Onwards and Upwards Psychology

16/10/2026

You’ve probably written it, and look, no judgement here, been there.

“Parent reports no concerns.”

“Limited engagement from family.”

“Did not attend follow-up.”

“Socially motivated, good reciprocity.”

And then, notes done, 10 mins over, you closed the file, and moved on.

Next client, please

But.... what if took a moment to look deeper?

What if maybe Mum said “she’s fine, she’s a good girl” because naming those differences to a stranger with a clipboard feels like a betrayal of her community and standing?

What if the "did not attend follow up" was not non-compliance, but something deeper about trust in systems, and..... in that moment, we just became a part of it?

What if the socially motivated kid kept engaging, because that's the way he was trained to talk to elders?

And maybe, some of those kids get diagnosed years later, after years of being “fine.”

But some don't.

Some leave with a report and a plan written and built in our clinical house, that their family quietly puts in a drawer and never says anything about the topic ever again.

"We asked the nice doctor, and told them what happened. He said everything was normal yaar."

We don’t hear about those ones aaaaand....that’s kind of the point.

They're the ones we miss.

Most of us would say we’re culturally responsive but..... when we look closer at the stories above, we should be able to look deeper at how culture comes into play.

And these stories?

They're just scratching the surface, really.

I'd like for us to go deeper and dance with how factors interplay and interweave and show up when talking about Autism, that don't often get represented, and made a space to do that.

It’s an interactive workshop built on a model I developed from a synthesis of the research, with plenty of storytelling, about what Autism looks like across cultures and what we as clinicians tend to miss.

If you'd like to join me on Thursday, the 29th of October, I'm looking forward to having these conversations.

https://www.onwardsandupwardspsychology.com.au/events/cultural-narratives-around-autism/

14/10/2026

I'm so grateful for the educators doing the hard work of bringing affirming conversations into their schools.

This is the beautiful work from Pimpala Primary School in South Australia.

Students drew their own brains, and together they made this gorgeous picture of all their differences, inspired by The Brain Forest. Each drawing is a student showing how their own brain works, in their own way, and then seeing it sit right next to everyone else's.

*THIS* is what I dreamed of when I wrote that book.

Classrooms taking it and making it their own, opening up conversations about neurodiversity, about representation, and about how we can make room for each other through better classroom culture.

It might just look like drawings, and neuroaffirming work *cannot, and should not* stop at pretty pictures.

But behind these drawings there might be conversations about what it means to be neurodivergent, and the first time students hear these labels. 🥹

There might be teachers sharing their own neurodivergence, and showing students what representation looks like in action.

There might be students getting permission to ask for what they need, and their classmates getting the language and conceptual framework to understand it.

There might be the starting point for how a whole school thinks about difference.

And that..... is a step forward.

To the teachers at Pimpala, and every educator doing this work in their own classroom, thank you. 🫶🏽

PS. I'm sharing this picture with permission from Pimpala Primary School, and after recovering from the compliment. (Definitely a thing.) Compliments are not a PDAers strong point. Nor an Asians. Mix the two together and it took me weeks to reply to their really lovely email.

PPS. Did you know I have a free PowerPoint presentation for educators to open up the conversation about neurodiversity, with activities and all? I don't talk about it enough, and I probably should, because no one needs to be building this from scratch on top of everything else. Download yours here: https://www.onwardsandupwardspsychology.com.au/worksheet/neurodiversity-presentation/

If your school has done something like this or if you've seen a similar display somewhere, I'd love to see it! I keep them all in a little Sunshine folder, and it helps me keep writing these books.

12/10/2026

I'm..... doing therapy again. Here are my big whys 🥹

I pivoted in 2023 out of the clinic room, because I was seeing so many children coming in, when they weren't the ones who needed to be in there.

I set myself a goal - to change the environment that these children were growing up in.

Nobbad job, me thinks.

I've flown to Malaysia to deliver workshops, spoken for NYU and recently, participated in Nevrodivergentskolen to further affirming perspectives in Norway. I went around Australia delivering workshops to clinicians on affirming practice, and together we delighted in not just learning about it, but experiencing it.

I've spoken in conference rooms to over 1000 people to help share affirming messages about education, Autism and ADHD.

The 3 books I wrote, have over 40,000 copies sold, and we translated it to Spanish so that even more communities could access affirming narratives. It's been a turning point for so many children in understanding themselves, and this alone...... I am thankful for.

I supervised and helped other psychologists get their endorsements, and trained many Australian schools in understanding how Autistic/ADHDer brains work.

Tonight, I'm delivering inclusion education to a childcare, and next week I'm off to Mount Gambier for an R-12 school. We've spoken to dentists, childcares, museums, kinders, schools and workplaces about how to scaffold an environment to be more inclusive.

Those rooms that I got to stand in were all important.

They were all a small drop in the ocean that helped shift our collective understanding to create a more inclusive space.... on a global scale.

Buuuuuut, even in the most affirming school, with the most switched-on teacher and the comfiest sensory corner and all the accommodations we can provide, some children are still carrying big things.

Things that need a slow, safe space and someone who gets it from the inside.

I left the clinic room because they weren’t the problem.

I’m coming back now because they still deserve someone in their corner, and I'd like to be in the room where it happens. 🫶🏽

Note: This wasn't intended to be an opening for referrals! I only had a few spots that are now taken but more a general notice regarding work shifting, and a celebration together.

11/10/2026

The transition strategy that we've been ignoring feels completely counter-intuitive yet.... just makes sense,

We ask students to change. To be flexible and resilient, but sometimes new things can feel like you're jumping off into the great unknown.

(If you're a millenial, you might know the scene from the NeverEnding Story, where the Childlike Empress presents him with his final task, the cliff overlooking the waterfall. What helps him through it is a bit of support and encouragement, not a push).

Through the next book, When New Feels Weird, this one almost didn't make the cut. I was so focused on creating psychological strategies to help a child get through that I forgot about our lived reality for a brief second.

About comfort, and energy accounting. About the why behind the change is hard and new is weird.

This stone doesn't argue with it, and reminds us that it's okay to look for the comfort zone amidst our stretch. It's the safe base that gives us rest before we go out adventuring again.

Tell me if this makes sense to you, and the moment you'd use this as a mantra, whether it's in the car with the engine running, the classroom door, or starting up a new extra curricular activity.

09/10/2026

"Went from tears to calm" 🥹

It's the joy of feeling seen, and having the guesswork taken out.

I like the Power Pack for a visual list of strategies that you might have forgotten were there, or some prompts of different regulation strategies to trial.

If I were not an ADHDer, I would have celebrated My Body's Power Pack's 1 year anniversary.

It was.... In August.

But my motto is better late than never! So here's celebrating the little micro moments and wins that its release brings.

And to celebrate with me, I would LOVE it if you could leave a review on my website or Amazon/Booktopia/Barnes and Noble etc. They go a long way in helping little books get seen, and in turn, little people ❤️

Regulation strategies don’t look the same for everyone, and that’s why I love using the My Body’s Power Pack cards from Unpacking Neuroaffirming Psychology Practice - Sandhya Menon to help people explore what charges them! In this moment, my client went from tears to calm and focused in a very short time, because for him this was a fast charger!!

08/10/2026

When was the last time you did upskilling in cultural narratives with the populations you support?

Not a conference keynote you happened to chance upon, not social media scrolling, or a module from your university days, but actual upskilling.

I ask because cultural responsiveness and neuro-affirming practice are both named core competencies for psychologists. Both are meant to be reflexive in that they move with you, into the room, with *every* client who walks through the door.

Yet cultural responsiveness trainings tend to get.... quietness, or only clinicians from CALD/CARM communities signing up, the people who already live this everyday.

I think it's a piece that we've been missing when we think about cultural responsiveness as a core part for every practitioner, because in three years of training clinicians and schools around Australia, here's what I keep meeting:

"I've got it. Naturally."

(Please don't tell me it's because you have one Asian friend).

I think the word competency is part of the problem. It sounds like a destination, that it's something you arrive at, tick, and stop, where you can be 'competent' in someone else's culture. (In my opinion, an arrogant take).

Responsiveness doesn't let you do that. It's a practice, and practices need feeding.

Neuro-affirming Autism assessment and care still isn't built neutral. The frameworks we assess with were built by particular people, in particular places, carrying particular assumptions about what a child should look like when they're doing well.

That's worth looking at slowly. Carefully. Together.

So.... I created this workshop. In this session we'll use theory, tools and storytelling to understand what Autism looks like across cultures, such as how a family describes their child's differences, what gets read as disrespect when it's difference, who in the family is consulted and who isn't, and what clinicians tend to miss.

✨ Delivered online, via Zoom. Recordings available for 30 days
✨ 29th October 2026, 5:30pm to 7:30pm AEDT
✨ Interactive workshop

Read more here: https://www.onwardsandupwardspsychology.com.au/events/cultural-narratives-around-autism/

03/10/2026

Please join me in exclaiming out loud "How is it October already?!"

ADHDers have time agnosia, which is a different relationship to the passing of time outside of clock time.

My favourite way of describing this is from a Dr Who episode,

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey... stuff."'

I caught myself saying "Just the other day, in July" to my linear time perceiving sister, which she was amused by.

So yes, I became aware of ADHD Awareness Month yesterday.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this, amidst the flurry of ADHDers who are receiving these prompts and thinking "HOW is it October?"

Or my favourite "What even is October?!"

Please wait several business days to turn awareness into action, but this is already the most ADHD post I can make 😂

Please drop your best tips, most chaotic tips for managing and perceiving calendar months below 🙏 I trust the comment section to deliver.

28/09/2026

Tomatoes are my absolute nemesis.

I remember the one time that my grandmother said "Sit at the table until you've finished your food". I was done..... aside from the tomatoes.

I sat there for 2 hours, as the good rule follower I am.

But I would not, could not, eat those tomatoes.

And still don't.

I'm grateful for being an adult and being able to advocate strongly in my dietary intake, and wonder what it would be like to be an adult to that child sitting there.

I've started putting it down as a dietary requirement, because the moment there's raw tomato or tomato juice on the food, it is a NOPE.

18/09/2026

First of all, how is it even September already?!

Secondly, it's school holidays here in Victoria! Whether you're on Team "Uh oh, what do I do for the next two weeks" or "PHEW We have needed this", there's no doubt that school holidays offer a much needed rest break for children.

But.... what does rest look like?

That really depends. For some, they need more sleep ins, less activity, fewer demands, and just overall, less input. For others, rest can be a mixture of rejuvenating activities like walks in nature or long periods of connection. Children might need a break from routine, or they might crave routine, and find the newness overwhelming.

We tend to think a "good" holiday looks one particular way, but the truth is, it's often finding the right mix and the right balance for the whole family.

For example, if Child 1 wants to relax and keep to routine, but Parent 2 wants to travel and needs novelty, how do we meet everyone's needs? It usually lies in little creative ways of scheduling, but first starting with illuminating what the family is looking for.

16/09/2026

The absolute surprise that she felt in liking a children's book!

This next book gets viewers in a different way.

Linda here came onboard recently. (Apparently it is good practice that I'm not juggling a million hats at once)

I introduced her to all the books at Induction, but When New Feels Weird is the one that made her stop.

It's meant for children, but there's something about the level of support that Hazel receives that pulls readers into those inner child needs.

"I NEEDED THAT"

🥹🥹🥹🥹

Brb, don't ask me how many times I am replaying this.

When New Feels Weird: preorders open now, shipping Jan 2027.