Jodie Clarke, Children's Well-being Practitioner & Autism Specialist

08/12/2025

More from the incredible Anna Freud Conference in Neurodivergence and trauma

TW abuse restraint trauma

Alexis Quinn

I became interested in Alexis story and work after hearing from her at the Dublin autism congress earlier this year.

Alexis is a counsellor and psychotherapist and manages the Restraint Reduction Network while campaigning for human rights.

What I love about Alexis’ work is how human it is! Alexis has a focus on love, which beautifully aligns with my obsession with love.

Care, compassion, humanising autistic people, real care for distressed and trauma’d autistic people and collaborating to prevent harm and heal from harm. No fancy modals or approaches just human to human love.

Alexis talks of her own experiences of the MH system. (I highly recommend podcast “patient 11” if you want to learn more).

Relational trauma features a lot and Alexis told how the same “care” person who reaches out to you to play scrabble and “build a relationship” is also the one who restrains you for having a very justifiable stress response. The quote about love not coming from spoons and having to lick it from knives, really stuck with me. Alexis talked about how our school systems are designed the same. Care compassion love connection is all conditional and based on if you are presenting within the NT boundaries of “normal”. Alexis questioned how many autistic people actually want to be alone and how many cannot risk the unsafety of people due to trauma.

Alexis introduced me to a new term “commoning”…. The finding of belongingness and connectedness through shared experiences, commonalities, shared interests, human to human. Belongingness is vital for our mental health and so often lacking for neurodivergent people.

Simple but lacking, love. Where humans are forgotten due to policies, procedures, prescribed ways of working, NT developed approaches. We need more love.

Alexis shared so much insight and her talk was so full and sent my brain into so many other directions so there will be much missed here, highly recommend Alexis work and talks if you get the opportunity.

06/12/2025

Stuck for Christmas Pressies for the teachers?
Actually while at Springfields School last week, a teacher mentioned how many teachers love to receive a book 📖 😍

04/12/2025

More from the Anna Freud Breaking the buzzwords trauma conference.

TW abuse, mental health systems, parent blame

The next speaker I want to share with you is Benji O’Reilly. Benji is the parent to ND children and also co-chair of the trustees at the Restraint Reduction Network

Benji shared personal experiences as a parent of a child who had significant trauma as a result of mental health systems.

Benji’s story really hit me hard personally, maybe because I have a child the same age as the one Benji spoke about, maybe because this child was abused within a system that was supposed to care for her, maybe because Benji was told the same thing as me as a parent “she’s anxious because you are”….. the parent blame the harm, the trauma and most barbarically …

……a child expressing that they missed hugs from their mum so they sought restraint while in hospital….. just for human contact…

…wtf are we doing to children if when this poorly they do not have access to a parent/carer for a hug?

One of my children was born prematurely and there was so much encouragement for skin to skin contact, kangaroo care and how this enables the baby to regulate their breathing, body temperature, heart rate and nervous system….. CO-REGULATION, to keep them well….
Yet in MH systems our children aren’t given the opportunity for this much needed nurture. And too often trauma responses are seen as “challenging behaviours”.

Not being able to hug the people we love and feel most safe with when distressed feels so so barbaric and wrong.

Benji spoke about what we need professionals to recognise in terms of trauma and the responses we need from those professionals.

Benji also interestingly talked about how so often neurodivergent people who have cPTSD from micro traumas are misdiagnosed with psychosis and medications given are ineffective and inconducive to recovery.

Thank you Benji for sharing this, thank you for reminding professionals that by not listening to parents and children they can unintentionally cause harm. Benji’s child was broken by a system that was suppose to help her get better. Benji’s child is not an isolated case. This has to stop x

04/12/2025

IS NOT OVER-DIAGNOSED.

Analysis of 9 million patient GP records showed ADHD diagnosis for just 0.32% of patient records. NHS prescription data backs that up. ADHD is under diagnosed not overdiagnosised.

Detailed information here:https://adhduk.co.uk/adhd-diagnosis-rate-uk/

04/12/2025

My first post relating to the Anna Freud Conference Day titled:(in no particular order)

Breaking the Buzzwords: Trauma, Neurodivergence and the Path to Equitable Practice In-person

Hazel Lim is the founder of Chinese Autism UK 英国华人自闭症基金会 , an organisation setup to support Chinese autistics and their families in the UK.

Hazel shared the double marginalisation of autistic Chinese families and this was a massive eye opener for me. Hazel outlined the following challenges:

Many Chinese people face insecure immigration statuses, even though Hazel has lived and worked in the UK for 25 years she still does not have an indefinite right to remain. The uncertainty of being able to stay in your home country and with your children must be excruciatingly hard. This means that very often immigrant parent/carers seeking support and diagnosis for their autistic children fear the home office being informed and this being used against them. Naturally the fear of professionals and a lack of trust are compounded for immigrant Chinese families.

Within some Chinese cultures having a disabled child or being disabled yourself is not something that is accepted or celebrated. Difference carries shame and so for some Chinese families getting support from extended families members isn’t always possible and can also mean families are less likely to be able to reach out and access identification and support.

Language barriers: Accessing resources and professionals who you can speak to in your first language is rare, therefore building that trust and accessing the information you need is hard.

Parent blame; families have been blamed for their child’s language differences/delays by being told it’s because parents do not speak English at home! This goes against research around language development and leaves parent/carers feeling isolated, non trusting and unable to access the support needed.

These concerns and challenges together amplify the impact of being marginalised, adding to the likeliness of trauma and isolation for autistic Chinese families.

Hazel and her team are set up to help and urged professionals to be curious about cultural backgrounds and that mandatory interpreters are provided where needed.

Massive thank you to Hazel for opening my eyes to this.

03/12/2025

03/12/2025

Yesterdays conference was epic on so many levels. I am really wanting to share loads but I need some recovery and processing time. X

02/12/2025

Today I’m attending training at the Anna Freud Centre, London.

It takes a lot for me to manage London. But the pull of this incredible lineup was too much to resist.

When I am supporting autistic C&YP with burnout and mental health crisis, much of what we are also recovering from is trauma.

I regularly find myself battling against policy, approaches and beliefs that are not conducive to autistic experience and can so often cause further harm.

I feel like today is going to give me further confidence, knowledge and insight to be able to continue advocating for neuro-aware, neuro- affirming and experience sensitive support within mental health recovery of autistic C&YP.