This workshop is hosted by neurodivergent providers who work extensively with the autistic community through their roles with the non-profit organization, NeuroClastic, autistic clients, and the autistic community.
Workshop Details
Autistic and otherwise neurodivergent people frequently report that they have experienced trauma and worsening mental health symptoms after seeking therapeutic counselling. When providers are unaware that their clients are neurodivergent, they may unwittingly gaslight their clients, force them to mask, or misinterpret their behaviours and communication.
As therapists, the majority of our neurodivergent clients belong to what is colloquially referenced as “The Lost Generation.” Many practitioners treat clients from paradigms that are decades behind the most modern research.
In the last few years, there has been a profound influx of people finding out after 20, 30, 40, or more years of life, that they have always been autistic. Unfortunately, professional resources to meet the needs of this population have not grown and developed as quickly as the population.
The analytical and visual nature of deconstructing social behaviour makes Transactional Analysis particularly suited for autistic clients; however, neglecting to adjust for autistic processing differences and traits can result in failing to meet the needs of the client or even causing counterproductive outcomes.
In this training, you will learn how to recognise traits associated with neurodivergence, how to adjust to meet the individual needs of your neurodivergent clients, and how to introduce the possibility of neurodivergence to your clients.
Course Content
Presenter
Kate is an autistic psychotherapist, supervisor, educator, and Chief Communication Officer of NeuroCastic. She first trained in person centred counselling and later transactional analysis and for the last 20 years Kate has supported people through challenging times both in private practice and for major UK charities. She offers training on subjects related to mental health and neurodivergence and speaks internationally on these subjects.
In private practice she works with neurodivergent adults as well as children and young people who have barriers to accessing education, engaging them through play and shared interests. Kate lives in Manchester, UK. She is a prolific illustrator and has had her work published internationally.
Terra Vance was a career public school English teacher of 14 years working in secondary education. During her tenure, she served as the anti-bullying liaison for her district and worked on several committees dedicated at reducing systemic oppression that disproportionately impacted the poor, people of color, and students with disabilities. When nationally accredited programs failed to be effective at addressing educational disparities, Vance, who was in grad school specializing in the psychology of trauma, pivoted to industrial and organizational psychology as a path to improving outcomes of systemic change initiatives.
In 2016, Vance graduated with a Master of Science in psychology with a specialization in industrial and organizational psychology and a focus in diversity, equity, and poverty dynamics. For two years, Vance worked as a DBT therapist with clients who have experienced complex trauma. In 2017, she was diagnosed a second time with autism after being diagnosed and never informed in 2006. She was previously diagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, and tic disorder. In September of 2017, she and five other autistic adults launched what is now the nonprofit, NeuroClastic, an autistic-led organization with over 500 autistic contributors in six continents.
Terra is a public speaker, lecturer, essayist, editor, aspiring novelist, parent to an autistic child, and spouse to an autistic husband. She is a member of a multiracial ethnic group from the Appalachian region of the United States called Melungeons and is of Native American, Romani, Irish, and Black heritage. Her advocacy passions include helping the world to better understand autism and neurodivergence through a depathologized lens. In the last year, she has focused most heavily on communication rights for NonSpeakers, decriminalizing autism, and counterbalancing the erasure of autistic Black and Brown voices from the dominant narrative about autism.
This workshop in a collaboration between the Link Centre and Onlinevents
At the Link Centre we pride ourselves in delivering high quality options tailored to needs of clients and delivered in a relaxed, comfortable yet stimulating environment in which people feel safe to learn and develop. We work with individuals, groups, organisations, and educational establishments using the depth of our psychological knowledge, to facilitate growth and development.
Our training centre is located in the heart of the countryside, in Plumpton, East Sussex. It provides a variety of training rooms, extensive parking, and disabled access, to help meet the needs of individuals attending our courses. As well as this the centre has extensive grounds that can be enjoyed during lunch and tea breaks.
We also offer in-house coaching, training and consultancy that is tailored to the needs of our customers.
Our trainers and consultants are all fully qualified, experienced, skilled and accredited to both national and international level.
For more information about The Link Centre Visit thelinkcentre.co.uk
