PDA North America - Pathological Demand Avoidance

12/30/2025

Learning isn’t a straight line and many PDA students don’t grow that way. Some have beautiful peaks of brilliance alongside areas that need support. When we understand spiky learning profiles, classrooms can become more inclusive, and accessible. 💛

Comment "spikey" to read the full article by Dr Danika Maddocks () to explore the difference between bumpy + spiky profiles and how it changes support.

12/30/2025

2026 is around the corner and we're bringing you SIX new LIVE virtual events to support PDA in January alone.

These events will support caregivers, professionals, and adult PDAers themselves. Hope to see you there! All will be recorded and made available after the event. (Level 2 Training will be recorded but must be attended live).

🗓️ Thurs., Jan 8 - 7pm central - PDA 101 - Free intro to PDA for ALL

🗓️ Thurs., Jan 13 - 7pm central - PDA & Fatherhood (monthly discussion group led by PJ Starling)

🗓️ Thurs., Jan 15 - 7pm central - The Grief we don't talk about: Parenting a PDA child as an Autistic Adult by Kori Andreas, LCSW-C

🗓️ Friday, Jan 16 - 10:30am-3pm central - PDANA Level 2 Training for Professionals (Level 1 certificate required)

🗓️ Thurs., Jan 22 - 6pm central - 2-hour Training - PDA Communication Part 2: Conflict & Co-regulation with Keri Schouten, PDAer & PDA Parenting Coach (HIGHLY recommend taking Part 1 on the PDA Learning Lab first!)

🗓️ Thurs., Jan 29 - 12pm central - PDA & PANS/PANDAS: Understanding the overlap with Laura Hellfeld & Helen Edgar

Comment "RSVP" and we'll send you the direct link to our upcoming events page where you can find the registration for them all.

12/30/2025

Before the year ends—so does this offer ⏳

⏰ 1 day left
🎁 50% off all pre-recorded webinars
Learn at your own pace, on your own timeline.

💻 Use code giving2026
🕛 Ends Dec 31 at 12 PM (CST)

🔗 https://buff.ly/3UwDvzZ

12/29/2025

Is your family struggling with conflicts that escalate faster than you can respond? You’re not alone. Join Keri Schouten, adult PDAer & PDA Parenting Coach, for Part 2 of her PDA & Communication Training Series with PDANA: Conflict & Co-Regulation with PDA Individuals.

If you missed Part 1, you won't want to miss it! But you don't have to take our word for it...

“This course changed my life in a single day. It gave me clarity, language, and understanding I’ve been searching for for years. It is easily the best money I’ve ever spent — the value it brought to my family, my mindset, and my ability to support my child is beyond anything I expected.”
-Ian B., Parent of PDAer

📅 Jan. 22 | 2-hour PDANA Training
💡 Practical strategies, real-life examples, and insights from someone who’s lived it.

🎟️ Comment "PDAComms" to get the direct links to reserve your spot now & catch up on PDA Communication Part 1.

🔥 Parents, caregivers, and professionals — this is the training that will change how you respond to PDA conflict.

12/29/2025

In this week’s speaker spotlight for the 7th Annual PDA North America Conference, we’re highlighting Laura Hellfeld (.nd.nurse.consulting)—Neurodivergent Nurse & Sleep Consultant, who is passionate about providing neurodivergent and disability-affirming, accessible & informed care and has been a wonderful partner of PDANA's over the last few years. Laura will be tuning in LIVE from the UK on Feb 27th during the conference’s all-virtual day. (In-person tickets include access to this day as well!)

Laura brings both professional expertise and lived experience as an Autistic & ADHD (AuDHD) PDAer & parent to PDAers.

About the Talk: 🗣️ Supporting PDAers in Self-Care and Everyday Life

For many PDAers, everyday activities like dressing, eating, toileting, hygiene, and sleep can be some of the hardest parts of life. This session explores how body–mind differences, sensory experiences, and health conditions affect daily living. Together, we’ll look at compassionate, practical ways to make self-care feel more doable and less pressured, with supporting templates to guide conversations with healthcare professionals.

About Laura:
Laura Hellfeld is a neurodivergent nurse, health educator, and sleep consultant dedicated to reshaping how self-care is supported within neurodivergent and disabled communities. Their work centres on accessible approaches to food and eating, sleep, hygiene and toileting. Laura does this through direct support for individuals and families, as well as through workshops and
educational events for both professionals and community members. Drawing from lived experience and public health service, Laura creates inclusive spaces, hosts community events,
and co-authors books like Gabby’s Glimmers, Creating Safe Spaces for Autistic People, and is soon publishing a parent-focused series beginning with toileting and followed by hygiene.

To learn more about the conference and grab your early-bird tickets, visit:
🔗 https://buff.ly/Gza0sLz

12/29/2025

This one's for caregivers sitting in the post-hoilday crash wondering if you “did something wrong”, it's likely you didn’t.

This isn’t about gifts or gratitude. It’s about nervous systems doing the best they can.
You’re not alone. ❤️

Comment "gifts" and we'll send you a link to the full PDA Insight by our friend Lindsay Flanagan, parent to PDAers and founder of Hive Parents, a community for those parenting PDA children. ()

12/27/2025

⏳ Only 4 days left!

The year is almost over—and so is our Giving to You 50% off promotion. 💛

🎁 All pre-recorded webinars are half off
Learn at your own pace, in your own time—no pressure, no demands.

✨ Begin the year feeling seen and understood.

💻 Use code giving2026
🕛 Ends Dec 31 at 12 PM (CST)

🔗 https://buff.ly/3UwDvzZ

12/26/2025

💡 Curious about PDA? PDA 101 is your friendly introduction.
Join Diane Gould, LCSW, for a 75-minute overview of PDA and Q&A time.

🗓 Thursday, Feb 5 | 7 PM CST
FREE ($25 suggested donation)
🎟 https://buff.ly/3OfnB32

12/23/2025

The holidays are marketed as joy on demand, but for many PDAers and their families, they can feel like expectation overload wrapped in tinsel. 🎄

For years, PDAer & parent to PDA children, Lauren Brown, tried to get the “magic” right…and ended up with dysregulation, grief, and exhaustion instead. So they stopped chasing what the holidays should look like and started building traditions that actually worked for their family.

Less performance.
More autonomy.
More peace.

If your holidays don’t look like the movies — you’re not failing.
You’re listening. 💛

📖 Comment "holiday" and we'll send you a DM with a link to read the full blog.

12/22/2025

This holiday season, gift yourself—or a loved one—the relief that comes from understanding 💛

Our pre-recorded, neurodiversity-affirming webinars are designed for neurodivergent adults and parents seeking clarity, validation, and practical support.

✨ 50% off all pre-recorded webinars
🎁 Use code GIVING2026 through December 31 at 12 PM (CST)

Learn at your own pace, in your own time.

🔗 https://buff.ly/3UwDvzZ

12/22/2025

In this week’s speaker spotlight for the 7th Annual PDA North America Conference, we’re highlighting Emelda "E" De Coteau ()—writer, activist, certified mindfulness coach, and founder of When Motherhood Looks Different, LLC, who is devoted to supporting neurodivergent kids and moms who are neurodivergent center mindfulness and connect in community. Emelda will be speaking LIVE on Feb 27th during the conference’s all-virtual day, and you'll catch her live in person grounding us throughout the conference.

Emelda brings both professional expertise and lived experience as a parent to a neurodivergent child.

About the Talk:
🗣️ Beyond Compliance: Finding Presence and Peace with PDA-Informed Mindfulness

PDA-informed mindfulness emphasizes choice, flexibility, and low-demand techniques to support our emotional sustainability as parents and caregivers. During our time together, we'll also explore the mindfulness attitude of non-striving, which allows for greater presence and radical acceptance instead of trying to force specific outcomes. And we'll close by dropping into some practices grounded in gentle breath work - Stop, Breathe & Support and Release & Receive.

About Emelda:
Emelda “E” De Coteau is a writer, activist, and certified mindfulness coach, trained in TSD Mindfulness and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) - both of these approaches emphasize the connection between mind and body, strengthening of compassion for self and the collective, deepening resilience, and embracing mindful living as a daily practice. She is also the founder of When Motherhood Looks Different, LLC, a community-based small business helping Mamas of neurodivergent kids and Moms who are neurodivergent center mindfulness and connect in community by offering events, resources, and mindfulness coaching; this work is inspired by her beautiful neurodivergent daughter Nai.

As a speaker and facilitator she has presented at the PDA Burnout Conference presented by PDA North America, Women of Color Soul Care Collective - Calling Her Spirit Back, uplifting ways to transmute your pain into purpose, Green Heart University’s Mental Health Gala, and discussed neurodivergent parenting as part of Spoken Black Girl Magazine's Black Maternal Health panel. Her writing, which focuses on social justice, anti-racism, neurodivergent parenting, well-being, and spiritual activism (within the progressive Christian tradition), has appeared in Good Faith Media, Spoken Black Girl Magazine, Good Life Detroit, Beautifully Said Magazine, The Baltimore Times, and on the Pray with our Feet website (a podcast & community she co-leads with her Mom, Trudy) where she blogs and shares devotionals on spiritual life and activism. Emelda lives in Maryland with her family.

🔗 To learn more about the conference and grab your early-bird tickets, visit:
https://buff.ly/Gza0sLz

12/16/2025

Great opportunity to learn to better understand PDA in adults from one of our favorite PDAers, Kristy Forbes - Autism & ND Support!

Understanding PDA in Adults: Lived Experience, Nervous System & Everyday Life
Live Masterclass | Friday 30th January at 11:00am (AEDT)
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Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) in adulthood can feel confusing, isolating, and often misunderstood, especially when the world thinks in terms of “won’t” instead of “can’t right now.” This masterclass is designed to offer adults with PDA, their loved ones, and helping professionals a deeply compassionate, non-pathologising understanding of the PDA experience.

Across three grounded, affirming hours, we’ll explore PDA as a nervous system based response rather than a behaviour problem, and unpack what daily life looks like through the lived experience lens. We’ll talk about autonomy, threat responses, masking, burnout, relationships, work, parenting, and why traditional “strategies” often backfire. Together, we’ll reframe PDA with language that explains and not blames, and build clarity around what actually supports safety, connection, and capacity.


+ This session includes:

+ Lifetime access to the masterclass recording

+ A downloadable slide deck

+ Full transcript

+ A comprehensive resource guide to support ongoing understanding and integration

+ Certificate of completion


Whether you’re an adult with PDA, supporting someone who is, or you work within neurodiversity affirming spaces, this masterclass will meet you gently and offer tools, validation, and insight to help life feel more possible.

For your ticket, click below:

https://www.kristyforbes.com.au/offers/Swj4kMFr/checkout