Jesse James is the Managing Director of The Aspen Clinic and brings extensive leadership experience along with a passion for delivering excellence. Jesse brings a strong background in healthcare management, strategic development and operational leadership with a career in healthcare spanning over 20 years. Jesse is committed to driving innovation and ensuring the highest standards of service for clients and patients alike.

Under Jesse’s leadership, The Aspen Clinic has expanded services and introduced new initiatives, reflecting his vision for combining operational excellence with compassionate, client focused care.

Outside of work, Jesse enjoys family time and is a keen home cook. He enjoys community engagement and outdoor activities such as bike riding, bringing the same energy and dedication to his personal pursuits as he does to his professional role.

Dr. Patwardhan is a Consultant Psychiatrist with a special interest in the assessment and management of ADHD and other neurodevelopmental conditions . His clinical practice is grounded in evidence-based assessment and ongoing care, with a strong emphasis on providing thorough, thoughtful assessments. While developing treatment plans that are responsive to everyone’s unique needs and circumstances. He is particularly passionate about supporting patients in understanding their diagnoses, exploring treatment options, and making informed choices through a process of shared decision-making.

Recognising that mental health is influenced by a wide range of biological, psychological, and social factors, Dr. Patwardhan adopts a holistic and compassionate approach to care. He is dedicated to building collaborative and trusting relationships with his patients, ensuring that they feel listened to and supported at every stage of their journey. Beyond his specialist focus on ADHD, he also works with a broad spectrum of mental health conditions.

As an advocate for inclusivity in mental healthcare, Dr. Patwardhan places particular importance on creating an affirming environment for LGBTQ+ individuals. His commitment extends to ensuring that services are accessible, respectful, and empowering, helping each patient to feel safe.

Kimberley Cairns is a values-driven leader serving as Director of Engagement and Business Development at Aspen. A proud member of the British Psychological Society, she brings a rare blend of strategic insight, lived experience, and deep compassion to her work across the charity, health, and regulatory sectors.

Kimberley is a passionate advocate for equitable mental health, not just in principle, but in practice. She works at the intersection of community engagement, policy influence, and service transformation, challenging systems that overlook or underserve vulnerable groups. Her work is grounded in trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming values, and she is committed to ensuring that care is not only clinically sound, but culturally safe and emotionally intelligent. Kimberley leads with clarity, courage, and care. Her mission is simple but urgent: to create systems where no one is left behind, and where every person is seen, heard, and protected.

Ashleigh is a dedicated and highly skilled Clinic Manager with over 15 years of extensive experience in the medical field. With a strong background as a qualified person-centered counsellor, Ashleigh has spent the past 9 years in management, where she ensures that the clinic operates smoothly while embedding the clinic’s core values in every aspect of its services.

Passionate about delivering outstanding customer service, Ashleigh is committed to providing a gold-standard experience for all patients. She plays an instrumental role in guiding patients through their journeys at The Aspen Clinic, ensuring they are well-informed and supported every step of the way.

Ashleigh’s nurturing and approachable nature makes her a trusted figure for both patients and the team. She priorities patient care and safety, ensuring that every patient receives the highest level of care in a compassionate and warm environment. Her dedication to promoting health and well-being is evident in her work, making The Aspen Clinic a place where patients receive not only specialised care but also genuine support and kindness.

Dr Isabelle Shone is a Clinical Psychologist with six years of experience in the field of Psychology. Throughout her career, Dr. Shone has worked across a variety of child, adult, family mental health, and learning disability settings, including extensive experience within the NHS and third-sector organizations.

Dr Shone is deeply committed to working from a trauma-informed approach, emphasizing the impact of adverse childhood experiences on the developing brain, particularly in how these experiences shape the ways children and young people engage with the world around them. Dr Shone has developed a strong commitment to providing tailored support and interventions that promote positive outcomes for individuals experiencing neurodiversity. She has considerable expertise in conducting neuropsychological assessments related to cognitive functioning, ADHD, and autism.

She collaborates closely with families, schools, and multidisciplinary teams to design tailored strategies that support children and young people in thriving both academically and socially. Her expertise includes conducting comprehensive assessments, delivering therapeutic interventions, and facilitating training, group sessions, and consultation sessions for schools and families. Dr Shone is passionate about fostering an inclusive, supportive, and understanding environment in which neurodivergent individuals can flourish and reach their full potential.

Ellie has several years of experience working with neurodiverse individuals across various settings. She has coordinated and led therapeutic groups with neurodivergent young people and has worked with adults with acquired brain injuries, supporting the delivery of interventions aimed at improving social-emotional wellbeing and aiding integration into the wider community.

In her role as an assistant psychologist, Ellie focuses on empowering clients to take proactive steps towards their goals while offering a supportive, non-judgmental space for them to explore challenges and find personalised solutions. She also provides skills training and psychoeducation sessions to help clients better understand and manage their experiences.

Ellie will be supporting the adolescent and adult pathways at the Aspen Clinic.

Sarah is an experienced mental health nurse, qualified lecturer, and writer. Her professional interests include inclusive care for LGBTQIA+ communities and the impact of perimenopause and menopause on mental health. Outside of the Aspen Clinic, Sarah can usually be found writing, in a Pilates class, or swimming in open water all year round.

At the Aspen Clinic, Sarah will be leading physical health monitoring and Infection Prevention, coordinating placements for student nurses, and is also the self-appointed in-house stationery expert.

A Specialty Doctor with over a decade’s experience working within psychiatry. During this time frame she has also worked extensively with Health Education England, The British Medical Association, The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, and The Royal College of Psychiatry. In 2018 she was awarded an academic clinic fellowship by The National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Currently she is a suicide prevention clinical researcher at The University of Manchester. She holds several academic publications and sits as an expert advisor in her field both nationally and internationally. She has received awards from The University of Manchester for her work in medical teaching, and was awarded North West “Core Trainee Doctor Of The Year” by The Royal College of Psychiatry.

At The Aspen Clinic, Dr Johal is the Adult ADHD Service Pathway Lead. She has extensive experience regarding diagnosing and supporting patients with ADHD, and has a special interest in psychiatric diagnostics and complexity.

Kim is a dedicated and compassionate Speech and Language Therapist with extensive experience supporting children and young people in schools and private clinics across Greater Manchester. Kim specialises in implementing universal, targeted, and specialist levels of support for individuals with language and social communication difficulties. Their work includes delivering whole school training, facilitating parent workshops, and providing individual and group therapy interventions.

With a collaborative and person-centered approach, Kim partners closely with families, educators, and other professionals to create inclusive and supportive communication environments. Their commitment to empowering individuals and fostering confidence in their communication abilities drives their practice, making a lasting positive impact on the lives of the children and young people they support.

Dr Pascal Diab is a Clinical Psychologist that is registered with the UK Healthcare Professions Council (HCPC NO. PYL32808). Pascal studied at the University of Lancaster and obtained her Doctoral qualification in 2011, following completion of BSc and MSc in Psychology.

Pascal has experience of working in the areas of neuropsychology and mental health with adults and children, in the NHS and private sector. Pascal has worked in inpatient, outpatient and community settings as a Clinical Psychologist. Prior to her Doctoral training she worked with looked after children, mainstream and specialist educational provisions.

Dr Diab has additional training to administer ‘gold standard’ diagnostic tools for the evaluation of children and adults with suspected Autism Spectrum Disorders; the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2). She also has additional training and experience in working therapeutically with children/ adults that have a diagnosis of ASD and ADHD. Pascal was a Dialectical Behavioural Therapy lead at a Private Hospital, she has specialist knowledge and training in attachment and trauma related difficulties. Pascal is trained to level 4 in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) and is trained in the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Prolonged Exposure Protocol (DBT-PE).

Pascal is currently a Senior Clinical Psychologist at the Aspen Clinic, providing comprehensive gold standard and NICE recommended ADHD and Autism assessment as part of a multidisciplinary team. Her role at the Aspen Clinic includes post-diagnostic support for adults and children following a diagnosis of autism and/or ADHD, which is something that is at the core of her work based values. Pascal is a skilled and committed practitioner. She has extensive training and clinical experience. At the forefront of her practice remains person-centred care. Pascal has a particular strength in the development of comprehensive formulations and supporting clients to make sense of what can, at times seem too much, or overwhelming. The formulaic aspect of her approach gives clients a clear understanding of what to expect from therapy and enables them to develop clearly defined goals which motivates and enables clients to get the most from their therapy journey and to build upon a life worth living. As a person, Pascal has a passion for horses, she can happily spend hours at a farm just being present. The smells, textures and sight of a horse bring a sense of inner calmness. She also enjoys travel, walking, running and yoga. Busy by nature, her passions give her the opportunity to ‘just be’, in a world that can be fast paced she holds high regard for these practices as it enables her to stay centred.