Neurodiverse Affirming Counselling
Whether it’s lived experience of trauma, burnout, grief or sensory challenges at school or work environment, mental health matters. Acknowledging the need for help shows strength and self compassion. Counselling can provide support with practical strategies to help with anxiety and depression.
Group Counselling
Lived Experience & Research
Lived experience of ADHD offers a unique experience to investigate mindful photovoice as a method to re-engage students who are challenged by the school environment. Working with children early in my career as a primary school teacher, I know all too well the demands of the classroom for some students can be overwhelming. Relationships, social anxiety and fitting in to an environment that can sometimes value behaviour over creativity, schools are not always neurodiverse affirming.
Through a post graduate study, I realised how much I love doing research. ADHD hyperfocus gave me the stamina to investigate areas that allowed me to make meaning of my own story as I explored the steady growth school attendance problems, mindfulness based therapies and the photovoice method.
Researching novel ideas for bridging the gap between those who experience sensory processing difficulties, social anxiety and relationship challenges and the school environment has bought meaning to my experience. Completing the Master of Counselling qualification with a research proposal to investigate photovoice method combined with mindfulness-based practice for those who School Can’t, I hope to find new ways to promote inclusivity, awareness of differences in experience and develop new ways to provide optimal learning environments.
If you are a researcher interested in collaboration, please register your interest at researchgate below.
To read more: https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.15034.36806
The research proposal is at https://doi.org/DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.18506.99521/1
Mindful photography is a neurodiverse affirming therapy tool in counselling, helps clients to develop greater self-awareness and to process their emotions in a mindful and compassionate way. As we pay attention to senses, the grounding process assists with emotional regulation. Combining the practice of mindfulness and photography, clients are encouraged to slow down and pay attention to their surroundings. They are encouraged to observe their environment with curiosity and without judgment. As they take pictures, they are asked to focus on their feelings, thoughts, and physical sensations. Noticing and allowing thoughts and sensations as clients photograph, a bodily awareness of the present moment and the physical representation of that, through a photo, can be appreciated and brought forward.