Pivot Wellness

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Campbelltown, SA
Pivot Wellness

Ensuring an inclusive and empowering approach

At Pivot Wellness, we provide neuro-affirmative psychological services and assessments for children, adolescents, and adults, supporting your unique journey towards mental health and wellbeing.

28/10/2025

Halloween can be exciting, unpredictable, and full of sensory surprises.
Costumes, flashing lights, door knocks, and late nights can make the night feel overwhelming — and that’s okay.

Our Preparing for Halloween resource shares practical, neuroaffirming ways to create a calmer, more predictable celebration for your child (and you).

From sensory-friendly costume ideas to after-event regulation tips and SAPOL’s printable Trick or Treat signs (to show if you’re welcoming visitors or prefer a quiet night), we’ve included simple ways to make Halloween work for your family.

✨ However you celebrate — or don’t — your version of Halloween is valid.

🕸️ You can download SAPOL’s Trick or Treat signs here:
https://www.police.sa.gov.au/sa-police-news-assets/front-page-news/hocus-pocus-halloween-safety-focu...

24/10/2025

🌿 The Many Faces of ADHD: More Than Your Diagnosis
ADHD is one part of a beautifully complex picture.

Each person’s story is shaped by more than traits or challenges—it’s built from passions, values, connections, and dreams.

When we step back, we see more than attention or regulation; we see creativity, humour, empathy, and persistence—the qualities that make each person whole.

At Pivot Wellness, we recognise that ADHD shapes experience, but it doesn’t define identity.
ADHD shapes your experience—but you shape your story.
💬 Which parts of you deserve to be seen beyond your diagnosis?

17/10/2025

⚙️ The Many Faces of ADHD: Executive Function & Regulation

This ADHD Awareness Month, we’re exploring The Many Faces of ADHD—and highlighting the everyday mechanisms that shape how ADHD shows up in real life.

ADHD is about more than inattention or hyperactivity.
It influences how people start tasks, manage time, regulate emotions, process information, and recover energy.

These challenges aren’t about effort—they’re about how the brain regulates attention, motivation, and rest.

When we understand what’s really happening, we can respond with support, not blame.

💬 Which ADHD experience feels most familiar to you?

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14/10/2025

🎄 Thinking about an Autism or ADHD assessment before Christmas?
We still have limited October and November appointments available.

Getting assessed before the holidays means you can start the new year with clarity, direction, and supports already in place.

📅 Spots fill quickly — contact us today to secure your assessment before the Christmas break.
📍 Pivot Wellness | Neuroaffirming Psychology

10/10/2025

✨ The Many Faces of ADHD: Reframing Strengths ✨

This ADHD Awareness Month, we’re celebrating The Many Faces of ADHD—and today’s face is all about strengths.

ADHD is often described by what it lacks: attention, focus, organisation.
But ADHD is far more than difficulty. It’s creativity, curiosity, energy, and connection—a different rhythm of attention and emotion.

When we reframe “deficits” as differences, we begin to see the strengths that often sit beneath the surface:
⚡ Interest-based motivation (not laziness)
🌿 Curiosity and flexible attention (not distraction)
🔥 Spontaneity and courage (not impulsivity)
💬 Deep empathy and passion (not overemotionality)
⚙ Creative problem-solving (not disorganisation)
💪 Calm clarity in crisis (not chaos)

Each of these reflects the diversity, adaptability, and resilience that define ADHD—not as a disorder to be fixed, but a neurotype to be understood.

💬 Which ADHD strength or reframe resonates most with you?
Share it below—your story might help someone else see their strengths, too.

03/10/2025

💡 ADHD… or DAVE?

What’s in a name? A lot, actually. Language shapes how we see ourselves—and how others see us. That’s why the words we use for ADHD matter.

“Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” has always been a bit of a misfit name. It frames ADHD as a deficit and a disorder, rooted in outdated stereotypes, and it often misses the complexity, creativity, and resilience that so many ADHDers bring to the table.

Across the years, advocates, clinicians, and creators have suggested alternatives:
🔹 VAST – Variable Attention Stimulus Trait (Ned Hallowell)
🔹 DAVE – Dopamine Attention Variability Expression (Conner DeWolfe)
🔹 EFD – Executive Functioning Differences/Disorder
🔹 ARD – Attention Regulation Disorder

Each has pros and cons. None are perfect. But all share the same goal: finding language that better reflects the ADHD experience—its challenges and its strengths.

💬 We’d love to hear from you:
Which of these names feels most affirming to you? Tell us in the comments!

This is the first post in our ADHD Awareness Month series—follow along as we continue unpacking ADHD through a neuroaffirmative lens.

26/09/2025

🔥 Another wave of “what causes Autism” headlines? Let’s set the record straight.

✨ Autism has been blamed on everything from parenting, to vaccines, to diet, to paracetamol. Each theory has been debunked — but not before leaving behind fear, guilt, and stigma for Autistic people and their families.

Here’s what the research actually shows:
🧬 Autism has a strong genetic basis. Twin studies confirm it’s a neurodevelopmental difference, not something “caused” by parenting, paracetamol, or modern life.
📈 Rising diagnoses reflect DSM changes, better recognition of subtle presentations (especially in high-masking individuals and females), and greater acceptance — not a sudden epidemic.
💡 Autism has always been part of human diversity.

When research and media focus on “causes” or “prevention,” the hidden message to Autistic people is: “We don’t want you. Autism is bad.”

It’s time to shift the conversation.
The most important question isn’t why Autism exists — it’s how can we support Autistic people to thrive?

19/09/2025

AUTISM IS NOT LINEAR. 🌈

Many people still imagine autism as a straight line from “mild” to “severe.” This isn’t accurate — and it’s not helpful.

🌀 Autism is better understood as a spectrum wheel, where traits like sensory processing, communication, routines, and executive functioning can look very different for each person.

✨ Not all Autistic people are the same. Every profile is unique.

🔄 Even one Autistic person may look different moment to moment — depending on energy, stress, sensory load, or context. This is why autism is called a dynamic disability.

🚫 Functioning labels like “high-functioning” or “low-functioning” are harmful. They dismiss real challenges and erase real strengths. All Autistic profiles are valid.

At Pivot Wellness, we celebrate diversity within the spectrum and provide neuroaffirming supports that recognise each Autistic person as unique and whole.

16/09/2025

When a child or adult resists demands, it’s often misunderstood as “bad behaviour.” In reality, demand avoidance is usually protective — a way of coping when something feels too hard, unsafe, or overwhelming.

There are many different reasons for demand avoidance:
🔹 Executive functioning differences
🔹 Skill–task gaps
🔹 Task overwhelm
🔹 Sensory sensitivities
🔹 Anxiety
🔹 Low self-esteem or self-efficacy
🔹 Connection-seeking
🔹 Burnout & fatigue
🔹 (Rarely) PDA

👉 One person may have several drivers at once, and these can shift moment to moment. That’s why understanding the why behind avoidance is so important. With the right supports, avoidance can be reduced, and independence and wellbeing can grow.

At Pivot Wellness, we offer assessments and therapy to help you:
✔ Identify the underlying drivers of demand avoidance
✔ Develop tailored strategies that actually work
✔ Support confidence, connection, and thriving

📍 Learn more at Pivot Wellness
💬 Reach out today to explore how we can support you or your child

05/09/2025

There’s been a lot of talk about “mild” to “moderate” Autism lately.
So, what are Autism functioning labels about?

⚖️ The DSM-5-TR introduced severity levels (Levels 1–3) to describe support needs. But outside of clinical use, these often turn into functioning labels like “high-functioning” or “low-functioning.”

🚫 The problem with functioning labels? They’re misleading and harmful:

“High-functioning” can hide exhaustion, masking, and distress.

“Low-functioning” can underestimate abilities and deny autonomy.

“Mild” and “severe” measure how Autism affects others’ perceptions, not the person’s lived reality.

Labels can block access to supports or strip away independence.

🌱 Autism is a dynamic disability. Capacity and support needs change moment to moment depending on stress, environment, and energy. No single label can capture that complexity.

💡 A neuroaffirmative approach moves beyond functioning labels. Instead of asking “how mild or severe is this person?”, ask: What supports help them thrive — right now, in this context?

👉 Everyone deserves to be seen as more than a label

22/08/2025

💡 Meltdowns are not misbehaviour.
They are signs of distress — a nervous system response, not a tantrum.

When someone becomes overwhelmed by emotions, sensory input, or social demands, their brain goes into survival mode (fight, flight, freeze, or appease). This isn’t about choice or control — it’s the body’s way of protecting itself.

At Pivot Wellness, we support children and adults through understanding, co-regulation, and trauma-informed care. No punishments. No control tactics. Just tools for safety, calm, and emotional growth.

✨ Save this post as a reminder: you can’t stop the wave, but you can ride it safely.

📞 1300 039 990
📧 admin@pivotwellness.com.au

08/08/2025

At Pivot Wellness, our neuroaffirmative approach means seeing neurodivergence not as something to “fix” or “cure”, but as a difference to understand and celebrate.

We work from the social model of disability — recognising that distress often arises when environments are inaccessible or invalidating, not because there is something “wrong” with the person. Therapy should be about removing barriers, valuing strengths, and supporting people to thrive as their authentic selves.

This means:
✨ Respecting sensory needs
✨ Supporting safe unmasking
✨ Celebrating passions and strengths
✨ Building self-advocacy skills
✨ Helping people navigate burnout and overwhelm
✨ Honouring natural communication styles

We also understand concepts like the double empathy problem — recognising that communication differences go both ways and that mutual understanding, respect, and adaptation are key.

Our goal is to create spaces where neurodivergent people feel safe, respected, and empowered — without pressure to conform or hide who they are. You deserve support that honours you, just as you are. 💚

Address

Level 1, 516 Lower North East Road
Campbelltown, SA
5074

Website

http://www.pivotwellness.com.au/

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