Breaking the Buzzwords: Trauma, Neurodivergence and the Path to Equitable Practice
Expand your knowledge of how neurodivergent people experience trauma and how to create more equitable systems at this full-day, in-person conference.
About this event
Systems which intend to help often – directly or indirectly – create distress and harm for neurodivergent people. And people from marginalised groups feel this distress most acutely. Where multiple types of bias converge, neurodivergent people can get caught in the intersection – leading to traumatic experiences and double marginalisation.
This conference is your opportunity to be part of the change. It brings together professionals who share your interest in equitable practice to connect, collaborate, and kickstart a culture shift.
Through expert talks centred on lived experience, you’ll explore:
the personal and systemic factors that create distress in neurodivergent people of all ages
masking as a survival strategy across lifespan
how ethnicity, culture and gender impact neurodivergent people’s experiences
how to create change through neurodiversity-informed practice
how to develop relational pathways for accountability and repair in everyday life and therapy practice.
You’ll learn practical strategies to challenge practices that can traumatise neurodivergent people, and create new approaches underpinned by lived experience.
Aims of this event
This event will build your skills to:
apply a relational, neurodiversity-affirming lens to your work
contribute to a culture of care and accountability
co-create safer, more inclusive environments.
Who is this event for?
professionals working with neurodivergent people
educators
researchers
policymakers
neurodivergent people and their families
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Dr Georgia Pavlopoulou
Georgia is Associate Professor in Developmental Psychology and Mental Health at University College London (UCL) and founder of the Group in Research in Relationships and Neurodiversity - GRRAND. She works at the intersection of research, clinical care and education to bring sustainable and positive change for neurodivergent people and the professionals who support them. She is also a BACP relational pluralistic psychotherapist and lead editor of the three times best seller “Improving Mental Health Therapies for Autistic Children and Young People”, published by Routledge in November 2024. Her recent research focuses on school induced emotional burden, situating emotion regulation in adhd and autism and adaptations in therapy settings when working with distressed autistic adults.
Alexis Quinn
Alexis is a psychotherapist, researcher, educator and manager of the Restraint Reduction Network. She has also published two books: Unbroken, a memoir, and Autistic and Expecting, a guide for autistic parents-to-be. Alexis speaks on neurodivergence, trauma, restraint, solitary confinement and mental wellbeing.
Bengi O’Reilly
Bengi is a registered nurse and Co-Chair of Trustees for the Restraint Reduction Network. Her work focuses on improving understanding and inclusivity for neurodivergent people to reduce the discrimination and inequalities they face. Bengi is passionate about promoting human rights and trauma informed support and reducing restrictive practice.
Hazel Lim
Hazel Lim is an advocate against the cultural stigma associated with autism in the UK Chinese community. She founded the Chinese Autism Support Group and wrote the UK’s first bilingual English and Chinese autism booklet – helping professionals understand the cultural barriers autistic Chinese people in the UK face. She has won several awards for this work, including The National Autistic Society's ‘Someone Who Changed My Life’ award.
Jon Adams
Jon is a contemporary artist whose work draws on his experiences of AuDHD, synaesthesia and dyslexia. Through drawing, sound, narrative and performance, he weaves his lived experience in with history, research and time. He has shown work at the Royal Academy, Tate Modern and Pallant House, and facilitates KoCreate Kollective – a space for neurodivergent people to come together for creative practice.
Kieran Rose
Kieran is an academic researcher focusing on masking, identity, stigma, trauma and care practice. He delivers training across health, education, and social care – including for the NHS and HSCNI – and supports organisations and professionals to critically reflect, challenge stigma, and reframe autistic experience through an intersectional lens. He also guest-lectures at universities across the UK and on five courses at Anna Freud.
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09:30: Understanding upsetting experiences and narratives that hurt – Alexis Quinn
11:00: Cultural trauma and double marginalisation: lived perspectives – Hazel Lim and Venessa Bobb
12:00: Reframing trauma: from diagnosis to understanding what happened – Jon Adams
12:30: When professionals harm: reflections on institutional trauma – Sajida Khan
13:00: Lunch (provided)
14:00: Masking as a trauma response – Kieran Rose
14:30: Love, joy and the lens of trauma in parenting neurodivergent children
15:00: Psychotherapy, learning disability and trauma – Dr Georgia Pavlopoulou and Alexis Quinn
15:30: Responding to trauma in practice – Bengi O’Reilly
16:00: Panel: a neurodiversity-informed approach to trauma – agency, relationships and repair.
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We offer a limited number of student concessionary places, and free places for autistic people and their families. Email training@annafreud.org for more information or to request a place.
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