Board of Trustees
Sue Archdall
Chairperson
Sue is a mum of two, whose eldest daughter has ASD. When she started a home ABA programme in April 2014, she saw immediate results and became an instant advocate for ABA. Sue has worked as a programme manager for graduate trainees and as a journalist. In her spare time, she established a network for employees with disabilities and those with disabled family members. She has a Masters in Human Resources, a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and a BA in International Relations and Psychology. Sue first became involved with Focus South London which her daughter attended, and was very excited to get the opportunity to launch Focus Surrey in September 2016. Sue has volunteered as the Saturday club's Operations Manager since September 2016 as well as chair of trustees from May 2018.
June Goh
Trustee
June is a parent carer of a young adult son with autism who has been in a specialist ABA placement since he was 6 years old. She is experienced and trained in SEND advocacy and is a volunteer at SOSSEN, a SEND charity based in Richmond. Her role involves advising parents/carers at their advice centres and helplines, drafting documents for appeals or attending mediation/meetings with them. June has a degree in Chemistry and Economics, was self-employed as a leatherwear designer, has been a school governor, is nearly completing a law degree and is enjoying being a grandmother!
Kath Kelly
Trustee
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Kath's 9-year-old daughter has a diagnosis of ASD and ADHD. Kath has been running an ABA home schooling programme since 2017 and has watched her daughter thrive ever since. Kath is a successful advocate for ABA. She enrolled her daughter into Focus Surrey in 2020 to assist with her socialisation. Having seen the energetic, inspiring, uplifting and extremely well run Saturday playgroup - Kath immediately volunteered. Through Focus Surrey, Kath would like to share her experience with other families and hopes to empower them with knowledge and strategies that have helped with the progress of her own child. Kath is Director Of Licensing , Warner Music and has been with the company for 30 years. Following Kath's own love and involvement with music, along with her own daughter's first communication through song, Kath acted on this and enrolled her daughter in Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy sessions. Kath plays an active role as ambassador for the charity. Often making speeches at corporate events to raise money. Kath is also on hand for interviews regarding charity awareness.
Lisa Masarati
Trustee
Lisa has been working in education for the past 15 years, with the last 9 years working with SEN in a number of different roles. She currently works as a SENCO in mainstream schools and recently completed a post graduate qualification - the National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination. Lisa's commitment to supporting pupils with special educational needs has been strengthened by having a son with Autism. When he was 3, they began a home ABA program. This approach was particularly effective in enabling her son to acquire skills that he had really struggled with previously, such as motivating him and getting his attention. Lisa is passionate about sharing her experiences of ABA with other parents and is really proud to be a trustee of Focus Surrey. Through Focus, it is her aim that more families will be introduced to an ABA approach and parents will be given the knowledge and confidence to implement some of the strategies and see progress with their own child.
Hoi Rimington
Trustee
Hoi has been working at home as an ABA tutor with her teenage daughter for a year. This involved applying Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) on a daily basis to develop her daughter's life skills, communication skills and reading and practical maths. Hoi gave a talk at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists’ Clinical Excellence Network for SLTs with an Interest in ABA Study Day, to share her personal experience as a parent as well as an ABA tutor, especially during the period of the first UK Lockdown in 2020. "I feel passionate what I am doing as an ABA tutor," Hoi said. Hoi would like to support other parents of children with ASD by sharing her own personal experience as a mother of a child with ASD as well as her experience being an ABA tutor. Focus Surrey will also benefit from Hoi's professional skills as an accountant. Hoi has worked as an accountant for more than 10 years.
Amanda West
Trustee
Amanda has supported Focus Surrey from its inception, being part of the support crew at its first Dragon Boat fundraiser! Full of energy, she has worked tirelessly to support Focus Surrey from undertaking reference checks, to proof reading and helping to register Focus Surrey with the Charity Commission. She is a hands on trustee with a can do attitude! Amanda has a long history of raising money for charity and supporting charitable initiatives including Marie Curie; Cancer Research UK; BBC Children in Need and has even shaved her head for the Royal Marsden cancer campaign. Amanda has undertaken a wide variety of jobs including data analyst, examiner, teaching English as a foreign language, working on a kibbutz and working with children with learning difficulties. Her social awareness and degree in Psychology gives her a keen eye for detail and broad social understanding which makes her an asset to Focus Surrey.
Tracey
Tibbals
Trustee
Tracey has around 25 years of experience working with children with autism and related language delays. Whilst at university, she worked as a tutor on a home programme for a young boy. After tutoring on two further ABA programmes, Tracey joined Rainbow School, an ABA school in London, working her way up to senior supervisor/consultant. Tracey has worked with children with a range of different needs and abilities including ASD, ADHD, emotional and behavioural difficulties and Global Developmental Delay. She has a Masters in Applied Behaviour Analysis from Bangor University and is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst.
Louise Simon
Trustee
Louise first volunteered with Focus Surrey whilst she was in high school. After meeting, playing and interacting with the children at Focus, she discovered her joy for working with children with speech, language and communication needs. She began working with children with autism as a personal assistant, and went on to study Speech and Language Therapy at The University of Sheffield. "I chose to do a degree in Speech and Language Therapy- a career I had never heard of before volunteering at Focus!" Louise graduated in 2023 and began working as a Speech and Language Therapist for children with acquired brain injury and profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). Throughout her time at university, Louise continued to support Focus as an administrator. After graduating from university, Louise returned to support the club in-person, with operations as well as volunteering alongside the children, and continues to support with administration.
Sam Rahman
Trustee
Sam is a mum to two boys and was first introduced to ABA when looking for therapies to support her older son after he was diagnosed with ASD. She started a home programme with him and could immediately see how effective it was at teaching the skills that didn't come naturally to him. Her son enjoys attending Focus Surrey. Sam can see the benefits he gains from it and wants to help other families access this kind of support. Sam has always had an interest in languages and has a degree in French studies. Her background is business development and marketing in the legal world, but when her children were younger, she worked for a couple of years at a school for children with communication difficulties. Her particular focus was on speech and language therapy, and she found it so rewarding to support young people with their development, and particularly with their communication skills.
Tom Rasey
Trustee
Tom has been volunteering with Focus since 2017. He was originally motivated to join as there is autism in the family. He continues to volunteer because of the enjoyment he gets from the excuse to be a big kid, but mainly because of the results he has seen and the changes Focus has made to many lives. In his professional career, he is a chartered accountant and has been working in finance for over 10 years. Before becoming a trustee he transferred some of these skills and started helping in the charity's finances and budgeting.