At the time of her award nomination, Anya was studying for a HNC in complementary therapies. Her background was in sports and leisure management but when her son had to leave mainstream school due to autism and challenging behaviour, as a single parent she had to step back from her career and find a job to fit around his needs. Initially she started a dog walking business but when her son reached 18, Anya decided to retrain as a therapist, knowing first-hand how complementary therapies had helped her to manage ankylosing spondylitis, a condition that is part of the rheumatoid arthritis family. Anya found going back into education daunting, not least because she also discovered she had dyslexia, dyscalculia and other traits of ADHD. But with incredible support from Ayrshire College, Anya has now progressed onto a HND and aspires to open a multi-disciplined healing centre.  

And many congratulations to our finalist for this award, Tina Wilkinson. 

Please revisit our blog at 3pm this afternoon, when we’ll be announcing our 2020 FHT Tutor of the Year!