The @neurodiverse.voices.podcast I recorded with Andreia Costa just over a week ago will air in the autumn 🍁 more details to come.
 
I loved speaking with Andreia about the NdC Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach Course I designed & facilitate, the journey & impact of late #autism diagnosis, menopause & much more!
 
Grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute to this super podcast 🤝
 
#educateevolveembody #bodymind #diversity #depathogise #rehumanise 

Oxford Health BRC Neurodiversity Conference

Friday 19 September at 9:30 am - Saturday 20 September at 4:30 pm

This two-day public event across two locations will bring together researchers, clinicians, local organisations, and the neurodivergent community to collaborate and drive meaningful change.

Conference Themes:

Strengthening partnerships across research, community, and organisations

Advancing mental health research and support for neurodivergent individuals

Promoting inclusivity, innovation, and long-term impact

Day 1: Identifying Gaps and Advancing Mental Health Research (Saïd Business School)

Identifying Gaps and Advancing Mental Health Research

Featuring flash talks, panels, and lived experience speakers across the lifespan.

Day 2: Community Support, Advocacy, and Lived Experience (Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital)

Community Support, Advocacy, and Lived Experience

Includes workshops, mindfulness, and discussions on practical support and research engagement.

The ticket sales webpage is now live on the Autism Champions @autismchampions website

Early Bird Tickets Now on Sale! £35 for a limited time (£50 after sale ends)

Each ticket includes refreshments and lunch.

Please contact event organisers with any queries: [email protected]

Thank you Andreia Costa @neurodiverse.voices.podcast for inviting me, as @ndconnectionuk Development Lead, to be a panel speaker on the Friday - looking forward to it.

#neurodiverdiversity #bodymind #diversity #research #livedexperience #coproduction #changemakers 

​Understanding Boundaries - A Neurodiverse Connection Original Resource.
 
What is this resource about?
 
This resource provides a Neurodivergent-affirming guide to understanding boundaries, recognising the unique challenges and strengths that can come with Neurodivergent experiences. While it centres Neurodivergent perspectives, the insights and suggestions may apply to a broader audience.
 
Additionally, it acknowledges the complexities of boundary setting, particularly for those in lived experience roles, where the personal and professional identities intersect and identifying and maintaining boundaries can be harder. Setting boundaries in these roles can be especially challenging due to the deep emotional connection to the work, a strong desire to support others, and the possibility of sharing and encountering experiences that resonate on a personal or emotional level. 
 
This resource aims to offer supportive strategies that reflect those realities.
 
It's free & available now. Link below.
 
#educateevolveembody #neurodivergent #boundaries

​'Regardless of neurotype, there is a disconnect between mind and body throughout society - we are collectively mind dominant, thought-based and body-phobic'

This SPLIT is a (the?) PROBLEM.

Super proud to have co-authored Chapter 23, Beyond Mind: The Embodied Double Empathy Problem, in this amazing Dr Damian Milton Reader, published by Pavilion Press, with Jill Corbyn, who is the Director of @ndconnectionuk where I am delighted to work as a Development Lead.

"One of the chapter’s most powerful takeaways is the idea that dysregulation is an automatic and adaptive nervous system survival response to a threat in the environment, not dysfunction; it’s an unmet need. When understood through this lens, actions like stimming, shutdowns, or meltdowns are not behaviours to manage but signals of distress to be interpreted with compassion.

Our chapter is a call to action. It encourages mental health practitioners, educators, and support workers to look beyond external appearances, to develop nervous system literacy, and to see co-regulation as a foundational skill for their practice. It also offers practical frameworks and activities to help bridge embodied differences in real-world care environments.

Ultimately, ‘Beyond Mind: The Embodied Double Empathy Problem’ is a vital contribution to the growing body of Neurodivergent-affirming practice. It encourages us to ask: what if the route to empathy and providing care is not more talking, but more listening; to the body, to felt and internal experience, and to the unspoken ways we communicate safety and connection?"

Extract from my Neurodiverse Connection blog Beyond Mind: The Embodied Double Empathy Problem.

Read ‘Chapter 23: Beyond Mind: The Embodied Double Empathy Problem’ by Jill Corbyn and Kay Louise Aldred in Dr Damian Milton’s ‘The Double Empathy Reader: Exploring Theory, Neurodivergent Lived Experience and Implications for Practice’.

Available to order now from Pavilion Publishing

#educateevolveembody #bodyminddiversity #embodiment #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise #autism #doubleempathyproblem #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #beyondmind 

"Understanding neurodiversity as a form of body mind diversity, challenges traditional, narrow ideas of ‘normal’ and invites us to recognise the legitimacy of diverse ways of thinking, sensing, communicating, and existing.

Diversity and cohesion as partners: It’s easy to assume that celebrating differences might pull communities apart and that cohesion might reduce diversity. Cohesion arises not from uniformity, but from embracing differences within a shared framework of values, mutual care, reciprocity, responsibility, and a collective vision and purpose greater than the ‘I’.

Moving forward together: As we continue past the celebrations of Neurodiversity Pride Day and Pride Week, let us continue to hold two truths at once: we are wonderfully unique and individual body minds and we are interdependent.

Pride and cohesion are not in competition, they are essential companions."

Extract from my Neurodiverse Connection blog Celebrating and honouring body mind diversity.

Link below.

#educateevolveembody #bodyminddiversity #embodiment #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise #bodymind #neurodivergent #diversity #communitycohesion #neurodiversity #neurodiversitypride #pridemonth

"To say that the body is silenced and occupied is to describe how systems of power and control, override or erase a person's natural, intuitive, and embodied ways of being and knowing. Especially when those ways fall outside of what's considered ‘normal’ or ‘acceptable’ by dominant cultural standards.

Moving Toward Liberation-Based Support 

We need to ask: who defines ‘normality’, and which behaviours and bodies are acceptable? Who benefits from a system that rewards uniformity and values conformity?  

If support is to be truly person-centred, it must honour the full humanity of all people, including Neurodivergent people, and their movement, impulses, and embodied ways of being in the world. 

Liberatory alternatives to PBS focus on co-regulation, meeting embodied and sensory needs, trauma-informed care, and deep listening. They validate the diverse ways humans know and express, including embodied ways of knowing and expressing, affirming that everybody has a wise ‘knowing’ body and that the goal of support is not control, but connection, safety, and respect."

Extract from my Neurodiverse Connection blog 'How Positive Behaviour Support silences and occupies the body' which is part of our #AgainstPBSandABA campaign

'It's time to ditch the carrot and stick'

Find out more about our #AgainstPBSandABA campaign, show your support and get involved

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Guide to PBS and ABA for professionals, parents and caregivers - a Neurodiverse Connection Original Resource

As part of our #AgainstPBSandABA you can download the PDF for free here 👇 please share.

"Furthermore, PBS embeds the fawn response, which is a trauma response in which individuals comply, appease, and people-please to avoid conflict or punishment. This behaviour can lead to a lifelong pattern of compliance and makes individuals more vulnerable to coercive control, with serious consequences for both mental and physical health. When an external stressor or threat to our nervous system overrides our natural fight-or-flight responses, we may feel compelled to appease authority and "perform" for those in power. This can trap us in a state of functional freeze—a survival mode in which we disconnect from our authentic selves. 

The long-term effects of these interventions go beyond personal distress; they serve a larger societal function. By producing individuals who comply without question, who do not challenge authority, and who prioritise external validation over internal autonomy, PBS ensures a workforce that neatly fits within capitalist structures. This is not about empowerment or self-actualisation—it’s about creating sanitised, obedient individuals who do the bidding of those in power."

Extract from my Neurodiverse Connection blog 'Positive Behaviour Support: discovery, reflection and radical rethinking' which is part of our #AgainstPBSandABA campaign