Throughout my many years in teaching I enjoyed writing short stories and plays about all sorts of topics which came up in the classroom – and dreamed of having more time to write stories, plays, possibly even a novel. Then my beloved daughter Jay was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, binge/purge type, yet when our GP told her she needed hospital treatment she refused pointblank. Despite searching far and wide I couldn’t find a practical book to help me offer the right support….and at that time knew nothing about the internet or email, never heard of websites!

Luckily I found a local self-help group and heard so many other people’s stories, then later I worked on EDA (now b-eatuk) telephone helpline.  Listening to so many stories about lack of relevant information, not knowing what to do, worrying about doing the wrong thing, I realised I was not alone.  And that having relevant information, and working together to try to build coordinated all-round care, and good all-round communication, were every bit as important in health situations as in education.  All of which led me to write my first non-fiction book, to meeting Professor Janet Treasure who kindly agreed to write the Foreword for it, and then on to my other non-fiction work – the most recent is about how to build good all-round communication and all-round collaborative, coordinated care whatever the illness or condition.   And to building this website, guided by George Baird of Resourceful IT, who recently taught me how to make podcasts – a word I heard for the first time just a few months ago…

I wondered ‘What next?’  Recently I’ve been invited by Routledge to be one of their ‘Featured Authors’ – www.routledge.com/authors – an invitation I’m delighted to accept.