Overview
Are you interested in enhancing your professional skills in supporting neurodivergent children and teenagers and transforming your approach to neurodiversity?
The Safe House Framework® is designed specifically for psychologists and professionals who work with neurodivergent youth. This innovative framework offers a holistic approach to neurodiversity affirming practices. It integrates evidence-based research, best practice guidelines, and personal insights from neurodivergent individuals and their supporters. Learn how to create inclusive environments that celebrate differences, minimise barriers, and promote psychological wellbeing.
As awareness of neurodiversity grows, so does the demand for skilled professionals capable of providing effective, affirming care. Don’t let your practice lag! Equip yourself with the tools needed to foster genuine connections and support the mental health of neurodivergent individuals.
The training covers:
-
The foundational knowledge required to understand the autistic experience, and the principles that underpin the neurodiversity affirming approach to care.
-
A practical, step-by-step guide to implementing affirming practices in your work with neurodivergent clients, and addressing their often complex needs.
-
Introspection and reflection exercises designed to facilitate a paradigm shift, enhancing your competence and confidence when working with diverse neurotypes.
This foundational training combines professional expertise and lived experience, offering a unique, transdisciplinary approach to neurodiversity-affirming care. Be equipped and supported as you help make the world a kinder, more inclusive place for neurodivergent children.
Discover the 8-stage process of building a Safe House in this eLearning activity which includes 15 video lessons and 7 fictional case studies illustrating key concepts.
Through this holistic, nuanced, and detailed program, you will gain:
- A deep understanding of the mindset, knowledge, and skills required to practice neurodiversity-affirming care,
- A personalized implementation plan and a practical toolkit to use immediately,
- The confidence and competence to build an affirming professional practice from the ground up,
- Ongoing peer support and accountability through monthly online sessions, and
- Access to a private community of like-minded professionals for continuous connection, sharing ideas, and receiving support.
Completed as a stand-alone eLearning activity or as part of the Mastery Series, this activity is CPD approved by the APS for 8.0 hours.
Challenge the traditional 'disordered' narrative and explore the power dynamics that have shaped the neurodiversity movement. Participants will be invited to critically engage with societal and professional narratives, fostering a more inclusive and affirming approach to neurodivergent individuals.
Look inward and reflect on your own role in neurodiversity-affirming practices. Discover how self-awareness can enhance your therapeutic relationships and empower you to show up with greater empathy, respect, and understanding.
This practical workshop brings together key elements of a neurodiversity-affirming framework, including informed consent, co-design, goal-setting, and self-assessment. Learn how to create safe, supportive spaces where neurodivergent children and families can thrive.
This activity is CPD approved by the APS for 6.0 hours.
Level 3: Masterclass: Critical thinking for the Affirming clinician - Register your interest to be notified when the next workshop is released
Take your practice to the next level with the Level 3 masterclass, designed to deepen your understanding of values-based and evidence-based practices while enhancing your skills in interprofessional collaboration.
- Learn: Explore the principles of values-based practice and how they intersect with evidence-based practices in supporting neurodivergent children.
- Practice: Delve into the complexities of values-based interprofessional collaboration, developing the skills to work effectively across disciplines.
- Apply: Engage with real-world case scenarios, working through them with multidisciplinary teams to build practical, affirming strategies.
- Reflect: Review and refine your practice through guided group reflection, both in small and large settings.
- Connect: Join The Safe House Practitioner Network, a community of like-minded professionals committed to neurodiversity-affirming care. Enjoy ongoing support and make it easy for parents to find you.
You'll also receive indefinite access to monthly reflection and peer consultation sessions, offering continuous opportunities for learning and growth and upon completion, participants receive Safe House endorsement, signalling their commitment to inclusive, respectful practices, and access to the Safe House Professional Community—an invaluable network of like-minded professionals.
Prerequisite: Completion of levels 1 & 2 is required for attendance.
Completed as part of the Mastery Series, this activity is CPD approved by the APS for 5.0 hours.
Mastery series
Purchase all activities (Levels 1, 2, and 3), and save $500! CPD approved by the APS for 19.0 hours.
Level of learning
Foundational/Intermediate. These activities are targeted to those new to the topic and those with some previous learning on the topic.
Target audience
This activity is suitable for psychologists in all career stages, general practitioners, and allied health professionals including speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dieticians, and social workers.
APS CPD-Approved
This activity has been assessed against the APS Standards for CPD activities and approved for its education quality. Learn more about the APS CPD Approval process.
Professional competencies for psychologists
The Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) has released new professional competencies for psychologists which come into effect on 1 December 2025.
Psychologists practising in Australia have always been required to be adequately trained to work with sensitivity and respect with the diversity of clients, colleagues, and other people that a psychologist is likely to encounter in their day-to-day work. Information on the professional competencies is available on the PsyBA website.
This program addresses Competency #7: Demonstrates a health equity and human rights approach when working with people from diverse groups: Understands neurodiversity, strengths-based, trauma-informed, and positive approaches to supporting people with developmental disability. Demonstrates the ability to adapt psychological practice and make reasonable adjustments for people with disability, including understanding of alternative and augmentative communication.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
Level 1: The Safe House Framework® for Health Professionals: A step-by-step guide to neurodiversity affirming practice
Understand the autistic experience, adopt a neurodiversity affirming mindset, implement affirming practices, and increase your confidence and competence.
- Foundations: Describe the principles that form the foundation of The Safe House Framework®, identify the problematic features of some traditional interventions for autism, explain how some traditional interventions are harmful for autistic children, and list the core features of neurodiversity affirming practice.
- Floorplan: Describe autism using affirming language, identify the experiences that often occur alongside autism, dispel the myths and stereotypes, explain the role of strengths, and list the factors that play a part in identity.
- Walls: List the roles and responsibilities of an autistic child’s team, describe the essential qualities of a neurodiversity affirming practitioner, define what it means to be trauma-informed, and explain the importance of a trauma-informed approach.
- Windows: Identify the common stress behaviours in autistic children, explain why the term ‘challenging behaviour’ is unhelpful when used in relation to autistic children, and explain the role of the autonomic nervous system, and its effect on behaviour.
- Door: Explain how relational safety produces neurodiversity affirming care, and recognise, describe, and create relational safety.
- Roof: Identify the protective systems and people in a child’s world, describe advocacy and self-advocacy, and create a plan for teaching a child to self-advocate.
- Build: Identify the type of information that belongs in a support plan, outline the steps for constructing a support plan, and create a support plan for a specific child using the My Safe House template.
- Landscape: Identify your sphere of influence, evaluate the level of knowledge and skill in your communities, and create an action plan.
Level 2: Apply The Safe House Framework®
Define dominant narrative and counter-narrative, analyse dominant narratives and perfectly logical explanations, evaluate the dominant narrative around autism, propose key features of a counter-narrative, define values and bias, explain the role of bias as a cognitive strategy, identify your own implicit biases, explain the role of values in clinical decision making, identify your professional values, demonstrate affirming values, explain The Safe House Framework® to clients, co-design a therapeutic process with clients, construct a workflow that works for you, and self-appraise through reflection and feedback.
Level 3: Masterclass: Critical thinking for the affirming clinician
Describe the principles that underpin a Values Based Practice, explain the relationship between Values Based Practice and Evidence Based Practice, synthesise values and evidence in clinical practice, discuss scenario(s) within a multi-disciplinary team, analyse complex case scenario(s), identify key issues, formulate an affirming action plan, and make recommendations based on evidence and critical reasoning.