Nadine Honeybone

I am a mother to one very special child, Tommy, and wife to Alun.

My motherhood journey has not been typical. Tommy lost all development at 15 months and had an early diagnosis of autism at 2, then a learning disability later on. I went online and researched autism, but I didn’t know what was true and what was misinformation. I learnt the hard way about what’s out there to help and guide parents in their journey with autism.

I was told “There is no help at all”, but I looked and found some and started putting them on a spreadsheet which grew quite large. I then decided to share my research and launched The Autism Directory in September 2010 which became a registered charity in September 2011. It’s now quite an organisation after a name change and I continue to be the CEO of the award-winning charity, Autistic Minds.

In my career, I have qualified as a Professional Coach, Master NLP Practitioner and Coach of Broadband Consciousness and delivered many life coaching sessions and programmes. I also consider myself to be a Master Manifester. I have won awards from ’Coach of the Year’ in 2010, ‘Inspiring Woman in the Community’ in 2012, and ‘Specialist Coach of the Year’ in 2013. Then in 2019 a ‘Life Achievement’ award. I was only 54 at the time and remember saying in my acceptance “Thank you but I haven’t finished just yet. There is so much more to do”.

In my professional life, I have 37 years of experience in business management and consulting, having worked with Accenture and the senior management teams of some of the major blue chip companies in the UK, including BT, Prudential and Pfizer. For 4 years I also held a directorship for a London-based consultancy and I continue to run my own business and charity today. My expertise is in developing people and businesses through the management of change; whether that is business change in terms of the people, processes and technology that are required to meet an organisation’s goals or the change that is required to improve someone’s overall experience of life.

More recently in 2020 through 2022 I was diagnosed with Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression and Sleep Deprivation. I was completely broken by the care system and the life we had caring for our son with severe autism and multiple profound learning disabilities. I had hit rock bottom a few times in those years yet managed to keep going. In October 2021 I went so deep that I knew I had to make some decisions about my life if I was going to survive. I eventually found a small light of hope to cling onto and eventually got back to finding myself again.

Finding me again - Who am I?

Well, I am in my late fifties (at the time of writing obvs), and I wear my heart on my sleeve. You know what mood I am in because I can’t fake it. I am an introvert pretending to be an extrovert, and I love my own company but I like to party too as long as there aren’t big crowds.

I have a need for the feeling of achievement and whatever I do needs to have a purpose, whether work, family or social. I am grateful for all the things I achieve each day, the main one being waking up in the morning.

I am trusting of people, I believe they will do things if they say they will (because I do that), and I want to see the best in others and give/receive lots of love and hugs.

A recovering self-critic who once had very little confidence and doubted herself, especially when challenged by others with a different point of view.

A recovering perfectionist who now understands that life is messy, and if you want to live life fully, then you accept it all – the good, the bad and the lessons learnt. On that note, I believe being vulnerable is a great strength.

A recovering rescuer and fixer who wants nothing more than to help others heal, but knows that when I stop trying to rescue or fix and just love, and be present, then healing can begin.