Dana Baltutis Coaching

11/12/2025

The last episode of our Unschooling Series on The Empowered Parent.
In this episode we look back at everything we explored in this series as we followed Oak and Paige’s journey through their first term of unschooling. It has been a tender, real, very human season of learning what happens when a child’s wellbeing becomes the guide rather than the outcome.
We talk about what changed, what softened, what was let go of, and what grew in its place. We touch on burnout recovery, rebuilding safety, and the surprising moments of connection that held this family together including the teacher who quietly showed up at a caravan park simply to keep the thread of belonging alive.
This reflection brings the whole series together and shows what it can look like when a parent trusts their child, trusts the process, and slowly learns to trust themselves again.
You can listen to this episode on your favourite podcast app or via this link
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2301054/episodes/18327317
If this series has supported you in any way, share it with someone who may need the same reminder that there is another way.

What changes when a child’s wellbeing takes the lead and everything else rearranges around it? In this series finale with Paige Carter of Inclusive Oak, we follow a family through unschooling and burnout recovery, anchored by one unforgettable mom...

03/12/2025

Another great episode on The Empowered Parent Podcast with Paige Carter from Inclusive Oak. Her son Oak, who lives with PDA, is turning the corner and starting to initiate activities outside of his safe space.

The family has now packed up their home and living in their caravan.

Listen to their unschooling journey on your favourite podcast app or via this link
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2301054/episodes/18281815
Please share with others who may find this information helpful.

What if the bravest choice is to stop doing what everyone expects and start doing what your child needs? We sit down with Paige Carter to unpack a seismic family pivot: renting out the house, moving into a caravan, and giving a neurodivergent chil...

02/12/2025

We have therapy and assessment openings to help families wrap up the year and get ready for 2026. We know holidays can be a tough time, so we are open for most of the school break. We close Friday Dec 19 and reopen Wednesday Jan 7, with family and sibling sessions available, so your other children can join too. Contact us to book or to have a free chat with one of our therapists.

26/11/2025

I love this week's episode on The Empowered Parent Podcast.
I sat down with Sarah Lovett from OUR PDA Kids and Paige Carter from Inclusive Oak to talk about homeschooling options and the stages of burnout for our PDA children.
Sarah and Paige shared practical strategies and spoke openly about their own journeys.
It is a gentle, honest conversation that will help many parents understand what is happening beneath the surface for their child.
Definitely worth a listen.
You can find this episode on your favourite podcast app or through this link.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2301054/episodes/18254146
Please like and share!

This week on The Empowered Parent Podcast I sat down with Sarah Lovett from Our PDA Kids and Paige Carter from Inclusive Oak. Both Sarah and Paige are parents of children with Pathological Demand Avoidance, or Persistent Demand for Autonomy, and b...

10/11/2025

Excited for the PDA Inaugural Conference tomorrow! ❤️

08/11/2025

I honestly don’t know how she does it. The way Paige holds space for her son, honours his nervous system, and keeps learning through the hard moments - it’s incredible.

Parents who are going through a similar journey - know you are not alone. Tune in for some inspiration and strength.

Listen now to The Empowered Parent Podcast - available on your favourite podcast app or via this link

Change doesn’t wait for the perfect schedule, and neither do big feelings. We sit down after a long day to unpack a week where a 30-minute hydrotherapy session brought relief, the weather kept us indoors, and Oakland leaned hard into the comfort o...

07/11/2025

Great news!

We’re excited to share that a new Occupational Therapist will be joining our team in February 2026!
If your child needs OT support, now is the perfect time to join our waiting list, as places will fill quickly.

We’re also launching a new Home Play and Communication Program for parents of babies and toddlers up to 2 years old.
This program focuses on early connection, play, and communication development — right where families need it most.

Families living within 5 km of Mitchell Park (SA) can access in-home sessions for up to 6 weeks.
We also offer telehealth sessions for families further away.

Sessions can be claimed through private health insurance or funded through the NDIS.

📞 Contact us today to join the waiting list or learn more about our upcoming programs.

My Therapy House® - Contact Us https://share.google/HzgDR8L1lu1X397ax

30/10/2025

Week three of our Unschooling journey with Paige and Oaklan.

In this episode we celebrate the small signs of nervous system recovery. We talk about why strollers and prams can be essential for older or ambulant children, especially when the world feels too big or too fast. We also explore community access, safety, and how to get around getting funding for a pram/stroller through the NDIS because of 'restrictive practices'.

If your child is struggling at school or finds public spaces overwhelming, this episode will give you understanding and hope.

Listen to The Empowered Parent podcast with Dana Baltutis on your favourite podcast app or via this link

Ever watched a child light up at the zoo, then shut down at the hospital and wondered how to bridge those worlds with care, dignity, and actual access? We dive into a week that held both: a quiet bus at Monarto where curiosity bloomed, and a clini...

30/10/2025

Season 2 has come to a close - and my heart is full.

Episode 10, Every Colour Matters, of The Empowered Parent Podcast with Dana Baltutis is now live - my closing reflection on this season of neurodiversity.

This season held so many real, raw and important conversations -
about voice, autonomy, safety, belonging, and reshaping the environments that shape our neurodivergent population.
I am deeply grateful to every guest who trusted me,
and to every one of you who listened with an open heart.

If there is one message I want to leave you with, it is this:

Neurodiversity is not a problem to solve - it is a truth to honour.
Every way of thinking, sensing, relating and learning deserves to be understood, not fixed.

Thank you for walking this journey with me.
For seeing beyond behaviour.
For choosing compassion over compliance.
For believing that every human, deserves a place where they feel safe to be who they are.

And while Season 2 is officially closing, we’re not done.

We are currently airing a limited Unschooling Series with Paige Carter of Inclusive Oak.
So keep listening, keep leaning in. There is more to learn, more to unlearn, and more to become.

🎧 Episode 10: Every Colour Matters - now available on The Empowered Parent podcast. You can listen on your favourite podcast app or via this link

The rainbow stretches across the sky – vibrant, diverse, and complete only because each colour exists. This powerful metaphor frames our season finale on neurodiversity, reminding us that human brains, like rainbows, aren't meant to be identical. ...

26/10/2025

When you carry responsibility for others - as a carer, leader, parent, therapist - your nervous system becomes the container for everyone else.
You hold space. You anticipate. You respond. You absorb.

That is meaningful work. But it is also energy-intensive work.

This is why taking time for yourself is not indulgent. It is essential maintenance. The system cannot keep giving without coming back to stillness, grounding, and a sense of one’s own centre.

For me, that reset happens when I go completely offline with my husband - out into the outback, under open skies, camping where there is nothing to respond to.
No notifications. No questions. No output required.
Just land. Breath. Slowness. Reconnection to what is real.

That is not escape. That is return.
And it is what allows me to come back to my work resourced, clear, and ready to lead again.

23/10/2025

What if a camera could say what your voice can’t? We sit down with Bianca, a neurodivergent artist and mother living with bipolar II, ADHD, and autistic traits, to explore how art, therapy, and the right clinical support helped her turn pain into purpose. From a turbulent childhood in post-communist Romania to a leap-of-faith move to Adelaide during the pandemic, her story threads vulnerability with resolve, and invites us to rethink what recovery and advocacy can look like.
We trace her late diagnosis journey-sparked by her child’s assessment, and the mix of shock and relief that followed a bipolar II diagnosis. Bianca breaks down the real work of finding effective medication, why a psychiatrist’s expertise matters for complex mood disorders, and how weekly therapy functions like emotional hygiene. She shares the gritty middle: when ADHD meds tangle with mood stability, when the wrong clinician sets progress back, and how to keep going until you’re truly seen.
Listen on your favourite podcast app or via this link

What if a camera could say what your voice can’t? We sit down with Bianca, a neurodivergent artist and mother living with bipolar II, ADHD, and autistic traits, to explore how art, therapy, and the right clinical support helped her turn pain into ...