Who wrote it, and who drew it

The people behind it

Yasmin A Darling

Hello, I am Yasmin. I am an equitable education, neuroinclusion and SEND consultant, rights based and psychodynamically informed. I am a mixed race, disabled, neurodivergent woman and parent carer, and I have worked with children, young people and families since 1995.

I wrote The Freedom Approach in direct response to the absence of education and community for young people whose disability and difference meant they could not attend school, usually despite great efforts to do so.

I was twice graded Outstanding by Ofsted as a registered early years provider, in 2013 and 2014. I am a former early years SENCO, a registered LAMDA Head of Centre, and the founder of a national autism support group of over 350 members. I am multi award winning, including Winner of the Purple Pioneer award at the Scope Disability Equality Awards 2026, for this work, and joint winner of Newcomer of the Year at the Nursery World Awards 2014. The full list is available on request.

I am in postgraduate training in psychological therapies with children, young people and families at the Tavistock and Portman. I am in training, not qualified, and I am not a therapist, a counsellor, a psychologist or a social worker.

My qualifications

A Postgraduate Diploma in Psychoanalytic Observational Studies, Merit, awarded by the University of East London and taught at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. A Postgraduate Certificate in Autism with Distinction from Sheffield Hallam University. A BA Honours in English and Theatre Studies. A Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce from Pearson Edexcel. Level 3 Forest School Programme Leadership.

I have trained other professionals since 2007, and I am the founder and director of Neuroverse Community CIC, the not for profit where the approach runs every week. My consultancy, Yasmin A Darling Consultancy Ltd, owns The Freedom Approach and its sister frameworks.

I also teach one to one LAMDA lessons online, open to every young person. They follow The Freedom Approach and show the approach in practice with one young person at a time.

Read more about the consultancy.

Every creature on this site was drawn by Evie-Lola Minney, who illustrated the Neurodictionary and the collection of characters that runs through The Freedom Approach. Her creatures are patterned, playful and never the same twice, which is the point. They are used here with her written permission and with her credit on every page that carries them.