Linda Curran
About Linda
Linda’s background is in the social care sector, working to empower and advocate for and alongside neurodiverse adults. During her career she has mentored social work students, and coached and supervised teams these experiences developed her coaching skills.
Her passion lies in empowering people to reach their full potential by examining their strengths with them and enabling them to develop practice and use strategies in the workplace. She uses various coaching methods to connect with clients in a positive way.
Lynda Freeman
About Lynda
Lynda is an ILM5 certified coach, mentor, and facilitator and has been an associate coach with Genius Within for over 10 years. During that time, she has worked with hundreds of neurodivergent individuals, helping them to identify their strengths and understand their challenges. Lynda has helped them to create long lasting strategies to support them through their constantly changing, fast paced environments they find themselves in.
Lynda began her working life in finance. Her love for coaching came whilst working in Learning and Development and as a performance coach for First Direct. Coaching in a women’s open prison and in women’s refuges took her in a very different direction but gave her an alternative lens to understanding the complexities and nuances of life.
Miranda Pretorius
M.A. in Clinical Psychology
About Miranda
Miranda has been a Clinical Psychologist for the last 30 years. She can deal with all mental health issues as part of her qualification. This includes Major Depression, Bipolar Mood Disorder and Anxiety Disorder. She is particularly interested in helping people with addictions (alcohol and other substances). She also enjoys doing marital therapy as well as family therapy. Her approach is solution-focused, eclectic, and grounded in psychological science.
Miranda also started working for Genius Within as a Life Coach in January this year, dealing with clients who experience workplace difficulties due to ADHD, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Dyslexia, and other disorders under the Neurodiverse umbrella. She previously worked in the EAP field and is au fait with dealing with clients and managers in the workplace. She aims to assist clients to function optimally in the workplace and in general, everyday life.
Morwenna Stewart
About Morwenna
About you: Whether you’re self-diagnosed or formally diagnosed neurodivergent, you can feel intense emotions or burnout. You might not know your strengths or how to manage your energy. Or you might be proud of your neurodivergence and ready for the next career step. Morwenna’s with you all the way – as an AuDHDer herself, parent to an ND adult, and her experience with hundreds of clients.
About Morwenna: Morwenna loves to help you explore identity, strengths, struggles and even any painful bits. Tears and laughter are normal in coaching, but Morwenna prevents sessions from becoming counselling or unfocused chat, and instead keeps you moving towards your goals. Morwenna maintains ethics, boundaries and concrete outcomes, while allowing real emotions and even fun!
Nicole Etienne
MSc Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology
About Nicole
Nicole, an EMCC-accredited Senior Practitioner with over a decade of expertise, empowers professionals to thrive. Nicole specialises in supporting busy professionals who seek to maximize their potential and overcome obstacles. Her coaching extends to both neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals, working effectively in both 1:1 and group settings.
Trauma-informed and holistic in approach, her focus lies on fostering well-being, managing stress, navigating transitions, and building confidence. Drawing upon a diverse background encompassing teaching, care, administration, accounts, HR, sales, and marketing, Nicole brings a well-rounded perspective. For those already engaged in therapy, Nicole offers coaching that aligns with existing therapeutic goals.
Nicole guides individuals toward flourishing with a holistic, solutions-focused approach. Her calm, warm, and supportive presence, weaving evidence-based positive psychology and coaching practices into personalized sessions, helps clients tap into their strengths and navigate challenges with confidence. Nicole offers supervision to coaches.
Rachael Ward
ILM Level 5 in Coaching and Mentoring
About Rachael
Rachael is an experienced Executive Coach who has been a Genius Within associate since 2016. Rachael’s coaching practise focuses on effective communication, well -being and personal effectiveness. There is often crossover in these areas when clients are feeling overwhelmed and are seeking a way of improving focus and productivity and rediscovering what they enjoy about their working life.
With a background in senior leadership in the voluntary sector and lived experience of neuro diversity, Rachael is passionate about supporting Genius Within clients to identify and use their strengths and develop a range of strategies and tools to take them forward in their future careers.
Steve Gardner
MA in Education
About Steve
Steve’s approach to coaching is client-focused i.e., start where the client is; identify needs and offer suitable strategies. It gives him a buzz when he sees people making strides to tackle their issues. He encourages a positive approach, recognising you can’t control others, but you can control your own responses to situations.
Steve has over 6 years coaching experience with Genius Within, and over 20 years senior management experience at 3 different colleges, so he brings extensive experience of working with people at all levels of an organisation. He also has significant teaching experience so enjoys working with groups.
Wes Wade: USA Only
PhD in Candidate, ELPHD, Counseling & Counselor Education, MA in Career Counseling and MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
About Wes
Wesley has a background in business, higher education, mental health, and substance use work. While working as a career coach at a land grant university in the U.S., Wesley co-created and led a career-focused program for autistic students, led 3 statewide career summits for autistic students, and served on planning committees for state-government programs offering paid internships for autistic college students. Wesley is a trained coach, a licensed clinical mental health counselor, a licensed clinical addictions specialist, and a Ph.D. candidate at NC State University in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development with a concentration in Counseling and Counselor Education.
