‘Being believed is the starting point’: How lived experience, listening and leadership shape Lucy Leppington-Green’s work in autism services

Ahead of International Women’s Day 2026, Head of Autism Services Lucy Leppington-Green reflects on the work of BeU Norfolk and BeU North Yorkshire, drawing on her lived experience as a parent and practitioner to show how acceptance, psychological safety and meaningful support can change the direction of a person’s life.

How I got here

There are moments in life that quietly shape everything that comes after them. For me, one of those moments happened years ago on a placement at the Ellis Centre, a mental health service. I worked with people experiencing psychosis, trauma and often undiagnosed or unsupported autism. I remember leaving each day thinking the same thing — you have no idea what someone is going through until you slow down and actually listen.

Around the same time, I also did a placement at Mencap, the UK charity advocating for people with learning disabilities. Supporting that cohort of people brought me so much joy, and it really strengthened my passion for advocating for people with learning disabilities and ensuring their voices were heard.

By then, I was working in a GP practice, where I had progressed to nurse lead and held responsibility as the learning disability lead for the surgery. The experiences I brought back from my two placements stayed with me. I had a strong sense of justice that kept pulling toward people who weren’t being properly listened to or understood. This instinct continues to underpin the way I lead today – with heart and conviction.

My sense of justice grew even stronger when my son was born. From around six months old, I began noticing little things — repeated movements and behaviours that I recognised as consistent with characteristics of autism. For years I questioned myself, feeling unheard as his teachers didn’t see what I was seeing. As he grew older and began to struggle at school, it became clear he needed better understanding and support. When the assessment finally confirmed he was autistic, I remember crying with relief — not because anything about him had changed, but because someone had finally recognised what I had always known.

Despite everything I’ve learned professionally, nothing has shaped me more than becoming a parent to an autistic child and fighting to make sure his needs were understood. It’s why I lead the way I do now, making sure no one has to push that hard just to be heard.

Lucy Leppington-Green said,

“I’ve lived that feeling of shouting into the void, knowing something is real and still not being believed. Belief should be the starting point, not something people must earn.”

What I do – and why it matters

As Head of Autism Services, I have operational oversight of our BeU North Yorkshire and BeU Norfolk services. BeU North Yorkshire delivers autism assessments for children and young people aged 4–18, while BeU Norfolk provides assessments for adults aged 18+ and a pre-assessment support service – the first of its kind in East Anglia

Our services are fair and flexible with targeted inclusion pathways, fully accessible environments and neuro-affirming access at every stage. We pay attention to the details that many systems overlook, like dimmable lighting, quiet keyboards, visual supports, easy-read formats and tailored communication. We believe no request is too big, and there’s nothing we won’t consider to ensure our service is accessible and inclusive. For example, our team trained in Makaton, a communication programme that uses speech, signs and symbols together to reduce barriers for people who find spoken language difficult, so communication is never a reason someone cannot participate.

We empower everyone around a child or adult to understand neurodiversity — parents and carers, teachers and SENCOs, community organisations and professionals who want more confidence. That’s why we’ve contributed to local delivery under the national Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme, co-producing content with an autistic young person to help schools identify and understand early signs of autism.

Our teams are small but deeply specialist – psychologists, mental health nurses, assistant psychologists, administrators and navigation support workers — and some colleagues have lived experience of autism. I am proud of the culture we have built together. Psychological safety sits at the centre of it. Staff know they can be honest, vulnerable and curious. They know their ideas matter. They know mistakes are part of how we grow, not something to be feared. That environment means we’re always looking for creative new approaches to best support the people who need us.

In Norfolk, our dedicated adult navigation team supports people through challenges like burnout, employment and relationships. Waiting for a formal assessment can be a daunting and uncertain time for many, so we help people build stability, strategies and confidence long before diagnosis. No one should have to wait years to get support when there are things we can do today to make life more manageable.

A career highlight for me was seeing our North Yorkshire team shortlisted as finalists for The Great Autism Practice Award. For me, this recognised the heart of what we do – going far beyond assessments to genuinely listen, advocate and support. Families come to us at their most vulnerable – so we’ve strengthened our waiting-well offer and co-developed resources for children and their families to ensure our service genuinely improves people’s lives, long after they’ve left our service.

Moments that stay with me

What stays with me are the people who’ve spent years trying to cope alone, and what happens when someone finally listens.

One young woman had spent years masking. Like many autistic girls and women, she had perfected the art of coping quietly — adapting to social norms, copying facial expressions and body language, working twice as hard to appear neurotypical — and it left her exhausted. After receiving her diagnosis, she told us she finally understood herself. She understood why she spent so much time practicing social interactions in the mirror and ‘perfecting’ her behaviour. Finally, she felt like she had permission to stop pretending. She applied for her first job and got it. Her whole perspective had shifted.

In our North Yorkshire service, we worked with a seven-year-old boy whose mum told us she felt like she had been “fighting the system” and failing her child. She carried so much worry and guilt on her shoulders. When she arrived at BeU, she received needs-led support. She joined parenting workshops. After her son was diagnosed, he received personalised recommendations to support him in managing challenges, and they were able to leave our service with tools and understanding. She wrote to us to say, “My beautiful, unique, brave boy is getting help at last. I can’t thank you enough.”

These stories are just a snapshot of the incredible people we meet on our pathway. I’m continually in awe of their strength and resilience as they navigate a system that can feel overwhelming. And I get it. I’ve lived some of that myself, and it’s why I’m so determined that families who come to us feel listened to.

Lucy Leppington-Green added,

“I’ve watched people breathe differently when they’re finally seen without judgement. It’s not that they change — it’s that the world around them finally catches up to who they already were.”

What Give to Gain means to me

Give to Gain feels very close to my own leadership philosophy. Giving doesn’t have to be loud or dramatic. Most of the time, it looks like time, patience and encouragement. It looks like making space for people to speak honestly and creating an atmosphere where people know they can be themselves.

When I give those things to my team, I gain trust, creativity and ideas I could not have reached alone. When we give families acceptance and understanding, we gain the truth of their lives and a partnership rather than a process. And when we give children and adults room to be authentic to who they are, we gain a person who finally feels able to show up as themselves. And that is where meaningful change begins.

If you’d like to learn more about our work or access support, you can visit BeU North Yorkshire at https://beunorthyorkshire.co.uk and BeU Norfolk at https://beunorfolk.co.uk.