Art Therapy for Autism, Dyslexia, ADHD and Other Neurodiversities

05/12/2025

Pick your colours…

30/11/2025

25/11/2025

The Hidden Grief of Parenting a PDAer (And Why No One Talks About It)

There’s a kind of grief in parenting a PDA child that nobody prepares you for.

Not the grief of losing your child, but the grief of losing the version of life you thought you were going to have.

The grief of watching other families do things that feel impossible for yours.
The grief of having to parent differently than everyone around you.
The grief of realising the world is not built for your child, and that you’ll have to fight for spaces where they can simply exist.

It’s the grief beneath the exhaustion.
The grief inside the silence when someone says, “Have you tried being more firm?”
The grief of cancelled plans, school refusals, sensory storms, and walking on eggshells not because you're fragile, but because you’re attuned.

It’s the grief of watching siblings adapt.
The grief of losing friendships because people don’t understand.
The grief of not getting to be the parent you thought you’d be, because you had to become the parent your child needs.

And maybe the hardest part?

This grief comes with love.
Deep, fierce, unshakeable love.

So you don’t feel like you’re allowed to grieve.
Because how can you grieve someone you adore with your whole being?

But grief and love are not opposites.
Grief is love with nowhere to go.

You can love your PDA child more than anything and grieve the life you thought you were walking into.
That doesn’t mean you don’t want them.
That doesn’t mean you’re failing.
It means you're human.

If no one has said it to you:

Your grief is valid.
Your heartbreak is real.
Your strength isn’t in pretending it’s fine.
Your strength is in surviving what most people couldn’t imagine.

You don’t have to “get over it.”
You just need a space where it can be named.

If this is you, you're not broken.
You’re grieving.
And grief is not a flaw, it’s evidence of love that has had to stretch beyond what you expected.

🤍

21/11/2025

Education Minister Sabine Winton spent an hour reading emotional messages from children, parents and school staff demanding urgent action to provide better access for students with disabilities.

21/11/2025

21/11/2025

When this happened in 2022 it was heartbreaking. Here returns another peaceful protest - a silent scream for help

Over 800 bags and tags at the silent protest at Parliament today! It’s heartbreaking seeing so many incredibly sad stories from kids, parents, teachers, and others.

School was not my favourite place as a kid. I vividly remember my last day of school - the deep joy and sense of freedom. The sky was bright blue. I remember feeling such a strong sense of injustice that "education" required being at school five days a week, that we had no time to do what made us happy, that we had to cram information in our heads and prove ourselves through exams, and that as kids we had no real control over our lives.

I never expressed these thoughts to my parents or anyone. Ironically, I think they would have understood - my mum was a school-can’t kid back in the 70s. But I held it all internally. The expectation was that you went to school no matter what, that life is “hard,” and you just get through it.

It took a lot of unlearning in adulthood to realise that pushing through without regard for your feelings or health isn’t a great way to live. But as a people-pleaser and perfectionist, that was the message I took from the school and teachers around me, and I did what was expected.

Well done to Square Peg Round Whole Public PAGE , Symone and team - such a mammoth effort putting this together. So many kids in school right now are continuing to struggle. And there are generations of children who never fit in, who couldn’t attend school, whose mental health suffered, and who are still feeling the impacts of school trauma into adulthood.

It’s not ok on so many levels. My thoughts are with all the students who don’t fit the mould of expectation, and all the families who are trying so hard to advocate for their kiddos ♥️♥️

Karenza
X

Photo credit: Sa4i Student Alliance 4 Inclusion 🏫

12/11/2025

07/11/2025

"Healing can’t happen by talking alone. If we ignore the body’s role, we miss where the pain is being held."

Find "Rise of the Conscious Therapist: What the Future of Healing Looks Like." on 🐘⁠👉🏼 https://elejrnl.com?p=4212602