Talks, Workshops & Collaboration
I work with people, organisations, teams, leaders and medical research teams to better understand chronic illness and invisible disability, not as concepts, but as lived experiences that
shape communication, access and belonging.
As a lived experience, dynamically disabled patient living with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), chronic pain and long-term health conditions,
my work sits at the intersection of lived experience, communication and inclusion.
These experiences are not separate from my practice, they inform it.
Through talks, workshops, and consultancy, I share lived experience alongside practical communication strategies that support more inclusive, empathetic, and effective environments.
Talks & Workshops
Engaging, interactive sessions designed to educate, inspire, and build empathy within your team. Topics include:
Invisible illness in the workplace: what your team may not see
Communicating with empathy and clarity
Supporting creativity and wellbeing with chronic conditions
Duration & format can be tailored to your team’s needs.
Consultancy & Insight Sessions
Short advisory sessions providing actionable guidance for organisations, policies, or communications. I help you:
Review internal comms and policies through a lived-experience lens
Improve inclusion and support for employees with chronic or invisible conditions
Build practical strategies for workplace wellbeing and accessibility
Flexible, tailored sessions for teams, HR leads, and leadership groups.
What I help with
I support organisations to move beyond awareness into sustained, meaningful inclusion:
understanding chronic illness and invisible disability in real contexts
improving communication around access and support
creating environments where people can participate fully
embedding inclusion into everyday practice, not one-off initiatives
This work is not about awareness alone.
It is about what lasts.
My work is also informed by co-founding the CEMS ACCESS (Advocacy, Community, Care, Empathy, Support, Sharing) network, where I support and advocate for students and alumni navigating chronic conditions across an international network.
I bring a warm, creative and lightly unconventional approach to all my work as conversations about serious topics don’t have to be heavy to have an impact. I enjoy using humour, storytelling and a touch of whimsy to make complex, serious topics land in a way people actually remember.
How I work
My work is grounded in a narrative systems approach and I begin with lived experience and how people actually move through systems and frameworks and where those things work and where they don't.
From there, I translate those experiences into real impact and insight about how systems function in practice so I can bring clarity, connection and momentum into complex human conversations.
I help people understand things quickly and gently but more importantly, I focus on what happens next.
Because real inclusion is not created in a single moment of insight.
It is built in what is carried forward.
What I do
1. Listen to lived experience
Understanding how people experience work, communication and support in real life, not just how it is intended.
2. Identify the system underneath
Looking at the structures, processes and assumptions shaping those experiences.
3. Find the gaps
Where intention and reality don’t align and where friction, confusion, or exclusion emerges.
4. Translate into action
Turning those insights into practical, human-centred ways of improving communication, access and inclusion.
My approach is grounded in:
depth without pressure
clarity without oversimplification
change that is integrated, not immediate
This isn’t about one-off insight or surface-level change.
It’s about understanding how inclusion is experienced over time, in those everyday interactions, decisions and communication.
I don’t just look at what organisations say they do.
I look at what people actually experience.
Lorraine has a way of changing the very foundations of how a community functions. Working with Lorraine has been transformative. She brings creativity and clarity to the CEMS community with a profound understanding of how chronic illness reshapes connection, confidence, and belonging.
Lorraine was instrumental in co-launching our support group, CEMS ACCESS (CEMS for Advocacy, Community, Care, Empathy, Support, Sharing) for students and alumni living with chronic health conditions. We are very happy that the impact of this important work has gone far beyond what we initially scoped out. She possesses a rare gift: the ability to balance raw human reality with pragmatic communication, translating lived experience into something accessible, respectful, and deeply meaningful. In a world of surface-level gestures, Lorraine is the real deal. Her work is an act of care rooted in listening. She has not just helped us communicate better—she’s helped us think differently. Every strategy is grounded in deep listening and genuine respect. She has fundamentally shifted how we engage with our community. For any organisation looking to move beyond 'inclusion' as a buzzword and toward true, thoughtful engagement with disability and lived experience, we highly suggest collaborating with Lorraine. She continues to be an asset to any team and community; I could not recommend her more.
-Melissa Morelet-Weaver
Alumni Relations Manager, CEMS Global Office, CEMS Global Alliance in Management Education
Who I work with & why this matters
I work with people, organisations, teams, leaders and research environments who are genuinely committed to improving how they understand and support people living with chronic illness and invisible disability.
This often includes education, workplace inclusion, healthcare, and community-focused organisations who recognise that inclusion is not just a principle, it is something people experience in practice, over time.
Many organisations want to do the right thing, which is important. But without real insight into lived experience, even well-intentioned approaches can fall short or remain surface-level.
My work helps bridge that gap and moves them from intention to understanding and from understanding to something that can be sustained in real environments.
This work is done thoughtfully and sustainably.
Not everything needs to be solved at once for things to meaningfully improve.
When you’d like to explore a tailored session or consultancy for your organisation, I’d love to hear from you.