Eastbourne-based coach Zoé Carroll has taken on the role of Neurodiversity and Inclusion Ambassador for The Big Swim 2026, a major wild swimming event celebrating International Women’s Day.

The event took place this weekend across two locations, Brighton and Sandbanks in Dorset, bringing together more than 1,000 swimmers in what organisers describe as the South Coast’s largest outdoor swimming gathering.

Carroll, a neurodiversity coach who supports women experiencing anxiety and late-diagnosed neurodivergence, said the event aligns closely with her work helping women reconnect with themselves through community, nature and self-understanding.

“Cold water swimming has been incredibly powerful for many of the neurodivergent women I work with,” she said.

This weekend, I worked with a client who has lived with chronic pain for most of her life.

Every month, her periods brought intense pain, cramping, mood swings, and an overwhelming urge to withdraw. She wanted to shut herself away in her bedroom and be left alone until it passed.

Over time, this pattern had begun to affect every part of her life: her relationships, her work, and her overall quality of life.

Because she had worked with me before, she was familiar with the CRASH framework I use to explore how the mind and body are responding under stress.