The Sparkly Alien

The Sparkly Alien ✨ Sparkly Aliens Inc. Sparkly Aliens Inc.

provides trauma-informed, inclusive spaces for under-supported individuals to reconnect, heal, and thrive through authenticity architecture✨ is a not-for-profit organisation for individuals of all neurotypes, body shapes and abilities focusing on Authenticity Architecture—helping people embody, embrace, and unveil their real selves. Its programs, including The Sparkly Reset, integrate neuroscience

, clinical hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming, yoga, EMDR, and mindfulness practices. All offerings are neurodivergent-affirming, trauma-informed, and designed to create a safe space where it is truly safe to be me. The foundation of the organisation is fostering authentic embodiment and supporting individuals in their unique journey toward their best, most authentic selves.

✨ Sacred Teachings of Belonging Across Faiths ✨You are safe with me. You are welcome here. I love you in your own authen...
24/07/2025

✨ Sacred Teachings of Belonging Across Faiths ✨
You are safe with me. You are welcome here. I love you in your own authentic expression.

And to those of you who hold religious beliefs that sometimes feel at odds with the truth you know in your heart — about yourself, or about your child —

I see you.

I truly hope you can hold onto the parts of your faith that still let you love yourself.
That still let you love your child — fully, freely, without condition.

Because I don’t believe any faith’s truest intention is to sever love.
I don’t believe any sacred teaching, at its core, was ever meant to ask you to abandon your own heart or the people you hold closest.

May the threads of your belief wrap around you in safety.
"You are safe with me. You are welcome here. I love you in your own authentic expression. "

I know many of us in the neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ community carry deep wounds from religion — wounds that are valid, real, and deserving of honour.
This post isn’t about bypassing that.

It’s about something else too.
It’s about reclaiming the threads of love, welcome, and belonging that exist across sacred teachings — sometimes hidden, sometimes distorted, but still there.

Because connection can only happen when there’s shared language.
We don’t have to agree on everything. We won’t.
But what if we looked for the places we already meet?
What if we built bridges from those moments of shared truth?

The world is aching for more common ground.
For more “you are safe with me” energy.

So today, I’m flying the flag for that.
For all my sparkly humans — neurodivergent, q***r, gender-expansive, spiritually curious — who’ve ever felt like they didn’t belong:

You do.
You always have.

🕊️ Sacred Teachings of Belonging Across Faiths — swipe through to explore.

If you want your child to do better than you, your words must make that emotionally and socially safe.Criticising those ...
02/07/2025

If you want your child to do better than you, your words must make that emotionally and socially safe.
Criticising those who’ve succeeded doesn’t just comment on them — it builds an invisible ceiling for your child.

I’m constantly putting my child around people more successful than me — because I don’t want him thinking my ceiling is his limit.
In fact, I speak like it’s assumed he’ll go further than me — that he’ll make a greater impact, be more aligned, and more fulfilled in what he chooses to do. Because that’s the point.

02/07/2025

This week I was reminded that love did indeed build this.
To those who unexpectedly shared with me that I am safe, I am protected, and that you would literally go into bat for me — thank you.

It’s interesting how much that meant to me… even as a nearly 50-year-old woman who writes and speaks about this very thing.

Your presence, your words, and your quiet protection reminded me what it feels like to be truly held.
Thanks for showing up and being part of our beautiful safe space. 🪽💛

"From Burnout to Belonging – The Oxytocin Leadership Model for Sensitive Trailblazers and Changemakers" by Tanya Hick...
02/07/2025



"From Burnout to Belonging – The Oxytocin Leadership Model for Sensitive Trailblazers and Changemakers" by Tanya Hicks is nominated in the From Burnout to Belonging category. This powerful book speaks directly to the deep feelers, the highly sensitive leaders and the neurodivergent changemakers who are ready to redefine success on their own terms.

Born from lived experience and professional insight, Tanya introduces a leadership model grounded in authenticity, connection and wellbeing. Rather than pushing through outdated systems, this book offers a roadmap to create sustainable impact while staying true to who you are. It's already shifting the way individuals and organisations understand leadership.

📖 Know a book that deserves recognition? Nominate it today for the 2025 ABLE Golden Book Awards 👉 www.authorexpo.com.au/nominate

23/06/2025

We spoke about systemic load in our Parents group today, and I have to admit that even in what I consider to be a position of privilege in the stage of our life - there are days I don't want to keep going.

Not because I'm ungrateful.
Not because I don't love my child, my work, or the people around me.
But because the load is relentless.

I’m a neurodivergent person managing other neurodivergent people —
myself, my child, my team, our clients and parents, their trauma, their paperwork.
The crises. The wins. The losses. The grief. The gifts.
The sacred rage and sacred advocacy.

It’s invisible, but it’s everywhere.

This is what systemic load looks like:

- Constant hypervigilance

- Millions of micro-decisions

- No margin for error

- No true rest

And in a body with an ADHD/autistic brain — this kind of ongoing pressure depletes dopamine and puts your nervous system in chronic shutdown, fight, or freeze. And when dopamine is gone...
You stop feeling joy.
You stop being able to imagine things getting better.
And yes, sometimes...
You wonder why you're still here.

If you've felt that too — I see you.

This isn’t a cry for help. This is a call for naming.
We are not failing. We are carrying more than a single body was meant to hold.

What we need isn’t more hustle.
We need less weight on our systems.
We need systems that stop making us prove we’re drowning before offering a life raft.
We need protection — not just from burnout, but from all forms of violence:
👉 Emotional invalidation
👉 Systemic neglect
👉 Sensory overwhelm
👉 Coercion masked as support
👉 The slow erosion of our worth through constant misunderstanding

We need people who will stand between us and the harm, not ask us to calmly explain why we’re bleeding.

We need others to step up — not just thank us for being strong.

We need space to not be strong.
We need room to rest, reconnect, and recover.
We need moments where we’re not in survival mode —
so we can remember what it feels like to actually want to be here.

Its why our parents are encourage to come in to the Nest, grab a weighted blanket and an oversized bean bag and just "be here", safe without expectations. A Mum literally feel asleep on the sensory mat today under a weighted blanket and I could have cried for two reasons - 1 because I get the exhaustion and 2 because she felt safe enough to let go and go to sleep.

We need to speak about this more... but who is out there to really hear us?

How to Parent Your Neurodivergent Child While Reparenting YourselfMany neurodivergent adults — especially those who are ...
22/06/2025

How to Parent Your Neurodivergent Child While Reparenting Yourself
Many neurodivergent adults — especially those who are autistic, ADHD, or gifted — grew up feeling unseen, misread, or “too much.” Not because their parents didn’t care, but because the emotional capacity, awareness, and attunement they needed simply wasn’t there.

Now, as parents ourselves, we carry both the echoes of what we didn’t receive and the power to offer our children a new, healing experience. This is not about blame — it’s about recognition and reclamation.

Let’s explore the seven things you likely needed as a child, and how you can offer those same things to your neurodivergent child today — while gently offering them back to yourself, too.

Reparenting yourself while parenting your neurodivergent child is a sacred, healing act. It’s not about doing it perfectly. It’s about choosing presence over performance, attunement over assumption, and connection over correction.

Every time you pause, get curious, validate instead of dismiss — you’re not just parenting your child. You’re parenting the part of yourself that once needed the same.

And that? That’s powerful.










Expression of Interest – Movement & Positive Identity Sessions for Tweens & Teens 🌈After searching for a long time and n...
22/06/2025

Expression of Interest – Movement & Positive Identity Sessions for Tweens & Teens 🌈

After searching for a long time and not finding anything quite like this out there, I am throwing it out there to see if others would be interested too if I started delivering it.

One very special almost-teen in my life has assured me that they are keen to be a part of it with the condition there are fellow tweens and teens to join in too, so I’m putting out an invitation: would any other homeschooling or otherwise tweens or teens be interested in attending?

What these sessions offer:

🤍 Identity-affirming, strengths-based, and supportive

👑 Accomodating for neurodivergent bodies and nervous systems

🤍 Identity-affirming, strengths-based, and supportive

👑 Infused with creative movement, connection, and genuine fun

Proposed times:

🗓️ Monday or Friday afternoons after school

🗓️ Tuesday mornings

🗓️ Open to other suggestions

A bit about me:
I’ve nearly completed Level 2 Yoga Teacher Training (with a focus on core work), and I’ve dedicated this time to specialising in movement for neurodivergent bodies. I’ve represented Australia Country in hockey and multiple other sports at representative level, and I bring years of coaching and mentoring experience — all wrapped in a big, sparkling Alien heart 💫

If this feels like something your tween or teen would love, drop a comment below or send me an email to express interest to sparkly@neurodivergentempowered.com

— Tan x






















Clarity isn’t confrontation. Seeking to be understood isn’t seeking to convince.I’m not trying to argue. I’m not looking...
22/06/2025

Clarity isn’t confrontation. Seeking to be understood isn’t seeking to convince.

I’m not trying to argue. I’m not looking for a debate.
I’m not here to win you over.

I share my experience because I’m seeking clarity — mutual understanding — the kind that feels like, “Ohhh, I get what you mean now.”
But what I so often find is that even my most gentle, thoughtful attempts at explaining myself are received as a challenge. A confrontation. A threat.

Here’s the thing:
For many people, negativity bias is so deeply embedded that openness feels unsafe.
And when someone shows up calmly, seeking clarity, it gets filtered through fear — and ends up sounding like attack.

And I get it.
I know most people don’t mean to be ableist.
But when I name my experience — especially as a neurodivergent person — and it gets dismissed, misinterpreted, or intellectualised...
The impact still lands the same. I still end up misread. Again.

Sometimes I walk away wondering if I somehow invited the reaction.
If I said too much. Or not enough.
If I made someone uncomfortable just by being honest.
And even though I know I’m allowed to take up space, I still shrink myself to avoid being misunderstood.

I’m learning this:
Clarity is not a crime.
Openness is not aggression.
And communication is not only for those who speak in the most expected ways.

Anyone else feel this?

18/06/2025

This 👏👏👏👏👏👏

18/06/2025

Today's Love Note from your Sparkly Bestie 🤍

Sending big love xx

✨ Real-life example of finding the joy in the chaos...For years, my son taking 90 minutes to drink his morning protein s...
18/06/2025

✨ Real-life example of finding the joy in the chaos...

For years, my son taking 90 minutes to drink his morning protein shake was a constant source of tension. I couldn’t understand it, and he couldn’t rush it — and every day started with stress.

We used to push. Argue. Try to “fix” it.
But it wasn’t broken — it just wasn’t neurotypical.

At the heart of it, my priority has never been compliance or productivity — it’s connection.
If something isn’t working, and it’s pulling us further apart, then I’ll always get creative to protect what matters most: our bond.

🧘‍♀️ So I started waking earlier to go to yoga — giving my brain and nervous system the movement it needs, and removing myself from the visual trigger of him “just sitting there.”

⏰ He decided to wake earlier too, to give himself the time cushion he needed to drink his shake without pressure.

📱I send him a quick “heads up” when I finish yoga so his ADHD brain gets a gentle deadline prompt if he’s gotten distracted.

By the time I’m home — he’s ready, and we’re connected. No yelling. No pressure. Just rhythm.

This is a privileged season, and we worked to get here. But it’s also proof that when we stop forcing what isn’t working and get curious instead, we make space for solutions that protect both peace and relationship.

🤍 Connection first. Always.

Leading Cyclically: The Future of Neurodivergent Leadership 🌿What if productivity wasn’t about consistency... but cyclic...
17/06/2025

Leading Cyclically: The Future of Neurodivergent Leadership 🌿

What if productivity wasn’t about consistency... but cyclicality?

As a neurodivergent leader of a neurodivergent team, one of the smartest shifts I’ve made is acknowledging the natural rhythms that affect our output — from menstrual cycles to sensory thresholds to hormonal fluctuations in all genders.

✨ We work with our cycles, not against them.
✨ We honour each person’s baseline capacity.
✨ We adapt allocation based on where someone’s at in their internal rhythm — not some rigid 9-5 expectation.

I shared this in my yoga practice this morning and realised again how much sense it makes — for energy, for wellbeing, for sustainability. Nature doesn’t grind, it flows.

This isn’t about special treatment — it’s about smart leadership that centres humanity and honours the body.

If you’re already doing this, or want to learn more about cycle-based leadership, share below

Tag a workplace, leader, or team that gets it.

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