Make information usable
Plain-English guides and learning resources to help people understand FND and prepare for conversations about their care.
Explore our informationMeet the team · About us
FND Connect.
People first.
We’re people living with FND, family members and volunteers turning experience into clearer information, practical tools and human connection.
Meet the people behind it
Who we are
Built around the things
people actually need.
FND Connect is a UK community organisation supporting people affected by Functional Neurological Disorder, their families and carers. Our legal name is FND CONNECT CIC: a Community Interest Company, limited by guarantee, Company No. 17313147.
We bring lived experience into the work without assuming one person’s experience represents everyone. Our purpose is to help people understand FND, feel connected and find practical ways forward.
Bring people together
Local and virtual support groups, community spaces and lived-experience stories that make room for people to be heard.
Find connectionTurn care into practical help
Tools such as SeizeControl and appointment resources, alongside fundraising for mobility aids, therapies and other support.
See our charitable workOur people
Different experiences.
A shared purpose.
FND CONNECT CIC is led by four directors, supported by staff volunteers and ambassadors. Here is who they are, what they bring and how they are involved.
Directors
Chairman
Matthew Gerdes-Hansen
A family reason. A practical response.
Matthew is the founder and chairman of FND Connect, the creator of SeizeControl and the author of Living Well with FND. His background combines more than 20 years in ecommerce with first-hand experience of supporting family members living with FND.
Before FND Connect, he worked as an Operations & Finance Director for a multi-million-pound company. In 2020, he founded his own ecommerce business. Substantially rising costs meant he had to close it in 2024.
He brings that experience of operations, finance and running a business to the practical work of building FND Connect: developing useful digital tools and helping put the organisation’s purpose into practice.
His reason for starting is personal. His wife Emma and his stepdaughter both live with FND. Seeing how differently the condition affected them, and how difficult it was to find clear information and practical support, prompted him to create FND Connect.
That experience became SeizeControl: a way to record symptoms and seizures, notice patterns and take a clearer account to appointments. His book extends the same purpose into plain-English information for people with FND, families and carers.
As chairman, Matthew helps guide the organisation’s direction. He is also its named Safeguarding Lead. His contribution combines family experience, creating practical resources and taking responsibility for the organisation he started.
Secretary
Emma Gerdes-Hansen
Emma has lived with FND since 2021; her daughter was diagnosed in 2023. She brings both her own experience of the condition and the perspective of a parent supporting a young person with FND.
As secretary and a director, Emma is part of the team responsible for FND Connect. Her family’s experience helped inspire its founding: a wish for clearer information, practical support and a community that understands how different FND can look from one person to another.
Director
Patricia Hughes
Tricia is a former Staff Nurse with a passion for improving understanding, support and care for people living with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). Having experienced the journey from healthcare professional to patient herself, she brings a unique perspective to FND Connect. Tricia is passionate about raising awareness, amplifying the voices of those living with FND and helping to create a supportive community where no one feels alone or unheard.
Director
Amy Nash
Amy brings her lived experience of FND to the board and to her work as Welsh Ambassador. She shares her journey to raise awareness, advocate for greater understanding and help people affected by FND feel less alone.
Her two roles connect the organisation’s leadership with its public-facing awareness work in Wales.
Staff Volunteers
The people helping keep FND Connect running day to day.
Admin
Jaz
I’m Jaz, FND Connect’s admin, and I live with FND too. I bring my own lived experience to the team alongside the practical skills I use in my role.
I help with responding to queries, making bookings, and keeping the ship sailing smoothly. I’m part of the community we’re here to support.
Virtual Support Host
Ash
Ash lives with FND and understands first-hand the challenges the condition can bring. She volunteers her time to host our Monday morning TikTok support group, creating a welcoming, friendly space where people can connect, share experiences and support one another. Through her compassion and lived experience, Ash helps others feel heard, included and supported throughout their FND journey.
Motivational Support Lead
Clare
Living with FND herself, Clare uses her personal experiences to inspire, encourage and support others navigating the condition. An inspirational motivational speaker, she plays an active role in our Discord community and helps step up in our virtual support groups whenever needed. Clare generously volunteers her time to help others feel understood, build confidence and recognise that they are not alone.
Ambassadors
Sharing lived experience, creating conversation and helping more people understand FND. Amy also serves on the board above.
Welsh Ambassador
Amy Nash
I’m Amy. As Welsh Ambassador for FND Connect, I use my lived experience of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) to help raise awareness and support others affected by the condition. By openly sharing my real-life journey, I hope to inspire, educate, and remind people that they are not alone. I am passionate about advocating for greater understanding of FND and helping build a supportive community for those living with the condition and their families.
English Ambassador
Jo Mason
I’m Jo Mason, better known online as The Yorkshire Wife — a musical comedian, content creator and former performing arts teacher living with MS and FND. After illness forced me to step away from teaching, I turned to music, comedy and performance to share the unpredictable realities of neurological illness with honesty, warmth and plenty of Yorkshire humour.
Through my songs, videos and role as FND Connect’s English Ambassador, I want people living with FND to feel seen, believed and less alone. I’m passionate about raising awareness, creating connection and showing that, even on the hardest days, laughter, creativity and community can be powerful forms of support.
Experience matters. Evidence matters too.
Where our information
comes from.
Our contribution is to make information understandable and useful in everyday life. The clinical understanding comes from published sources; lived experience helps us recognise the questions people need answered.
NHS and specialist FND information
Our resources draw on NHS patient information and specialist FND education. You can explore those sources directly, including NHS Inform and Neurosymptoms, the patient information resource created by neurologist Professor Jon Stone.
Published research and guidance
Our longer-form resources link to published studies, reviews and professional guidance so readers can explore the evidence. An individual study is one part of that picture: its design, limitations and relevance matter. A promising result is not a promise that a treatment will work for everyone.
Read a published clinical review of FND ↗People’s experience of real life
People living with FND and those supporting them bring insight into isolation, fluctuating symptoms, relationships and everyday barriers. Those experiences help shape our focus. A personal story describes that person’s experience; it cannot establish a diagnosis or prove that a treatment works.
Read lived-experience stories ↗Medical advisers: our current position
As of September 2026, discussions are underway, but we do not yet have formally appointed medical advisers. We do not present the website as having routine clinical sign-off. We will update this page when appointments and review responsibilities are confirmed.
Clear about what we can offer
FND Connect provides information, practical resources and peer support. These complement clinical care. Team experience—including a healthcare background—is not a claim that every page has been clinically reviewed. Linking to an organisation or specialist does not imply their endorsement of FND Connect.
For decisions about your diagnosis or treatment, talk with an appropriately qualified clinician who knows your circumstances.
Research & the wider FND community
Clear about our role.
Open to working together.
What we mean by community research
Our Research Hub offers optional check-ins about life with FND and a library for FND Connect’s published observational reports. This is separate from the clinical research we cite in our information pages.
Community observations can describe experiences and patterns. They do not by themselves establish causes, prove a treatment works or amount to clinical advice. Publishing a report on our website is not the same as independent academic peer review.
Read the participation information ↗Part of a wider community
People should be able to find the support that fits them. We regularly signpost people to FND FrieNDs where they have local support available in areas where FND Connect is not physically present.
We would also like to explore co-hosting events with FND FrieNDs in the future. This is an ambition, rather than an announcement of an agreed event programme. If you represent an FND organisation or clinical team and would like to explore working together, please get in touch.
Trust you can look into
Named people.
Open responsibilities.
Trust should come from being able to see who is responsible, explore the sources and ask questions—not simply from a reassuring design.
How we are governed Our Articles of Association, safeguarding and other policies.
Our company record FND CONNECT CIC · Company No. 17313147.
What the work is achieving Explore our published impact and activity.
Ask a question or flag a correction Send the page link, the wording you are concerned about and any supporting source.
A community takes people
Get to know us.
Be part of what comes next.
Bring a question, your experience or a skill you would like to share.