Meet the Team

Carolyn Tailford BEM is a Senior Accredited (SCoPEd Tier 3) pluralistic therapist, clinical supervisor, and the Founder and Director of A Safe Space to Be Me. As a late-diagnosed neurodivergent woman with ADHD and Autism, Carolyn brings a rare combination of lived experience, specialist clinical expertise, and a deep personal commitment to changing the landscape of support for neurodivergent people and their families. Her journey into this work began over twenty years ago when one of her sons, then just four years old, received a diagnosis of severe ADHD, at a time when very little understanding or support existed. After a medical crisis that could have changed their family forever, Carolyn made a promise to her then seven-year-old child: that she would make the world a better place for children like him, and adults like her, who had spent too long without the support they needed. That promise became the foundation of "A Safe Space to Be Me". In 2006, Carolyn began training to be a psychotherapist. Then in 2017, started the charity all the while building in specialisms in ADHD, Autism, trauma, long-term health conditions, emotional and disordered eating and most recently adding psychosexual psychotherapist to the list of specialisms. Her practice is neuroaffirming, trauma-informed, and grounded in the belief that "no one is fundamentally broken, that with the right environment, people can reconnect with their strengths, identity, and capacity for healing". As Director, Carolyn has guided the organisation from a small local initiative to an award-winning mental health charity. Under her leadership, A Safe Space to Be Me received *The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest honour for charities in the UK, equivalent to an MBE. Carolyn herself was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2022 New Year’s Honours for outstanding services to the community. She has also secured substantial National Lottery Community Fund grants, developed accredited CPD programmes, mentored student and qualified counsellors, and led Crumlin Community Hub to become a respected centre for community mental health. Since launching its first ADHD service in 2024, the charity has provided *life-changing support to well over 1,000 people with ADHD in just eighteen months*, including families who, like Carolyn’s, had previously fallen through the gaps of existing systems. Her vision is to build the support structures that she once needed herself, accessible, ethical, community-rooted, and shaped by real lived experience. Carolyn combines professional depth with personal understanding, creating a therapeutic and organisational ethos that is safe, compassionate, and unashamedly human. She continues to champion systemic change, guided by the same promise she made two decades ago, one that still fuels the heart of the charity today.