Lucy sanctuary

Autism assessment & Therapy services

My name is Lucy Sanctuary

I am a Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist, and a cognitive behaviour therapist, specialising in working with autistic young people and their families.

I work as part of a multi-disciplinary team carrying out autism assessments following NICE guidelines, I provide post-diagnostic support, and work therapeutically with autistic young people and their families, and I am an ADOS-2 trainer.

I have considerable experience of carrying out the ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2) as part of autism assessments for all ages. I have worked as part of a multidisciplinary team carrying out assessments for the NHS and as an independent practitioner, and I have a lot of experience of assessing with complex children, young people, and adults. For example, assessing individuals when there are other conditions involved, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), mental health conditions, learning difficulties.

I am extremely experienced in assessing girls that camouflage differences, and often present with extremely high levels of anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, many self-harm, and many are out of school. Working with young autistic people therapeutically has increased my knowledge and understanding of autism, and this feeds into assessment.

My clinic rooms are in London. Click here for answers to frequently asked questions.

I am neurodivergent and understand lived experience as a professional, a parent and a person.

I am deeply committed to reducing stigma around different neurotypes and promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.

testimonials

Parent of young person Lucy and Dr Jack Hollingdale assessed

Before Anna’s meeting with the SENCO, we went through the school recommendations in her report. Anna was really blown away at how well her challenges were described and said something like wow I only met Lucy once how did she know all that as I don’t think I told her that. Anna doesn’t hand out praise to adults frequently but she was very impressed and really felt you got her, so I wanted to share that with you.

Parent feedback after meeting with school

My partner and I thought you were amazing! You knew what you wanted to talk about, and it was so clear to me how understanding you are, how vast and in depth your knowledge is (from personal experience too), how passionate you are and how much you wanted to help. Sometimes there are people you meet who you could talk to for hours as they just GET your child. For me, you are that person, and I am so incredibly grateful for your time, Lucy.

Parent feedback therapy

The day we were introduced to Lucy was the day things started to change radically for our family. Lucy got it, she immediately understood what our needs where and hatched a plan with us for therapy that worked with us. Our son had reservations about starting therapy but by 5 minutes into our first session I knew we had found our person. Our son interacted with Lucy in such a positive way and she got him, she knew exactly what to do to get the best out of him and put him at ease. She did the same for us and admittedly I was nervous about us in a group session every week bearing out good days / bad days and everything that goes with it. What Lucy also managed to do is come up with strategies that work specifically for us as a family – nothing was one size fits all. And she empowered our son (as well as us) to embrace our situation. I looked forward to each week and miss not going. I really don’t think I’ve met anyone who genuinely cared as much for my son and our family and our wellbeing; while navigating the incredibly interesting, sometimes challenging but mostly rewarding world of neurodivergence in your family. Lucy really is a tremendously talented but also genuine human. I feel so fortunate to have gotten to work with her and for our family to have benefitted from what she gave, and continues to give us (she checks in regularly). Thank you Lucy.

Parent feedback from consultation with Lucy 2022

If we lived close to you, I would give you the biggest ever hug possible! You are an amazing individual and I’m forever grateful to have met you.

Feedback from parent of young person assessed by Lucy and Marianna Murin 2022

Thank you both for the support you gave her, it’s hard to imagine how we lived all that time with an autistic child/young woman without realising, but we’re both so glad that we found you.

Parent feedback of therapy with Lucy

Lucy has always accepted us as a family and never judged us when it has been difficult. Her sessions are amazing! They are always so fun and interactive and we all really look forward to them. Lucy’s reviews and reports are always prompt and insightful. She goes the extra mile if you are having a particular difficulty and is always so willing to give advice. Basically, we don’t know how we would have survived as a family if we hadn’t had the help from her. She is an amazing therapist!

Parent feedback

Lucy is our beam of hope and our biggest help and support. Being a therapist is not just a job for her, but a calling and a passion to help support neurodiverse individuals and give them a much better quality of life. But also to make the world a more inclusive and better place where people are accepting of differences. Lucy is a real gem and we are so lucky to have her in our life.

Parent feedback

Lucy has helped us understand better how our son’s mind might work differently, how hard certain things are for him and how to better cope with these differences and help support him as much as we can. Even more importantly, she has helped him immensely and given him the coping strategies to better handle his day-to-day life. He is a much happier child and thanks to Lucy, he has received so much help at school because she is always there to support and give guidance to the teachers when issues do arise.

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