Affirming Access: Co-Creating Inclusive Systems to Improve Mental Health Outcomes for Neurodivergent LGBTIQA+SB Young People
Tracks
Ballroom 1 - In-Person & Virtual via OnAIR
| Wednesday, June 24, 2026 |
| 1:40 PM - 2:00 PM |
Overview
Brendan Chippendale, The Achieve Collective & Berinda Karp, Autism Step Australia
Presenter
Mr Brendan Chippendale
Psychotherapist
The Achieve Collective
Affirming Access: Co-Creating Inclusive Systems to Improve Mental Health Outcomes for Neurodivergent LGBTIQA+SB Young People
Presentation Overview
Neurodivergent young people—particularly those who are autistic, ADHD, or otherwise neurodivergent—face disproportionately high rates of anxiety, depression, trauma, and suicidality. These outcomes are not inevitable; they are shaped by systemic barriers, masking pressures, and exclusion across schools, workplaces, and mental health services.
The Affirming Access Project, funded by the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission and co-led with young neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+SB people, is a rights-based initiative designed to shift these outcomes. Through community consultations, creative workshops, and digital resource development, the project demonstrates how strengths-based and affirming approaches to therapy and assessment can disrupt deficit frameworks and reduce psychological distress.
This presentation highlights emerging findings on burnout, masking, and cumulative trauma, while showcasing practical strategies to embed neuro-affirming practices across schools, workplaces, and public systems. It also examines the intersections of culture, gender, and LGBTQIA+ identity, underscoring the importance of culturally safe, inclusive supports that recognise the diversity of neurodivergent experience.
In addition, the project has developed digitally accessible, neurodivergent-led online supports that extend beyond traditional service models, providing safer spaces for peer connection, identity development, and mental health literacy. Preliminary outcomes suggest that affirming systems not only reduce immediate distress but also foster resilience, autonomy, and long-term wellbeing.
By reframing neurodivergence through the lens of rights, inclusion, and lived experience, the Affirming Access Project offers a model for transforming mental health systems. When young people are supported as co-designers rather than passive recipients, the result is sustainable change that builds both healthier individuals and healthier communities.
Three Key Learnings
1. How strengths-based, neuro-affirming therapy and assessment approaches can reduce distress caused by burnout, masking, and trauma in neurodivergent populations.
2. Practical strategies to embed inclusive, affirming practices across schools, workplaces, and public systems that improve mental health outcomes and support autonomy.
3. The value of intersectional, neurodivergent-led solutions, including digital accessibility and LGBTQIA+ and culturally safe perspectives, in creating sustainable systems change.
The Affirming Access Project, funded by the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission and co-led with young neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+SB people, is a rights-based initiative designed to shift these outcomes. Through community consultations, creative workshops, and digital resource development, the project demonstrates how strengths-based and affirming approaches to therapy and assessment can disrupt deficit frameworks and reduce psychological distress.
This presentation highlights emerging findings on burnout, masking, and cumulative trauma, while showcasing practical strategies to embed neuro-affirming practices across schools, workplaces, and public systems. It also examines the intersections of culture, gender, and LGBTQIA+ identity, underscoring the importance of culturally safe, inclusive supports that recognise the diversity of neurodivergent experience.
In addition, the project has developed digitally accessible, neurodivergent-led online supports that extend beyond traditional service models, providing safer spaces for peer connection, identity development, and mental health literacy. Preliminary outcomes suggest that affirming systems not only reduce immediate distress but also foster resilience, autonomy, and long-term wellbeing.
By reframing neurodivergence through the lens of rights, inclusion, and lived experience, the Affirming Access Project offers a model for transforming mental health systems. When young people are supported as co-designers rather than passive recipients, the result is sustainable change that builds both healthier individuals and healthier communities.
Three Key Learnings
1. How strengths-based, neuro-affirming therapy and assessment approaches can reduce distress caused by burnout, masking, and trauma in neurodivergent populations.
2. Practical strategies to embed inclusive, affirming practices across schools, workplaces, and public systems that improve mental health outcomes and support autonomy.
3. The value of intersectional, neurodivergent-led solutions, including digital accessibility and LGBTQIA+ and culturally safe perspectives, in creating sustainable systems change.
Biography
Brendan Chippendale (he/him) is a psychotherapist, educator, and co-lead of the Affirming Access Project, a national initiative funded by the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission. With over 30 years experience supporting autistic and neurodivergent young people, Brendan brings expertise in strengths-based, affirming therapy and community advocacy. Through his private practice, Achieve Collective, he works primarily with LGBTQIA+SB and neurodivergent clients, focusing on identity, resilience, and mental health. Brendan is committed to co-design and lived experience leadership, developing inclusive systems and accessible resources that amplify young people’s voices and promote mental health, dignity, and rights across schools, services, and communities
Ms Berinda Karp
CEO
Autism Step Australia
Affirming Access: Co-Creating Inclusive Systems to Improve Mental Health Outcomes for Neurodivergent LGBTIQA+SB Young People
Presentation Overview
Neurodivergent young people—particularly those who are autistic, ADHD, or otherwise neurodivergent—face disproportionately high rates of anxiety, depression, trauma, and suicidality. These outcomes are not inevitable; they are shaped by systemic barriers, masking pressures, and exclusion across schools, workplaces, and mental health services.
The Affirming Access Project, funded by the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission and co-led with young neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+SB people, is a rights-based initiative designed to shift these outcomes. Through community consultations, creative workshops, and digital resource development, the project demonstrates how strengths-based and affirming approaches to therapy and assessment can disrupt deficit frameworks and reduce psychological distress.
This presentation highlights emerging findings on burnout, masking, and cumulative trauma, while showcasing practical strategies to embed neuro-affirming practices across schools, workplaces, and public systems. It also examines the intersections of culture, gender, and LGBTQIA+ identity, underscoring the importance of culturally safe, inclusive supports that recognise the diversity of neurodivergent experience.
In addition, the project has developed digitally accessible, neurodivergent-led online supports that extend beyond traditional service models, providing safer spaces for peer connection, identity development, and mental health literacy. Preliminary outcomes suggest that affirming systems not only reduce immediate distress but also foster resilience, autonomy, and long-term wellbeing.
By reframing neurodivergence through the lens of rights, inclusion, and lived experience, the Affirming Access Project offers a model for transforming mental health systems. When young people are supported as co-designers rather than passive recipients, the result is sustainable change that builds both healthier individuals and healthier communities.
The Affirming Access Project, funded by the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission and co-led with young neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+SB people, is a rights-based initiative designed to shift these outcomes. Through community consultations, creative workshops, and digital resource development, the project demonstrates how strengths-based and affirming approaches to therapy and assessment can disrupt deficit frameworks and reduce psychological distress.
This presentation highlights emerging findings on burnout, masking, and cumulative trauma, while showcasing practical strategies to embed neuro-affirming practices across schools, workplaces, and public systems. It also examines the intersections of culture, gender, and LGBTQIA+ identity, underscoring the importance of culturally safe, inclusive supports that recognise the diversity of neurodivergent experience.
In addition, the project has developed digitally accessible, neurodivergent-led online supports that extend beyond traditional service models, providing safer spaces for peer connection, identity development, and mental health literacy. Preliminary outcomes suggest that affirming systems not only reduce immediate distress but also foster resilience, autonomy, and long-term wellbeing.
By reframing neurodivergence through the lens of rights, inclusion, and lived experience, the Affirming Access Project offers a model for transforming mental health systems. When young people are supported as co-designers rather than passive recipients, the result is sustainable change that builds both healthier individuals and healthier communities.
Biography
Bio not provided
