22q Minded

22q Minded Psychological knowledge about 22q should not stay inside a clinic. Dr Linda Campbell and Dr Sasja Duijff
www.22qminded.com Dr Linda Campbell & Dr Sasja Duijff

Webinars, programmes and community for families and professionals worldwide, whether your child is 4 or 44.

A reaction that comes out of nowhere, far bigger than whatever just happened, usually isn't about that moment on its own...
31/08/2026

A reaction that comes out of nowhere, far bigger than whatever just happened, usually isn't about that moment on its own.

It's about everything that moment landed on top of: a rough night's sleep, a change in routine, an appointment earlier in the day. None of that shows up from outside. All anyone sees is the reaction.

We call this detective thinking. Instead of asking why this is happening again, ask what today has already asked of them. A reaction rarely starts in the moment it appears, it usually starts earlier, in whatever the day already demanded.

We've put the rest of this into a short, free guide, What's Really Happening in a Big Reaction. Five minutes to read.

Sign up to our newsletter and it's yours. Already subscribed? It's already sitting in your inbox or sign up here https://www.22qminded.com/newsletter/

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In two weeks, we're live answering your questions about big reactions, and we thought you might want to know a bit more ...
28/08/2026

In two weeks, we're live answering your questions about big reactions, and we thought you might want to know a bit more about who we actually are.

We're Linda Campbell and Sasja Duijff, psychologists with almost fifty years of combined experience in 22q, and co-founders of 22qMinded. Linda's based in Australia, Sasja's in the Netherlands, which is exactly why there are two live Q&A times on the day, one in each of our timezones, so wherever you're reading this from, there's a slot that actually works for you.

We've introduced ourselves here before, but with the live Q&A two weeks out, it felt worth doing properly again, so you know exactly who you'll be talking to on the day.

Preorder now, or catch the recording whenever suits. Write 'Big Reactions' in the comment section for a link.

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28/08/2026

A calm surface doesn’t mean nothing’s happening underneath. Water can look still and be moving the whole time.

Co-regulation works a bit like that. A steady voice or a steady body nearby doesn’t erase what someone’s feeling. It just gives their nervous system something calm to borrow from, until they can find their own way back to it.

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Big reactions in 22q often build for longer than they appear to from outside. Learning to notice that build-up, what we ...
27/08/2026

Big reactions in 22q often build for longer than they appear to from outside. Learning to notice that build-up, what we call detective thinking, may open up more room in the minutes before things peak, rather than only after.

Calming Big Reactions is our new webinar, looking at why these reactions happen more easily in 22q (it's biology, not a discipline problem), how to read the early signs, and what tends to help once things are already big.

The recording is available to preorder now; watch whenever suits your week. A live Q&A also runs on 13 September if you'd like to bring your own questions.

Subtitles for the recording are available for most languages, on request.

Follow us for more on 22q. See the link in the comment section for more information.

Why can a big feeling be so much harder to come back from, for someone with 22q, at any age?Part of it is universal, the...
25/08/2026

Why can a big feeling be so much harder to come back from, for someone with 22q, at any age?

Part of it is universal, the thinking brain isn't fully online until the mid-twenties in anyone. Part of it is more specific. Early medical experiences, hearing that works differently, communication that takes real effort even when it doesn't look like it. And because someone with 22q can often look entirely capable, the people around them tend to expect more than the system can currently manage, at school, at work, in a conversation that looks easier than it is.

None of this means regulation isn't possible. It means it takes more scaffolding than it looks like from outside, at every age.

We're building on this in our upcoming webinar, Calming Big Reactions, more soon.

Follow us for more on 22q. Check the link in the comments to preorder the webinar and to sign up for the live Q&A (13th of September!)

In three weeks, we are live for a Q&A on Calming Big Reactions, the moment things get big and what actually helps.Before...
24/08/2026

In three weeks, we are live for a Q&A on Calming Big Reactions, the moment things get big and what actually helps.

Before then, we want to hear from you. What's the question you'd actually want answered, the one that comes up in your house specifically, not the general version?

Drop it in the comments, or send it through directly if you'd rather keep it private. We'll bring the real ones into the session, live.

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There's a version of this some parents carry quietly, the sense that the real relationship with their child is somehow o...
20/08/2026

There's a version of this some parents carry quietly, the sense that the real relationship with their child is somehow on pause until the medical side settles down. Once the appointments ease off. Once things feel more certain. Then we can really connect.

It doesn't actually work that way. Swipe through for where that connection is genuinely being built, often in the exact moments that feel the least like bonding at the time.

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The sibling who never causes trouble. The one who says they're fine before anyone's even asked. The one who's learned, s...
20/08/2026

The sibling who never causes trouble. The one who says they're fine before anyone's even asked. The one who's learned, somewhere along the way, that the easiest thing they can do for the family is need very little.

That's not always what it looks like from the inside.

Siblings of a child with 22q often take on roles nobody hands them on purpose, the peacekeeper, the helper, the one who watches everyone else's reactions before deciding how they're allowed to feel about their own day.

None of that means something's wrong. It means it's worth asking, every now and then, what they're actually carrying that doesn't get asked about as often.

What's one thing your other children might want you to know, if they thought you had room to hear it?

Follow us for more on 22q. Check the comment section for the link to our webinar titled Siblings and 22q.

Everything that made primary school hard for a child with 22q doesn't disappear when they start high school. It just get...
18/08/2026

Everything that made primary school hard for a child with 22q doesn't disappear when they start high school. It just gets asked to work harder, with less support built in.

More subjects, more teachers, more social rules to track at once, all landing on a processing system that was already working hard before term started.

A school tour ahead of time. A visual timetable. One key adult they know they can find on a hard day. Small things, but they matter more here than they used to.

Our High School Educator's Guide goes into all of this, written for the teachers and support staff around your teenager. Find it in our shop.

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15/08/2026

Some weeks are full of information. Reasons things happen, tools that help, research that explains.

This week’s been a bit like that too.

So today, no lesson. Just an opportunity to take a moment, to pause and reflect.

What’s one thing that’s gone right this week, something easy to miss because it wasn’t the hard part?

We’d love to hear it, if you feel like sharing?

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