Cathartic Collaborations

10/03/2026

🎧 Episode 46 of Divergent Dialogues is now live with guest Laetitia Andrac CEO and co-founder of .zoe

Did you know?

Neurodivergent families are carrying an average of 10 extra hours a week of admin.

In this conversation, we explore how AI, when built with lived experience and a neuroaffirming lens, can reduce hidden admin load and free up time for what actually matters: Connection

In this episode, we cover:

AI as a “second brain” (and why critical thinking still matters)

Bias in AI outputs and why neuroaffirming design is essential

The hidden load of parenting neurodivergent kids (and what the data says)

NDIS prep, advocacy, and practical ways AI can support

Ethics + privacy: frameworks, data protection, and trust

The emerging “AI gap” and equity in access

A sneak peek at Understanding Zoe’s upcoming app update (including support for adults)

08/03/2026

Masking isn’t just a social strategy.
It’s ongoing cognitive, emotional, and sensory labour.
When workplaces assume communication is effortless, they erase the cost carried by neurodivergent people just to participate.

I’m currently creating The Ripple Framework of Neurodivergent Flourishing - a spacious model for neurodivergent professionals who are tired of over-adapting and ready to reconnect with their own rhythm.
Join the interest list: link in bio!

What kind of work do you do before or after communicating at work?

07/03/2026

The Double Empathy Problem reminds us that misunderstandings don’t live inside one person.
They arise between people with different ways of sensing, processing, and communicating.
But there’s a part that often goes unnamed.

Power determines who adapts.

In many workplaces, dominant communication styles are treated as neutral and professional.
Other ways of being are framed as problems to be corrected.

So when misattunement happens, neurodivergent professionals adjust. Explain. Soften. Repair.
Again. And again.

Connection was never meant to rely on one person carrying the distance.

🌉 This insight sits at the heart of Module 3: The Bridge in the Ripple Framework of Neurodivergent Flourishing: Supervision Program.
A framework I’m currently creating for neurodivergent professionals who are tired of over-adapting and ready to build connection that doesn’t cost them their nervous system.

👉 Join the interest list for quiet updates and early access: Link in bio.
Share with a colleague who you think might benefit from this message.

06/03/2026

I'm super excited to present at this event!

Celebrate Neurodiversity Week at the Belonging as You Are: Neurodiversity Celebration Event!

Join the QUT Guild for a talk with Caitlin Hughes exploring neurodivergent belonging at university and in the workplace. There'll also be a craft activity, a free drink on arrival, snacks, and a tour of the KG Sensory Room.

Come along to listen, learn, and connect ✨

What's in store for you:
💚 Guest Speaker
💚 Craft activity
💚 FREE drink on arrival
💚 Snacks
💚 KG Sensory Room tour

Event Details:
💚 Wed 18th March
💚 11AM - 1:30PM
💚 KG Library, Level 4 - Curriculum Collection

04/03/2026

Many neurodivergent professionals are told to “work on communication” when what’s actually happening is a mismatch between neurotypes.

This isn’t about lacking insight, empathy, or professionalism.

It’s about workplace norms being treated as neutral when they’re not.

When difference is treated as deficiency, the work becomes self-correction.

When difference is recognised as real, the work becomes shared responsibility.

What part of your communication has been misunderstood at work?

I’m currently creating The Ripple Framework of Neurodivergent Flourishing - a spacious model for neurodivergent professionals who are tired of over-adapting and ready to reconnect with their own rhythm.

👉 Join the interest list: link in bio!

02/03/2026

Many workplaces say they value diversity.
What they often mean is: difference is welcome, as long as it doesn’t require change.

You can belong…
if your needs stay small.
if your communication stays palatable.
if your regulation stays invisible.

This is conditional belonging.

It doesn’t arrive as exclusion.
It arrives as quiet pressure to soften, speed up, explain less, or recover alone.

Over time, the message seeps in:
Connection must be earned.
Belonging must be maintained.

This isn’t sensitivity.
It’s a nervous system responding to an uneven structure.

True inclusion isn’t about tolerance.
It’s about shared responsibility for how connection is shaped and sustained.

If this resonates, you’re not alone and you don’t have to keep carrying it by yourself.

I’m currently creating The Ripple Framework of Neurodivergent Flourishing - a spacious model for neurodivergent professionals who are tired of over-adapting and ready to reconnect with their own rhythm.

Join the interest list: link in bio!

02/03/2026

When We Shame AI Use, We Might Also Be Shaming Accessibility

There is a growing narrative that using AI somehow makes someone’s work less authentic.

But I keep thinking about something that sits uneasily with me.

For many people, AI is not a shortcut.

It is an accessibility tool.

For some neurodivergent people, the challenge is not the thinking.

The thinking may be expansive, layered, and deeply reflective.

The challenge can be translating that internal complexity into structured written language that others can easily follow.

AI can help bridge that gap.

It can help people organise thoughts, experiment with phrasing, refine ideas, and communicate more clearly.

The ideas are still theirs.
The lived experience is still theirs.
The intellectual labour is still theirs.

What AI sometimes provides is scaffolding for expression.

When we shame people for using AI without considering these contexts, we may unintentionally be doing something familiar to disabled and neurodivergent communities:

We may be criticising the tools people use to access participation.

Many accessibility tools have been misunderstood or dismissed at first.

Spell check.
Predictive text.
Even calculators in classrooms.

Yet over time we recognise that these tools do not diminish intelligence or creativity.

They simply remove unnecessary barriers.

For some people, AI plays a similar role.

It helps translate thinking into communication.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have conversations about ethics, transparency, or responsible use.

Those conversations matter.

But it also means we should be cautious about turning AI use into a moral judgement about someone’s authenticity or capability.

How might our conversations about AI change if we viewed it through the lens of accessibility?

28/02/2026

Burnout doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
It means your body has been carrying more than it was ever meant to hold — for far too long.

Especially for neurodivergent professionals,
burnout often goes unseen until we collapse.
Because masking, over-functioning, people-pleasing, and surviving
can look a lot like competence…
until we fall apart.

Burnout is not about fragility.
It’s about capacity being chronically mismatched to demand.

It’s your nervous system raising the alarm
on expectations that don’t fit,
environments that don't flex,
and systems that weren't built with you in mind.

Share this with a friend, family member or colleagues currently going through burnout.

Check out my latest blog post: Rooted, Not Rushed: Reclaiming Regulation as a Neurodivergent Professional - Link in bio!

26/02/2026

https://www.catharticcollaborations.com.au/so/ccPoRWwlq?languageTag=en

The Ripple Continues with Regulation and Sustainability... This is where we slow down. Not to disengage, but to reclaim rhythm. To listen to a nervous system shaped by constant demand. To notice where exhaustion has been normalised and over-functioning has been praised. Module 2: The Tree – Regula...

25/02/2026

“Is this a regulation need… or am I avoiding something difficult?”

This is one of the most common questions neurodivergent supervisees ask.

The truth? You can’t always know right away.

But you can get curious.

You can learn your rhythm.

And you can practice discernment without shaming yourself for needing space.

✨ Sometimes we’re not avoiding the task — we’re avoiding the conditions of doing it.

Save this for when you’re stuck in self-doubt — and need a reminder that rest and resistance are not the same.

I’m currently creating The Ripple Framework of Neurodivergent Flourishing - a spacious model for neurodivergent professionals who are tired of over-adapting and ready to reconnect with their own rhythm.

Join the interest list: link in bio!

22/02/2026

You are not a machine.

You are a living, sensing, seasonal being.

A tree doesn’t bloom year-round.

And yet it is never less worthy — or less itself.

🌱 For many neurodivergent professionals, sustainability isn’t found in pushing harder.

It’s found in rooting deeper.

🌿 This is your reminder that rest is not a reward.

It is a rhythm.

Let go of constant output.

Reclaim regulation as something seasonal, sensory, and self-honouring.

✨ Save this for the weeks when your nervous system is asking to slow down.

Check out my latest blog post: Rooted, Not Rushed: Reclaiming Regulation as a Neurodivergent Professional - Link in bio!

21/02/2026

Before you set new goals…
Before you build new systems…
Before you commit to new timelines…

Ask your nervous system:
💭 Do I feel safe enough to sustain this?
💭 What’s the true cost of this pace?
💭 Am I building from depletion or alignment?

Because no strategy will succeed if it’s built on burnout.
No plan will last if it bypasses the body.

✨ Sustainability is not just about scheduling.
It’s about sensation.
It’s about safety.
It’s about rhythm.

Share this with a friend, family member or colleagues currently going through burnout.

Check out my latest blog post: Rooted, Not Rushed: Reclaiming Regulation as a Neurodivergent Professional - Link in bio!