Kate became Chief Operating Officer in November 2024, after joining Seashell 2017 as Lead Speech and Language Therapist.
Kate has always been passionate about enabling individuals with learning disabilities to achieve the best possible outcomes. After graduating from Newcastle University with a 1st class honours, she started her speech therapy career in South Wales, working with adults with learning disabilities.
Kate then moved into leadership roles, overseeing health teams working with children and young adults with complex needs for a range of third sector providers. During this time Kate completed a Masters in Health Leadership, which increased her commitment to providing transformative leadership to health professionals working across the field of learning disabilities.
Kate joined Seashell in 2017 and established Seashell’s Health Service, registering the service with CQC and acting as the first Registered Manager. Kate has more recently joined ELT, acting as Director of Strategy, Health and Wellbeing. In November 2024 she moved into the role of Chief Operating Officer, overseeing all areas of Seashell’s operations including Education, Health, Active, Care, Family Services and Sensory Support.
Kate has completed research and presented findings at national and international conferences into topics such as the challenges faced by therapists in evidencing the impact of their support, use of telepractice for delivering health services and functional communication training for individuals with autism and learning disabilities.
Kate is passionate about promoting holistic outcomes for children and young adults through the delivery of integrated support. She has acted as a consultant to advise specialist providers on development of health services to provide maximum impact.
She is also an advocate for early intervention, acting as a parent advisor to the North-West Neonatal network after having her son seven weeks early and spending time on NICU. Kate was a school governor for an infant school between 2019-2022 which provided useful insight into the role of the governing body from a governor perspective.
In her spare time Kate enjoys spending time outside with family and friends, going to the gym and cheering on her older son at the side of the football pitch!