https://linktr.ee/grainnewarren

Gráinne Warren Play Therapy, Clonakilty (2026)

06/01/2026

If you’ve noticed I disappear from social media from time to time, that’s my PDA doing its thing.

Consistency here is hard for me, and I tend to share when something has actually landed and feels worth saying.

I’ve been quiet for a while now, not because nothing was happening, but because I’ve been following my own pacing, thinking, and creativity in ways that align with my energy and flow.

Over that time, something kept becoming clearer to me.

I kept noticing how often therapists are being asked to hold huge levels of complexity when working with Neurodivergent children and young people and how little space there actually is to slow down, reflect, and adapt the frameworks we’ve inherited to meet those realities.

Many of those frameworks were never built with Neurodivergent experience in mind in the first place.

Neurodivergent clients were rarely recognised, named, or held in affirming ways and yet therapists are still expected to make them fit.

The Neuroaffirming Practice has grown out of that recognition.

It’s a learning space for therapists who want to practise in ways that are relational, reflective, and affirming when working alongside Neurodivergent children, adolescents, and young people.

It’s shaped by curiosity rather than certainty, and by an understanding that what we’re taught doesn’t always translate neatly into real therapy rooms, real families, or real lives.

Through live workshops, reflective trainings, and ongoing professional conversations, this space offers time to slow down and think deeply, to sit with complexity without rushing to fix, categorise, or simplify.

It’s for therapists who want language that fits the people they work with, ways of thinking that can hold nuance, and space to reflect, particularly around power, context, and the frameworks we inherit.

I’ll be sharing more soon.

Gráinne

10/12/2025

A quiet reflection to close out the year and a small look toward the direction I’m moving in next.

I’ve also made my EAIP presentation available as a written blog (link in bio) for anyone who wants to read the fuller piece.

And to the Neurodivergent therapists who recognise themselves in this, I see you.

This work is not easy, and your experience matters.

❤️

01/12/2025

My Capacity Bubble — A Resource for Neurodivergent Children, Teens & the Grown-ups Who Support Them

We all have days where the world feels spacious, where talking is easy, conversations flow, sound sits softly, and our brain has room to stretch…

And then there are days where even one extra request feels like too much!

That’s capacity - not ability, not effort, not motivation.
Just capacity. And it changes.

I created My Capacity Bubble to help children, teens (and the adults around them) understand, honour, and protect their energy without shame or push-through culture.

Inside the download you’ll find:

🫧gentle explanations of what capacity actually is - energy, emotion, sensory load, expectations

🫧reflection prompts to help children notice when their bubble is big or small

🫧worksheet pages for exploring what fits, what doesn’t, and what helps recovery

🫧self-advocacy scripts for moments when words are hard

🫧a visual “check-in” page for daily use

This resource supports children to recognise limits, communicate needs, and move away from the idea of coping and toward understanding themselves with compassion.

Your capacity bubble doesn’t pop, it shifts to protect you.
You don’t have to stretch it to fit everything in.
You can listen to it. You can say no. You can protect it.
Your capacity matters, and it changes.
That’s not failure. That’s self-awareness.
Knowing your limits is a strength 💪

🫧 Download “My Capacity Bubble” on my website — link in bio.

15/10/2025

I wasn’t going to say anything…

But this “overdiagnosing autism” narrative has been echoing louder lately, dressed up in clinical language, wrapped in professionalism, and presented as caution.

And it’s hurting people!

I’m not activated because it’s controversial.
I’m activated because it’s harmful.

Because it questions the legitimacy of entire identities.
Because it keeps systems of power intact.

This post isn’t a debate. It’s a call to look deeper. To listen better. And to stop mistaking outdated, deficit-based frameworks for truth.

The neurodiversity paradigm is not a trend. It’s a paradigm shift, already well underway.

Clinging to the idea that we’re just “getting carried away with diagnoses” is flat-earth thinking. It refuses to see the depth, the clarity, the lived reality of the Autistic neurotype.

I hope these words offer language, clarity and validation for those of us who’ve spent too long trying to prove we exist.

We shouldn’t have to.

08/10/2025

In the latest Middletown Podcast, we chat to play therapist Gráinne Warren about building authentic connections rather than “training” social skills. Gráinne brings years of practice, research and lived experience to her work at Gráinne Warren Play Therapy. She has created a resource focused on supporting young people to create connections that make them comfortable.

🎧To listen-
https://www.middletownautism.com/social-media/alternatives-to-social-skills-training-with-gr-inne-warren-10-2025

📚You can find Gráinne’s resources here: https://grainnewarren.com/

02/09/2025

We hear a lot about kids needing to “learn emotional regulation.”

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: regulation isn’t just a skill to teach, it starts in the nervous system.

Big feelings aren’t failures. Meltdowns, tears, anger, shutdowns - these are the body’s way of coping and signalling, “I need support.”

That doesn’t mean strategies like breathing or mindfulness don’t help - they can! But only if the nervous system already feels safe enough to use them.

✨ True support isn’t expecting a child to regulate themselves. It’s helping their body feel safe and connected, so regulation can happen naturally - and strategies can grow from that foundation.

👉 Instead of asking, “How do I make this child regulate?” try asking, “What support does their nervous system need right now to feel safe?”

09/08/2025

“Let’s Talk About Anger”

What if we spoke to adults about anger the way we speak to children?

What if we handed them a worksheet asking them to rate how angry they feel when their partner lies to them, when they’re mocked at work, or when their neighbour enters their home without permission?

And then, just below that, asked them:
👉 “What coping strategies do you use when this happens? Are they effective?”

Absurd, right?
Even dangerous.

Because these aren’t just “triggers.”
They’re violations, betrayals, injustices, and unmet needs.

But when kids or teens get angry about their boundaries being crossed - being excluded, yelled at, mocked, ignored, or over-controlled - we call it a behaviour problem.

We ask them to manage it.
To breathe through it.
To calm down first, and talk later.
To cope with things that, frankly, they should be angry about.

🔥 Here’s what anger actually is:
• It’s a boundary being crossed.
• A need going unmet.
• A voice trying to be heard.
• A sense of safety being lost.
• A part of us rising up to protect something important.

Anger isn’t the problem.
It’s a signal. A warning light.

And often, a shield for deeper feelings like shame, hurt, loneliness, fear, or powerlessness.

🛑 So instead of asking children to “manage their anger,” maybe we could ask:
• What happened right before the anger showed up?
• What is this anger trying to protect?
• What do you need, right now, that you’re not getting?
• Is there something unfair, unsafe, or overwhelming happening?

When we punish or silence anger in children, we teach them not to trust themselves.

When we sit with it, validate it, and explore what it’s telling us, we build connection, safety, and real emotional understanding.

Anger doesn’t need to be controlled.
It needs to be heard.

21/07/2025

Ever lie in bed at 3am thinking about how elocution lessons and Autistic “social skills” are basically the same thing?

…No? Just me? 🫣

I was remembering a school I worked in where kids had weekly elocution lessons. One of the big ones? Learning to pronounce “th” the right way — tongue between the teeth, clear as day.

But we’re Irish. That sound doesn’t even exist in our language. It always made me uncomfortable.

It got me thinking… Autistic kids are so often taught to speak and act in ways that feel “more typical.”

But like accents, Autistic communication is cultural. It comes with its own rhythm, pace, and honesty. It’s not wrong, just different.

When we teach kids to change how they speak, move, or connect, we’re not just offering support. We’re shaping them around someone else’s standard.

It’s not about fixing or correcting.
It’s about recognising difference, and respecting it.

Because when we only value one way of speaking or connecting, we’re not teaching inclusion. We’re quietly erasing something else.

10/07/2025

There was a moment, in a professional setting, where someone said -

“There’s no such thing as Autistic culture. Autistic people just have needs.”

At the time, I didn’t have the words.
I didn’t have the capacity.
And honestly, I didn’t feel safe enough to push back.

This moment that’s stayed with me for a long time.
It sat in my chest for days, then weeks. I kept turning it over in my head. Not because I was unsure, but because I knew how wrong it was, and I couldn’t stop feeling the weight of what had been dismissed.

So I wrote this post as the response I couldn’t give in that moment. The one I would offer now, from a more rooted place.

It’s for every Autistic person who’s ever felt unseen or flattened by the idea that we’re just a cluster of needs.

Autistic culture is real. It’s alive. And it matters.

01/07/2025

From early on, we’re taught that doing things on your own is the goal.

I remember feeling that pressure myself, not just as a child, but well into adulthood. The sense that I needed to “get it together,” to be more self-sufficient, to stop relying on others so much.

But when I look back, the times I was “independent” often just meant I was masking, pushing through, or quietly burning out.

And now, working with Neurodivergent families, I see how early that message is communicated.

I see the pressure children and their parents face, how they are praised for not needing help, and are quietly judged when they do.

✨Can they get dressed alone?
✨Can they do their homework without reminders?
✨Can they regulate themselves?

This kind of independence isn’t neutral, it’s rooted in ableism.

It assumes that needing others is a flaw, something to grow out of. But what if we shifted the goal?

What if we saw interdependence, asking for help, co-regulating, leaning into community, not as something to fix, but something to foster?

In my own life, I’ve had to unlearn the belief that independence equals success. It’s still a work in progress. But I’m gentler now. I honour the support I need.

It’s so important to understand that needing support is not a problem, it’s human!

🌱Interdependence isn’t a fallback. It’s a foundation.

26/06/2025

If your child is overwhelmed or shutting down, you might feel torn, wanting to support them, but also wondering, “Am I doing the right thing by easing off?”

You’re not alone in those thoughts.

It’s common to worry about ‘falling behind’, ‘enabling avoidance’, or ‘losing ground on independence’.

But here’s what’s often misunderstood:

💡Slowing down isn’t giving up, it’s giving space.

💡Easing off doesn’t mean lowering the bar, it means protecting capacity.

Burnout recovery begins when we stop pushing and start listening.

When we honour nervous system limits and create room for rest, connection, and safety.

✨Slowing down is an active, loving response.

✨Pacing is a protective strategy, not a step backwards.

This is how we begin to gently support healing, and make space for what’s truly needed.

🌿If you’re supporting a child who’s running on empty, my Burnout Bundle offers gentle, neuroaffirming support.

📎Link in bio.

23/06/2025

“Before I knew I was Autistic, I called myself a Highly Sensitive Person. It made things make sense — until it didn’t.”
⁠
There’s a comfort in the HSP label. It’s soft. Relatable. Socially accepted. But what happens when we gently open that bracket — and ask whether some of what we call sensitivity might also be part of the Autistic experience?
⁠
This isn’t an easy conversation. Some people get uncomfortable. Defensive, even. But for those of us who spent years masking, adapting, and being misunderstood — the difference matters. The language we’re offered shapes what kind of support, recognition, and care we receive.
⁠
In my latest blog, I reflect on the blurry space between being seen as sensitive and being Autistic — and why so many of us only find the full story much later.
⁠
🌿 When Sensitivity Isn’t the Whole Story — now live

https://grainnewarren.com/when-sensitivity-isnt-the-whole-story-exploring-the-space-between-being-highly-sensitive-and-autistic-and-why-it-matters/

Gráinne Warren Play Therapy

06/01/2026

10/12/2025

01/12/2025

15/10/2025

08/10/2025

02/09/2025

09/08/2025

21/07/2025

10/07/2025

01/07/2025

26/06/2025

23/06/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Share

Category