NeuroDiversity Affirming Training and Supervision

28/05/2026

So pleased to have given a guest lecture to counselling students at UC today. I love teaching this topic, and the questions were thoughtful and genuinely thought-provoking.

26/04/2026

When listening to Autistic adults, it’s easy to mistake difference for deficit, especially if your knowledge is based on old myths and misconceptions.

When you try to understand a client’s distress in real time, it can be easy to reach for the autism knowledge you absorbed years ago, especially when you feel under pressure to understand quickly.

If we don’t keep up with the latest knowledge, the guidance you use may still be shaped by outdated myths.

Myths & misconceptions like:
*Autistic people struggle with empathy
*Autistic people are either high or low functioning
*Autism is caused by parenting/trauma/vaccines

And when myths and misconceptions guide your therapeutic decisions, therapy harm occurs.

Read more about this here: https://www.ndats.com.au/therapy-harm-ethical-practice/when-outdated-autism-myths-shape-therapy

Image Alt Text: Shelves with dusty books

26/04/2026

Today’s unexpected sensory sensitivity: the sound of bubbles inside my Coke can.

Just sitting there. Being loud.

Anyone else got a new sensory thing that’s come out of nowhere?

19/04/2026

When clients present with distress because the world is genuinely unkind, it can be easy to be triggered into trying to fix it for them. Sometimes that becomes teaching masking skills, with the intent of taking away the pain of being different, being less of a target, or feeling safer socially.

This can look like teaching strategies that:
* Improve “appropriate” social responses
* Reduce stimming
* Increase tolerance for distressing sensory or social environments

When counselling prioritises normalisation over wellbeing, it can end up reinforcing the idea that Autistic traits are the problem to fix, rather than distress, a mismatch of needs and demands, or an inaccessible environment.

Read more about this here: https://www.ndats.com.au/therapy-harm-ethical-practice/when-therapy-prioritises-normalisation-over-wellbeing

Alt text: A path splitting into two directions

15/04/2026

Did you know that Canberra is often reported as having some of the highest levels of loneliness in Australia? That’s something that really stays with me when I think about community here.

For Autistic people, that sense of loneliness can be compounded. Many neurotypical spaces don’t feel safe or accessible, and fitting in often means masking, explaining yourself, or doing connection in ways that don’t feel natural.

So I wanted to create a small, in‑person group where people could come and simply be in Autistic community. For many of us, that alone can be deeply healing, being around people who communicate differently, think differently, and share an understanding shaped by lived experience.

When I was first diagnosed, there was a group like that, and it was incredibly helpful. Being able to ask questions, hear from other Autistic people, and sit in a space where everyone genuinely thought differently about autism made a huge difference. It was the first place I encountered that was about understanding, shared experience, and not feeling alone.

Actually Autistic Canberra grew out of that experience. It's an invitation to find that kind of community. About making room for those kinds of conversations and connections.

If this sounds like it might be helpful, the details are below.

You’re also welcome to pass this along to anyone you think might find it useful.

𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮 is a monthly, in‑person community group for Autistic adults, led by an Autistic therapist.

• Meets monthly on Tuesday evenings
• 6:30–8:00 pm
• Curtin, ACT
• Light snacks provided
• The first time you come is free
• Bookings are essential, because places are limited.

First session: Tuesday 14th July

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲:
https://www.trybooking.com/DLHCP

14/04/2026

I 💜 my synaesthesia.

Songs feel like shapes, certain tastes come with little videos, and some feelings have flavours. My brain is wild and I kind of love it

Have you ever tasted a word, or seen colours while listening to music? If you have, you may be among the 1 to 4 per cent of people who have a fascinating trait known as synaesthesia.

12/04/2026

Therapy can help… but therapy can also cause harm.

Therapy is a process of rupture and repair. But if the therapist doesn’t recognise the rupture that’s occurred, they may also misstep in the necessary repair.

Autistic clients are often chronically misunderstood; they're so used to feeling like they're always getting it wrong in life that sometimes they feel like they're doing therapy wrong, too.

But a therapist's misunderstanding of autism can lead to:

* Misattunement
* Over-interpretation
* A goal that's more therapist-led than client-led.

Read more about this here: https://www.ndats.com.au/therapy-harm-ethical-practice/when-therapy-causes-harm

Alt text: A photo of a white wall with a prominent crack.

When therapists lack autism specific knowledge, therapy can unintentionally cause harm. This article examines the risks of untrained or poorly adapted counselling for Autistic adults. Drawing on published research and autistic‑led perspectives, it explores how gaps in clinician understanding, serv...

07/04/2026

Counselling Autistic Adults – Part 3 is running this Sunday: 12 April, 12–2pm (AEST)

The diagnostic journey: supporting clients through grief, identity work, and burnout — with practical strategies you can use straight away. You don’t need to have attended Parts 1 or 2 — this session can be taken as a stand‑alone workshop.

Register here: https://www.trybooking.com/DDHRQ

Come along on Sunday to find out more how you as an allied health professional could be supporting Autistic adults in every stage of the diagnosis process.

If you have already done this workshop and found it helpful, please share it with your networks!

05/04/2026

Harm can happen when therapy is well-intentioned… but built on the wrong assumptions.

Your training can't possibly prepare you for every kind of client. So it's easy to default to assumptions that lead to misinterpreting Autistic adults.

Like:
• Treating masking as ideal functioning
• Seeing sensory overwhelm through a phobia lens
• Setting therapeutic goals that prioritise normalisation over wellbeing
• Interpreting Autistic communication differences as resistance, avoidance, or lack of insight

This is why autism awareness alone isn't enough in the therapy room.

Read more in my blog: https://www.ndats.com.au/therapy-harm-ethical-practice/autism-awareness-isnt-enough

Image alt text:
Iceberg above and below the water.

Autism aware does not mean autism competent. This article explores the ethical risks of poorly informed therapy and why Autistic adults need specialised, developmentally informed counselling. Drawing on research and lived experience, it examines how lack of autism knowledge in mental health services

04/04/2026

I’m always fascinated (probably more like morbidly fascinated) by people who charge big bucks for training, but can’t get the basics right.

It reminds me a little of arguing online with someone who isn’t constrained by reality or facts. You go away to research before you respond: check your facts and your assumptions and respond with something you can actually back up.

And they come back with: Those facts do
No reasoning. No references. No accountability. Just confidence.

And that's why, in some way, those people will always win. They'll sound louder - because you can yell confidently when you don’t have to check facts. They’ll respond quickly, and it will cost them fewer spoons. Meanwhile, responding with integrity is slower and genuinely costly.

So if you’re like me, working in this space (whether on a larger or smaller scale), there’s a specific tiredness that comes from watching confidence outrun accuracy. The mismatch between the certainty and the wrongness is a very particular ick, like an injustice trigger.

If you’re charging for expertise, the basics don’t get to be sloppy. Words aren’t decoration: they signal values, frameworks, and foundations. And when the words are incorrect, it raises the question of what else might be.