Kelly Walker- Counselling & Play Therapy

17/11/2025

PD this evening. Supporting Kids with Anxiety- A Functional Approach for Clinicians ***Best practice***

08/10/2025

We offer Autistic-led online group mentoring programs for 7 – 22-year-old Autistic people. Our program builds confidence and social connection in a safe, positive environment which allows individuals to move at a pace that feels right for them. Each session offers flexibility, so they can engage in a way that meets their needs on the day.
Autistic young people can be unapologetically themselves. They can explore their interests with peers, and build confidence, communication, and social connections along the way whilst benefiting from I CAN Mentors as role models. With over 350 participants each cycle, we are proving our program is effective.

16/09/2025

11/08/2025

30/07/2025

New study: Research from King’s College London has given us clear evidence of what our community has been saying for years. On average, autistic, ADHD and AuDHD students experience around twice the emotional burden of their peers at school.

The study shows that school environments expose our young people to more frequent and more intense upsetting experiences, and those experiences take a toll.

This helps explain what many of our families see every day: our ladybugs masking their distress at school, only to crash at home. It also offers insight into why “school can’t” is so often a response to harm, rather than defiance. And it strengthens the link between school culture and mental health.

Researchers worked closely with neurodivergent students to identify which school experiences cause the most emotional distress. These included:

• Peers talking behind their backs
• Unexpected waits in queues
• Teachers telling them off
• Being ignored or misunderstood
• Last-minute changes of plan
• Sensory overload in classrooms
• Losing or forgetting things (and being punished for it)
• Boring lessons and lack of engagement
• Constant pressure to “try harder”
• Being blamed for things they didn’t do

The study found clear differences between groups.

💛 Autistic students were most affected by sensory overload, being rushed, social confusion and peers talking behind their backs.
💛 ADHD students were most distressed by boredom, not feeling heard by teachers, unfair blame and pressure to “try harder.”

You can check out the study here:

https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/336095677/Lukito_et_al_2024-Emotional_Burden-author_accepted_version.pdf

Study name: Emotional burden in school as a source of mental health problems associated with ADHD and/or autism (Lukito et al., 2025), found that autistic, ADHD and AuDHD students carry twice the emotional burden of their peers…”

Lukito, S., Chandler, S., Kakoulidou, M., Griffiths, K., Wyatt, A., Funnell, E., Pavlopoulou, G., Baker, S., Stahl, D., & Sonuga‑Barke, E. (2025). Emotional burden in school as a source of mental health problems associated with ADHD and/or autism: Development and validation of a new co‑produced self‑report measure. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70003 cr

28/07/2025

Such a great initiative!

Ambulance Victoria releases a toolkit to teach paramedics how to make adjustments at work to help staff and patients who are neurodiverse.

20/07/2025

Enjoy a little self care quest with a magical koala 🐨 wizard 🪄

A magical koala wizard has a very important quest for you: Take care of yourself! This is a playful, creative self-care exercise for when you need something fun and cozy.
Read the full post here: https://www.selfloverainbow.com/a-self-care-quest-for-you/