Josie Barrass

Hi, I am Josie.

I am a Family Liaison Practitioner at Autism Oxford UK. My role is to work with individuals and/or their families offering targeted support to empower them. Every person is unique and the type of support I offer will be adapted to suit them, I love the variety! I like to work with all ages, from supporting during pregnancy or new parents with bonding and attachment to adults who may want to talk through and work out their autistic identity.
Over the years I have worked with many autistic children and adults. I have lots of experience with ADHD and children who are non-speaking. I have helped individuals to communicate their feelings, wishes, and needs using a variety of communication tools. I have also worked with deaf children who have autism and ADHD too.

In a more recent role, I helped support children and young people pre/post-diagnosis. This can take some time for people to process.
For some, it may help them understand why they think differently from their peers and feel a huge sense of relief when they receive a diagnosis, other’s need help to understand their feelings and emotions, and why they behave in different ways.

I can help guide people to communicate their emotions. As we know, our thoughts and feelings drive our behaviour, so we need to understand what we feel to change that behaviour.
A person may be feeling overwhelmed and too anxious to leave their home, I can help them by coming into their home and building a relationship with them. I can help someone with their confidence, and self-esteem and help them manage these anxious thoughts.

I also have experience with helping people identify their strengths and challenges when finding work. We can work together to overcome barriers in the workplace and have a job where you feel safe, comfortable, and most of the time enjoyable.

You do not require a diagnosis to receive support from me, and these are just examples of how I can help people. If you are wondering if I can help you with something, please reach out and we can discuss with myself and the therapy team about how we can help you.

Outside of work, I am an active person and enjoy running, yoga and I often take part in muddy obstacle courses. I have run half marathons for charities and would love to raise more money for charities close to my heart. I have three children who keep me very busy – I am passionate about the magic of play and how it helps us to connect so when I am not working, I will be doing some sort of activity with my children, such as gymnastics, football, fishing or turning a pen into a rocket ship!