October Newsletter. It's out now!

Read, subscribe, share 👇
https://mailchi.mp/091a76512104/october-newsletter?e=f36f469e0c

#educateevolveembody #bodymind #diversity #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise #thinksystemically

Call for Participants: Join the Neurodivergent Creative Research Community (NCRC), Exploring Regulation through Creative Practice & from a Neurodivergent Perspective


Are you a Neurodivergent adult who enjoys creative practices like art, writing, storytelling, or embodied movement? Are you interested in regulation, dysregulation, and how creativity can support wellbeing?


We’re inviting you to take part in a unique, paid research opportunity that values your lived experience and creative passions.


About the Project
Title: Building Neurodivergent-Affirming Cultures of Regulation: A Neurodivergent Perspective
Led by Dr Amy Skinner (York St John University, Institute for Social Justice) and Kay Louise Aldred (Neurodiverse Connection), this project will explore how regulation is experienced by Neurodivergent people, using creative and collaborative methods.
You'll be part of a co-researcher community, helping to shape a creative, co-produced output and published research.


Who Can Take Part?
We’re looking for Neurodivergent adults who:
Use or are curious about creativity to explore emotions, experiences, well-being and regulation
Are open to sharing ideas about how they experience regulation and dysregulation, and what regulated spaces look and feel like for them, and how they can be facilitated, in a supportive, collaborative environment


Identify as Neurodivergent (no formal diagnosis is needed to apply)


What's Involved?
Attend monthly creative sessions (online or hybrid options)
Sessions run from December 2025 to July 2026, on the second Thursday of each month (up to 2.5 hours each, with breaks)
Engage in creative workshops, short, recorded conversations, and photo sharing of your creative work
Take part in a supportive, imaginative, and respectful space
Participants will be paid £250 for their time and contributions.


How to Apply
We have an online information Teams meeting on Thursday, 9th October 2025, at 6 pm, which you can attend via this link: Join the meeting now, Meeting ID: 379 297 777 957 8, Passcode: sY6nQ7ts. To find out more about the project, or you can email us at [email protected] and ask any questions you have.


Send an email to [email protected] telling us why you're interested by 5 pm on Monday, 20th October 2025. Details of what to include in the email below.


We’ll select participants based on interest and creative fit – we aim for a mix of styles and perspectives


If selected, you'll be invited to an online information meeting on Teams on Thursday, 6th November at 6 pm, before confirming your place.


Your Wellbeing
Your well-being during the research process is important to us.
Share only what feels right for you
You can pause or skip activities at any time
We'll begin with creative work; body-based (somatic) practices will be introduced gently later
Full consent info will be provided before you join


Your Data and Privacy
Your personal data will be stored securely and used only for this project. You’ll be able to review and approve anything with your name or creative work before it's made public or archived.


Interested? Have Questions?
To apply or find out more, email us at [email protected] by 5 pm on Monday, 20th October 2025.


In the email, let us know:
About yourself – eg your location and experience
Why you're interested in being part of the project
Any creative practices you enjoy or want to explore


Let’s build something better spaces for regulation and creativity together by, with, and for the Neurodivergent community.

Another important collaboration with @respect_uk RESPECT & a piece of partnership work I'm leading on as Neurodiverse Connection @ndconnectionuk Development Lead.


Building on partnership, co-production, research, & the toolkit & development of a neurodiversity practitioner guide for more inclusive domestic abuse perpetrator Interventions, work led by Dr Nicole Renehan at Durham University Neurodiverse Connection has partnered with RESPECT @respect_uk & their Make a Change Programme led by Rebecca Vagi to make their model more inclusive & responsive to Neurodivergent survivors & perpetrators.


Honoured to be able to support this development & I'm feeling the responsibility of this work.


More to follow.

Bravo 👏👏👏 Dr Lorna Hamilton @drlornaham Dr Stephanie Petty & Jamie Williams & @yorkstjohn York St John University


I was delighted & proud to have played a small role in this project as part of the participatory action (coproduction) group.


A participatory action research project to advance neurodiversity affirming practice in university campuses and workplaces.


The project involves the co-design of flexible, accessible research methods with Neurodivergent students and employees (recognising autism, ADHD, and other Neurodivergences).


The findings informed a dynamic, inclusive model of belonging, emphasising priority actions for adjustments, universal design and representation.
Find out more by clicking here

Neurodiverse Connection (ndconnection.co.uk) exists to advocate, amplify, challenge, educate and promote & we were created to improve support and outcomes for Neurodivergent people.

I was delighted to represent the organisation & our mission on Friday, 19th Sept at NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (OH BRC) @nihr_research Neurodiversity Conference 2025 at @oxfordsbs @oxford_uni

Grateful to Andreia Santos (Neurodiverse Voices Podcast) for the invitation to attend.

As part of the invitation to be part of this event & I was invited to speak as Neurodiverse Connection Development Lead on two panels:

1. Lived Experience in Action: Neurodiversity & Research

2. Working Together: Researchers, Neurodivergent People, & Families in Mental Health Research

You can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it" (saying attributed to Einstein)

At the event, I spoke about decolonising our bodyminds.

The key points I shared included:
Research, academia, and mental health services often take a capitalist, ableist, normative, and coloniser “observer” view. Even those of us who are Neurodivergent can be conditioned into these mindsets.

That’s why we need to neuroqueer our lens and decolonise our minds and approaches - shifting away from the medical model of “deficit and disorder” toward a depathologised understanding of bodymind diversity as natural human variation.

When we ground research in lived experience, we start to see how some “evidence-based” practices (like PBS) can actually harm —contributing to suicidality, masking, and loss of identity — because they were designed without acknowledging the embodied reality of living in oppressive systems. We can then ask, are they actually a coloniser tool?

We must question the very origins and purposes of psychiatry & psychology: do we want to keep perpetuating a system that pathologises survival responses (meltdown, shutdown, situational mutism, distress behaviours)? Or do we want to create something different, an alternative system that recognises these as adaptive responses to trauma, poverty, and systemic oppression?

Bodymind diversity is not an illness and does not require treatment. Instead, we need to diagnose systems, cultures, norms, and attitudes. We must rehumanise both care and research.

And importantly, researchers and practitioners themselves need bodymind & wellbeing support - so they can regulate, embody, and extend a truly humanised & relational approach in their work.

I also shared about our work on the Culture of Care with NCCMH @thercpsych & with FoNS @fonscharity, and our promotion of the SPACE Framework by Autistic Doctors International (Mary Doherty, Seb Shaw et al) - go to our website ndconnection.co.uk to find out more.

Change starts with re-imagining how we understand, research, and support human bodymind diversity and reduce human distress: #thinksystemically

#OHRCBDConference2025 #OHRCNDConf2025 #livedexperience #research #mentalheath #neurodiversity #oxford
 
Interconnectedness.

We all have strengths, and we all have support needs. For some of us, the contrast between them is more pronounced — and that’s okay.

The reason I was able to attend the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (OH BRC) @nihr_research conference in person on Friday was that, most of the time, I work remotely from home in a sensory-friendly, low-nervous-system-arousal environment that helps me manage my energy and avoid burnout.

Also, I am grateful for the support of my husband, who accompanied me on the trip. He planned our journey, drove, and supported me with some executive decisions, making it possible for me to conserve energy to show up and engage in a regulated way, accessing my full strengths.

This is part of what access and interdependence look like for me.
Remembering our interconnectedness means allowing people to be fully human — to have both strengths and support needs.

And if we were to create humane systems, cultures, and norms that support the needs of the most sensitive bodyminds (the 'canaries in the mines' Dr James Stacey alluded to) & built more processing space, and lower-sensory & nervous system arousal environments, everyone (every body) would benefit.

We all deserve environments that don't overwhelm our nervous systems & to create that, we need to #thinksystemically​

We need to slow down. Turn down.
Make space.
And feel.

​"Understanding nervous system regulation is foundational for creating Neurodivergent-affirming and trauma-informed approaches, both at an individual and organisational level.



Here are six ways how this understanding can contribute to more effective, inclusive, and long-lasting change.

1. Enhancing Self-Awareness and Regulation

2. Supporting Authentic Connection and Belonging

3. Creating Safe, Supportive Environments

4. Building Nervous System and Trauma-Informed Policies and Practices

5. Reducing Stigma and Promoting Inclusion and Equity

6. Driving Sustainable Change



The Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach is a holistic, Neurodivergent-friendly wellbeing curriculum that offers a reflective space, nervous system education, and practical strategies.



This programme is based on the concept of ‘experience to share’ and is designed to promote self-reflection and the wellbeing of participants, which they can then model and share with those they care for and support.



The only requirement is a willingness to self-reflect and a genuine interest in learning about embodiment and creative approaches."



Read the full blog here 👇

https://ndconnection.co.uk/blog/creating-neurodivergent-affirming-organisations



Find out more about the Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach Training here 👇

https://ndconnection.co.uk/ndwatraining



#educateevolveembody #bodymind #diversity #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise

​Journal entry & picture 1:

Traumatised, oppressed, and suffering people are not “the problem” to be fixed.

We must diagnose (and dismantle) the dehumanising and pathologising systems and cultures that cause and perpetuate harm.



Journal entry & picture 2:

The past few weeks have been full of releasing, reorganising, and restructuring — a familiar rhythm for me as the equinox approaches.

But this year, something is different.

As my identity sheds and shifts once again, I feel no urge to explain myself. No need to justify, correct, or narrate who I am.

I’m no longer seeking a diagnosis or a label — I’ve depathologised and rehumanised myself.

I am simply me.

My essence is one unique strand in the vast, beautiful diversity of human bodymind variation.

And from here forward, my focus is clear:

I will diagnose systems and norms, and call out the pathologising and dehumanising nature of them.

It took me (nearly) a lifetime to access this feeling state

To get there I had to retrieve my soul. Uncouple my nervous system, energy field & mind from the extractive & coloniser systems, cultures, attitudes & norms I'd (we've) been conditioned by

No amount of therapy, western medical model diagnosis & treatments, capitalist 'self-care', 'wellbeing' or 'spiritual' approaches, academic learning or professional success could (can) bring back the well of my being; my essence, my lifeforce

Someone once said to me 'you must find the courage to leave the table if respect is no longer being served'

It's that complex & that simple

And the deepest spiritual 'work' I have ever done is what I'm doing now; working at staying connected to my soul & humanity whilst working full-time in soulless & dehumanising systems



Journal entry & picture 3:

Diagnose the attitudes and norms

They're shaped by culture, lived experiences, and the people around us. Some come from powerful loud influences like societal institutions & the media, others from quiet group consensus & bystander apathy.

Which attitudes and norms are we unconsciously replicating?

And do they truly align with our bodymind, soul and personal values?

Inner reflection = real change

"Understanding nervous system regulation is foundational for creating Neurodivergent-affirming and trauma-informed approaches, both at an individual and organisational level.

Here are six ways how this understanding can contribute to more effective, inclusive, and long-lasting change. 

1. Enhancing Self-Awareness and Regulation

2. Supporting Authentic Connection and Belonging 

3. Creating Safe, Supportive Environments

4. Building Nervous System and Trauma-Informed Policies and Practices

5. Reducing Stigma and Promoting Inclusion and Equity

6. Driving Sustainable Change

The Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach is a holistic, Neurodivergent-friendly wellbeing curriculum that offers a reflective space, nervous system education, and practical strategies.

This programme is based on the concept of ‘experience to share’ and is designed to promote self-reflection and the wellbeing of participants, which they can then model and share with those they care for and support.

The only requirement is a willingness to self-reflect and a genuine interest in learning about embodiment and creative approaches."

Read the full blog here 👇
https://ndconnection.co.uk/blog/creating-neurodivergent-affirming-organisations

Find out more about the Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach Training here 👇
https://ndconnection.co.uk/ndwatraining

#educateevolveembody #bodymind #diversity #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise