PDA Society Training Hub

Andy is an autistic adult who, after years of struggling to fit in, realised that the only way to be happy and thrive was to stop trying to fit in and accept himself. Andy created Spectrum gaming to help other autistic children and young people to realise this too so they can live the happiest lives they can. Spectrum Gaming is an online community for autistic young people which has three main intended outcomes: Building Friendships, Increasing Self-Acceptance and Advocacy. A lot of autistic young people are lonely, isolated and struggle with friendships. Andy wanted to create a community where autistic young people feel comfortable and can make strong friendships in a safe way. Spectrum Gaming's main provision is our online community, that anyone from across the UK can access. In addition the team regularly undertake work and training events to support their community which has included projects on EBSA and a new website specifically for autistic young people. For more information please see https://www.spectrumgaming.net/

The majority of Kirsteen’s experience as a social worker has been within fostering and adoption which developed her interest in trauma related support. Over the past few years she has been navigating her own family through the SEN system and other services, whilst exploring her own neurodivergence. She has recently been diagnosed with ADHD and identifies as autistic. Kirsteen says “I have met so many amazing ND adults through this time and I am now lucky to work with several families through Raising a Wild Child as an Independent Social Worker, supporting them to understand their children and to live a more peaceful family life. I have never considered myself to be a strict, behavioural parent, but I realised that there were many changes I needed to make and we now take a low demand, low arousal approach to family life, in line with a PDA friendly approach”/ Kirsteen delivers training around trauma, neurodiversity and parenting as well as fostering specific courses, and has a specific interest in barriers to school attendance. For more information please see www.facebook.com/TIPsocialworker.