Inclusive Connections Psychology

17/09/2025

It has been such a privilege over the past few months to deliver professional development sessions and collaborate with so many incredible organisations and educational spaces in our community. I’ve been blown away by how open and eager everyone has been to learn more about supporting Autistic, ADHD, and PDAer children.

✨ With Bright Futures, I shared two presentations supporting parents and professionals in understanding and supporting young PDAers.

✨ I joined the Kinder Inclusion Support Team at Mallee Family Care to explore Autistic inclusion and support across local kindergartens.

✨ At TAFE Kids, I delivered two sessions focused on identifying, reframing our understanding of, and supporting Autistic and ADHDer children in kinder and daycare settings.

✨ At Red Cliffs Primary School, I worked with staff on reframing our understanding of autism in the classroom, and with parents on children’s brain development, emotional wellbeing, and parenting support.

✨ I’ve also been collaborating with the wonderful team at Sunraysia Toy Library to develop their inclusion statement and staff handbook, following their selection as a pilot site for the Disability Access Inclusion and Support (DAIS) Program.

✨ And coming up soon, another PDA session at Red Cliffs Primary School that I’m really looking forward to!

It is so rewarding to see schools, services, and families leaning in with such eagerness to learn and openness to change. I’m so grateful to be part able to connect with so many wonderful people and teams leaning into inclusivity and working together to create spaces that truly supports neurodivergent children.

27/08/2025

Perfectly said 🙌

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNxYRHpwii6/?igsh=MXN5MGI0YzhiaWUwMQ==

16/08/2025

I’m excited to officially introduce our new admin, Makayla Case!

Makayla brings a wealth of lived experience as a neurodivergent adult raising neurodivergent kids, and she is deeply committed to neurodivergent-affirming practice. We’re thrilled to welcome her to Inclusive Connections Psychology and know she’ll be a wonderful support to our work and to the families we support.

Please join me in welcoming Makayla! It’s so lovely to have her on board 😊

09/07/2025

A memory popped up from 9 years ago; my office decked out SPIN style with posters of my main man Superman and of course Star Wars too (add Lord of the Rings and you have the trifecta of love!). As you can see, I unfortunately didn't get the ND flare for decorating! 😜 This was long before I knew my neurotype, but I always showed up as 'me'. Even if I didn’t quite know who that was.

Lately I’ve been reflecting on masking and reading so many stories about people hiding their true selves, playing roles, feeling like aliens. But that wasn’t my experience.

I was the ‘weird’ kid; too much, too sensitive, too emotional. I was called needy, dramatic, a know-it-all. And honestly? I didn’t get it. I didn’t feel weird. I was just being myself. I loved big, felt deeply, was insatiably curious. I was open and kind and craved connection. I didn’t hide that, I didn’t actually know how to.

I wasn’t masking, at least not in the way others describe it. I was fully me, and often rejected. I still don’t fully understand why I was seen as rude or arrogant when I was just being honest, thoughtful, passionate. I wanted deep conversations and connection, but others saw it as confrontational.

I didn’t feel different, but I was treated like I was. I didn’t hide who I was, but it wasn’t accepted either. It was confusing! I didn’t know how to be anything but me.

I think back to that old office with love for the fact that I didn't hide these parts of me. Even then, without the language or understanding, I was creating a space that reflected me. Messy, passionate, nerdy, open-hearted me. But I also think back with such hurt, as I spent most of my days confused and on edge just waiting to get it trouble, just for being 'me.'

When you’ve met one neurodivergent person, you’ve met one. Our experiences are so diverse. Most things I’ve read on masking haven’t reflected my experience, and for a while, I wondered if that meant I didn’t quite fit, AGAIN. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. That's the beauty of the neurodiversity affirming movement! It doesn't ask us to fit - it makes space for all of us to show up just as we are.

29/06/2025

The best part of being autistic? JOY.

Not the quiet kind—joy that vibrates through me. The kind that bubbles up in play, in connection, in those little glimmers that light up the whole day.

This weekend I celebrated my birthday how I like best— outdoors and PLAYING. Laser tag with friends, seeing How to Train Your Dragon in cinema, a river walk, a bbq by the fire, and my same soy matcha I drink every single day (Autie or what!)—this time in my new Lord of the Rings mug. Bliss.

One of the best moments? Watching my girl win an art award for a drawing she put so much effort into. She was so proud. I was even prouder.

People giggled when I said I wanted to play laser tag for my birthday. Just like they did when my hens day was at Comic Con and Latitude. But, I LOVE to play!! It’s how I connect. It’s how I feel most myself. It's how connect most to radiant Autistic 🌟 JOY 🌟

We all need a little play. We all need glimmers. We all need room to let our inner child take up space. And to quote the amazing Sandhya Menon at Onwards and Upwards Psychology, Joy is our birthright.

Because who says adult celebrations can’t be full of dragons, laser tag, and superheroes! Sounds like pure joy to me.

26/06/2025

Low Demand Parenting ≠ Permissive Parenting

This comes up often, and I get it! Sometimes it is easier to let everything go, especially after burnout or during a really hard season. When you’ve seen your PDAer in distress or burnout, you'll do almost anything not to go back there again. That’s survival. That’s protection. That’s love.

But when everything becomes flexible and there are no clear edges, it can actually make things harder. No boundaries can create more anxiety and distress - not just for your PDAer, but for the whole family system.

Low demand parenting isn’t about saying yes to everything. It’s about removing the pressure that doesn't need to be there, so that the stuff that really matters can be held more gently and clearly.

That might look like:
– Not insisting everyone sits at the table for dinner
– Letting go of clothing battles
– Letting go of bedtimes that don’t work for their rhythm

These things don’t matter in the grand scheme. But some things do, and that’s where boundaries come in.

PDAers need autonomy. We all do. But autonomy isn’t unlimited, especially when it starts to impact someone else’s. Your PDAer can have control over their body, their space, their choices. They can’t have control over others, because everyone deserves autonomy and safety.

That’s where meaningful, non-negotiable boundaries come in. They look different for every family, but they’re often about protecting safety, connection, and mutual respect.

A boundary isn’t something they have to do.
It’s something you will do. That might sound like:
🔹 “I won’t let anyone get hurt, so I’m moving over here.”
🔹 “I’ll be keeping the pet in another room so they don't get hurt”
🔹 “I need a break too, so I’ll be stepping outside for a moment.”

Will there be distress sometimes? Yes.
A demand is still a demand. But when the boundary is clear, consistent, and really matters, it helps to create safety.

Low demand parenting isn’t stepping back and hoping for the best. It’s stepping in with compassion, clarity, and intention.

15/06/2025

Find your neurokin ❤️

15/06/2025

There is nothing more transformative than finding your neurokin.

I say this often and I’ll keep saying it: finding your people, the ones who speak your language, who feel and process the world in ways that finally make sense, is one of the most powerful shifts a neurodivergent person can experience.

We spend so much of our early lives being measured against neurotypical norms, internalising the message that we’re broken, too much, too intense, too sensitive, too picky, too blunt. But we were never broken. We were just in the wrong frame of reference.

The moment you find neurokin, that shifts.

Suddenly, you’re not too much. You’re understood. Your pauses, your stims, your info-dumps, your way of relating, they’re not judged, they’re mirrored. You’re not a failed neurotypical. You’re a perfectly typical neurodivergent person.

And that changes everything.

Because when you’re no longer working overtime just to be understood, you start to understand yourself. You start to unmask. You start to show up, not the curated, palatable version of you, but your whole, unique, wonderful self, quirks and all!

This is where real self-connection begins. Where healing begins.

The pain we carry so often isn’t from being different. It’s from not being seen. The double empathy problem reminds us that it’s not a one-way street. Neurodivergent and neurotypical people often misread each other. We’re speaking different languages. So many of us grow up thinking we’re hard to connect with, when really, we’ve just been connecting with people who don’t sing our song.

Neurokin sing that song. They get it. They get you.

And that knowing, that sense of being seen, really seen, is the start of everything.

Surround yourself with those who truly see you. Embrace the way your mind works. You have always been whole. You were never broken. You were always enough — just waiting to be understood.

05/06/2025

What an incredible experience to finally attend the Yellow Ladybugs Conference face to face! Being surrounded by neurokin, sharing our stories, our passions, and learning from one another. It was such a joy to connect with both old and new friends, to witness powerful, vulnerable, and deeply important presentations, and to feel the fire behind the neurodiversity-affirming movement as it continues to grow. I’m so proud to be part of this space. There is nothing more powerful, more necessary, or more healing than being truly seen, held, and understood by neurokin ❤️

18/03/2025

Love this from Play. Learn. Chat! Neurodivergent children shouldn’t have to work harder to fit into a world that wasn’t built for them. This highlights why changing the environment—rather than the child—is essential for true support and inclusion 🙌

13/02/2025

We knew from the start.

The struggle with sleep, the restlessness. The overstimulation, the way the world was just too much. The daily four-hour witching hours, not from hunger or tiredness, but from sheer overload. The need to be closer, always closer. The way their tiny bodies melted into ours, seeking safety in our warmth. The way they couldn't be held by others, always just needing mum. The round-the-clock breastfeeding, not just for nourishment, but for comfort, for regulation, for connection.

And the comments always came. Put them down. Let them cry. They’ll get used to it. You’re making a rod for your own back. Just pass them to me.

But I knew. Because I was that child too. And a mother always knows their own child.

So I held them closer. I met their needs, not the expectations of those who didn’t understand. I trusted my intuition, even when the world told me not to.

And this is what I want for parents. To listen to their child, not the noise around them. To trust what they see, what they feel, what they know.

Because every baby is different. And some just need more. More connection. More co-regulation. More love, held fiercely and unapologetically.

And that is okay. That is exactly as it should be.

Being Autistic is from birth, and our Autistic babies need just as much care and support as our Autistic children, teens, and adults. Yet so much of the conversation around infant care is rigid—focused on the “right” and “wrong” ways to feed, settle, or soothe, as if all babies experience the world in the same way. But they don’t.

We don’t need one-size-fits-all rules. We need to support the baby we have, not the baby parenting books expect. Some babies need more closeness, more regulation, more time to process the world. Some babies struggle with sleep, with touch, with transitions. And that doesn’t mean we’re parenting them the “wrong” way—it means they need to be nurtured in ways that work for them.

When education in infant care acknowledges that neurodivergent babies exist, that being Autistic is from birth, and that their needs may be different, we create space for better support. We need education that listens to parents when they speak about their child—because they know them best. Acceptance, understanding, and meeting babies where they are should be at the heart of all infant care.

We need to consider, acknowledge and honour differences from birth.

We need to respond to the individual needs of the baby in front of us, rather than make assumptions about how they are or should be experiencing the world.

We need to be aware of how neurodivergence presents in babies, and although we might not be able to know what baby is neurodivergent, we need to consider the possibility that they might be.

I spoke about this at the 2024 Australian Association of Infant Mental Health Conference and I’ll keep talking about it until everyone knows.

💚One-sized fits all parenting approaches don’t work.
💚Babies cry for more than just because they are hungry, tired or sick.
💚 Every parenting experience is different.
💚 Some babies need more stimulation, coregulation and attention than others and that is okay!

childmentalhealth

31/01/2025

My new signage is finally here!! A fresh new look for the new office space and now so much easier to find!

I am loving having a space to welcome people too ❤️