Growing Gently Psychology

15/12/2025

This is important information 💚

A gentle reminder for our neurodivergent community in Australia 💛

Many neurodivergent people respond to critical or shocking events with intense focus. If you find yourself replaying footage, constantly checking news and commentary, talking about the Bondi events all day, or struggling to sleep, eat, or rest, you may be in a state of hyperfocus.

This is a common neurodivergent response to urgency and threat. It can also be part of vicarious trauma, especially when exposed to distressing or graphic news. Both are part of how our nervous systems normally process information and respond to extreme threats.

The hard part is that even when an event happens outside our immediate environment, our nervous systems can react as if it’s happening right now - even though there is nothing we can personally do to help.

If this sounds familiar, please pause and check the basics:

♥️Drink some water

♥️Eat something, even if it’s small

♥️Take your meds if you have them

♥️Check in with people around you and make sure essential care tasks (especially for kids) are still getting done

If you’re not directly involved, but finding it hard to look away or to interrupt the spiral, it may really help to check in with someone you trust and talk through ways to gently break hyperfocus. We can also share practical strategies in the comments if that would be helpful.

Hyperfocus can be exhausting and can quietly pull us away from our own care needs and caring responsibilities. This is a normal nervous system response and you deserve care too.

Please be gentle with yourselves and with each other 🤍

14/12/2025

Thank you Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families for this prompt guide for families.

Send a message to learn more

14/12/2025

Thinking of those affected by the events at Bondi Junction, including the Jewish community.

We mourn not only those impacted, but the loss of safety and freedom this represents for communities across Australia.

10/12/2025

Some days do you feel like you need a deep breath or a warm hug? 💨 🤗

These cards are designed to be reminders that feel just like that.

Instead of reminding of what you need to do or “should” be doing, they are reminders that focus on grounding, validating, and helping you reconnect when the world feels too loud.

Each deck includes 26 cards, thoughtfully created with calming colours and clear, gentle messaging. They’re designed to be displayed in the places you need them most:

🌱 On your bedside table
🌱Stuck to the fridge
🌱 On your desk
🌱 Stuck on your bathroom mirror

Quiet reminders you can turn to throughout the day.

Shop now: https://www.growinggentlypsychology.com.au/product-page/pre-order-neurodivergent-parenting-cards-hard-copy

10/12/2025

Sneaky peak of a summarised version of the session minutes from this years June session of Neuroaffirming Families. It was hard to fully capture the rich discussion about how neurodivergent families often experience play dates and all the way professionals can support families to navigate play dates in a way that honours their needs and reflects their family values.

Enrolments are now open for the 2026 Neuroaffirming Families Professional Development Series. Online across Australia. For more information and to book:
https://www.growinggentlypsychology.com.au/event-details-registration/neuroaffirming-families-professional-development-series-2026

06/12/2025

Want to thank the special mum friend that walked beside you this year?

Or encourage a friend who is doing Christmas and the new year for the first time as a mum? (I remember navigating Christmas with a baby being a shock to the system).

Or maybe you want to show your support for a mum that you think is doing an amazing job?

Or one that’s needs some extra love?

These gentle, neuroaffirming resources make beautiful, thoughtful gifts for the mums in your life 🌱

Shop my online store:

https://www.growinggentlypsychology.com.au/category/all-products

05/12/2025

Yay! My first ever supported social event! This will be held in the January school holidays for autistic girls aged 6 to 9 years old. Ask me questions below or send me an email.
Don’t forget to share with anyone you think might be interested or tag them below!

05/12/2025

This is very true…. Autistic and ADHDers have always existed at similar rates to now, yet a lot were undiagnosed, meaning the recorded rates are much lower. The autistic and adhd kids often unnoticed due to masking to avoid punishment or social rejection, and may also not have been identified due lack of awareness of neurodivergence as well as access to information and assessment services. Another big reason that is often overlooked is that a lot (not all) autistic and ADHD children were supported by the slower lifestyle, less stimulating environments, slow play-based schooling systems, and more outdoor play and movement of the past.

The systems and environments kids live in today are pushing them above their limits.

Everything is too loud.
Too fast.
Too pressured.
Too competitive.
Too intense

The true solution is to dismantle and redesign the schooling system, lifestyle, housing, community environments, scheduling, health system and so on. However that is an immense and maybe impossible (?) task. So instead, individual support is needed to support neurodivergent children, families and adults.

It’s happening again.

Another headline. Another “review.” Another attempt to decide, at a distance, whose struggles are real and whose are simply “normal feelings.”

When government treats neurodivergence and mental health as a question of welfare spending, it misses the point entirely.

The issue isn’t children being “over-pathologised.”
The issue is the systems they’re growing up in.

Children today aren’t suddenly more disordered.

They’re more overwhelmed.
They’re navigating schools and services that have become increasingly pressured, rigid, and non-inclusive. As environments become harder to tolerate, symptoms rise - and consequently diagnoses rise too. Not because of a trend, but because the system is pushing children past their limits.

For many, a diagnosis isn’t a label. It’s relief.
It’s a framework that replaces years of confusion and self-blame.

Reviews like this risk taking us backwards - minimising real needs, dismissing real distress, and silencing families who have fought endlessly for support.

At Wild Ways, we don’t talk about “overdiagnosis.”
We talk about nervous systems under strain.
We talk about children trying to cope in environments that don’t fit them.

If a review is needed, let it be of the structures failing our young people - not the young people themselves.

01/12/2025

I’m on the hunt for the next amazing group of practitioners for the 2026 Neuroaffirming Families Professional Development Series.

Practitioners who are committed to supporting neurodivergent families and shifting the systems that surround them.

Last year, the group was a space for practitioners who advocate, question, challenge, and rebuild. And we did just that… We picked apart the tricky situations and environments for neurodivergent families, we named and shamed the underlying neurotypical assumptions that underpin them, considered more neuroaffirming perspectives, and reflected on how we can support families to do these things in a way that works from them. We covered birthday parties, play dates, school attendance, grocery shopping, vacations, after-school meltdowns, and so.much.more.

And this year you can be part of it:

🌱 You will learn practical approaches, updated research and theory, and gentle, values-aligned ways of working that support the whole family system.

🌱 You will become part of a community of professionals that values neuroaffirming practices that centres safety, respect and authenticity.

If you’re committed to supporting neurodivergent families in meaningful, affirming ways, this online series is for you.

For more information, visit: https://www.growinggentlypsychology.com.au/event-details-registration/neuroaffirming-families-professional-development-series-2026

01/12/2025

After a successful and inspiring 2025 program, the 2026 Neuroaffirming Families Professional Development Series is open for enrolments. And it is even better than last year... with even MORE live sessions and more exciting topics to dive deep into. If you have not heard of the Neuroaffirming Families Professional Development Series, the program offers a safe and engaging space for psychologists, counselors, social workers, and other health professionals who work with neurodivergent families, to come together to learn more about how to better support neurodivergent families live in a way that affirms their neurotypes and family values.

This year, you can chose between two streams of intensity. The regular stream offers monthly support plus on-demand content and webinars to explore between session.

The intensive stream is the best of both worlds… You will enjoy exploring new 2026 topics plus revisit all the topics we covered last year.

Whether you are new to supporting neurodivergent families, just beginning to explore the neuroaffirming paradigm, or have extensive professional or lived experience in this space, the program provides a great opportunity to enhance your knowledge of supporting neurodivergent families and to connect with other like-minded, passionate professionals.

Comment “family support” to receive more information or click on link below: https://www.growinggentlypsychology.com.au/event-details-registration/neuroaffirming-families-professional-development-series-2026

27/11/2025

The Neuroaffirming Families Professional Development Series comes from my professional training and my lived experience as a neurodivergent psychologist, and parent of neurodivergent children. I understand, both personally and clinically, the difference it makes when families receive support that is respectful, affirming, and grounded in a genuine understanding of neurodivergent ways of being.

Too many families come to me after either being given advice that pathologises their child or overlooks their strengths, or after having their child’s needs and family’s lived experience completely dismissed.

Too many professionals want to help, but were trained within frameworks that don’t reflect current neuroaffirming knowledge. And when professionals start questioning the medical and behavioural approaches they were trained in and start trying to learn more about neuroaffirming practices, they can feel isolated, overwhelmed and unsupported due to the rampant misinformation out there.

I created this PD series to help bridge that gap.

Across the year, we explore how to support neurodivergent families in ways that honour identity and build connection.

🌱 You will learn practical approaches, updated research and theory, and gentle, values-aligned ways of working that support the whole family system.

🌱 You will become part of a community of professionals that values neuroaffirming practices that centres safety, respect and authenticity.

If you’re committed to supporting neurodivergent families in meaningful, affirming ways, this series is for you.

For more information, visit: https://www.growinggentlypsychology.com.au/event-details-registration/neuroaffirming-families-professional-development-series-2026

26/11/2025

The Neuroaffirming Families Professional Development Series is running again in 2026!

The program offers a safe and engaging space where psychologists, social workers, and other health professionals can come together to learn more about how to support neurodivergent families to live in a way that affirms their families’ neurotypes and helps them thrive!

Stay tuned for more information.