Why can somebody do something one day, but not the next?

What if the answer isn't motivation, effort, or ability, but capacity?

In this workshop, we'll explore sensory capacity and how sensory processing interacts with many other types of capacity to influence everyday life.

Through practical examples, you'll discover a different way of understanding overwhelm, participation, and support, along with practical ideas to help protect and build capacity.

Munira Adenwalla is a Paediatric Occupational Therapist of 25+ years who helps parents help their kids move, learn, play and cope by supporting their sensory processing. 

She blends her professional expertise with her lived experience as a neurodivergent family to provide 1:1 parent consultations, workshops, and group programs.

Munira is also the creator of the Foundations for Writing program, which helps parents build their child's underlying sensory and motor skills for writing, using the No Writing Way(TM). 

To learn more and stay connected with Munira, visit:

Website: www.ot4kids.co.uk

Facebook: Helping Kids Write - www.facebook.com/groups/helpingkidswrite

FB page: www.facebook.com/ot4kidswithmunira

Contact: munira@ot4kids.co.uk

An integrative framework for understanding capacity and capability that moves beyond single-cause explanations and considers the interaction between neurobiology, relationships, and life experiences.

Seeing the Whole Picture: PDA, Autism, Attachment and Trauma

30-minute webinar with Dr Katherine Uher

Why can an intelligent, articulate child complete a school day but be unable to do homework? Why do some people appear capable one moment and completely overwhelmed the next? And why are these experiences so often misunderstood as laziness, defiance, or a lack of motivation?

In this thought-provoking webinar, psychotherapist and autism specialist Dr Katherine Uher explores the crucial difference between capacity and capability, arguing that many of the behaviours associated with autism and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) are better understood through the lens of neurological differences rather than compliance or motivation.

Drawing on lived experience, clinical practice, and emerging theory, Dr Uher introduces her concepts of Narrow Circumference of Awareness and Unfiltered Perception to explain why everyday demands can become overwhelming, even for highly capable individuals. She also explores how repeated misunderstanding can contribute to attachment difficulties, chronic stress, and complex trauma.

Using powerful real-life examples and an accessible comparison with the history of vision and spectacles, this webinar challenges traditional assumptions about neurodivergence and offers a compassionate, neuro-affirming framework for understanding autistic and PDA experiences.

Participants will learn:

• The difference between capacity and capability, and why confusing the two causes harm.

• How autistic cognition may contribute to overwhelm through unfiltered perception and a narrow circumference of awareness.

• Why reducing demands often promotes learning and development more effectively than increasing pressure.

• How misunderstanding neurodivergent experiences can contribute to trauma.

• Practical ways professionals, educators and families can create environments where neurodivergent people are able to thrive.

This webinar is suitable for therapists, psychologists, educators, parents, support workers and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of autism, PDA, attachment and trauma through a neuro-affirming perspective.

Dr Katherine Uher is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, speaker, and author of the forthcoming book Why So Many Autistic People Have Complex Trauma and What We Can Do About It (Jessica Kingsley Publishers).

Her work explores the intersection of autism, attachment, trauma, and identity, helping professionals move beyond fragmented explanations and see the whole person. Drawing on both professional expertise and lived experience as the parent of an autistic son, Katherine's work examines how misunderstanding, chronic invalidation, and systemic barriers can shape mental health outcomes for neurodivergent people.

Katherine developed the Trauma-Informed Support Model (TISM) during her doctoral research and is a regular speaker on autism, trauma, therapeutic practice, and the impact of misunderstanding on neurodivergent individuals and families.

Her work focuses on ethical, trauma-informed approaches that prioritize understanding before intervention, helping professionals support autistic people without causing additional harm.

http://www.facebook.com/KatherineUher

ARTICLES BY KATHERINE UHER CAN BE READ AT:

MASTERING CHANGE PODCAST

SPECIAL NEEDS JUNGLE

TRUE NORTH THERAPY

COUNSELLING DIRECTORY

In this webinar, Nicola and Julia discuss challenges with healthcare systems not being patient with patients who need a slower pace, particularly for conditions like autism, ADHD, and PDA.

They highlight the importance of collaborative care planning, with Julia noting that a care plan developed in consultation with the hospital worked well because it addressed her specific needs rather than simply dismissing requests.

The conversation also touches on the irony that these neurodiverse conditions fall under learning disabilities in the NHS, though this arrangement can sometimes work to patients' advantage by ensuring better understanding and accommodation.

Julia shares important information about patient rights, including the ability to discharge oneself from hospital and request specific treatments like SDEC if known.

They also discuss challenges with hospital processes and waiting times, with Julia sharing examples of how she advocates for herself by requesting alternative arrangements when faced with long waiting periods.

Julia Fiddian is an adult PDAer with ADHD and psychotic episodes. She lives in Nottinghamshire with her husband, Paul, and works as a self-employed trainer with the PDA Society.

She is also an author, blogger, advocate, public speaker and offers one-to-one conference calls with parents, professionals, partners, carers and PDAers themselves.

She was diagnosed with PDA at the age of 12, over 30 years ago. In her spare time, she is President of her local WI and a keen crafter, although demand avoidance often stops her from being able to create.

https://memyselfandpda.com/

Living in Survival Mode: Understanding and Recovering from Burnout in PDA Adults

Melanie Turner and Theresa Kidd

For many PDA adults, everyday life involves navigating a world of relentless expectations that feel incompatible with how our nervous system works. Over time, the ongoing need to mask, adapt, negotiate demands, and manage uncertainty can feel like a prolonged state of threat. When survival mode becomes the default, burnout is no longer an occasional experience. It becomes a way of life.

This presentation explores the unique experience of burnout in PDA adults and why conventional approaches to stress management and self-care often miss the mark. Together, we'll examine the relationship between the nervous system, autonomy, chronic overwhelm, and the impact of hormonal transitions, including perimenopause, on emotional regulation and burnout.

We'll cover:

• Understanding PDA Burnout: How burnout in PDA differs from Autistic burnout and depression.

• When Survival Mode Takes Over: Recognising the signs of hypervigilance, functional freeze, shutdown, and nervous system exhaustion.

• Hormones and the PDA Nervous System: Why hormonal transitions, particularly perimenopause, can amplify sensory sensitivities, emotional reactivity, demand avoidance, and burnout. We will also explore practical ways to support ourselves during these changes.

• Recovery Through Autonomy: Practical, compassionate strategies for reducing nervous system load, lowering internal and external demands, reconnecting with safety, and creating a life that works with, rather than against, your nervous system.

Whether you're a PDA adult experiencing burnout, a family member seeking deeper understanding, or a clinician wanting to better support PDA clients, this session offers a compassionate and practical framework for understanding survival mode, navigating major life transitions, and supporting meaningful, sustainable burnout recovery.

Dr Theresa Kidd is a clinical psychologist, research fellow, and clinical director of The Kidd Clinic, a private, bicoastal psychology and allied health practice across Melbourne and Perth. Her work focuses on Autism, Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), ADHD, and mental health across the lifespan.

Dr Kidd works to support Autistic people and the larger community by providing affirming psychological services, education, and advocating for inclusive, strengths-based approaches.

Her experiences as an AuDHDer and PDAer and as a parent within a neurodivergent family, including children with PDA, shape her commitment to enhancing the well-being of neurodivergent families.

Theresa is dedicated to equitable education and employment and practical, research-based psychological services. Her early work was in disability and employment services before her honour’s degree where she researched the experiences of mothers’ home educating their Autistic children.

Her PhD, focused on adapting a family-based, cognitive-behavioural therapy program to help Autistic adolescents manage anxiety. Concurrently, she co-developed and directed the Curtin University Autism Peer Mentoring Program, supporting Autistic students in navigating university life and beyond.

Later, during her postdoctoral fellowship at Macquarie University, she led a national trial aimed at reducing anxiety and bullying victimisation among children.

As a respected speaker, Theresa presents both nationally and internationally on Autism, PDA, ADHD, mental health, and the transition to adulthood for Autistic and PDA young people.

She supervises clinicians in neurodiversity-affirming practices and has co-authored several publications, including her recent book, Helping Autistic Teens to Manage Their Anxiety, a valuable resource for families and allied health professionals alike.

Melanie Turner is a Counselling Psychologist and has been practising for 17 years.

Her previous work has involved practicing in university settings, not for profit community organisations, custodial and private practice settings.

Historically, Melanie has worked across all areas of mental health and has vast experience with anxiety, depression, adjustments issues, emotional regulation and more.

She is very interested in working with neurodivergent adults and older teens (16 and above) and has a special interest in late diagnosed Autistic/ADHD/PDA women.

Melanie is very interested in working with clients in a collaborative way to achieve resilience and well-being and is a passionate Mindfulness and Self-compassion practitioner.

She uses multiple therapeutic modalities, including, but not limited to, ACT, Schema and CBT to help clients achieve their goals.

Email: theresa@kiddclinic.com.au | Phone: 08 6237 7940 | Website: www.kiddclinic.com.au