Neurodivergent Wellbeing: What Helps, What Harms, and What We Keep Getting Wrong
Tracks
Marquis - In-Person Only
| Monday, September 28, 2026 |
| 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM |
| Marquis Room |
Overview
Shazzy Tharby, Positively Living
Key Learnings
1. Neurodivergent wellbeing is strongly shaped by complexity and co-occurring conditions, rather than by single diagnoses alone.
2. Many wellbeing difficulties experienced by neurodivergent people are driven by systems design, inaccessibility, and cumulative stress, not individual deficit.
3. Practical, neuro-affirming principles that prioritise safety, agency, and flexibility can significantly improve wellbeing across clinical, community, and policy settings.
Speaker
Shazzy Tharby
Founder and Lead Clinician
Positively Living
Neurodivergent Wellbeing: What Helps, What Harms, and What We Keep Getting Wrong
Presentation Overview
Neurodivergent wellbeing is frequently discussed in isolation from the complex, co-occurring realities many people live with. Autistic and ADHD individuals are disproportionately impacted by burnout, mental ill-health, chronic stress, and barriers within health and support systems that were not designed with neurodivergent needs in mind. Too often, distress is framed as individual vulnerability rather than a predictable response to systemic misfit.
This presentation draws on lived experience, clinical practice, postgraduate research, and systems-level advisory work to examine how complexity and co-occurrence shape neurodivergent wellbeing across adulthood. It explores why single-diagnosis and symptom-focused approaches frequently fail, and how cumulative stressors including invalidation, inaccessible services, and rigid systems erode wellbeing over time.
The session moves beyond problem identification to offer practical, neuro-affirming strategies that support wellbeing in real-world contexts. Attendees will be introduced to a simple, usable framework for understanding neurodivergent wellbeing that prioritises safety, agency, and sustainability, and can be applied across clinical, community, education, and policy settings.
Key learnings:
1. How complexity and co-occurring conditions fundamentally shape neurodivergent wellbeing
2. Why systems design, not individual deficit, is often the primary driver of distress
3. Practical principles for creating neuro-affirming supports that genuinely improve wellbeing outcomes
This session is relevant to neurodivergent people, families, clinicians, service providers, and decision-makers seeking approaches that work in complex, real lives.
This presentation draws on lived experience, clinical practice, postgraduate research, and systems-level advisory work to examine how complexity and co-occurrence shape neurodivergent wellbeing across adulthood. It explores why single-diagnosis and symptom-focused approaches frequently fail, and how cumulative stressors including invalidation, inaccessible services, and rigid systems erode wellbeing over time.
The session moves beyond problem identification to offer practical, neuro-affirming strategies that support wellbeing in real-world contexts. Attendees will be introduced to a simple, usable framework for understanding neurodivergent wellbeing that prioritises safety, agency, and sustainability, and can be applied across clinical, community, education, and policy settings.
Key learnings:
1. How complexity and co-occurring conditions fundamentally shape neurodivergent wellbeing
2. Why systems design, not individual deficit, is often the primary driver of distress
3. Practical principles for creating neuro-affirming supports that genuinely improve wellbeing outcomes
This session is relevant to neurodivergent people, families, clinicians, service providers, and decision-makers seeking approaches that work in complex, real lives.
Biography
Shazzy Tharby is a neurodivergent counselling psychotherapist, credentialed mental health nurse, researcher, and disability advocate based in Western Australia. She has lived experience of autism, ADHD, chronic illness, and disability, and works extensively with neurodivergent adults, families, and professionals. Shazzy is a member of the WA NDIS Community Advisory Council and is completing an MSc in Psychology focused on barriers to suicide-prevention and wellbeing support for neurodivergent adults. Her work integrates lived experience, clinical practice, and systems insight to promote neuro-affirming, trauma-informed approaches.
