Yâel Clark, Developmental Psychologist

03/07/2025

𝗥𝗘: 𝗠𝗲𝗹𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲'𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

This week's news about abuse in a Melbourne childcare centre has rocked us all. LOAPAC psychologist and all around beautiful human, Annelil Desille is holding a 𝐹𝑅𝐸𝐸 webinar to help us begin to process the awfulness.

*𝘛𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 15 · 7:30 - 9𝘱𝘮 𝘈𝘌𝘚𝘛*

Annelil will address:

ᴀᴘᴘʀᴏᴘʀɪᴀᴛᴇ ᴠꜱ ɪɴᴀᴘᴘʀᴏᴘʀɪᴀᴛᴇ ᴀɢᴇ ᴍᴀʀᴋᴇʀꜱ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴇxᴜᴀʟ ʙᴇʜᴀᴠɪᴏᴜʀꜱ
*ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴅɪꜱᴄᴜꜱꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʜɪʟᴅʀᴇɴ (ᴀᴛ ᴠᴀʀɪᴇᴅ ᴀɢᴇꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅɪꜰꜰᴇʀᴇɴᴄᴇꜱ ɪɴ ᴅᴇᴠᴇʟᴏᴘᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ ᴀʙɪʟɪᴛɪᴇꜱ) ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʙᴏᴅɪʟʏ ꜱᴀꜰᴇᴛʏ
*ʙᴏᴅʏ ʙᴏᴜɴᴅᴀʀʏ ᴘʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴄᴇꜱ
*ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ꜱᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢ ᴍᴀɴᴅᴀᴛᴏʀʏ ʀᴇᴘᴏʀᴛɪɴɢ
*ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ꜱᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢ ꜱᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇꜱᴏᴜʀᴄᴇꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴄᴄᴇꜱꜱɪʙʟᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
*ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴄᴇꜱꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴅɪꜱᴛʀᴇꜱꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ɢʀɪᴇꜰ ᴀꜱ ᴘᴀʀᴇɴᴛꜱ/ᴄᴀʀᴇɢɪᴠᴇʀꜱ
*ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪꜰʏ ɪɴᴅɪᴠɪᴅᴜᴀʟꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ꜱᴀꜰᴇ.

𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.

Unpacking Victorian news and impacts upon families around sexual assault occurrences.

02/07/2025

One week to go. Conference hosting aside, I am also speaking. My topic is, "Clinicians as Changemakers."

🎓15 years as a school teacher and parent educator
👩‍🏫6 years as a lecturer
👂22 years as a psychologist
👀5 years as a supervisor
🤷‍♀️2 years as an ....I don't know what to call myself yet! Director, sure, but that doesn't say anything about the cause.

Surely each of these roles involved a "change agenda".

New knowledge and opportunities
New awareness and self-compassion
New information and insights.
New pathways to affirming mental health care and supporting the Autistic community and those who work in it.

Is "new" synonymous with "change"?

Is there any particular level of change more important than another?

These are some of the thoughts percolating in my mind as I keep going with the organsiational side of things and hope to consider my topic with some degree of focus by the time the conference comes around!

26/06/2025

Another ancient photo of me, but I promise that the presentation is current!
See you tomorrow, Perth!

25/06/2025

Do excuse the ancient photo!
I'm looking forward to this. We don't speak about it enough.

Send a message to learn more

02/06/2025

Just got back from Perth. Tomorrow morning I am hosting a Yellow Ladybugs watch party for my team.

This year has shaped up to be a year of conferences.
Who knows what next year will bring?!

27/05/2025

It's that time of year, folks!

Yellow Ladybugs annual conference is next week! LOAPAC has joined the conference supporters as Bronze sponsors. We are growing quickly, so maybe we will manage Gold sponsorship next year! ⭐️

You can still buy online tickets for three days of parent-and-professional-friendly learning and connecting.

Watching during the online-only conference days (Tuesday June 3rd, Wednesday June 4th) is the best because speakers are usually online to answer your questions in the chat as you watch their pre-recorded presentation.

Day 3 (June 5th) is live streamed and in-person tickets sold out in record time!

Register here: https://www.yellowladybugs.com.au/About/Conference (the photo is of me in 2023. 😁) (Yâel Clark, Developmental Psychologist)

25/05/2025

Content warning. Protect yourself and scroll past if resilience is low today. There are no medals for forcing ourselves to hurt more.
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Dominance.
Power.
Arrogance.
Ignorance.
Ethnocentrism.

Everywhere I look, I see the traumatic legacy of the colonialist mindset.

The colonisation of:

indigenous peoples
populated lands
faiths and belief systems
healing practices
ways of learning and transmitting knowledge
wisdom
gender roles
family structures
women's bodies

STOP! ENOUGH!

There is no one right way to be.

There is no one People entitled to dominate another. Not at any level of human community. Not at the State level. Not at the family level.

The Double Empathy Problem (Milton, 2012) permeates every human system there is. From governments to intimate partner relationships; the belief that one entity is the arbiter of Right and is entitled to power over another is THE source of all trauma.

It is exhausting to see all this, both writ large on the news and in interpersonal relationships.

Listen to each other.
We need to put assumptions aside.
We don't have to be right.
Let's try and repair this, at least at the interpersonal level.

And then we can start to dream that healed people, empowered people, open-minded people will be the leaders of tomorrow.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16j29MrQSZ/

22/05/2025

Thank you. 🙏🙏🙏
Reframing Autism

https://www.facebook.com/reframingautism/posts/pfbid09T3eF1DwEhRcZ1gfC8n5u4hGP1Z1yuHGPBAro2vnWqQHW6gAbcxZJ2tSamNTrzaNl?

22/05/2025

What an emotional day!! First, a beautiful post from Reframing Autism right out of the blue, and then the much anticipated Perinatal Training Centre conference. Oh, my heart! I will share my posts about these two highlights from my LOAPAC-Neurodiversity Affirming Psychologists Australia page so pardon me if you follow both. I need to take the dog for a walk and clear my buzzing head!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17sTqGiUHc/

LOAPAC is proud to be supporting (and learning from) the Perinatal Training Centre.

Today was Day 1 of their inaugural conference and it started with joy and pride. The gentle wisdom of their compassionate approach to supporting Autistic and ADHD folk in the perinatal period was at once thrilling and soothing.

The conference continues at a gentle (there is a theme here!) pace of 2 hours tomorrow, and 2 hours Saturday. Lots of time for processing and reflecting.

Thank you for your shout-outs to LOAPAC. We are so happy to be connected to organisations that share our values and our commitment to neurodiversity affirming practice. Together we are weaving a strong safety net for our community and beyond.

And a big wave to Sarah Harrower whose presentation was what I wish I and my healthcare providers had known when I was having babies. Sarah is a LOAPAC member and we are very lucky to have her! ( https://loapac.org/rap/sarah-harrower)

20/05/2025

50 days to go and I am turning to everyone here to ask, "Do you know anyone, have any business contacts, who would be in a position to sponsor our LOAPAC-Neurodiversity Affirming Psychologists Australia to exhibit at Expo '25?

Our psychologists work one or two days a week due to disability and caregiving duties, such is life in an Autistic family. Their work is exactly what is needed in the wider community, because it comes from professional expertise *and* lived experience. Autistic psychologists live and breathe their work! (Hence the need to protect ourselves from burnout.)

But by virtue of being lived experience professionals, most Autistic psychologists are underemployed and can't afford to distribute their much-needed work. Exhibiting costs. I have kept the costs as low as I could and now I am turning to the community and asking for help.

If you or a loved one have ever been supported by an Autistic professional, you will know the value of our work.

Sponsors will be actively promoted at the conference and on our social media. More details in the prospectus which I will post in the comments.

🙏🙏🙏

20/05/2025

I'm so busy organising this event that I forgot I am actually a speaker as well. 😁🫣😶‍🌫️😁

This event is for therapists. Send your therapist the link; they'll thank you for it!

Check out the amazing lineup of speakers at https://nactaandloapacexpo25.vfairs.com/

19/05/2025

I’m excited to announce that I am a presenter for the first ever Neurodivergence Wellbeing Conference. I will be presenting on:

"Community and Identity: a pathway to wellbeing for members of neurominority groups."

This conference gives space for and respect to the stories, challenges and successes of all neurodivergent people as well as the mental and allied health care providers who are working in the sector as we plan for a brighter future.

Taking place on the Gold Coast from August 11-12, the conference program is centred on the theme: Innovation, Inclusion, Empowerment: the Future of Neurodivergent Mental Health.

Topics include:

🙂Exploring The Paradigm Shift of Neurodivergence

❤️‍🔥Addressing Sanism, Neuronormativity, and Stigma in Mental Health (the stream I am presenting in and am so passionate about!)

🙂Mental Health Interventions and Supports for Neurodivergent Students in Educational Settings

🙂Neurodivergent Adults: Enhancing Mental Health and Wellbeing Across the
Lifespan

I’d love for you to join me as we continue to strive towards a neurocosmopolitan society. (Wanna know what that means? Tune into my talk!)

Use my code PRESENTER10 and gain 10% off your registration at
https://anzmh.asn.au/nwc