This short session offers an intersectional lens to strengthen identity-affirming care and reduce unintended harm.

Neurodivergent experiences do not occur in isolation. They intersect with culture, race, gender, sexuality, disability, class, and other identity locations that shape access to care, safety, and wellbeing. When identity is treated as singular, systems can unintentionally reproduce exclusion, misattunement, and harm—despite inclusive intentions.

This presentation frames intersectionality as a core ethical competency rather than an optional add-on. Drawing on lived experience and leadership in identity-affirming practice, Den examines how power and professional norms shape whose identities are centred, whose are misunderstood, and whose distress is pathologised rather than contextualised.

Rather than prescribing solutions, the session invites reflective accountability: how “neutrality,” "standardisation", “best practice”, and “professionalism” can obscure difference, and how reflexivity can support more responsive, ethical, and equitable humane care. Participants are encouraged to consider how their roles—as clinicians, leaders, educators, or advocates—shape the environments they contribute to, and how small shifts in awareness and responsibility can meaningfully improve neurodivergent wellbeing.

The focus is on ethical clarity, cultural humility, and reflection that can be taken back into everyday professional contexts. Apply practical, trauma-informed strategies and inclusive, intersectional frameworks that support dignity, safety, cultural responsiveness, autonomy, and access within real‑world practice constraints.

This presentation highlights the work undertaken by Jane Andreassen, the Operations Manager at a regional Community Legal Centre in North Queensland. Drawing on lived experience and a deep understanding of workplace wellbeing, it showcases how organisational systems were redesigned to be more inclusive, supportive, and accessible for everyone.

The presentation explores how impersonal and fragmented systems can be transformed into connected, user-friendly processes designed to support the diverse needs of all staff. Operating across three dedicated platforms, the new approach makes information visual, consistent, and easy to locate, reducing cognitive load and uncertainty. By creating clear, predictable pathways and using friendly, accessible design, the presentation demonstrates how workplaces can become more inclusive and empowering for everyone.

This presentation will explore three key learnings from Jane’s transformative work:
Inclusive design benefits everyone; what supports one individual’s ways of working often strengthens the whole workplace.
Practical adjustments make participation easier for all; accessibility doesn’t just remove barriers; it fosters engagement and collaboration.
Thriving systems start with understanding humans; when we design with people in mind, productivity and morale grow naturally.

This presentation offers a grounded, regional perspective on neuroinclusive practice; showing that change doesn’t have to be complex or expensive; it simply needs to be human.

Our Wellbeing Team has explored a range of strategies to engage both students and staff in a wellbeing program that supports them not only during their time in our facility, but also equips them with skills and knowledge they can apply in other environments. Following program trials, benchmarking against other organisations, conducting wellbeing research, seeking guidance from the neurodivergent community, surveying stakeholders, and analysing the information gathered, we have developed a program for 2026 and beyond: “Knowledge & Connection.”
This program has been designed with consideration for mental health protective factors, the diverse needs of neurodivergent participants, and practical constraints such as time and budget. Its structure enables continuity over time while remaining responsive to participant feedback, ensuring it can continually adapt and improve.
The program provides multiple modes of access and participation, offering flexibility and space for ongoing refinement. This approach reflects our understanding that a single program model cannot meet everyone’s needs and that meaningful wellbeing initiatives must be capable of evolving alongside the individuals they support.
During this presentation, we will outline the program’s scaffolded design to demonstrate how a similar model could be implemented in other workplace or educational contexts. We will walk through the program components, highlighting how they adapt for different participants, align with mental health protective factors, incorporate a range of stakeholders, meet curriculum requirements, and remain accessible through multiple formats.
We will also share the data sources that informed the program’s development, as well as our ongoing processes for collecting and applying data to guide program refinement and improve engagement. Finally, we will outline the strategies put in place to ensure the program’s sustainability, demonstrating how it has been designed to continue beyond reliance on any specific individuals or teams.

The presentation will outline how the Creating Autism-Friendly Communities (CAFC), an initiative of Weeroona Association in Gympie QLD and supported through a National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) grant, is taking the next step in supporting inclusive local workplaces and communities.
In Australia, autistic people face some of the highest unemployment rates of any group, highlighting a clear gap between talent and opportunity. In response, CAFC will roll out free neurodiversity awareness training for local community organisations, education providers and businesses in from April until October 2026, supporting workplaces and the community to become more welcoming and accessible for people with autism. Building on its existing peer support networks and programs like the Job Skills Program (CAFC initiative for access to employment), the next phase focuses on working directly with organisations to embed practical, neuro-affirming approaches to access, recruitment and inclusion.
What’s different? Our approach is co-designed, supported by a range of assessment and feedback strategies to make sure that the neuro diverse community is involved, heard and seen.
What have we learnt over the course of the project?
To identify individual’s, strengths and talents is a powerful driver for change.
The initiatives uncovered a significant need for a range of peer support and capacity building workshops in the Gympie area.
Neuro -divergent individuals deserve the opportunity to change the narrative from Dis…ability to focus on strengths and abilities.

As awareness of neurodivergence grows across society and workplaces, many adults are receiving diagnoses later in life and gaining new insight into how they think, learn and experience the world. Current estimates suggest that approximately 15 to 20% of the population is neurodivergent, meaning that in most workplaces at least one in five employees may experience work environments differently.
For organisations, this growing awareness has practical implications. Many workplace systems were developed without consideration of cognitive diversity, which can unintentionally create barriers in areas such as communication, sensory environments, task organisation and workplace expectations.
This presentation introduces the Attuned Workplaces framework, developed through more than a decade of organisational leadership and workplace reflection. Attunement refers to recognising how employees experience their work environment and designing organisational systems that support both contribution and wellbeing.
The framework identifies eight areas of workplace attunement that influence how employees experience organisations: safety, sensory needs, communication, learning styles, autonomy, relationships, environment and growth. These domains provide a structure for organisational reflection and are supported through workplace surveys that allow employees and organisations to assess how these areas are currently experienced.
Survey insights can reveal strengths, misunderstandings and environmental barriers, helping organisations identify practical strategies that strengthen workplace functioning. Attuned workplaces recognise that organisations must support both people and performance. Leaders often navigate a balance between staff wellbeing, organisational sustainability and working within external systems such as funding structures and regulation.
By examining workplace experiences across these eight areas, organisations can identify opportunities to strengthen communication, improve environmental fit and support diverse ways of working. Attuned workplaces create conditions where neurodivergent employees can contribute their strengths while organisations maintain engagement, retention and long term sustainability, resilience and organisational effectiveness.

Fictional utopic representation has the potential to contribute to real-world differences for autistic people and communities by reframing conceptions of autism and imagining non-disabling societies. This creative writing research project adapts Levitas’ ‘utopia as method’ to highlight the diversity of autistic experiences and needs and to produce fiction that reframes and reimagines autistic community. The primary premise of utopia as method is pursuing a better way of being at the societal level by reconstructing society through imagination. There are three ‘modes’ to this method, which move from insight to impact. The first involves an analysis of already-imagined utopia by identifying and reconfiguring utopic fragments; the second consists of investigating individual subjectivities, how they interact with and understand utopia and each other, and what possibilities utopia opens up for them; and the third comprises imagining a detailed, concrete and specific social and institutional design.

This workshop will follow the modes of utopia as method, beginning with an analysis of (autistic) utopic fragments within utopic and autistic literature. Audience members will then have the opportunity to employ their own lived experiences, insights and desires in an exercise of utopic thinking. Should they wish to contribute their imaginings, these will provide springboards from which to investigate diverse individual autistic subjectivities in utopia and, along with interviews, will supplement the creative production at the heart of the research project, a novel, through which a concrete design for a diverse autistic utopia will be imagined.

Through this process, audience members will be able to put utopia as method into practice and, in doing so, reframe the way autism is thought about, in accordance with premises of the social model of disability, by imagining a society in which autistic brains are the norm and autistic people are not systematically disabled by social structures and expectations.

Many professionals want to support autistic and neurodivergent children ethically, but feel uncertain about how to practise behaviour support without relying on compliance-based, reward–consequence, or ABA-informed approaches. This interactive workshop provides a clear, practical framework for understanding and responding to behaviour in ways that are neuroaffirming, trauma-informed, and sustainable.

Participants will be guided through a step-by-step approach to understanding behaviour as communication, looking beyond surface behaviours to explore sensory load, unmet needs, environmental demands, relational safety, trauma history, and burnout. Using real-world examples, participants will learn how adult responses and environments can either escalate distress or support regulation and belonging.

The workshop focuses on how to apply this understanding in everyday settings. Participants will practise identifying likely drivers of behaviour, selecting supportive responses, and making simple environmental or interactional adjustments that reduce distress without removing autonomy. Attention will also be given to professional burnout, including how masking, cognitive load, and moral distress impact neurodivergent and non-neurodivergent professionals alike.

This session is intentionally practical and reflective, equipping participants with tools they can use immediately while encouraging ethical, compassionate practice that supports both children and the adults around them.

The University of Sydney has developed a holistic program of tailored and transitional support which officially commenced in 2024, designed to provide coordinated, individualised assistance for neurodivergent students across their university journey. The program is grounded in a strengths-based, neuro-affirming framework that prioritises capacity-building, independence, and self-agency, while supporting students to navigate key academic and career transitions.

Building on this foundation, a coordinated suite of complementary programs and resources was introduced in 2025 to enhance students’ transitional readiness and skill development. These include:
- Neuro-affirming workshops collaboratively developed and co-facilitated with the University’s Counselling Services.
- Neuro-affirming career planning workshops delivered in collaboration with the University Careers Service
- Exam success and study skills workshops facilitated by an ADHD coach
- A co-designed Body Doubling program to provide structured, peer-supported study sessions to enhance focus, motivation, accountability, and executive functioning.
- A trial of an integrated study tool supporting task tracking, planning, and sensory profile analytics
- Development of lived-experience “neuro-spicy” video resources

Together, these initiatives operate within a case management framework that provides individualised, ongoing support for neurodivergent students with complex support needs. The case management function focuses on proactive coordination, transitional planning, and skill development, enabling students to build confidence, independence, and self-advocacy as they move through study and towards employment.

This presentation will share insights from the co-design, implementation, and outcomes of this tailored transitional support program, highlighting the central role of student voice in informing its development. Presenters will also discuss future directions and the continued expansion of holistic, neuro-affirming supports for neurodivergent students at the University of Sydney.

Wellbeing for neurodivergent people cannot be separated from the environments in which we live, create, and belong. Too often, support systems frame neurodivergence through deficit-based models that prioritise correction, compliance, or independence over dignity and relational safety. Affirming Access is a neurodivergent- and LGBTQIA+SB-led initiative that re-imagines wellbeing as something co-created through creativity, community, and lived-experience leadership. Grounded in critical neurodiversity, neuroqueer theory, and disability justice, the project positions creative practice not as enrichment, but as essential infrastructure for support.

Over the past year, Affirming Access has expanded its collaborative reach through partnerships including the National Ethnic Disability Alliance and cultural programming connected to Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2026. These partnerships embed neurodivergent creative expression within broader community and cultural spaces, shifting wellbeing to visible collective belonging.

Through textile workshops, wearable art, co-design sessions, and public exhibitions, participants engage in sensory-aware, choice-based environments that actively support regulation, identity expression, and autonomy. Creative processes enable communication beyond spoken language, reduce masking pressures, and foster relational trust. Participants consistently report increased confidence, reduced internalised stigma, and greater willingness to engage socially and professionally when environments affirm neurodivergent ways of being.

Central to this model is intersectionality. Neurodivergent wellbeing cannot be separated from disability, queerness, trans identity, race, culture, and migration experience. For disabled, LGBTQIA+SB, and CALD communities, layered exclusion across services often compounds distress. Affirming Access embeds intersectional design into facilitation, representation, and partnership—prioritising cultural safety alongside sensory safety.

This presentation introduces a replicable framework for embedding creativity as a neuro-affirming system of support. It invites practitioners, educators, and organisations to move beyond token inclusion toward relational, co-created wellbeing systems grounded in dignity, agency, and collective care.

Neurodivergent women navigate complex, overlapping pressures: internal and external demands, chronic masking, co-occurring mental health challenges, and the cumulative impact of environments that do not recognise or support their needs. Research consistently shows that autistic burnout is a debilitating, multidimensional state arising from prolonged overload, insufficient recovery, and sustained camouflaging demands. Across my work, burnout is not theoretical — it is the lived reality of women trying to function while slowly losing access to themselves.

A critical, often overlooked component of this experience is neurodivergent identity development. Many women are diagnosed later in life or self-identify after years of misattunement or invalidation. Without a clear sense of identity, it becomes harder to recognise early signs of dysregulation, articulate needs, or distinguish personal capacity from environmental mismatch. Identity clarity is therefore central to resilience, recovery, and sustainable wellbeing.

Developed from lived experience, 25 years of professional practice, research, and analysis of firsthand accounts, the tool bridges the gap between theory and real-world experiences of neurodivergent women. A consistent pattern emerged: women could name the “big” stressors, but smaller, daily, cumulative pressures — the ones that tip them into burnout — were harder to identify or articulate. Existing tools were often too broad, too medical, or disconnected from lived experience and identity.

The Clarity Card Sort is an evidence-informed, neurodivergent led tool designed to map the hidden architecture of burnout. Through nearly 150 cards, it identifies nuanced internal and external stressors and supports trauma-informed, inclusive pathways to wellbeing, agency, and self-advocacy. Across multiple iterations and real-world use, the tool has consistently revealed patterns that traditional assessments overlook, particularly the cumulative impact of subtle, daily stressors.

Through guided reflection, participants uncover patterns, strengthen identity, reduce stigma, and identify small, meaningful adjustments that restore agency and support trauma informed, neuro affirming pathways to wellbeing.

According to The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights, people living in Australia hold a legal right to make informed decisions about their own health care. Under some circumstances, however, some individuals are deemed to lack the capacity to decide. In some areas of health and for some people this is more likely to happen. Consenting to gender affirming hormone therapy or medical affirmation pathways are circumstances where decisional capacity assessments may be required.

Recent data suggests 11% of trans and gender diverse (TGD) people are autistic, indicating an elevated co-occurrence of autism in TGD individuals (Kallitsounaki & Williams, 2023). This can lead to clinical challenges when working with autistic TGD clients (Tollit et al., 2024), and initial clinical guidelines have been developed for autistic TGD adolescents (Strang et al., 2018). However, these clinical guidelines acknowledge a gap in when and how to provide medical treatment to autistic TGD adolescents (Strang et al., 2018), and they do not address the best approach to assessment of decisional capacity of this population. The aim of this research is to explore these gaps and understand the experiences and perspectives of those involved in conducting assessments.

To investigate this, 12 semi-structured qualitative interviews with healthcare providers across contexts (e.g., GPs, allied health professionals) and medicolegal professionals have been analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. These findings highlight the challenges that professionals face when undertaking assessments of decision capacity in this population and contribute to our understanding of best practice principles in this area.

Background: Asian families in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) face unique challenges in understanding and supporting neurodivergent children. Cultural beliefs, systemic barriers, and limited access to culturally appropriate services can affect recognition, diagnosis, and intervention. Research on the neurodiversity paradigm within Asian communities remains scarce; there is a lack of clarity around how these families understand and experience neurodiversity, and how culturally responsive support can be designed and delivered.
Objectives: To map existing literature on neurodivergent conditions among Asian families and communities in NZ, identify experiences, challenges, and support needs, highlight research gaps, and inform culturally responsive research, policy, and practice.
Methods: A PRISMA-ScR compliant review searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO (Ovid), and Google Scholar for English-language studies published between 2006 and 2026, including peer-reviewed and grey literature on Asian populations and neurodivergence in New Zealand. Data were screened, extracted, and synthesised using thematic and tabular analysis.
Results: Eight studies were included in the review, revealing key barriers for Asian families: cultural stigma, limited neurodiversity awareness, language challenges, complex service navigation, and underutilisation of disability support. Cultural values of conformity and family reputation further hindered help-seeking behaviours and early intervention for neurodivergent children.
Discussion: This is the first scoping review to synthesise the literature on neurodivergent experiences among Asian communities in NZ. Findings highlight fragmented, underdeveloped evidence and underscore the need for community-co- developed, culturally responsive support services, as well as Asian-led research to advance equitable, inclusive neurodiversity support for these families.

Therapeutic Horticulture (TH), similar to music and art therapy, is a creative and experiential therapy that purposefully uses nature and gardening activities for enhancing health and wellbeing. Many neurodivergent people have strong connections with nature, and time in nature can offer accessible ways to support wellbeing across a variety of needs and abilities.

Despite growing recognition of the need for accessible supports for autistic and multiply neurodivergent adults (especially those who are non-speaking and/or who have high support needs), and despite many neurodivergent people finding significant value in creative and experiential therapies, formalised programs offering TH are lesser known in Australia. The therapeutic qualities and experiences of TH have also largely been defined and evaluated through neurotypical perspectives. Research into TH has rarely engaged with neurodivergent participants directly.

This PhD project therefore explored TH from the perspectives of autistic and multiply neurodivergent adults attending a formal TH disability day program in Melbourne. A lived experience advisory group was established, and 10 participants took part in an inclusive, participatory, and arts-based methodology called photovoice, in which participants took photos to share their experiences. In an additional research phase, five longer-term participants of the program (attending for three years or more) also reflected on their history in the program.

Neurodivergent clinicians have always been part of the healthcare workforce, yet their experiences often remain unseen, shaped by masking, misunderstanding, and systems designed around neurotypical norms. In HIV and sexual health settings, where stigma, vulnerability, and emotional complexity are embedded, these invisible dynamics can have profound impacts on both clinician wellbeing and patient care.

This poster presentation draws on the lived experience of a neurodivergent Clinical Nurse Specialist working in HIV and sexual health. As an autistic and ADHD clinician, I reflect on how neurodivergence has shaped my professional journey, clinical practice, and emerging leadership capacity. Rather than framing difference as deficit, this work explores how neurodivergent ways of thinking can enhance empathy, pattern recognition, communication, and trauma-aware care when appropriately supported.

Through reflective storytelling, the poster traces key moments of identity, growth, and challenge, including late diagnosis, navigating feedback and rejection sensitivity, and learning to build clinical practice around my neurodivergent brain rather than forcing it to conform to rigid systems. I share practical strategies such as scaffolds, structured communication, reflective supervision, and environmental adjustments that support safe, consistent, person-centred care.

The presentation positions lived experience leadership as a catalyst for cultural change, demonstrating how personal narratives can reduce stigma, foster understanding, and invite more inclusive workplace practices. By highlighting the invisible labour of neurodivergent clinicians, this work challenges traditional notions of professionalism and calls for healthcare environments that recognise cognitive diversity as integral to insight, safety, and sustainable practice.

Delegates will leave with a deeper understanding of neurodivergent experiences in clinical settings, alongside practical insights into how storytelling, reflective practice, and neurodiversity-affirming approaches can strengthen workforce sustainability and quality of care.

The University of Sydney has developed a holistic program of tailored and transitional support which officially commenced in 2024, designed to provide coordinated, individualised assistance for neurodivergent students across their university journey. The program is grounded in a strengths-based, neuro-affirming framework that prioritises capacity-building, independence, and self-agency, while supporting students to navigate key academic and career transitions.

Building on this foundation, a coordinated suite of complementary programs and resources was introduced in 2025 to enhance students’ transitional readiness and skill development. These include:
- Neuro-affirming workshops collaboratively developed and co-facilitated with the University’s Counselling Services.
- Neuro-affirming career planning workshops delivered in collaboration with the University Careers Service
- Exam success and study skills workshops facilitated by an ADHD coach
- A co-designed Body Doubling program to provide structured, peer-supported study sessions to enhance focus, motivation, accountability, and executive functioning.
- A trial of an integrated study tool supporting task tracking, planning, and sensory profile analytics
- Development of lived-experience “neuro-spicy” video resources

Together, these initiatives operate within a case management framework that provides individualised, ongoing support for neurodivergent students with complex support needs. The case management function focuses on proactive coordination, transitional planning, and skill development, enabling students to build confidence, independence, and self-advocacy as they move through study and towards employment.

This presentation will share insights from the co-design, implementation, and outcomes of this tailored transitional support program, highlighting the central role of student voice in informing its development. Presenters will also discuss future directions and the continued expansion of holistic, neuro-affirming supports for neurodivergent students at the University of Sydney.

Development of a Transgender Self Compassion Course: A co-design process.
Over the last 6 months I have been working with colleagues and individuals from the transgender community in Ōtautahi/Christchurch to co-design a safe, supportive and culturally responsive self-compassion course for trans individuals struggling with self-criticism, disconnection and isolation. This has involved running focus groups with transgender individuals from the community, facilitated by a trans clinical psychology trainee, along with input from trans clinicians and community leaders. The groups provided invaluable insight and direction as to the needed content and process for such a course. The proposed poster will:
- describe our co-design process
- summarise the key themes gained from the focus group: Intersectional Perspectives; Accessibility and Neurodivergence Considerations; Group Design and Structural Elements; Safety, Cultural Considerations, and Facilitator Requirements; and Specific Adaptations and Trans-Affirming Modifications
- describe the next steps in terms of course design and ongoing community collaboration

The importance of Workplace Learning (WPL) in higher education is well-documented, providing students the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge in practical settings, significantly contributing to better graduate outcomes. However, despite a strong move towards Universal Design for Learning and inclusive teaching practices in higher education, many neurodivergent learners, such as those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), continue to encounter barriers that impact their wellbeing, sense of belonging and ability to adequately demonstrate their capabilities. Through my work supporting neurodivergent students in Medical Science, I have observed challenges related to sensory environments, social and communication expectations of the workplace, inconsistent supervisor understanding, and a lack of flexibility within the industry. As a non-neurodivergent ally, these observations have shaped this developing project, which seeks to explore the placement experiences of neurodivergent learners.

This presentation will share early insights informed by both student experiences and an ongoing literature review. Rather than presenting fixed findings, it will offer an evolving, reflective inquiry into inclusive and flexible approaches that have the potential to strengthen student wellbeing and improve placement and graduate outcomes.

Aligned with NWC26’s commitment to transforming systems and amplifying neurodivergent voices, this session invites a critical reflection on assumptions embedded within traditional education models. It highlights opportunities to move beyond procedural approaches to WPL toward responsive, neuro-affirming, student-centered practices that promote safety, autonomy, and that promote success. This presentation is intended to start a conversation—one that will continue to evolve as further research, literature, and lived experiences deepen our understanding.

Inclusion is often treated as accommodation. A barrier appears. Then a support is added.

For many neurodivergent people, this approach is not enough. It may help in the moment. But it does not change the system.

This session explores three practical shifts that help build neuroaffirming environments across schools, workplaces, and communities.

Real inclusion starts earlier. It starts when environments are designed to support different ways of thinking, learning, and communicating from the beginning.

Drawing on decades of experience supporting neurodivergent learners and professionals, the session shows how neuroinclusive technology and inclusive design can remove barriers to understanding and expression.

Shift one: design for variability.
Universal design and neuroinclusive technology can help environments work for a wider range of minds from the beginning.

Shift two: enable expression and understanding.
Tools that support reading, writing, and communication help people express their ideas and show their strengths.

Shift three: connect systems of support.
Schools, workplaces, and community organisations all shape how people experience inclusion across life stages.

Participants will leave with practical strategies they can apply in classrooms, organisations, and community settings.

When people have the right tools and environments, participation grows. Confidence grows too.

When systems are designed for different kinds of minds, inclusion becomes part of the environment, not an extra support.

Neurodivergent people contribute critical strengths to workplaces, yet consistently experience higher psychosocial risk and poorer mental health outcomes than their neurotypical peers. These disparities are often misunderstood as individual vulnerability rather than a predictable outcome of how work is designed. Our whitepaper on mental health and neurodivergence in the workplace challenges this narrative through data, research, and lived experience.

Drawing on national workplace mental health data from SuperFriend’s Thriving Workplaces Index, alongside the expertise of neuroinclusion specialist Vicky Little and mental health expert Stephanie Thompson, and enriched by firsthand insights from neurodivergent workers, the whitepaper examines where and why current workplace systems fall short.

The findings reveal consistent and concerning patterns: neurodivergent employees are significantly more likely to report exposure to harmful job demands, low role clarity, poorly managed organisational change, and inadequate management support. Importantly, the evidence makes clear that these risks are not inherent to neurodivergence itself, but are the predictable consequence of environments designed around narrow stereotypical norms. When employers intentionally prioritise psychological safety and inclusive work design, the benefits enable neurodivergent employees to thrive whilst also creating conditions in which all employees can feel safe and supported.

This session will translate the whitepaper’s findings into practical, preventative actions leaders and workplaces can take now, highlighting the importance of wellbeing and universal design in the workplace. Participants will be guided through evidence-informed strategies for designing work that reduces psychosocial risk, strengthens psychological safety, and supports neurodivergent wellbeing, without relying on individual disclosure or reactive adjustments.

This presentation aims to reframe neuroinclusion as a core component of safe workplaces where all employees are supported to thrive, rather than a discretionary inclusion initiative. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how inclusive design improves mental health outcomes for neurodivergent people while creating safer, more effective workplaces for everyone.

Neurodivergent burnout is a pervasive, yet under-theorised phenomenon experienced by neurodivergent individuals because of sustained demands on self-regulation, executive functioning, and adaptive masking required from living in a Neurotypical world. This model introduces the Neurodivergent Burnout Cycle as a novel therapeutic model that conceptualises burnout as a cyclical and biologically driven process rather than a linear failure of coping or resilience. Central to this model is the premise that neurodivergent individuals possess a finite capacity for regulation. During periods of relative regulation, individuals may demonstrate high executive functioning, effective masking, social engagement, productivity in work or education, and the ability to manage co-occurring challenges such as chronic pain, pathological demand avoidance (PDA), and rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD).

As regulatory capacity becomes depleted, early signs of burnout emerge, including increased fatigue, irritability, cognitive and emotional strain, rising sensory sensitivity, withdrawal from social demands, and increased reliance on stimming. If depletion continues without adequate restoration, the cycle culminates in a meltdown phase characterised by significant emotional dysregulation, task paralysis, loss of verbal communication, abandonment of self-care, heightened sensory overwhelm, and exacerbation of mental and physical health symptoms.

Unlike traditional deficit-based models, the Neurodivergent Burnout Cycle reframes meltdowns/burnout as a necessary and adaptive regulatory reset rather than a pathological event. While supportive strategies may extend the regulated phase and slow depletion, the model posits that meltdowns are an inevitable and essential component of restoring regulation. This framework offers clinicians, educators, and caregivers a strengths-based lens for understanding burnout, reducing stigma, and developing interventions that prioritises shame reduction, accommodation, and compassionate recovery aligned with neurodivergent physiology.

This presentation explores findings from a two-phase mixed-methods formative evaluation of the Emotional Regulation Programme (ERP) developed at the Education, Psychology and Therapy (EPT) Clinic in Ireland. The programme was designed to support children’s emotional regulation through a family-centred approach that emphasises parental understanding, co-regulation, and relational safety.

Phase 1 examined parental experiences of the programme delivered in person in a clinic setting. Phase 2 explored an adapted version delivered online through parent-led implementation supported by pre-recorded psychoeducational content and live clinician sessions. Across both phases, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from parents whose children had completed the programme.

Thematic analysis identified six overarching themes influencing parental experience: initial perceptions, perceived impact on the child, improved parental understanding of the child, parent self-development, therapeutic relationship, and barriers to engagement. While themes were broadly consistent across phases, Phase 2 findings reflected a shift toward whole-family regulation and increased parental agency.

Quantitative indicators also suggested reductions in parent-reported child anxiety frequency and high levels of programme satisfaction. Parents reported improvements in emotional understanding, family communication, and confidence in supporting their children’s emotional needs.

The findings highlight the central role of parental understanding and co-regulation in supporting children’s emotional development and demonstrate how parent-led delivery models can improve accessibility while maintaining perceived impact.

This presentation will discuss the practical implications of implementing family-centred emotional regulation programmes within real-world clinical services.

Key Learnings

Emotional regulation interventions can be strengthened by focusing on parent understanding and co-regulation rather than child behaviour alone.

Parent-led programme delivery can increase accessibility and support whole-family change.

Evaluating parental experience provides valuable insights for improving child and adolescent psychological services.

The Mana Potential framework is a strength based relational tool for collective wellbeing that can be applied to every individual, group, family, organisation and culture to create a universal shared language, enhance well-being, insight and problem solving.
Through the process of co-construction, the Mana Potential framework provides the structure for a shared strengths-based conversation that explores our core value (Mana), sources of strength and the actions taken as the range of human experiences and emotions intensify. The segmentation in the framework provides a tool for early recognition, self-knowledge and the opportunity to do something differently, in a new way, to manage a crisis escalation at the early stages.
The poster presentation will describe how the framework uses the narrative of Ranginui and Papatūānuku and ngā Atua Māori (Māori deities) to promotes a universal shared language so that we are all able to “check in” with each other and know how best to support ourselves and those around us throughout the day.
The three key learnings that delegates may take away from my poster presentation are:
1. Using an indigenous relational tool to promote and support greater understanding and relationships for all learners
2. Creating a verbal/non-verbal universal shared language across school and home settings.
3. Authentic child and family voice. The framework enables/supports children and their families to communicate their needs and what support they require in the moment.

Introduction / background
This presentation will focus on a novel, holistic, and neurodiversity-affirming framework that has been developed by a neurodivergent occupational therapist to support and empower neurodivergent individuals to optimise their health, wellbeing and function. It is informed by emerging evidence, lived experience, and clinical experience.

Method / implementation
The framework is called the SUPERPOWER Approach. Each letter represents one of 10 pillars that represent occupational domains for assessment and intervention, depending on the needs of the client. The framework was trialled in 2025 for neurodivergent children (aged 10 years +) and adults living in Australia who received occupational therapy at a private practice both via clinical and telehealth service delivery.

Discussion / outcomes
Based on case studies to date, the SUPERPOWER Approach is effective in supporting and empowering neurodivergent children and adults to make meaningful progress towards their goals related to optimising their health, wellbeing and function.

Conclusion
Based on preliminary data, the SUPERPOWER Approach can be used and adapted by occupational therapists to holistically support neurodivergent individuals to improve their health, wellbeing and function in a neurodiversity affirming way.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure
I confirm that giving this presentation may result in financial gains, such as occupational therapy mentees and clients.

Clinical placements are a critical component of nursing education, enabling students to apply theoretical knowledge in complex healthcare environments. For neurodivergent nursing students, including those with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), clinical environments can present unique challenges related to sensory demands, communication expectations, and rapidly changing workflows. Much of the existing literature, however, approaches neurodivergence through a medical or deficit-based lens, focusing on barriers rather than strengths or effective support strategies.

This honours research explores how Clinical Nurse Educators (CNEs) can support neurodivergent nursing students during clinical placements using a strengths-based perspective. The study combines findings from a systematic review of existing literature with preliminary qualitative data from in-depth interviews with Clinical Nurse Educators. Using a positive deviance methodology, the research seeks to identify educators who demonstrate particularly effective practices and examine what they do differently to support neurodivergent learners.

Early findings suggest that successful support often centres on relational and practical strategies rather than formal accommodations alone. These include building psychologically safe educator–student relationships, providing clear and explicit communication, breaking down complex tasks, and creating predictable learning structures within busy clinical environments. Educators who demonstrate awareness of neurodiversity and adopt flexible teaching approaches appear better able to recognise and harness students’ strengths, including attention to detail, pattern recognition, and strong commitment to patient care.

This presentation will translate these findings into practical insights for educators and clinical placement coordinators. By highlighting strengths-based strategies already working in practice, the session aims to provide realistic approaches that Clinical Nurse Educators can apply to better support neurodivergent nursing students. Strengthening inclusive clinical education practices has the potential to improve student wellbeing, learning outcomes, and retention while contributing to a more diverse and capable nursing workforce.

When lived experience, neurodivergence and clinical skill converge in the workforce — systems should recognise it, not break it.

Early-career programs promise sustainable mental-health workforces, yet structures designed to retain clinicians often struggle to sustain those bringing lived experience and neurodivergent perspectives into the clinical space.

That reality became clear during early clinical practice, when a young person I supported presented to an emergency department less than two days after disclosing suicidal distress — a reminder that even appropriate care cannot prevent systems from failing the people within them.

The clinical team commended the response. Weeks later, that same work was questioned against projected caseload expectations. Praised for safe care yet cautioned for its pace, the contradiction revealed a deeper systemic issue.

The escalation that followed did not arise from clinical practice but from how behaviour in an unstructured workplace environment was interpreted — later understood within the context of late-recognised neurodivergence.

Lived experience and neurodivergence enabled trust and strong clinical judgement — strengths that improved care for that young person. Yet the system later interpreted that same pace of work as a concern.

For neurodivergent clinicians, early signs of burnout can be misunderstood. Symptoms now recognisable as autistic burnout following sustained overwork were attributed to a previous head injury rather than recognised as a response to unsustainable conditions. Attention shifted toward misattributed self-regulation rather than recognising organisational pressures.

This reflects what is described as integration fatigue: burnout that occurs when systems invite lived experience and neurodiversity into roles without governance structures capable of sustaining them.

When burnout is pathologised rather than understood, the cost is carried by clinicians and ultimately the people they support. Lived experience and neurodivergence are already shaping the future mental-health workforce; sustainability must therefore be treated as a governance issue rather than an individual failing.

Neurodivergent children often face misunderstanding, exclusion, and burn out within systems not designed for them. ‘Helping Neurodivergent Children Thrive – Not Just Survive – At School’ explores how educators and parents can shift from managing behaviour to understanding individual brains and create environments where difference is recognised as strength, not deficit.

Drawing on her experience as a teacher, coach, and parent of neurodivergent children, Ashleigh Seggie offers a neuro-affirming framework grounded in empathy, collaboration, and evidence-based best practice. Her “Teaching the Teacher” framework equips parents and educators to:

1. Know the child – understanding individual strengths and regulation needs before labels and neurotypes.
2. Know the neurotype – recognising the characteristics of ADHD, Autism, and PDA and their unique presentation in each child.
3. Use practical tools and strategies – fostering co-regulation, flexible routines and supports.
4. Build a team around the child – connecting schools, therapists, and families for consistent team-based support.

Ashleigh combines research, best practice, personal anecdotes, and practical strategies underlined by a passionate call to action: embrace neurodiversity, support inclusion, and advocate for the individual needs of every child.

Whether you're a parent, teacher, or allied professional, you’ll leave this session with fresh insights, real-world strategies, and a renewed sense of agency.

Autistic adults who do not have a diagnosis but identify with autism are at an increased likelihood of experiencing poor mental well-being, stigma and invalidation; and have less access to formal supports and resources. Some adults self-identify as autistic instead of seeking a clinical diagnosis due to financial barriers, a lack of desire/necessity, or other personal and systemic reasons.
Recent research suggests that self-identification can be beneficial for autistic adults by providing validation, a greater understanding of themselves and their experiences, support and a sense of belonging within the autism community.
However, little is known about the formation of autistic self-identity and how it can best be understood and supported.



This systematic review aims to identify, evaluate and summarise the current literature on autistic self-identity and related wellbeing outcomes. Using Covidence, we initially screened approximately 1,100 articles that were imported from Scopus, ProQuest Central, ProQuest Social Sciences, Medline, CINAHL Ultimate and PsycINFO. Inclusion criteria included peer-reviewed articles that focus on self-identified autistic adults and their identity or wellbeing. We restricted our search to qualitative or mixed methods studies only and used a publication date limit of 10 years. We broadened our search by choosing to include literature reviews and case studies.

The CASP Critical Appraisal Checklists and the GRADE CERQual will be used to assess the quality and certainty of the articles post-screening. Narrative data synthesis will be used to combine and explore the findings from the relevant studies. Full extraction and data synthesis will be completed prior to the conference.

Provisional findings suggest that there is a lack of qualitative research that focused on self-identified autistic adults, particularly in reference to their identity and wellbeing. We expect the findings to clearly delineate this gap in the literature and shape future research, improving the visibility of this under-represented group.

The concept of neurodiversity has attracted increasing attention and popularity in both research and practice since the term was first coined in 1998. However, there is a significant discrepancy in the use of the related terminology. As a result, the literature base provides a confusing and sometimes misleading representation. Researchers and practitioners alike must critically evaluate and consider the application of research that positions itself in the neurodiverse paradigm or to have been conducted with neurodivergent individuals, to ensure the applicability of the findings to their field.

Whilst previous systematic reviews have identified commonalities in literature in the neurodiverse field, discussion continues over who is neurodivergent, and how do we identify them for research purposes. This debate can be particularly problematic in child and youth fields where sociodemographic and cultural factors influence access to diagnosis and services. When diagnosis is the determining eligibility for research, an unconscious bias may be introduced to the findings. This conceptual systematic review will summarise the state of the literature, explore how neurodivergent children and youth (up to the end of compulsory schooling) are identified, and discuss how this landscape has changed.

Findings highlight that this is a rapidly evolving research construct and growing area of interest, internationally. The research has grown from a narrow focus to broad application. Whilst some researchers focus on the neurodiverse paradigm, others focus on identity and inclusion; the majority, however, operationalise neurodiversity through considering the diagnostic or transdiagnostic identification of neurodivergence.

Whilst the literature consistently identifies participants with neurocognitive differences as neurodivergent, young people with more than 15 different diagnoses were included as neurodivergent across the corpus. Additionally, many different methods of identification were identified in the literature. This presentation will discuss who and how neurodivergent young people may be identified for research purposes.