Just Kids Health

15/12/2025

Fun in clinic this afternoon.
Spot the puppy 🐶 in the creation ❤️

15/12/2025

Things I learned from my patients in clinic this week:

☑️ Advanced maths ➕✖️ and planetary alignment 🌏🌙 from Mr 5
☑️ That we need to 'line up for the bus' 🚌 and stand in a circle ⏺ for meetings from Miss 6

(I'm the in green scrubs 💚🩺)

15/12/2025

Just Kids Health

09/12/2025

Today we’re shining a light on our wonderful Nurse Practitioners, Stephanie and Kerryn.

Your dedication, compassion and calm expertise make such a difference to the children and families you care for.

Thank you for helping children feel safe, supporting parents through the tough moments and strengthening our whole community.
Join us in celebrating these absolute stars, we’re so grateful for you both!

08/12/2025

Today marks the start of Nurse Practitioner Week (8–14 December)
Nurse Practitioner Week recognises the invaluable contributions of Nurse Practitioners across Australia 💚

This year (8–14 December) marks a very special milestone, 25 years of Nurse Practitioner care in Australia. From the first trailblazing NPs to the 3100 plus NPs now leading the way across every corner of the health system, our profession continues to grow from strength to strength.🌱🌿🌳

NP Week is a time to come together, recognise our achievements, and celebrate the impact Nurse Practitioners have made in delivering experienced and expert care. It’s also an opportunity to connect, reflect, and look to the future of NP leadership.

Happy NP Week to all the incredible Nurse Practitioners across Australia!

05/12/2025

Just Kids Health

05/12/2025

The calm after the storm ☺️
Very busy day… now all tidied and packed away.
So much help from my wonderful and

04/12/2025

PDA - Pathological Demand Avoidance and the need for more awareness.

(alternatively named by some as
Pervasive Desire for Autonomy or Extreme Demand Avoidance)

Lack of awareness of Pathological Demand Avoidance in health and education systems leading to family

03/12/2025

How Can We Help Raise the Voices of Our PDA Children?

Our PDA children are some of the least heard voices in decision making conversations, yet they are the ones most affected by decisions made in offices far away from their daily lives.

They don’t fit the standard boxes.
They don’t respond to traditional supports.
They are often misunderstood, misdiagnosed, or left out completely.

So, how do we help people truly hear them?

💬 We translate lived experience into language they can’t ignore.
We tell the stories, the missed school years, the sensory battles, the anxiety that looks like defiance, the joy that blooms when autonomy is honoured.

📚 We bring evidence to emotion.
We pair research with reality, showing that PDA isn’t a parenting issue or a discipline gap, but a nervous system difference needing compassion, not compliance.

🤝 We collaborate, not compete.
Parents, professionals, educators, advocates, we need to unite our voices, not fracture them. Collective advocacy is where systems begin to shift.

📢 We keep showing up.
In submissions, panels, community consultations, conferences, and social media....every time we speak, we make it harder for people to look away.

Because the truth is:
Our PDA children may not always speak for themselves in those decision making rooms, but we can amplify their truth.

And one day, when the world finally catch up,
it’ll be because of the parents, allies, and professionals who refused to stay quiet.

Change starts when understanding begins.
Let’s keep making their voices heard.

02/12/2025

If your little one is acting up and you are wondering if it’s about end-of-year nerves, this post might be useful:

30/11/2025

New social media rules..

30/11/2025

When my daughter was young, we were told something that sat heavy on my heart for years. Professionals cautioned us that performing on stage may not be a realistic path for her. Her ADHD, autism, intellectual disabilities, and sensory challenges would likely hold her back, they said. She might struggle to find confidence, feel overwhelmed by sensory input, or freeze under pressure. And in some ways, they were right.

Yes, she gets nervous beforehand but honestly, who doesn’t?
Yes, her sensory world can feel louder, brighter, tighter than most but she has been given tools, strategies, and pathways to regulate and process through the overwhelm. Over the years, she has learned how to navigate her internal storms.

But what they didn’t account for what no report or checklist could ever capture that she loves her culture. She loves performing. It is not just an interest it is a calling sitting deep in her bones.

When she steps onto that stage, something powerful happens. Her face shifts. Her posture changes. Her voice, her movement, her spirit no longer speaks in the language of diagnosis, but in the language of lineage.
She doesn’t just perform she wraps herself in the strength of her ancestors.
She pulls confidence from those who walked before her. The mana of her culture runs through her like a protective cloak.

And suddenly, the world that once felt like too much becomes a world she dances with, not against. On stage, she transforms anxiety into courage. She transforms sensory sensitivity into awareness. She transforms doubt into shine.
A diagnosis may describe how the world feels but it doesn’t get to define how brightly a girl can glow within it. Every time she performs, she reminds us that brilliance can still bloom through nerves.
That fierceness can rise through sensitivity.
That culture can be a grounding force when the world is overwhelming.That confidence can be inherited and reclaimed even when it has been questioned.

She shows up.
She pushes through.
She shines anyway.

And in doing so, she gives courage to every other child who has ever been underestimated, sidelined, or doubted.

The stage may have intimidated her at first…
But now?

It listens when she stomps her foot, throws her shoulders back, and says without words:

“Kei konei au. No konei au. Mātakitaki, ka tiaho au!" (I am here. I belong. Watch me shine.)

We are so proud of you Winter❤️
We loveyou xx

~ The Kiwi Neurodiverse Family ❤️