RWPN

I qualified as a VRS in 2009 and then completed the complex needs BSc(Hons) in 2012 at BCU. I have been a member of the Welsh Rehabilitation Officers Forum (WROF) committee for 10 years and currently chair the forum. I work in the Sensory Team at Bridgend Borough Council.  I am very passionate about the profession and absolutely love my job. I am keen to promote collaborative working bringing Health, Social Care and Third Sector together. I regularly mentor students from BCU and enjoy building and shaping the profession.

I’m a Habilitation Specialist and Vision Team leader in Somerset. I started working with children who have visual impairment in 2006. I completed the ROVI course from Newport University in 2013. In 2015, I moved from the children’s team to Adults Social Care. I then returned to work with Children and young people in Somerset in 2022. I have been a member of the RWPN committee for many years and enjoy helping to be a part of promoting and shaping the future of the profession through this network.

I am a motivated, enthusiastic and experienced Vision Rehabilitation Specialist and an active member of RWPN, having worked in the field of vision impairment for over 25 years and gathered extensive experience in a variety of settings. My knowledge within the field is kept up to date, and I bring warmth and a friendly positive attitude to everything I do, and everyone I have the privilege of working with.  I hope to contribute to any positive changes that we look forward to achieving as a community within the profession. 

I have worked with and for deafblind people for over 37 years, in the Social Care, Charity and the private sector as a Rehab Worker for VI (over 33 years), Deafblind Interpreter, Specialist Assessor and managing deafblind services.  I enjoy enabling and teaching deafblind people and professionals, writing training courses and tutor on the Degree Level - Specialist Assessments and Rehabilitation modules at BCU.

I have been working in the visual impairment sector since 1988 - over 15 years were with RNIB as a braille music transcriber, administrator and arts development worker. 

I qualified as a Vision Rehabilitation Worker in 2005 from BCU and have worked for Bradford Council since then.  

I helped set up RWPN in 2013 along with many of my colleagues on the committee. 

Hi, I’m Kate Laybourne and I’m a qualified Vision Rehabilitation Specialist, working as a Practice Supervisor in Oxfordshire.

I absolutely love this job and feel very privileged to be able to say this after nearly 30 years in the profession. I am pleased to join the committee and to offer my support in any way that I can

I started working in the field of dual sensory loss in the year 2000, first for Sense and then Deafblind UK. I graduated from BCU in 2012 (Rehabilitation Work-Visual Impairment) and embarked on my rehab career with Action on Hearing Loss (RNID) in Milton Keynes before moving to Cambridgeshire County Council where I am currently employed.

I have been qualified since 1996 and worker as a RW in a number of settings including the RNIB for over 22 years and now work for Guide Dogs as an Orientation & Mobility Specialist.  I am passionate about rehab work and have served on the RWPN committee since its inception.