Nat Garmson Neurodivergent Mental Health Practitioner

16/08/2026

Here at the Nannup Flower & Garden show. I met and chatted to some great people including Costa and Millie from Gardening Australia Millie Ross Lots to see and do. Bought a mosaic bee bath 🐝 Lots of inspiration and great workshops! Happy days 🌻🌷💐😁💛🌳

13/08/2026

Flower pressing is something I have done since I was a child. In fact, I still have my flower press after all these decades! I have loved pressing flowers from my parents garden as a child and teen... now I have a beautiful garden of my own to explore. These are some pics of flowers I have just collected for a client coming this afternoon 💛 it's amazing to think it is not even spring, yet I have collected all these flowers! This is a mix of cottage garden and native flowers. Wonderful friends for pollinators such as the bees 🐝 An activity such as flower pressing facilitates mindfulness, patience, sensory engagement, sense of mastery, creativity and self expression. Once the flowers are dried and pressed, they can then be used to create greeting cards, bookmarks, or you could frame them... the options are endless 💐💛 If you would like yo engage in this activity with Nat, please reach out! [email protected] 🌻

13/08/2026

Just completed another trauma informed workshop, this time with Kit Kline, MH social worker. What I loved about the TIWSA is that it includes not just the ACE's (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and trauma history, but positive experiences and protective factors, cultural identity, and current wellbeing and safety. The framework supports the safe exploration of factors that can contribute to a clients wellbeing and safety through a trauma informed lens. In terms of mental health, this is relative to the biopsychosocial model, that takes a more holistic approach to supporting the client. If you would like to know more about how Nat (that's me)! can support your mental health and well-being, please feel free to reach out via [email protected] or message me. Thank you and have a wonderful day 🙏🏻💚😊🌻

31/07/2026

I'm sharing this story because I've had enough... enough of hearing how autistic individuals have been and are being treated in hospitals including ED's across our state (WA).

I want to hear from you!

Are you an autistic individual who has been admitted or felt there was no where else to go but to hospital when you are in crisis, and had a horrible experience? Have you had a Code Black called? Did the staff acknowledge your autism and support you or did you feel invalidated, dismissed or gaslit?
This is open to all autistic folks, regardless of age or gender.

I would like to hear your story and share this with Meredith Hammat MLA (WA MH minister), Emma McBride (Federal) Assistant Minister for MH and Su***de Prevention, and Libby Mettam (Shadow Minister for Health & MH).

Please feel free to email me your story to Nat at [email protected]

I will email you more information.

Thank you 🙏🏻

Your voices need to be heard! 💙

Nat Garmson
BA Psychology, GradCert Autism, GradCert Mental Health.

The lack of available mental health support in Margaret River forces a Western Australian woman to move her family to Victoria, in a bid to access more help for her daughter.

23/07/2026

For young people in the mandurah area 💚

headspace Day 2026 - Our Young Creatives Youth Market is returning! 💚

Are you aged 12–25 and create artwork, crafts, jewellery, clothing, prints or handmade products? We would love to have you join us at this year’s Young Creatives Youth Market.

It’s the perfect opportunity to showcase your work, connect with the community, and sell your creations in a supportive and youth friendly environment 🎨

📧 To receive an Expression of Interest form, email [email protected]

🗓️ Expressions of Interest close Sunday 9 August 2026.

23/07/2026

Sparkles and I are super excited to meet amazing neurodivergent women tonight, as we kick off the ND Women's Support Group! This support group has been created after recognizing the value of connecting with other neurodivergent women, in a safe space. A space that is trauma-informed, and authentic. A space that supports women to grow, learn, thrive, build confidence and self-esteem... The ND Women's Support Group is facilitated by Nat Garmson, a lived experience educator (AuDHD), BA Psychology, GradCert Autism, GradCert Mental Health, MHFA. Nat brings over 5 years of experience supporting women who are autistic, ADHD, or AuDHD, many of whom have co-occurring mental health challenges and chronic health conditions. Nat also lives with Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos (hEDS) and Dysautonomia (Pots), fibromyalgia and anxiety. Nat understands the struggle is real! In this support group for ND Women, participates will grow their knowledge of what masking and camouflaging is and how this impacts our mental health, shutdown and meltdowns (over stimulated nervous system), self-care and self-compassion, energy management, burnout, executive functioning, and more! Participants will also receive their own copy of the Autistically You! Journal + Workbook 💖 If you would like to join Nat, we would love to see you! Please visit here for more information... https://www.mandurahndcentre.com/ndsupportgroups 🙏🏻💖🌈🌻

17/07/2026

SPIN's... or Special Interests when you're autistic. More than a hobby, autistic folks love to deep dive into research and knowledge. We looooove collecting! We can be very knowledgeable on particular topics and subject matter. We may spend hours engaging in our SpIn coz that's what brings us joy! So... what are your spin's? 📖 🪴 🦕 🦋 🎶🧠👩🏻‍🎓👩🏻‍⚕️🧑🏻‍💻🐶🐸🦉🪲🐳

14/07/2026

Having a few days off with my family as it is the school holidays. My youngest now attends school, year 10, after 6 years of home schooling. Today we are going on a little hike 🥾🌳
Reflecting on how grateful I am to be able to do an activity such as hiking with my sons, aged 15, 18 and 26.
I spent yesterday with my youngest son. We caught the train to the city and explored the State library of WA 📖 He gazed over WACE text books while I perused the horticulture and psychology aisles 🪴 👩‍🌾 🤓
Then we discovered there is a piano room! (he's doing music as an elective) 🎹
I remember the primary school principal warned me against homeschooling. I can see of course how bias she was for the education system. Homeschooling opened my eyes to how learning can be experienced. Not by sitting at a desk for nearly 6 hours of the day, but through experiencing the world through doing, seeing and exploring. We spent 2 months traveling around the bottom part of Australia (driving over the Nullabor to South Australia, Victoria and NSW), visiting plenty of museums, going on excursions, hikes, doing things in the outdoors, learning new skills, problem solving...

My then 14 year old said to me last year that he'd like to try schooling again. I was surprised but was happy to support him if that's what he wanted to do. The school put him in general subjects as they had no previous records of grades etc. in one semester he's now in pre-ATAR and planning on doing 5 ATAR subjects next year for year 11. Proud is an understatement.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to hitting the gravel tracks today out in the bush... a time to connect, rejuvenate, and refill my bucket.

In (eco)psychology, Kaplan & Kaplan coined the ART (Attention Restoration Theory). ART describes how being in nature provides our brains with the chance to rest, restore and refocus, after the constant mental fatigue and concentration that is in our daily lives. Nature provides "soft fascination" 🌳 💚🌱🍀🍂🌿🍁

Green spaces are a sort of 'natural reset'... positively impacting our mental health and wellbeing.

So, wherever you are, enjoy your day ☀️ make sure you get some green space or blue space in your day (blue space equals water... oceans, rivers, lakes, places of water) 🌊

Nat 💛
BA Psychology, GradCert Autism, GradCert Mental Health.

Pic: some books I was reading at the State library 📚

09/07/2026

Things that autistic people take literally... and what you can do to support us (esp if you're not neurodivergent)!

It's bin day... yes, and??? Oh you mean this is a reminder to actually take the bin out?!

I'll just be a minute... autistic person looking at their watch.. this is a very long minute?!

See you soon! Ok great.... um...when exactly?

We need more details! Details are really helpful. It helps our brains process the info in a way that acknowledges that we both understand exactly what has been asked of. That we are on the same wavelength. This reduced the likelihood of experiencing the Double Empathy problem (a mismatch
in communication).

Are you in a relationship where one of you are neurodivergent eg autistic or ADHD or AuDHD? Then you have no doubt experienced times when conflict arises, sometimes over what might seem trivial (by your partner)... but totally stresses you out and leaves you feeling overwhelmed, anxious, panicky, or on the verge of a meltdown (nervous system dysregulation overload)...

For the non-neurodivergent partner... please... take a breath and pause. Regulate yourself first (remember the aero plane oxygen mask scenario), we need you to co-regulate with us.
Give us a chance to get what we are trying to communicate out of our brains (there is ALOT going on)!

Give details!! Clarification. We don't do grey very well...
Finally, check ins are soooooo important. Sometimes we might find it hard to express ourselves due to feelings of shame and trauma... and all the years of being gaslit and invalidated...but just know that we are trying our hardest.
Thank you to all the wonderful humans supporting neurodivergent folk... we appreciate your patience, time, compassion, empathy, and humanity 🙏🏻 Nat. Mandurah ND Centre & Autistically You Support 💖

26/06/2026

A glimpse into the life of an AuDHD'er part 2... of an 11 part series. See how my brain processes things as I share a snippet of my morning 😄