Hi everyone, my name is Susan and welcome to the Nurture Gnomes website.
A little about me ...
I am a wife and proud mum to two now adult sons (the youngest of whom is autistic) and a children's author. When my children began school I supported an autistic child in nursery and enjoyed it so much that this started my passion of working with children with additional needs (working in early years for 13 years before moving to a post 16 alternative provision as an Art Teacher, Lead SEN Mentor and Behaviour Lead).
I have worked in SEND education for 24 years, during which time I have also studied and attained several Diplomas which include Advanced SEND Teaching, Advanced Counselling, Psychology, Psychiatric Studies, Art Therapy and a recent course in Children and Young People's Mental Health.
During a short break from teaching, I co-facilitated an autism parenting course for a charity and played a key role in developing a school transition booklet for them, before returning to the post 16 college (now unfortunately closed due to lack of funding). Currently, I am a parent support volunteer with our local autism group and continue to support families with autistic children while working on my business.
When children are supported in their early stages of social emotional development, this can help with a more positive outlook later on in life and building resilience to any outside influences and challenges.
AWARDS:
* Small Business Award from Theo Paphitis, Dragon's Den.
* Finalist for the BizBubble Awards.
* Finalist in the Rising Star category and Highly Commended Award from We Are
The City (women in business).
* Female in Business Award from the Female Business Network.
I really appreciate feedback, reviews or photos that I can add to the Nurture Gnome website, so please do let me know how your children are enjoying the resources. I hope you enjoy looking around the website and if I can be of any help, please feel free to contact me.
Thank you for visiting.
ABOUT THE NURTURE GNOMES
During Covid, I began to craft and sell Christmas tree hanging gnomes, which is where I got the idea to write a children's book. So many families were worried about Covid and the impact of children's mental health, that I wanted to have an addition in the book to show the importance of talking about emotions, yet be light and uplifting too. My second book in the series follows on and is about Tinker's friend, Halfpint, who realises he has different thoughts and feelings from his friends, and is about friendship and acceptance (20% of my book sales go to Young Minds Charity and two autism charities) and have raised over £250.00 so far.
The book sparked an idea where art can be used to draw emotions and I began designing the emotions workbook. Art is a great way to let children express different emotions and is also beneficial for those with limited verbal communication or additional needs. This was followed by the emotion card game, which was named and trialled by a class of year 2 children who also chose the colours for the cards.
I'm really pleased and excited to have added more to the Nurture Gnome range (including many free PDF worksheets) which all go towards supporting children's social emotional development and overall well-being; helping to raise self-esteem and confidence. So much is learnt through play and it has been so lovely to receive all the wonderful reviews showing how much the 'Nurture Gnomes' are helping to support children in working through and navigating their emotions with a positive outcome.
