During the course of serving thirty years as a Police Officer, Barrie became a Home Office Approved Trainer in 1987 and undertook a national programme of training supervisory officers in the psychological aspects of policing. Despite being non-verbal as a child, Barrie went on to serve as a senior Police officer and a Hostage Negotiator before retiring from the Police in 2009.

Barrie went on to complete an Honours Degree in the Social Sciences. In 1995 he qualified as a Relate Couple Therapist. He then completed his Masters Degree in Couple Therapy and in so doing conducted research into the counselling opportunities available for couples where Asperger Syndrome is a presenting problem in their relationship. Needless to say such opportunities were (and still are) scarce. As a consequence of his research Barrie devised the first model for counselling such couples and went on to specialise in the field of autism spectrum therapy.

He has been exhibited as an author in ‘Good Autism Practice’ published by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities and had his first book published in August 2008 entitled Counselling for Asperger Couples. This book was hailed by Jessica Kingsley Publishers to be “the first book to provide a complete model for counselling couples where one partner has Asperger Syndrome”.

Having recently retired after many years of counselling people with autism, Barrie now lectures on this subject and delivers autism spectrum training both nationally and internationally to organisations that include Relate, Autism West Midlands, Social Services, Autism Support Groups, Higher Academic Institutions, NHS Parent and Carer Groups, the Manx Government and Relate British Forces Overseas amongst many.

Barrie is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and The British Psychological Society. He is a Director of the ‘Midlands Autism Spectrum Training’ team based in Redditch in Worcestershire and is an autism consultant to one of the country’s leading healthcare organisations as well as an autism adviser to various Health Authorities. He has also appeared as an autism expert on the BBC television documentary series Inside Out.