Championing Neurodivergent experience as a Psychological Practitioner

We would like to thank everyone that attended our ‘Championing Neurodivergent experience as a Psychological Practitioner’ event.

It was brilliant to have a mix of interested participants from across the South East and different backgrounds, including Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, Mental Health Wellbeing Practitioners, and Lived Experienced Advisors. This included practitioners who also identified as neurodivergent and we reflected on how powerful it was to discuss our own lived experience and consider what neurodivergent clinicians need alongside thinking about what we can do for our clients.

We kicked off our discussions with the, possibly controversial, question of what conditions come under the Neurodivergent Umbrella and acknowledged the potential overlap with mental health conditions such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder.

We then split into smaller groups and had productive and insightful discussions around the following questions

• What successes have you had in championing neurodivergent experience?
• What challenges have you faced/are you currently facing?
• What would you like to achieve going forward?

This led to hearing about some fantastic pockets of work that are already happening in different services as well as some widely shared challenges.

We also generated a huge number of ideas about what could be improved and implemented going forward and consider how an ongoing event series might facilitate this.

Our overall impression of the session was that everyone came with a clear willingness to connect and learn from each other which created a safe space with valuable contributions from all members.

We look forward to welcoming anyone interested in attending to our future sessions,

Lizzie Gray (PWP Team Lead and PPN SE Psychological Practitioner COP Co-chair)

Kirsten Mann (Senior PWP and Neurodivergent Champion)