6 WEEK NEURODIVERGENCY COURSE SUNDAY Group

This page is for the Sunday course. If you’d rather take Wednesday’s Course click here.

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We will cover one topic per week (as listed bellow) to consider how we understand neurodivergence, the impact of relational trauma on people who process information differently, and how professionals, loved ones, or individuals can help others and/or themselves to have a better quality of life.

Each of the six sessions will include: a reflexive discussion on the topic, relevant academic papers provided the week before, and actionable strategies you can implement.

WEEK 1. Understanding the Impact of School Trauma on Neurodivergent People

• What is Complex post-traumatic stress disorder
• Why typical school environments cause trauma for many neurodivergent students
• What adjustments can be helpful
• Healing strategies – reconnecting with the self

WEEK 2. Neurodivergence & Rejection Sensitivity

• The experience of social rejection and mass abandonment that can happen in our lives
• Difficulty with object permanence – forgetting that we are loved and have people and animals who care about us
• A hypervigilance about how others feel about us, and what this looks like in terms of our own stress responses
• Withdrawing & dopamine-seeking behaviours (unhealthy coping strategies)
• Creating our own ‘micro-climate’ to feel comfortable when out in the world
• Beyond just reassurance, building better self-esteem while avoiding toxic (fake) positivity

WEEK 3. Social Burnout

• Fear of getting ‘the look’ from others
• Fawning and masking
• The physical and mental impact of living in a constant state of hyperarousal
• The stages of coming out of the ‘neurodivergence closet’
• Setting boundaries based on personal need & managing the discomfort of saying no
• Coping and responding to rejection and / or hostility in daily life

WEEK 4. Taking off the Mask

• Masking as a survival strategy
• Living in a state of survival (hyperarousal) and how that impacts our sense of self
• Knowing how we feel and who we are
• Steps towards remaining in touch with ourselves even when we’re with others
• Speaking up and being ourselves with others and (eventually) getting comfortable with it

WEEK 5. Therapy Modalities: The Helpful and Unhelpful

• What are behaviour and cognitive-based therapies and why they can be problematic
• The difficulty with some forms of ‘mindfulness’
• Relational therapies for self-esteem
• Somatic work for trauma
• Narrative and liberation therapy for shame
• A list of self-care activities that can be done now without therapy

WEEK 6. Meeting Neurodivergent People Halfway

• Reconsidering cognitive differences.
• Understanding that many neurodivergent people live with C-PTSD due to years of institutional Othering and how this can impact our relational needs and abilities
• The impact of transgenerational trauma within neurodivergent families
• Deciding the right amount of compromise: How much work does each person need to put in – there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer here
• Repairing communication breakdowns using Gottman relationship techniques

ABOUT ME…

I was diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia and autism at the age of 6. Today I work as a psychotherapist in the Northeast of England and have more than a decade of experience conducting workshops and training for professionals to better support neurodivergent people and their families. My research and training focuses on how institutional demands impact adversely on neurodivergent people. Causing symptoms of shame, feelings of inadequacy and traits of complex PTSD. This is inspired by the personal experiences of my children, myself and many of my clients.