The people behind the conversations…….

Hi, I'm Carmen, a registered mental health nurse with 17 years of experience working with children, young people, and the families who love them. I've spent the majority of my career in CAMHS, and what has never left me is a genuine fascination with families, the patterns, the connections, the invisible threads that run between the people we love most.

My specialist interest is in family systems, understanding how the way we relate to each other shapes how we feel, how we cope, and how we grow. I have particular expertise in family-based approaches to eating difficulties, and I'm currently completing my training as a Systemic Family Practitioner, which brings together everything I've come to believe about how change really happens….not in isolation, but in relationship.

Simply Calm exists because I kept meeting families who were struggling but didn't meet the threshold for statutory services. They weren't being let down through any lack of care, the system is just stretched. But those families still needed support, information, and someone to say: what you're navigating is hard, and there are things that can genuinely help. That's exactly what Simply Calm is here to offer.

When I'm not working, you'll most likely find me at the gym, I love weightlifting! Being out on a caravaning trip, or making the most of time with my family and friends. Being a parent myself has only deepened my respect for how much families take on, and how much difference the right support at the right time can make.

‍ ‍Alison Thompson

I'm Alison, I work as a nurse specialist in CAMHS, and I can honestly say it's where I found my flow! I bring both professional knowledge and lived understanding to everything I do. I know what it feels like to be a young person who is misunderstood, and I know what it means to a family when someone finally sees what's really going on.

If I'm honest, I was not the easiest teenager. I struggled at school, not because I couldn't do the work, but because I didn't fit the mould. I was restless, resistant, and couldn't quite work out where I belonged. Looking back now, through everything I've learned professionally and personally, I'm pretty sure a lot of that came down to being neurodiverse.

Things shifted when I became a parent. Something clicked into place…a sense of direction I hadn't had before. I threw myself into education, completed a business degree, and then went on to do a master's in mental health nursing. It wasn't the traditional route, and I'm glad it wasn't. Every step of it shaped the kind of practitioner I've become.

Simply Calm exists because knowledge changes families. We created it because we believe that when parents truly understand what's happening for their child, the relationship strengthens, the conflict eases, and hope returns. Our mission is simple — to empower families with the education and understanding they need to find their own calm.

Outside of work I'm happiest surrounded by my husband and our kids (and the pets!), being outside in the fresh air. I love music, going to the gym, and I have a regular yoga and meditation practice that keeps me grounded something I'd have laughed at as a teenager, but here we are!!!