About Us
We deliver inclusive, autistic-led creative sessions, building friendships and creating accessible spaces for neurodivergent people.
Our approach is centred around understanding, acceptance, and community. We believe everyone deserves a place where they feel valued and heard, and we’re passionate about creating opportunities for meaningful social interaction, creativity, and personal growth in a relaxed, supportive environment.
Who We Are
We use creativity, storytelling and tabletop roleplay to build community, connection and key skills with neurodivergent and disabled individuals. We deliver regular groups for neurodivergent folks, as well as touring sessions for mixed groups to arts and literature festivals across the East Midlands.
All our practitioners and board members have lived experience of neurodivergence, and we are passionate about providing spaces for community and connection which work for the neurodivergent brain.
Led by lived experience
Autistic and disabled people shape everything we do, from leadership to facilitation.
Access comes first
Our sessions are built around real sensory, communication and access needs - not added as an afterthought.
Stories that centre us
We create worlds where autistic and disabled voices lead, feel belonging and thrive.
Our Approach
All our sessions are affirming and inclusive, delivered by, for and with neurodivergent and disabled people. Our expert practitioners are highly trained, trauma-informed and DBS-checked, and we aim to deliver high-quality storytelling, improvisation and artistic intention within the TTRPG space.
We offer flexible participation and aim to make all our sessions free or donation-based wherever possible to enable access to our work. Our sessions allow a structured environment, where neurodivergent people access an activity in order to encourage and enable social interaction without the pressure (or irritation!) of small talk and unstructured time.
Our Team
Via Macnab
Artistic Director
Via is a highly experienced freelance facilitator, performer, writer and speaker. They deliver drama and storytelling workshops with neurodivergent and disabled folks, working with companies like Bamboozle and Toolbox Drama; as well as being autistic themselves. They also have more than 6 years experience playing TTRPGs.
As well as telling stories, Via likes knitting, music, and making good food; and they are constantly fascinated by the world around them and all there is to learn and do.
Laurie Mahon
Lead Facilitator
Laurie is an experienced game master, with more than 5 years experience as a GM. He’s also a published author, and has been telling stories and playing games for most of his life. He’s autistic and has completed an MA in Autism at Sheffield Hallam University.
As well as D&D, Laurie loves video games, shows with detailed lore, and rambling about the above; and firmly believes in the healing power of a cuddle with a cat and a good cup of tea.
Sully Brown
Practitioner
Via is a highly experienced freelance facilitator, performer, writer and speaker. They deliver drama and storytelling workshops with neurodivergent and disabled folks, working with companies like Bamboozle and Toolbox Drama; as well as being autistic themselves. They also have more than 6 years experience playing TTRPGs.
As well as telling stories, Via likes knitting, music, and making good food; and they are constantly fascinated by the world around them and all there is to learn and do.
Malachi Heritage
Practitioner
Hi, I'm Mal, and I am a practitioner and a very active and avid D&D player, who has been playing for nearly four years. Although the jobs I have done do not relate to the drama world, I have plenty of experience working with neurodivergent people throughout my drama degree, and will be there to help through things at the table.
As well as D&D, Mal is a huge gamer and a big fan of fantasy/science fiction TV, as well as anything with a rich storyline, and loves to learn about people and the wider world about.
Neil Macnab
Trustee
Hey! I’m Neil, Heritage Team Lead within a Global Multi-disciplinary Design Consultancy, leading a team of 25 staff who specialise in archaeology, built heritage, conservation architecture and historic landscape.
Neil is a trustee on our board, and brings extensive experience around heritage, the environment, inclusion, ethics, management of teams, projects and budgets, managing risk and health and safety, as well as public outreach and engagement, reaching hard to reach groups and evaluation techniques.
Outside of work, Neil is interested in films, tv, walking, music and travel. Neil loves playing guitar, being the lead guitarist and singer in a classic British rock and metal band called Pig Iron, with original writing credits for songs on major streaming platform, such as Angels of Iron, Kickin’ The Sunbeams, Cyclone and Depth Charge.
Dr. Clare Lawrence
Trustee
Hello. I’m Clare Lawrence, an autistic academic, teacher and writer. I work as an Associate Professor, researching how we can understand and share autistic lived experience more successfully, often through using arts-based and accessible approaches such as those explored by CAT.
Clare is a trustee on our board, and brings decades of experience of participatory research about autism, a host of lived experience, and understanding of funding, research and ethics.
Clare also enjoys writing, painting and drawing, making things from everything from clay to pieces of string and using that same string to play with her two very badly behaved (but much-adored) cats.
Owain Reynolds
Trustee
Hello, I’m Owain. I am an Autistic individual with a background in SEND, and experience of working in various educational, institutional and community settings.
Owain is a trustee on our board, and brings lived experience, deep connections to gaming communities in the East Midlands, and an understanding of the intersections of neurodivergence and other disabilities; as well as experience in a variety of support systems. You may see Owain on occasion to support our practitioners, assisting at tables and events.
Owain is a true gaming nerd – as well as D&D, he has an avid fascination with Magic: The Gathering and various other fantasy based games, whether tabletop, card or computer.
TTRPGs: What and why?
Tabletop Roleplaying games grew in the 1970s with the emergence of Dungeons and Dragons and a heritage in wargames. They have since developed into a tool for improvisation, storytelling and community.
For the nerds – We usually play Dungeons and Dragons (2014) rules, or an adapted version of them, and usually play loosely within the Forgotten Realms.
During a TTRPG session, participants perform as a character throughout the game. They have the option to speak as the character (though they don’t have to) and they describe the actions and interactions that the character is taking. This enables us to tell engaging stories and “rehearse” different interactions and relationships within the safety of fiction, as well as exploring consequences, new concepts and alternate identities.
There is a rule system which explains what your character can or cannot do, and for most actions you describe you will need to roll a dice to determine whether the action succeeds or fails.