Robert Lenton

Contact: robert@lenton.myzen.co.uk

Background

My career in the care and support sector started when I joined the National Schizophrenia Fellowship – now known as Rethink – as a volunteer. During the 5 years that followed, my role expanded to include offering support on a crisis helpline, advocacy, facilitating a hearing voices support group and offering support and becoming a trainer in suicide intervention. In this role I began to learn and understand that listening, as distinct from simply hearing, is indispensable to and fundamental to providing effective support.

Since then, I have taken numerous roles within the support sector, predominately within universities. These include more than 600 hours of mentoring disabled students with diagnoses of neurodivergence and/or mental health conditions. I have also been employed as a university disability advisor, specialising in supporting students with diagnoses of autism spectrum and mental health difficulties. During that time, I set up and managed the university’s mentoring service while also providing supervision for mentors.

Since 2012, I have been a Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA) needs assessor and also a workplace needs assessor. This has allowed me to broaden not just my understanding of neurodiverse and mental health conditions, but also what can assist people both in higher education and employment. Alongside my developing career in support, I was also developing my academic career. This involved doctoral research into philosophical attempts to explain the formation of our sense of self, with emphasis upon disruptions to that process that might culminate in uncertainty about personal identity, particularly in relation to others.

What I offer

My aim as a coach and mentor is to offer support to clients with diagnoses of neurodivergence or for whom neurodivergence is suspected but before a diagnostic assessment has been completed. My support with difficulties in the workplace and the university includes providing a setting in which clients feel free and confident to explore and make sense of their experiences. Alongside this we will aim to find solutions to difficulties. These solutions will validate and preserve personal identity. They will also identify and build upon personal strengths that enable adaptation to employment and academic contexts in which neurodiversity might not be understood. My approach entails acknowledging that the client is the expert upon their personal experience and listening to their story while prompting and guiding further exploration as we seek a path forwards.

I offer a free-of-charge 30-minute session to discuss ways forward, with no obligations thereafter. I support clients remotely, principally using MS. Teams and Zoom.

Who I Support

Private clients - 18+
Employment/Employees/Employers and Access to Work
Students in higher education
Anxiety and depression
Pre-diagnosis / Post-diagnosis (helping people to either come to a decision about going for an assessment or support thereafter)