Nerys Hughes

FOUNDER & CLINICAL DIRECTOR

Advanced Practitioner Paediatric Occupational Therapist
Qualification: BSc with honours in Occupational Therapy

Training/specialities: Advanced practitioner SOS Feeding, Advanced Practitioner Sensory Integration Therapy, Advanced Practitioner Therapeutic Listening, Chromosomal disorders, Neurological impairment, Dyspraxia and Coordination Disorders and complex needs.

Nerys is firstly a mum to two amazing children, she is in the really amazing club of being a parent to a child with specific educational needs and diagnosis, or as we put it an evolutionary advancement. As well as being a mum Nerys is an Experienced Advanced Paediatric Occupational Therapist, Writer, Trainer, Coach and advocate, Clinical Director and professional Mentor.
Nerys’ curious nature afforded her the chance to work across a variety of organisational structures within health care and education, to include NHS community health, mental health, education and schools, social enterprise and charity sector.
Her work in these areas enabled her to develop a robust and sustainable model for WCT. Nerys built WCT in response to her experiences of change within the professional world and her experiences of a mum to a child with SEN differences. She created WCT with the vision and aim of developing services that consider and serve the ‘Whole of a Child’, this means knowing the child, their story, their body, their spirit, their desires and the environments in which children are required to and desire to participate in. The great question Nerys asks of herself everyday, is how do we enable more children to be well, to be comfy, to achieve their personal potential, to experience joy and to find meaning?

Nerys has gained advanced practitioner status in feeding (SOS), therapeutic listening (Vital Links), Sensory processing Disorders(STAR centre). Nerys is a specialist in early childhood development and retained reflex integration.
Starting her career in a neurological rehab hospital Nerys has a deep understanding and a dynamic lens for treating children with neurological disorders. Nerys has a professional interest in Chromosomal Disorders, developing interventions that provide unique and bespoke packages of support.
As both a physical and Mental Health practitioner Nerys strongly believes in strengths and connections as the core of the intervention process. ‘A child must always be valued in all stages of assessment and treatment’. Nerys develops tools that enable children. ‘No assessment should make a child feel like they have failed, the clinical arena is filled with tools that test a child’s limits and disregard their skills’. This is not accepted practice at WCT, all children know immediately that they are valued, just as they are.

Nerys is one of the world’s leading sensory impairment OT specialists. Consulting to sensory impairment services and professionals internationally. Nerys has developed a framework for assessing and treating children with all forms of sensory impairment. Consulting on the national standards of eye care practice for children in the UK, contributing to the ‘In Focus’ review. Developing a training curriculum for sensory impairment health and education professionals. As well as developing specialist assessment tools for children with specific sensory loss and impairments for professionals and parents. Nerys continues to contribute to programs for getting glasses on as well as supporting hearing aid compliance for children who struggle to engage with these resources.
Nerys is a well respected educator and lecturer, having established an accredited training arm within WCT for schools and children’s services. Providing professional mentoring to senior leaders, SENCO’s, therapists and industry leaders.
Nerys heads up our service framework and specialists supervision delivery service which provides schools and children’s services with robust delivery modelling, supervision and training to enhance services delivery and staffing by enhancing a schools own therapeutically capable staff.

Nerys Fun fact- Nerys loves wild swimming and her paddle board, she can regularly be found bobbing around in the open water at any time of the year. There is usually a swimsuit, a wetsuit and a paddle board neatly stowed in her car just in case she passes a body of water.