Elevate to Fly CIC is led by neurodivergent practitioners with lived experience of the needs the programme supports. Founder and Director Crystal Gibson is neurodivergent and has over six years’ experience delivering inclusive, confidence-building movement programmes for autistic and neurodivergent young people.

Aerial Autism is co-delivered with Kya, an autistic aerial instructor who began training with Fly Girls Fitness as a teenager and is now a qualified teacher specialising in sensory-safe aerial practice. This lived experience informs a deeply informed, respectful approach, ensuring sessions are shaped by real insight rather than assumptions.

Elevate to Fly CIC was incorporated in November 2025, building on over six years of established community delivery previously operated as Fly Girls Fitness, a sole trader organisation led by Crystal Gibson since 2018. The transition to CIC status was made to strengthen governance, sustainability, and access to funding, while preserving the ethos and quality of delivery.

Through our Young Flyers pathway, we support both neurodivergent and neurotypical children to develop emotional regulation, body awareness, coordination, and self-confidence in a safe, non-competitive environment. Our approach is relationship-led, trauma-aware, and rooted in long-term community engagement rather than short-term interventions.

A core strand of our work is Aerial Autism, a specialist, sensory-safe programme designed specifically for autistic and neurodivergent young people who are unable to access mainstream sport or leisure provision. Delivered in small groups with a high staff-to-participant ratio, the programme prioritises predictability, calm, and individual support.

This programme has been delivered free to the community since 2018, supported entirely through absorbed costs and unpaid delivery time. As a CIC, Elevate to Fly now seeks funding to sustain and protect this long-standing provision while maintaining the quality, safety, and trust families rely on. This neurodivergent-led delivery model helps create a space where participants feel understood, safe, and able to engage authentically at their own pace.