Designing and Delivering Neuro-affirming Therapy for Autistic & ADHD Children and Young People

Engaging with the outdoors and working alongside animals

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Overview

This advanced two-day workshop offers mental health professionals working outdoors and alongside animals, a comprehensive, neuro-affirming framework for designing effective therapeutic work with autistic and ADHD children and young people. Underpinned by Divergent Futures ‘Square Model’ (Mitchelson and Clarke, 2022) approach to supporting Autistic and ADHD people, the training integrates contemporary neuroscience, trauma-informed practice, and lived-experience-led understanding of neurodivergence to support ethical, effective, and sustainable intervention.

The Square Model conceptualises support needs across four interrelated domains—sensory, interoceptive, executive functioning, and communication—and prioritises bottom-up nervous system regulation as the foundation for therapeutic engagement. Participants will develop sophisticated formulations that move beyond behaviourist or deficit-based interpretations, recognising distress, avoidance, and disengagement as meaningful responses to unmet needs, trauma load, and environmental mismatch.

Day One focuses on the theoretical and clinical foundations required to design effective therapeutic sessions, while Day Two translates this knowledge into practical application in outdoor and animal-assisted contexts, supporting embodied regulation, relational safety, and authentic engagement.

Aims of the Training

This workshop aims to:

• Equip practitioners with a coherent, integrative model for understanding neurodivergent presentations
• Enhance therapeutic effectiveness by prioritising nervous system regulation and energy sustainability
• Support ethical, affirming practice that centres dignity, autonomy, and lived experience
• Develop practitioner confidence in working creatively beyond traditional therapy room settings

Training Structure

Day One: Foundations for Effective Neurodivergent Therapy

Focus: Conceptual, clinical, and ethical foundations for therapeutic work using the Square Model.

Participants will explore:

• The Square Model as a formulation and intervention framework
• Bottom-up vs top-down processing and implications for therapy design
• Sensory and interoceptive regulation as prerequisites for cognitive and relational work
• Trauma load, burnout, and the cumulative impact of ableism and chronic stress

Key neurodivergent experiences are examined in depth, including:

• Justice sensitivity and the social impacts
• Rejection sensitivity as a nervous-system response shaped by trauma and invalidation
• Regulatory mechanisms and clinical resources
• The therapeutic importance of special interests for regulation, motivation, and connection

Participants will also engage with:

• Internalised ableism and its impact on self-concept and therapy engagement
• Alexithymia and interoceptive differences affecting emotional awareness
• Co-occurring chronic illness, fatigue, and pain in neurodivergent populations
• Cultivating self-compassion, authenticity, and self-advocacy
• Scaffolding life and therapy to reduce unnecessary demand and conserve energy

Day Two: Practical Applications in Outdoor and Animal-Assisted Settings

Focus: Translating Square Model principles into embodied, relational practice.

Participants will learn how to:

• Design outdoor therapy sessions that support regulation through movement, rhythm, and sensory input
• Use natural environments to reduce social demand and enhance engagement
• Apply sensory-seeking and sensory-avoidant strategies safely and ethically

Animal-assisted practice is explored through a neuro-affirming lens, including:

• Animals as co-regulators and non-judgemental relational partners
• Supporting emotional awareness and boundaries through interactions with animals
• Parallel play, body doubling, and co-regulation in action

The day also focuses on:

• Adapting communication expectations
• Supporting executive functioning through environmental design
• Ethical considerations, consent, power, and practitioner reflexivity

Participants will leave with practical tools for designing therapy that is flexible, compassionate, and aligned with neurodivergent nervous systems.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

1. Deliver neuro-affirming outdoor and animal-assisted interventions grounded in nervous-system regulation, using the Square Model approach
2. Attend to and support justice sensitivity, rejection sensitivity, hyper-focus, and special interests
3. Recognise and respond to trauma load, alexithymia, and internalised ableism within therapy
4. Scaffold executive functioning and life demands to reduce burnout and increase sustainability
5. Support autistic and ADHD children and young people to develop self-advocacy, authenticity, and self-compassion

Who the Training Is For

This workshop is designed for qualified and trainee mental health professionals working with autistic and ADHD children and young people, including:

• Psychologists
• Psychotherapists and counsellors
• Social workers
• Occupational therapists

It is particularly suited to practitioners seeking to move beyond behaviour-management or purely cognitive approaches toward advanced, relational, neuro-affirming practice.

All content is grounded in contemporary neurodivergent theory, trauma-informed practice, and lived-experience-led perspectives, and is delivered by a facilitator with many years of clinical experience working with autistic and ADHD children and young people. The training draws directly on the Square Model framework and associated clinical materials, integrating theory with depth of practice, ethical reflexivity, and real-world clinical application.

Location: Online

Date: 12th and 13th June

Time: 8:30 to 4:00 daily

Cost: $660 – Payment plans are available. Please inquire about this on application

Group size: Maximum of 12 participants

Facilitated by: Nadine Delaney  – AMHSW

Divergent Futures – Square Model

The Square Model, created by psychologists Monique Mitchelson and Anna Clarke, is designed to showcase and address the underlying needs of Autistic and ADHD people in therapy, with a particular focus on trauma treatment. Rooted in both professional knowledge and their lived experience, this model offers a compassionate, evidence-based approach to supporting Neurodivergent clients.

Learn more about DF and undertake their comprehensive two-day training in The Square Model – https://www.divergentfutures.com/df-squaremodel

What you’ll receive:        

• 14 hours of online group tri each session being record and provided to the group.
• Downloadable resources.
• Certificate of Attendance.

BOOKINGS: Please contact us at admin@naturebasedtherapies.com.au , advising of your interest in this workshop.