Growing Gently Psychology

24/05/2026

I have a few Neurodivergent Parenting Cards left and I want them gone so I have space for the new version of the cards… Soooo, I am selling the rest of my stock for 50% off!

24/05/2026

I’ve officially submitted my concerns regarding the proposed NDIS changes.

As both a psychologist and parent working with neurodivergent children and families, I am deeply concerned about the direction these reforms are taking.

These changes are not just about budgets. They will impact real children, real families, real clinicians, and already overstretched systems including schools, healthcare, mental health services, and communities.

The slides below summarise my 8 main concerns.

Disabled people and families deserve systems that are accessible, evidence-informed, neuroaffirming, and genuinely designed to support participation, wellbeing, and inclusion, not systems that create further barriers, exhaustion, and exclusion.

I encourage people to continue speaking up, sharing lived experience, and advocating for meaningful consultation and disability-informed policy.

23/05/2026

These women 💚 My “Mum Tribe”

We met over 10 years ago when we worked together as part of an allied health team. Yes, we make an EPIC team…

💪Gab (Our resident paediatric physio- rare find)

☄️Nicki (Our sensory and trauma informed OT and the one that supplies our sensory tools during training days)

🌈 Michelle (the neurosparkly speechie whose brain I pick about Gestalt Language Processors)

❤️ Miriam (Speechie and the one with the biggest heart)

💾 Katie (Speechie and the one that finds the facts and converts them to plain English)

Since then, we have become mothers, had 13 kids between us, and have supported each other through many parenting ups and downs. One of my greatest accomplishments was managing to convince two of them to move to the Blue Mountains to be my “neighbours” 😂

They have always accepted my quirkiness, awkwardness and intensity and I am so grateful to have them on my side 💚

21/05/2026

The Growing Gently Parenting Card Deck has a new home… a beautiful canvas bag 🤍

A safe place to keep your cards together, protected, and close by for the moments you need them most. Whether they’re beside your bed, tucked into your therapy bag, or brought along to appointments, or being gifted to a friend, they now have a safe mobile home to keep them better protected.

New home, same heart 💚

Available now: https://www.growinggentlypsychology.com.au/product-page/gentle-parenting-cards

21/05/2026

The theme for Infant Mental Health Week 2026 is Attunement and I have been 🤿 deep-diving 🤿 into preparing for my keynote presentation for Ngala’s Infant Mental Health Week event:

🌈 Tuning In to Neurodivergence: A Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach to Attunement

I’ll be exploring the diverse ways babies and caregivers communicate, connect and regulate, and how traditional understandings of attunement can overlook neurodivergent sensory, relational and communication differences.

📅 Thursday 11 June 2026
⏰ 7.00am–10.00am (WA time)
📍 In-person and online

In person:
Ngala – 9 George Street, Kensington WA 6151
WA locals can attend in person for a light breakfast and opportunity to connect with fellow clinicians.

Online/livestream:
A livestream link will be provided upon RSVP.

💛 This is a free event, though places are limited: https://www.ngala.com.au/imhw-2026-event/

21/05/2026

Neuroaffirming practice is not an “extra” or something you can opt into or specialise it. It is part of responsive and inclusive care.

If supporting neurodivergence feels unfamiliar or outside your confidence, that is okay but it’s also time to start learning more…

🌱 Like this post so I know you’re listening 💚

15/05/2026

If you work with parents and families, you are already supporting neurodivergent parents. Whether you know it or not.

That’s why you might find me at your next conference even though you think neurodivergence isn’t even on the agenda…

Not all clients will disclose their neurodivergence.
And not all clients feel safe to.

Some clients may not yet recognise their own neurodivergence. Even in adulthood.

No diagnosis does not mean no neurodivergence.

Many neurodivergent people are missed or diagnosed later in life. Especially those with intersectional identities.

All health professionals need to know how neurodivergence can shape communication, sensory experiences, regulation, relationships, parenting, feeding, sleep, engagement with services, and help-seeking.

Because neurodivergence does not exist in isolated “autism” or “ADHD” spaces.

It exists in maternity wards.
In feeding clinics.
In therapy rooms.
In schools.
In primary healthcare.
In mental health services.
Everywhere families are.

And when professionals understand this, support becomes safer, more accessible, more attuned, and more effective for everyone.

That’s why you might find me at your next conference or training day.

14/05/2026

Honestly, I’m tired 😩 Why are we still needing to fight for social, political, and systemic acknowledgement of the value of the parent-child relationship?

Why are we still hearing narratives that imply young children are better served by being separated from their parents in the earliest years of life… as though relationships are secondary to productivity, economics, or systems?

The early years are not about preparing children for school. They are about helping children feel safe in the world and connected to others. The thing children need the most is a strong, secure, responsive relationship with their parent/s.

The parent-child relationship (not early education) is the foundation of child emotional wellbeing, attachment, regulation, identity, and learning. It is one of the most important factors on the developing brain and continues to influence mental health, relationships, and wellbeing across the lifespan.

We should be supporting parents to foster strong secure relationships with children; not scaring parents into making their child independent from them.

10/05/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to the parents and caregivers who are learning to notice and honour these beautifully diverse expressions of love 💚

Not all children say “I love you”, or offer a cuddle, or make a special artwork… Not all children know the significance of Mother’s Day.

Children show trust, attachment, joy, and love in a range of ways that are deep and meaningful to them.

10/05/2026

These words 💚💚

We’re the ‘different’ kind of mums on Mother’s Day, aren’t we? The Mother’s Day card descriptions and platitudes dont' quite fit us.

So who are we?

We lift children who are too big to carry.

We reposition, soothe, and co-regulate.

We know what our child needs before they can tell us, often because they can’t tell us.

Our hearts skip a beat (and not in a good way) when the school phone number pops up on our phone.

Hospital corridors, toilets, parked cars, (cars being driven come to that!) – we’ve cried in all of them.

We’ve got medical equipment and sensory soothers in our bags alongside the usual keys, phone and lip balm.

Sleeping through the night - what’s that?

Independence isn’t something we take for granted - theirs or ours.

We’re mentally doing risk assessments whenever we walk into a room or visit a new place.

We fight the NDIS, school systems, medical professionals who underestimate our children - often all in the same day.

We juggle medication schedules, therapy appointments, equipment maintenance routines and more.

We love our children fiercely. We find the system exhausting. Both things, at once.

What we need isn’t inspiration. It’s support, funding, and accessible infrastructure. And coffee.

Disability doesn’t clock off, so neither do we.

And on Mother’s Day, and every other day, we’re enough.