Lou survived a severe stroke in late 2018 and joined Headway Surrey as a client in spring 2019. She has attended the centre weekly ever since then and enjoys the art sessions in particular. She has a wide circle of friends amongst the client group, and she regularly helps others with their own challenges.

By profession she is a long-standing civil servant, currently working in stakeholder engagement in the skills branch of the Department for Education. She has volunteered for various charities including Mind in Woking, where she worked as a Community Wellbeing Caller. She continues to represent and support people who are experiencing mental health problems, drawing on her own experience of two decades suffering severe eating disorders that nearly caused her death and culminated in her stroke.

With her position on the Headway Surrey Board of Trustees she represents fellow brain injury victims including the other clients she socialises with at, and outside of the centre. She is continuing her work with Mind and continues to represent service users at the Bradley Stroke Rehab. Unit in Woking. She is a role model for survivors of brain injury and she uses this experience to attract new clients to Headway in support of our Link work at various hospitals in Surrey and London.