Neurodivergent Empowered

Neurodivergent Empowered At our “Nest,” we create environments that honour authentic identity, celebrate neurodivergent brilliance, and nourish the nervous system.

We don’t aim to fix difference, we design spaces where it can truly thrive. **2025 Global WCW Children's Education - GOLD WINNERS!!**

Neurodivergent-affirming connection optimised Positive Behaviour Supports and Interest-based therapies. Book in for a FREE 15 min consult here: https://calendly.com/sparkly-neurodivergentempowered/15mins

A massive shout out to Taija and Dion for the creative magic you bring every single week to our Guinea Pigs session!The ...
27/04/2026

A massive shout out to Taija and Dion for the creative magic you bring every single week to our Guinea Pigs session!

The care, the imagination, the way you build sessions where our young people get to make, connect, and just be - it's something special. Watching our Phoenix Friends light up in this space makes me so proud and so happy.

This is what safety-first, participation-led practice looks like in action. Connection over compliance. Creativity over rigidity. Joy as the goal.

And thank you for thinking to share with me images of the treats you made for the guinea pigs, and earlier in the day, treats for yourselves. Hands busy, hearts full, snacks all round. And my eyes may have had a little leak receiving the beautiful message from Taija.

Thank you Taija and Dion. You're doing beautiful work. 🌟

25/04/2026

Look at this weather… it was hot!!! And beautiful.
Had to have a nanna nap after our walking tour and big bus tour.

What an incredible, whirlwind experience it continues to be.

I have had some chats with some of the ladies about the journey from hitting my knees 12 years ago and losing nearly everything as I prioritised, and tried to find answers for, my child. Back then it was just us - no village, no Nest, literally no one else with a diagnosed autistic child. So I just built what we needed after many tantrums from me wanting someone else to go first.

And as we have stepped into this next stage together it feels like we are the canaries being sent into the mineshaft once again but this time I’ve learned to get around the right people and are much more visible in ur journey as I know the 92% stat for my child, and once again, abso-f**king-lutely not on my watch.

I never expected to land in Rome in the first part of our journey as I didn’t even know how we would have food, nappies and bottles by the end of every weeks for a long… so who knows where we could end up on this next chapter journey… as I’m changing things for my child again. I will only allow her to be around beautiful, amazing people. And we are going to change those stats.

Watch this space 🩷🩷

I know how important it is to be able to fill me cup up as the fight just never... ever... ends...So doing my best to do...
25/04/2026

I know how important it is to be able to fill me cup up as the fight just never... ever... ends...

So doing my best to do that while on annual leave.

But like everyone, it just feels never ending...

Though I do try and keep the vibes as high and solutions focused as possible x

It’s been an exhausting couple of days.Up in the middle of the night while overseas listening to all of the NDIS changes...
23/04/2026

It’s been an exhausting couple of days.

Up in the middle of the night while overseas listening to all of the NDIS changes (again - which is exhausting in itself as we have more than enough of change fatigue already) while also making the most of this incredible experience overseas, doing my best to shield my child from the uncertainty stress from back home and be present for her here (and for me, I’ve worked incredibly hard and needed this break).

Yes, most of these things I had foresaw and pivoted for… but it is soul destroying to constantly watch our lives being played out in the media like our very existence and livelihoods are optional.

I homeschool my daughter.We tried school until Year 4.She was “most improved.”Everyone was doing their job.But I could s...
21/04/2026

I homeschool my daughter.

We tried school until Year 4.
She was “most improved.”
Everyone was doing their job.

But I could see it.

She wasn’t struggling because she couldn’t learn.
She was struggling because of how she was being asked to learn.

And if I’m honest, the hesitation wasn’t about her.

It was me.

I didn’t think I was “qualified” enough.
No teaching degree.
No official stamp.

But here’s what I know now:

She doesn’t learn from a worksheet about Paris.
She learns by standing in it.

So I built a life where she could.

That’s why I only travel where she can come with me.
That’s why our life doesn’t look conventional.
That’s why I’ve had to get creative about how we earn, live, and structure everything.

Because I’m not just raising a child.
I’m building conditions she can actually grow inside.

There was a long time I made no income.
Not because nothing was happening.
But because I was building something that mattered more than speed and it took everything being invested back into it.

Now that same life includes:
Speaking on stages
Publishing books
Sitting on author panels
Building a business that actually fits us

And something else changed too.

Even when things are hard,
I trained my brain to look for the good in a sh*tty situation.

Simple.
Not easy.
But one of the most profound shifts I’ve ever made.

I used to believe in designing life perfectly.

But life doesn’t work like that.

There are plot twists you don’t get to control.

So now I believe this instead:

Play the cards you’re dealt.
And play them well.

Because if you do that—
no matter what happens—

you’ll be okay. Xx





It's been an interesting couple of years embodying that sometimes it’s best to not share the journey. Truly understandi...
18/04/2026

It's been an interesting couple of years embodying that sometimes it’s best to not share the journey.

Truly understanding that people can only see what their life to date allows them to see.

This can be soul destroying for those of us who sees things before others.

Get quiet. Get busy.
Stop trying to drag people along with you so that you are not faced with the heart ache of leaving them behind, or worse, yourself. Ouchie.

Most people do get on board with the evidence, or they choose not to anyway, so just focus on creating what you know to be true instead of explaining to those who cannot yet see.

Let it be easier. And it can be. If you just let people be where they are at, and also let you be where you are at too.

Others don't need to understand for it to be true.
Oooomph.

Sending big love.
xx

We get asked this a lot, and Yes, The Nest is open 52 weeks of the year!We only close on public holidays.And importantly...
07/04/2026

We get asked this a lot, and Yes, The Nest is open 52 weeks of the year!

We only close on public holidays.

And importantly, your schedule stays exactly the same.

Because consistency isn’t a bonus here. It’s part of the support.

For many of our participants, changes to routine don’t just inconvenience. They disrupt regulation, safety, and trust.

So we don’t shift things around unless we absolutely have to.

Same time. Same place. Same support. Every week.

And so we are all systems go these school holidays!

For our current clients 👀
Our new system build is starting its soft release this week.

You’ll begin to see changes rolling out, designed to make communication, support, and session flow even clearer and more accessible.

https://neurodivergentempowered.com/our-supports






It's Easter long weekend and I have been in what I lovingly call "feral" hyperfocus mode.For the whole 4 days I am conti...
04/04/2026

It's Easter long weekend and I have been in what I lovingly call "feral" hyperfocus mode.

For the whole 4 days I am continuing building our new internal system, client portals, family portals, and a handful of other things that have been sitting on the list waiting for exactly this kind of uninterrupted stretch. My brain has locked on and I am not fighting it.

What this looks like practically: alarms set for everything involving my child and the absolute basics of human survival.
Eating.
Water.
Have I been to the toilet today.
My yoga is non-negotiable so that is happening. Everything else is off the table.

My teenager is absolutely ecstatic at the prospect of 4 days at home with zero commitments and a mum who is always present but operating in another dimension entirely while we both exist in the lounge room together, with the occasionally response to the others exclamation, a discussion about whats going on, happy stimming with loud music and dancing then back to it. Rinse and repeat.

Do not turn up unannounced. I mean it. I will either be in my nighty, having a loud music break, or just generally having a presentation that the general public does not need to witness. You have been warned.

Now. While I have surfaced briefly because I needed a brain break ... so I created this.

Fair warning: I am many things. A graphic designer is not one of them.

If my visuals make you twitch, hang in there and read the words instead.
And if the words occasionally make you uncomfortable, then know it comes from a good place.

I lead with my heart, even when I cannot find quite the right words to represent what I mean.

I invite you to stick around anyway as who know what will unfold... especially with 2 assessments due tomorrow for my Masters and my WCW presentation due Monday.

Oh yep, this won't be pretty... but I do have a process ;)

03/04/2026

Well. I am glad I waited until the end of the week to watch this one because I am absolutely balling my eyes out. 😭🩷

Watching Hannah and her Mumsy paint the children at Jyoti Special School... deaf children, children with intellectual disabilities, every age, every face lighting up.

And these incredible kids didn’t just receive. They gave. They helped pack up. They patiently tried to teach sign language.

I so wished I could have kept the original audio so you could hear their voices and the sounds of that room. TikTok said no. But trust me when I say it was magic. 🎨
Virtually following this trip has been the best investment I have made that I have not physically been a part of. Not in a transactional sense. In the this is what it’s all for sense.

So proud doesn’t cover it. But it’s the closest word I’ve got right now. Forever grateful to be part of it in any way we can. ###x

Thank you Hannah and her beautiful Mumma Bear for the joy you are bringing into the world. Both of you. How wonderful it is to see you both share this magical gift 🩷✨🎨
www.jyotispecialschool.org

facepaintingkids

World Autism Acceptance Day. Complicated feelings. Unwavering commitment. 💜
02/04/2026

World Autism Acceptance Day.

Complicated feelings. Unwavering commitment. 💜

💜 The NDIS have released new guidelines on Social and Recreation Supports.It confirms what we have always known.The NDIS...
30/03/2026

💜 The NDIS have released new guidelines on Social and Recreation Supports.

It confirms what we have always known.
The NDIS doesn't fund the activity.

Anyone can play D&D. Anyone can do art. Anyone can join a gaming group.

What NDIS funds is the support that makes it genuinely possible for you to be there - because of your disability.

At The Nest, every participant receives individual support - their own goals, their own practitioner relationship, their own clinical oversight - delivered by Neuro-affirming Practitioners, trained Therapy Assistants and therapist-training practitioners working under clinical supervision with a neurodivergent-affirming OT and our Clinical Lead.

Sessions run alongside other participants who share the same interests because that Autistic peer environment is itself part of the therapeutic value.

Connection with people who actually get it.
No masking required to belong.

The activity is the vehicle.
The barrier is what we are funded to address.

We didn't build this because a guideline told us to. The guideline just put it in writing.

Don't see your interest listed? Tell us what lights you up. 👇

The guideline may be new.
Our neuro-affirming model isn't. 💜

🔗 https://neurodivergentempowered.com/our-supports

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