Workshops and events

SEND Friends Workshops & Events

Small, Safe Spaces for Big Conversations

At SEND Friends, I offer gentle, neuroaffirming workshops designed to:

  • support parents, carers and professionals understanding and supporting neurodivergent children

  • help newly identified neurodivergent adults gently explore their identity and connect with others

Alongside the workshop offer, I work with schools and settings to deliver creative story-writing sessions, author visits, and identity-positive programmes that support neurodivergent children and young people to explore who they are in an affirming way.

My approach is rooted in lived experience, with every session aiming to create a welcoming, validating space where learning feels like relief — not pressure.

Workshops That Work

I believe smaller group sessions offer the most value, giving attendees space to reflect, ask questions, and connect more deeply. I typically work with groups of up to 10 people, but larger talks or panel-style sessions may be available - please contact me with your requirements.

All sessions are inclusive, strengths-based, and built around real-life insights from the front lines of parenting and peer support.

Available Workshops

All SEND Friends workshops are carefully created through a combination of professional knowledge and lived experience. Each session is shaped by real-life parenting, listening to families, and years of supporting neurodivergent children and their parent carers, ensuring the content is practical, compassionate, and genuinely relevant. Workshops can be delivered directly by SEND Friends, or commissioned by schools, settings, and organisations to offer meaningful, neuroaffirming support to their parent carers and families in a way that feels accessible, respectful, and supportive.

Late Identified Neurodivergent Adults Workshop

This gentle session is for adults who have recognised their neurodivergence later in life – whether self-identified or formally diagnosed. This would be a relaxed space to:

  • Share a little of our experiences and reflections

  • Explore gentle unmasking and self-acceptance exercises

  • Learn about authentic identity and what it means to truly be yourself

  • Connect with others who understand

I guide the session, sharing some of my own lived experience, creating a supportive, neuroaffirming space to learn and connect together.

Format: 2-hour face to face or online session, including time for Q&A and connection at the end of the presentation.

Price: Commissioned workshops are priced from £250, supporting sustainable delivery of accessible, experience-led support. Please contact me with your requirements for a quote, including proposed venue, number of attendees and nature of your service/setting/group.

For individuals looking to book directly, 1:1 or small-group sessions are available at a lower rate, making it possible to book individually or together with friends or family in a more informal, bespoke way.

Where: Grimsby, Cleethorpes and surrounding areas (also available as an online offer, please contact me to discuss)

When commitments allow, I offer this workshop directly as a ticketed event to groups both face to face at the Sussex Pavilion, and online. Please check back for direct booking opportunities- or email me at info@sendfriends.co.uk to enquire about a small group or individual booking of this event.

Parenting Through A Neurodivergent Lens

This is a gentle, supportive workshop for parents who feel that traditional parenting advice doesn't quite fit their child or their family. It offers a fresh way of looking at behaviour with curiosity and kindness, helping parents explore what might be going on underneath rather than focusing on blame or 'fixing'. The session is practical, reassuring, and grounded in real-life experience, with space to listen, reflect, and connect with others, leaving parents feeling more understood, confident, and less alone.

  • Share a little of our experiences and reflections

  • Explore scenarios and response exercises

  • Learn about potential 'beneath the surface' neurodivergent experiences

  • Connect with other parent carers who get it

I guide the session, sharing some of my own lived experience and scenarios where we can practice showing up with curiosity, creating a supportive, neuroaffirming space to learn, challenge norms and connect together.

Format: 2-hour face to face or online session, including time for Q&A and connection at the end of the presentation.

Price: Commissioned workshops are priced from £250, supporting sustainable delivery of accessible, experience-led support. Please contact me with your requirements for a quote, including proposed venue, number of attendees and nature of your service/setting/group. 

For families booking directly, small-group sessions are available at a lower rate, making it possible to book together with friends or family in a more informal, bespoke way.

Where: Grimsby, Cleethorpes and surrounding areas (also available as an online offer, please contact me to discuss)

When commitments allow, I offer this workshop directly as a ticketed event to attendees both face to face at the Sussex Pavilion, and online. Please check back for direct booking opportunities- or email me at info@sendfriends.co.uk to enquire about a small group or individual booking of this event.

Programmes for schools

Your Story – Books Without Barriers

This creative, inclusive programme is designed to make stories accessible to every child. Using flexible, child-led approaches, the sessions support children and young people to explore storytelling in ways that work for them. This might include drawing, dictation, shared storytelling, visual prompts, or alternative formats, removing pressure around reading and writing while celebrating imagination, communication, and self-expression. The focus is on confidence, creativity, and joy, rather than rules or outcomes, ensuring that every child's story has space to be heard. Please contact us for more information on this programme.

Coming Soon – Positive Neurodivergent Identity

A new programme is currently in development to support children and young people to explore neurodivergence in an affirming, strengths-based way. Through creative activities, stories, and gentle discussion, this work will focus on helping young people build understanding, pride, and confidence in who they are, moving away from deficit-based narratives and towards a sense of belonging and self-acceptance. More details will be shared soon.

Book Readings- The SEND Friends Collection

Leanne can also visit schools and settings through SEND Friends Support CIC to share stories from the SEND Friends books and explore their themes with children in a positive, inclusive way. Book sales remain separate from the CIC, while all visits and sessions are delivered as part of SEND Friends' work.

Bespoke Support for Communities & Groups

I can be booked by:

Charities and community groups

looking to offer gentle, specialist input alongside their existing peer support services, such as attendance at coffee mornings or already established support sessions

Schools, SENDCos and professionals

seeking lived-experience insight to deepen their understanding of neurodivergent children and families, book readings (SEND Friends Book Series) and bespoke support sessions- get in touch to discuss your needs!

Parent support groups or co-ops

building confidence and connection through shared learning

The type of support provided can be adapted to suit your audience, time frame, and level of need. Topics I can support around include (but are not limited to):

  • Autism
  • ADHD
  • OCD
  • ARFID
  • Tourette's Syndrome
  • Demand Avoidance
  • Sensory processing experiences
  • Sleep onset difficulties
  • Anxiety

SEND Friends Support CIC provides non-clinical, non-legal support informed by lived experience. The information shared through workshops, sessions, and resources is intended to offer understanding, reflection, and peer-based insight, and should not be taken as medical, therapeutic, or legal advice.

Available online or face-to-face (Grimsby and North East Lincolnshire)

Optional Add-On: Vocals & Vibes

Although it's not part of SEND Friends' core offer, I am also a professional vocalist and can provide live performances (vocals to backing tracks or as an acoustic/backing track duo) as part of wider family-friendly events, wellbeing days, or inclusive community spaces. If you'd like to add something joyful, relaxed and uplifting to your event, this can be arranged separately.

Discounts available for small charities and non-profit community groups — just ask and I'll do my best to help.

Enquiries & Booking

To chat about what might work for your group, email info@sendfriends.co.uk or complete the contact form. I'll always tailor the session to your needs and ensure your attendees feel safe, seen, and supported.