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.
Jane Stark
Deputy Manager
Jane joined us in the spring of 2021, working as our Deputy Manager. Jane will be leading work on our Autism Health Access Project.
She has a background in healthcare.
Chris Hattrell
Coordinator
Chris is our service coordinator and also looks after the post-diagnostic service.
This just means he arranges appointments and will likely be the first person you meet/talk to when you start using our service.
Away from his role with AIM, Chris writes apps and can often be found skating around Leeds.
Beth MacDonald
Volunteer Coordinator
Beth is our Volunteer Coordinator. Her role involves supporting our Mentoring work, as well as helping to create new volunteering roles within our service.
Before joining us, Beth worked for a local mental health charity.
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 those in our COVID-19 toolkit and facilitates our Peer Support and Coproduction 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.
Trudi Longbottom
Peer Development Worker
Trudi is our Peer Development Worker. She works at Thursday’s Autism Hub session, being there to offer peer support to autistic adults experiencing difficulties day-to-day, and autistic adults who want to know what it is to be autistic.
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).
Georgia Holden-Burnett
Peer Development Worker
Georgia is a Peer Development Worker for Leeds Autism AIM and the Deputy Manager of the Yorkshire Autism AIM service.
Their role entails offering one-to-one support to clients, creating autism-specific resources, developing and delivering training, as well as co-facilitating peer support sessions.
Previously, they studied a Philosophy and Politics BA, as well being a founding committee member of the Leeds University Union’s Neurodivergent Society and being an elected member of University of East Anglia Student Union’s Environmental and Ethical Committee.
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.
Catherine Foote
Universal Advocate
Catherine is our Advocate. Her work involves helping to make your voice heard and getting your rights upheld when trying to access support or services such as benefits like PIP and Universal Credit.
She also works as a Universal Advocate for The Advonet Group’s Community Advocacy service.
Lex Ragaliauskas
Peer Development Worker
Lex is the newest member 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.
