Owen Walker
Leeds Autism AIM Manager
Owen is our Team Manager. Owen helps to oversee the AIM team and service as a whole. He previously worked as our Volunteer Coordinator, helping to support both our volunteers and people in mentoring matches.
Owen is also involved in our development work around employment.
Chris Hattrell
Deputy Manager
Chris is the Deputy Manager for Leeds Autism AIM and coordinates the post-diagnostic service. Chris joined AIM originally as a volunteer and has 8 years of experience working with and for autistic adults. During this time, he has supported social groups, been a skills mentor, support worker/personal assistant and mentor for a number of different charities and organisations.
In his spare time, Chris is crafting code for his next software project, skating around Leeds and gaming.
He has a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and an MA in Autism Studies and aims to balance the academic against the real-world and lived experiences of autistic people to better support them.
Trudi Longbottom
Mental Health Access Project Deputy Manager
Trudi is currently Deputy Manager for our new Mental Health Access Project. Her role involves overseeing that project, including training, audits of buildings and signposting.
Beth MacDonald
Volunteer Coordinator
Beth is our Volunteer Coordinator. Her role involves supporting our Mentoring & Peer Support volunteers, as well as helping to create new volunteering roles. Beth creates and provides training to volunteers, staff and to partners. Beth is also occasionally in our group sessions.
Beth is an arty, crafty person who upcycles, mostly making their own clothes, which you may see them wearing in the Hub! Beth also has a Level 3 in British Sign Language, and is studying to be a Sign Language Interpreter.
Luke Aylward
Information Officer
Luke does all of our info, including our newsletters, social media and this website. He also works on resources such as our self-advocacy tools and facilitates our Peer Support and Co-Design Groups on Zoom.
Luke is also Communications and Network Officer for The Advonet Group. He has a degree in Journalism and was once chair of Leeds Asperger Adults, a support group that meets regularly in Leeds.
Away from work, Luke is the co-host of the Audible Autism podcast.
Dr Gill Loomes-Quinn
Peer Development Worker
Gill is our Peer Development Worker. She works mainly on the Post-Diagnostic Service and co-facilitates our Women-Aligned Group.
Gill is an autistic socio-legal scholar-activist with a background in community advocacy. She worked for several years as an autism-specific advocate in West Yorkshire, and has taught and published (e.g. Quinn, 2009 and Loomes, 2018) on the development of good practice for autism advocacy – notably with the University of Birmingham, where she held a teaching fellowship for several years and with which she maintains close links.
Gill also has experience as a research consultant for International Non-Governmental Organisations and voluntary sector bodies – including the Autism Education Trust, the International Disability Rights Monitor, and Inclusion London. Her recent scholarly publications address topics relating to autism as a social identity, “autistic feminism”, and the role of research participation and collaboration on the politics of autistic rights. She also has research interests in mental capacity law and the work of the Court of Protection and is particularly interested in the impact of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 on autistic people and autistic community.
Gill is also co-director of the Open Justice Court of Protection Project which was awarded the prize for “Mobilising Research into Action” in the 2021 Real Impact Awards. She is also proud to be a convener of the Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC).
Gill tweets regularly @GillLoomesQuinn (having established a community of autistic scholars under the hashtag #AutisticsInAcademia).
David Radford
Hub Support Worker
David is our Hub Supporter. He helps out around our Hub sessions, greeting visitors and helping them with things such as filling out forms. David also does some of our admin work.
Lex Ragaliauskas
Peer Development Worker
Lex is one of the newest members of our team. She works on our Health Access Project and in our post-diagnostic support service, providing one-to-one support and supporting with resources and training.
Before joining us, Lex worked as a support worker.
Kelsie Easterby
Client Referrals Worker
Kelsie has recently joined our team, helping to process referrals from people to our service. Her job involves sorting out appointments, responding to queries and arranging meetings between Leeds Autism AIM staff and new clients.
Danielle Furness
Mental Health Projects Coordinator
Danielle is our new AIM Coordinator for Mental Health Projects. She coordinates and co-delivers training programmes aimed at enhancing the understanding and support for autistic individuals to advocates, social prescribers and staff within third sector mental health organisations across West Yorkshire.
She also conducts environmental audits tailored to the sensory, processing and communication needs of autistic people to improve accessibility and inclusivity for neurodivergent patients.
Lawrence Cwerner
Mental Health Access Facilitator
Lawrence works on our Mental Health Access Project, helping to process enquiries and referrals to the service. He also supports the team with tasks such as training and audits of community mental health settings.
