About AshDHD Training

Key Takeaways

  • Discover our "Lived Experience, Professional Practice" model.
  • Learn why our founder's story makes our frameworks more effective.
  • Understand how our systems align with Ofsted expectations.
  • See how we partner with commissioners and multi-site providers.

Trying to manage quality across multiple services or providers is hard. But it's even harder when your training partners don't understand the real, day-to-day pressure your staff are under.

We're here to fix that.

AshDHD Training was founded on a simple, powerful idea: the best-practice frameworks should be built by people who have lived the care experience.

Our founder, Ash, combines her frontline experience as a children's home assistant manager with her personal, lived experience of growing up in the care system.

We don't do "textbook" training. We build practical, evidence-based systems like SPARK Care™ and SWIFT+R™ that are rooted in a reality you can't learn from a book.

We are the bridge between policy and the frontline.

Frameworks Built from Lived Experience

Our approach is what makes us different. Because our founder is neurodivergent (ADHD) and grew up in care, our frameworks are designed to fix the gaps she experienced firsthand.

This isn't just our "origin story"; it's our core methodology.

Why Lived Experience Matters

Most training fails because it doesn't connect with the staff or the young people. Our "Lived Experience, Professional Practice" model ensures our systems are:

  • Authentic: They are trauma-informed because they're built by someone who has experienced that trauma.
  • Practical: They are built for the frontline by someone who was on the frontline for 5 years from residential worker to assistant manager.
  • Effective: They connect with neurodiverse staff and children because they're designed by a neurodivergent founder.

Who We Work With

Our frameworks are designed for leaders who need to drive real, consistent change. We build strategic partnerships with:

  • Multi-Site Providers: You need to embed a uniform, high-quality standard across all your services. We give you a system built from the ground up to be practical and repeatable.
  • Local Authority Commissioners & QA Teams: You need to see measurable improvement and consistent practice. We provide frameworks that are grounded in authentic understanding, helping you manage risk and validate quality.
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Our Values and Unmatched Expertise

Our mission is to ensure every child in care is supported by staff who are confident, consistent and truly understand them. Our founder, Ash Derges, is the heart of our expertise, her journey is our "why."

Lived Experience:

"I grew up as a 'care kid.' I know what it feels like when systems fail, when staff are inconsistent and when good intentions aren't enough. I saw the gaps from the inside."

Professional Experience:

"I spent 5 years in a council children's home, moving up the ranks from support worker to ACM. I managed the teams, I dealt with the crises and I saw firsthand why generic training doesn't stick."

My "Why" - The AshDHD Mission:

"As someone with ADHD, I thrive on structure and clarity. I founded AshDHD to give teams the practical, repeatable frameworks I know they need to feel supported, reduce burnout and provide the consistency our children deserve."

 

▷ Ready to build calmer, more consistent care through evidence-based frameworks?

Book a free consultation with Ash today and discover how trauma-responsive, neurodiversity-smart training can transform your team’s confidence, consistency and inspection outcomes.

Latest Blogs

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24.11.25
Reducing Meltdowns in Autistic Children Through Predictability
You need to know why your current strategies aren't stopping the escalation and how to implement low-arousal predictability that actually works across a multi-staff team.
23.11.25
Barriers to ND Adaptation in Care Staff: Why It Happens and How to Fix It
You can have the best care plans in the file, but they are useless if your floor staff refuse to execute them. Managing a team that clings to "old school" punitive methods while you try to implement trauma-informed care is exhausting. It creates a toxic cycle: the child escalates, staff respond with rigidity, the placement breaks down, and you are left explaining the failure to OFSTED and the LANT
21.11.25
Predictable Routines to Reduce ND Meltdowns in Residential Care
Managing a home where escalations are the norm is unsustainable for your staff and traumatic for the children. You deal with sudden aggression, property damage, and the constant, exhausting anticipation of the next crisis. This isn't just "challenging behavior" - it's a physiological response to a world that feels chaotic and unsafe. You need more than patience; you need a structural framework that stabilizes the environment before a meltdown even begins.