Helen Rutherford

Background

Helen is a Specialist Sleep Practitioner with four decades of experience supporting children with additional needs and their families. She has worked across health, education, and social care, including 12 years managing the Portage service in North Worcestershire – a home-visiting educational service for preschool children with special educational needs and disabilities, and serving as a Family Liaison Officer in a special school. Since 2016, Helen has focused specifically on sleep, combining her deep understanding of neurodiversity with practical, evidence-informed approaches. She is also an accredited Signalong Tutor, having championed total communication approaches for nearly 20 years.

Expertise

Helen specialises in sleep support for children with additional needs, using a holistic blend of behavioural and cognitive strategies. Her practice is grounded in the belief that sleep cannot be separated from sensory regulation. She works carefully to ensure each child’s sensory needs are met in the bedtime environment, from textures and lighting to soundscapes and routine so that rest becomes possible, not forced. Helen has led high-impact projects, including the NHS England–funded, national award-winning “Sleep Support for Children with Autism” and the BBC Children in Need–funded “Sleep Support for Children with ADHD.” Her work spans training health, education, and social care professionals as well as offering tailored guidance to parents, carers, children, and young people.

Connection to the Mission

Being part of the PeacePath® Circle excites Helen because it offers parents and professionals a trustworthy, accessible resource to support emotional regulation in a noisy and overwhelming world. She recommends therapeutic sound and frequencies regularly in her practice and finds it reassuring to collaborate with a company that shares her belief in gentle, non-invasive interventions. For Helen, partnering with HushAway® means being able to signpost families to something safe, credible, and genuinely supportive.

Finding Peace in the Little Sounds

To Helen, “finding peace in the little sounds” is about helping children to re-set in ways they can begin to control themselves. It evokes a time when comfort and calm were found in simple, natural, gentle sounds – before life became so complicated. Whether woven into a bedtime routine or a quiet moment after a busy day, she sees soundscapes as a powerful way for children to shift into a calmer state, ready for rest and better-quality sleep.

Lived Experience & Insights

Helen’s approach has been shaped by decades of working alongside children with additional needs and their families. She knows that no two children are the same – each will need something different on any given day. That’s why the breadth of the HushAway® library matters to her: it allows children to choose what matches how they feel in that moment. Helen has seen repeatedly that when a child isn’t regulated, they simply can’t get the best out of their day or their night. She is passionate about the often-overlooked details of the sleep environment, from sensory comfort in the bed to opportunities for regulation before lights-out, because these can be the difference between sleeping through and waking multiple times. She also believes that peaceful, sensory-friendly spaces are essential in our chaotic world: simple, accessible places with no rules or expectations, where children can be alone if needed to process, decompress, and re-regulate before stepping back into everyday life.

Vision & Impact

Helen is energised by the way sound, science, and storytelling are coming together within HushAway®. She believes neurodiversity must be supported holistically, and that combining trusted research with compassionate design offers a powerful route to change. Looking ahead 5–10 years, she sees a major opportunity in rethinking children’s environments – especially for neurodiverse and sensitive children who are currently “drowning” in overstimulating spaces. Her vision includes classrooms and settings with gentler lighting, calmer walls, escape areas, and flexible learning setups that honour individual sensory and learning styles, rather than expecting every child to sit still and focus in the same way.

Fun Fact

Helen used to race Dragon Boats – proof that her calm, patient presence is backed by quiet determination and teamwork.

Three Words

Calm · Patient · Passionate