussing neurodiversity, what it is and how it can impact a person in the workplace and what employers can do about it in terms of supporting people in the UK. One in seven people has a neurodiverse condition, the most common ones being autism, A D H D, Tourette's, dyspraxia, dyslexia, and OCD.

Here are the Highlights:

• 01:26 Discovering that she was unable to visualise
• 05:00 Why do we need to give people labels?
• 09:05 I can't access any of my internal senses
• 17:32 It took me longer when I was back in the office to get anything done
• 38:55 We have severely deficient autobiographical memory
• 47:04 Aphantasia is between 3.9 and 5% of the population.
• 50:06 My first neurodivergent coaching skills and practice programme
• 52:44 In three or four years everybody will have heard of Aphantasia

Connect with Steph:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephleeuk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/people-first-workplace

Website: https://www.heronwellness.co.uk/PFW

Email: Steph.lee@heronwellness.co.uk

Tel: 07867 872900

You can download the Wellbeing Toolkit here: https://heron.kartra.com/page/WellbeingToolkit

About the Host:

Redefining Wellbeing in the Workplace podcast is a show for Leaders who want to make a difference to how their organisation views wellbeing in the workplace by putting people first.

Packed with wellbeing topics and insights that will inspire you and your teams to implement a proactive wellbeing culture that improves lives in and beyond the workplace.

Hosted by Steph Lee, an accredited wellbeing coach who had a 30-year career as a Finance Director and CFO in large global organisations.

Steph experienced the work pressure, the feeling of overwhelm, stress & anxiety. Juggling life and a successful career and ultimately the negative impact it had on her health.

Steph is passionate that the corporate world doesn’t have to be like this and decided to make a difference by creating People First Workplace.

Be the one that makes a difference in your organisation.

About Sassy Smith:

Sassy Smith is a qualified coach, mentor, and trainer and is the founder of the Aphantasia Academy where she teaches coaches and other professionals how to work with neurodivergent clients.

Discovering that she was unable to visualise, had no access to her memories, and couldn't hear her internal thoughts, helped her to understand why she was able to get great results for her clients, when coaching them, but was unable to get the same results for herself.

Through research, and conversations with others like her, she began to understand why coaching and personal development programmes weren't as effective for people like her.

She now teaches other professionals about this and how they can learn to adapt their styles to support their neurodivergent clients

Connect with Sassy:

Website: https://www.aphantasiacoach.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAphantasiaCoach