Neurodiversity SPARK

12/02/2026

The ADHD Needs Assessment for Northern Ireland has now been published.

This report acknowledges what many families, adults and young people have been experiencing for years:

⏳ Long waiting lists
🧑‍⚕️ Gaps in adult services
📍 Inconsistent pathways
💬 Pressure on families

Spark was part of the stakeholder engagement process, ensuring lived experience was represented.

The report does not fix services overnight. But it formally recognises the scale of need and outlines clear recommendations for change.

That matters.

We’ve written a blog sharing our thoughts and what this could mean next.

You can read it here: https://www.neurodiversityspark.com/the-northern-ireland-adhd-needs-assessment-is-now-public/

If you or someone you support is navigating ADHD services right now, you are not alone.

Recognition is important. Implementation is everything.

Today, the ADHD Needs Assessment for Northern Ireland has been published. And today, the scale of need has been formally acknowledged.

11/02/2026

🌟 Want to rebuild your confidence and gain real digital skills, in a space that actually feels safe?

If you are neurodivergent and thinking about returning to work or education, you are not alone. We know that traditional courses have not always felt supportive. That is exactly why we designed this differently.

Spark has co-created a neurodiversity-specific Digital Skills for Life and Work programme at Belfast Met. It is practical, supportive and trauma-informed, with psychological safety at the centre.

Over three weeks, you will build confidence and work-ready skills in a calm, structured environment. You will learn how to create and edit documents, use spreadsheets, design presentations, manage email, understand the ethical use of AI, and strengthen your online safety.

But just as important as the skills is how the course feels.

Small groups.
Paced learning.
Sensory-aware delivery.
Clear expectations.
One-to-one mentoring.
Facilitators who understand neurodivergence.

You are not expected to mask. You are not expected to “push through”. You are supported to learn in a way that works for you.

📅 23 February to 13 March 2026
🕙 10:00 to 15:30
📍 Belfast Met, Springvale E3 campus
🎓 OCN NI Level 2 Award in Digital Skills for Work and Life
💷 Fully funded through the Inclusive Futures programme (eligibility applies)

To apply/find out more: https://www.belfastmet.ac.uk/course/p00464-ad/neuro-diverse-digital-skills-for-life-and-work

And if you know someone who needs this kind of support, please share. 💙

03/02/2026

🎉 Launch day: tomorrow! Spark’s Training Hub opens in Belfast.

📍 1st floor, 89 University Street, Belfast
We’re proud to offer a trauma-informed, neurodivergent-friendly training space for employers, regulators and public bodies.

Tomorrow we launch - our first full-day Neuroinclusion in the Workplace training. Places are intentionally small to protect safety and learning quality.🥹

Neurodiversity SPARK is multi-disciplinary, working with facilitators and collaborators across systems change, business design, health & wellbeing, AI & digital inclusion, tasks-and-sequence specialists, policy makers, and behavioural experts, so training is co-produced, credible, and designed to influence systems.

So.......if you want neuroinclusion to be routine (not optional), come see what a trauma-informed, lived-experience approach looks like in practice.

What’s on offer:
🛠️ One-day practical inclusion training (in person or online)

⏱️ Access the Expert - 1-hour sessions for quick, practical support

👥 Small-group, trauma-informed delivery that centres lived experience

🤝 A delivery-first Hub for training, research and partnership

If your organisation is ready to make neuroinclusion routine (not optional), let’s talk.

https://www.neurodiversityspark.com

30/01/2026

Neurodivergent students at Queen’s University Belfast 👋

This Wednesday, we’re supporting a neurodivergent student focus group with Queen’s University Belfast Students’ Union, helping ensure lived experience directly informs decisions about accessible spaces, learning support, and resources.

🗓 Wednesday 4 February
📍 One Elmwood Student Centre
🍽 Free lunch + £20 voucher

This is a chance to share what actually helps (and what doesn’t) when it comes to navigating university as a neurodivergent student, and your input will be used to shape future developments.

👉 Scan the QR code or register via the link
Spaces are limited.

https://app.geckoform.com/public/ #/modern/21FO00v8t9695y005omtf4qk45

25/12/2025

A Year of Listening, Learning, and Laying Foundations 🌱

This year at Spark has been less about growth for growth’s sake, and more about getting it right.

We’ve spent the year listening carefully
👂 to lived experience
to learners who’ve been excluded before
👂to professionals who know the system is creaking
👂 and to the quiet gaps where people keep falling through.

What we’ve learned is simple, but not easy:

🧠 Neuroinclusion only works when it’s built with people, not for them.
💛 Trauma-informed practice isn’t a checkbox, it’s a commitment.
🤝 And real change happens slowly, relationally, and with care.

This year we’ve:
🔍deepened our research-informed approach

🏢🏫delivered trauma-aware, lived-experience-led work across education and organisations

🌍strengthened partnerships across academia, community, and practice

🧱 and built solid foundations for what Spark is becoming

Not louder. Just clearer.

As we look toward the year ahead, Spark is moving into its next phase with new programmes, stronger advocacy pathways, and work that bridges research and real life in practical ways. 🚀

No buzzwords. No shortcuts. Just work that holds people properly and challenges systems to do better.

Thank you to everyone who’s walked alongside us this year 🙏
Next year, we build 🔥

12/12/2025

🌟 Today our first Belfast Met cohort graduated. 🎓

Over three weeks, every learner benefited, growing in confidence, connection, and belief in what they could do next 💛

This programme was about creating a safe, trauma-informed learning environment where people could show up as they were, build confidence at their own pace, and feel supported to try things that once felt out of reach 🌱

One of our learners shared this reflection today. It says more about the impact of this work than we ever could:

“This has been the best thing I’ve ever done. My confidence in my ability is recognised. I still don’t have the confidence to market myself, but my friend always said, people just need to meet you and know you — and I’ve really felt that this week.

You’ve no idea how much just even being able to turn up was valued meant to me. Because it really was an achievement… after years of being at home… it really was. And for just that to be recognised, despite me not being able to be on time, or there every day, or able to stay until the end… I was able to finish this course and I know I’ve made friends for life with people who understand my difficulties.

Thank you all for getting me out of the house. For providing that safe environment that allowed me to do it 3 weeks, however erratically, in a row. You maybe do, because this is your aim, but you will NEVER know how much this has meant to me breaking my barriers and just going somewhere 5 days a week.

I didn’t make them all. I wasn’t able to stay them all. But I got up and forced myself to be there knowing it was another safe environment. And that’s the thing… you created a safe environment.

A participant didn’t want to do his presentation today but then he felt safe enough to do it… that in itself, plus I did mine… it’s brilliant. It works. I’m so in awe of you guys and thank you! Thank you!”

Gary cried when he read that one 😭

We saw learners re-engage with routine, build meaningful peer connections, and do things they previously felt unable to do…… including presenting in front of others 🧠🎤

A sincere thank you to Belfast Met for trusting Spark’s strengths-led, trauma-informed approach and for working alongside us to make this possible 🙌

We’re incredibly proud of this cohort - and excited about what comes next 💛

02/12/2025

A great start to the week at Belfast Met, as part of the Neuro-Diverse Digital Skills for Life & Work programme.

Yesterday, we had an introduction to coding and built our own webpage. 😁💻

Today’s focus is on Spreadsheets 📈

Onwards into the week 🚀🧠

26/11/2025

✨Back by popular demand!✨
Our Hear Me, See Me, Know Me workshop returns to support parents of children who are being assessed or are diagnosed as autistic
Delivered by Speech & Language Therapist Elaine McGreevy from Access Communication Ltd.
📞To book your place call 0808 8020 400

26/11/2025

Meanwhile in Belfast Metropolitan College, a bunch of fine people are learning Cyber Skills 🤖

Today our cohort are getting stuck into security, online safety and best practices. And will be trying out playing and making games.

Lots of this involves computational learning, which is important for things like developing project management skills in the workplace.

What a day ☺️🎓❤️

24/11/2025

Day One of Cohort 1 – (Neuro-Diverse) Digital Skills for Life & Work🎓🙌

Today marks the start of a powerful partnership between Belfast Met College and Neurodiversity SPARK, supporting neurodivergent adults to re-enter education through a trauma-informed, strengths-based model.❤️💪

Before any teaching begins, our focus today is simple: psychological safety, calm arrival, and meaningful connection.

Meet our Spark team on the ground:

🔸 Amy – Inclusion Champion
A graduate of our first Belfast Met cohort, now providing peer support rooted in lived experience.

🔸 Dasha (Daria) – Neuroinclusion Practice Lead
Guiding daily trauma-informed practice and ensuring that learning spaces remain emotionally and sensory safe.

🔸 Gary – Neuroinclusion Programme Lead
Supporting co-regulation, communication, and ND-informed adjustments across the full programme.

This three-week course combines digital upskilling with wraparound support designed to reduce overwhelm, build confidence, and help adults return to learning with dignity and agency.

To everyone joining us today:
We’re delighted you’re here, and we’re committed to walking beside you every step of the way.

A strong start to an important programme.

20/11/2025

Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is try again, on your own terms, in a space designed with you in mind.

For so many neurodivergent adults, returning to education feels like stepping back into a building that once closed its doors on you.

But what if that door opened differently this time?

What if the space was calmer… the people understood overwhelm… and support was actually built into the room?

We’re proud to share that Neurodiversity Spark will be partnering with Belfast Metropolitan College once again, delivering daily, trauma-informed support throughout their Digital Skills for Life and Work programme, for neurodivergent adults.

This course is for adults who want to build digital confidence: word processing, emails, spreadsheets, presentations, AI, cyber security……

…..but need a safe way to re-enter learning after burnout, anxiety, or difficult past experiences.

And Spark will be there every day to help with:
💜Navigating overwhelm and regulation
💜 Building confidence at a pace that works for you
💜 Strengths discovery through Strengthscope
💜 Gentle, lived-experience guidance in the classroom

Because learning should never cost you your wellbeing.

🎓 24 Nov – 12 Dec 2025
📍 Belfast Met, E3 Campus
💷 Free
👉 Apply or learn more: https://lnkd.in/eFK7NEmG

17/11/2025

A new opportunity for neurodivergent adults who need a safe way back into learning 🧠🎓

Neurodiversity Spark will be partnering with Belfast Met to deliver daily, trauma-informed support throughout their (Neuro-Diverse) Digital Skills for Life & Work programme.

For many adults, education has been a painful place. This course is built differently, and Spark’s role is to ensure learners feel psychologically safe, supported in moments of overwhelm, and able to re-engage without fear or judgement.🫶🏻

"We want to learn in the same environments as everyone else, with dignity, pride, and purpose.....walking the same institutional corridors, but on our own terms."🎓

We will help with:
💛 Overwhelm, anxiety & regulation
💛 Building confidence in a safe, ND-friendly space
💛 Strengths discovery through Strengthscope
💛 Navigating the classroom with lived-experience support

If this resonates with you or someone you know, please share.
Everyone deserves a place to learn without fear.


Over three weeks, you’ll gain hands-on experience with:
💻 Word processing and email management
📊 Spreadsheets and presentations
🤖 AI and cyber security
🏅 OCN Level 2 in Digital Skills for Work and Life
💬 Plus, soft skills to help you thrive in work or education

You’ll learn at your own pace, with extra mentoring and guidance to help you succeed.

📍 Belfast Met, Springvale Campus
🗓️ 24th November – 12th December 2025
💷 Free

👉 Apply now or learn more https://www.belfastmet.ac.uk/course/p00464-ac/neuro-diverse-digital-skills-for-life-and-work