Onwards and Upwards Psychology

25/08/2025

Let's call a spade a spade.

Thriving Kids is under-thought out and will under-serve the community.

We're being looked at as costs to society (not again) rather than how we support the most vulnerable.

The budget allocation? Woefully inadequate.

The expertise involved? Undermines the immense expertise prevalent in the lived experience community as well as allied health sectors, and are thus far confined to fearmongering politicians in ivory towers.

I'd be happy to support a reform to the NDIS.... provided that the reform had the appropriate expertise required at key juncture points for families and was designed with genuine care and collaboration in mind, rather than just costs.

In fact, I'm someone who has stopped working in a 1 on 1 space to upskill system care and training.

I can assure you that more adherence to everyday routines is "not" it.

We've done care roll outs such as Social Attention and Communication Surveillance (SACS) training with maternal health nurses that have widely been successful in helping families gain early identification and neuroaffirming support thanks to the work of .

We *can* do better mainstream supports, but the right heads at the helm matter deeply. Victorian Autism organisations have gotten together to offer their capacity for consultation and I'd welcome the government to take them up on it.

24/08/2025

Found these books in the wild, and my two little munchkins were suitably impressed.... for about a millisecond. 😜

Have you seen these books anywhere? Let me know!

Ps. It would help greatly if you could leave a review somewhere (Amazon, Google Books, Booktopia etc) to help build trust behind the books, especially My Body's Power Pack!

Thank you so much, a thousand blessings 🙌🏽

24/08/2025

Send a message to learn more

22/08/2025

Here's a work-in-progress summary of some main reasons there is community concern about Mark Butler's proposed NDIS reforms. The table contrasts the National Autism Strategy (which came first) against Butler's positions, across key dimensions, leading to a summary of perceived conflicts/risks in each dimension.

The government has a lot of work to do in providing transparent information to address these potential risks. Until then, the degree of distress and concern in the community makes complete sense when this maps out the layers of uncertainty we are sat with.

21/08/2025

19/08/2025

Yessssss for behaviour about belonging!

19/08/2025

YOU'RE INVITED!! 🥂

The book is launching internationally on the 21st August and we'll hold it the week after to ensure everyone has time to get their copy.

Come make merry with me and celebrate the release of this book out into the world. Bring the children along with their curious questions, cosy up in your PJs with a warm cuppa tea, and wave those books around on Zoom.

As an author, a book lives two lives. The first is my deeply personal relationship with creation, from the concepts, storyline to the words and pictures on the page.

The second is when readers read it, and breathe fresh life into it. They take it and interpret it according to their own lives and get a new lens to view the world with.

To me, that’s the real magic of writing.

Let's get celebrating!

Join me here - (it's free, but I'd like to understand how many people are coming):
https://events.humanitix.com/book-launch-reading

18/08/2025

Hands up if you get into fights with sticky tape too.

Filming this was always going to be a challenge and highlighting just how s l o w l y I'll go with wrapping orders.

At the same time, I kind of love just how much care goes into them too and connecting with each order I send out. ❤️

We've officially hit launch this book week so expect notifications to be appearing in inboxes and parcels to be knocking at your door.

Behind every product is an investment in trying to make the world better, a wish and the slight anxiety that the wish won't come true.

Thank you so much for trusting in these cards and resources, sight unseen, before launch. I have tweaked these cards for the past two years to be a version I am immensely proud of, an emotion I am learning to wear without shame.

I sincerely hope you love them, but let me know what you think!

12/08/2025

There's a new way forward for classrooms and schools.

One that doesn't see diversity of learning needs as additional.

One that doesn't baulk at rising autism rates.

One that knows that diversity of learning was in the room all along. (And yes even in the 80s when "we didnt have all this nonsense")

It's just about seeing it and planning for that diversity.

It's about knowing what Trauma informed *actually* looks like in practice and being able to audit that.

It's about the little tweaks we can make that don't means we're not adding onto the load, but replacing what didn't work with what does.

If you're aware of my work, I'm all for collectivism and efficiency. Doing less, but doing it together.

In 2 days at the ND Wellbeing Conference, we got to learn so much from cross cultural offerings between Australia and New Zealand that I walked away enriched, fostering new connections and strengthening old ones.

It's not easy being afternoon keynote and I appreciated everyone's support and energy. (Special shout out to Katie from who woke up from a nap for it 😂)

But that things? We're doing it together.

We're sharing how to improve mental health services and education. We're dismantling stigma when we speak our truths out loud. We're looking at the big picture and the little everyday ways we can show up.

And they mean a lot.

11/08/2025

Teachers, got your planning sorted for Book Week here.

Whether it's in paint a cauli or writing a letter to School Council or in having all around classroom discussions, have a look through this post if you'd like to make The Brain Forest part of your Book Week discussions.

06/08/2025

Ever feel like your watch is lying to you? I know I did, when I first started out.

I thought "I couldn't possibly be stressed this much!"

🛑The signs of running on empty were there.

Our bodies are keeping the score, even when our brain thinks and tries to convince ourselves we're fiiiiiine.

When we get clear on what drains us (even the subtle stuff) and what replenishes us (not just the Instagrammable self-care)...

…we start making decisions that support actual wellbeing.

For so long we've only looked at poor mental health outcomes in the Autistic population without stopping to question,

BUT WHY⁉️

And I realised the answer to that feels radical, but it's to lean in to our energy in navigating our environments, and doing what matters with the energy we have.

Note: The images and data in this post are personal experiences, not clinical, and are used to be illustrative.

I've made a few resources here to help you out on your journey: https://www.onwardsandupwardspsychology.com.au/shop-1

05/08/2025

Early reviews are OUT. I've held onto this book for ages and now it gets to lead a new life breathed into it when others read it, and find themselves in the pages too. 🥰