Before you explore
Sovereignty was never ceded. No treaty was ever signed. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters on which this work is made, and that does not become less true with time, legislation or silence.
FREE 2B ME acknowledges Elders past, present and emerging. This body of work exists because systems cause harm when they ask people to become easier to accommodate. No community in this country has been asked to do that more often, or for longer, than First Nations peoples.
We hold that as a matter of practice, not sentiment.
FREE 2B ME
You don’t have to become less of yourself to have more of a life.
Your ideas. Your identity. Your people. The things you love for no reason other than you love them.
Start with what matters to you
Making. Moving. Laughing. Resting. Being with people who get it. What would you make room for if it didn’t have to improve you?
Explore community ↗
Tanya Hicks · MC, speaker & facilitator
When they get to share the thing they know. Tell the story in their own words. Be seen doing their genius.
That’s what I love about MCing: helping other people have their moment, and helping the room meet them there.
Introductions with care. Conversations with curiosity. A host who wants your people to shine.
Identity, belonging and a life that feels like yours. Stories and questions people can carry beyond the room.
Explore an idea together. Make something of it in your own life. Talk, write, listen or take time to think.
People, in their own right
The one with an idea. The one changing direction. The one who wants to lead. The one who wants something entirely different.
With or without disability. With or without support. With ambition. With no interest in proving a thing.
People of all genders. Your identity, your choices and your way of being deserve room here.
LGBTQI+ belonging
Queer. Trans. Non-binary. Gender-diverse. Intersex. Questioning. Your name, your relationships and your way of being deserve respect.
There is room for joy here, too. Friendship. Creativity. Being known for what you love, what you make and what makes you laugh.
You choose what you share. You don’t have to tell your story to earn your place.
Sparkly Aliens Inc. is a separate not-for-profit offering access and community connection. Check its current availability and enquiry options directly.
Community, in real life
In Caloundra: shared interests, individual support and community partnerships.
THE NEST / CALOUNDRA
Individual support with room for talking, typing, AAC and quiet participation.
Gaming, art, music, animals and movement. Join in, watch first, take a break or come back.
Same space. Different goals. Individual support.
Visit The Nest ↗Community partnerships
Groups run by other organisations, hosted in our space.
A free social group for LGBTQIA+ young people, those questioning, and allies aged 12–16. Connect, hang out and be yourself.
At Neurodivergent Empowered Nest, Caloundra.
Every second Monday, 3:30–4:30 pm.
For sign-up details, contact Headspace Caloundra on (07) 5222 4009.
Explore a partnership ↗A question to come back to
Can I say no, disagree, communicate differently and still belong?
Can I contribute without performing someone else’s version of professional?
Can I be known without becoming manageable?
Can I need support without losing authority?
Can I participate differently and still count as participating?
Am I building something I can actually inhabit?
The FREE 2B ME library
Books for your life, your body and the way you support others. Explore the series, or start with the question that matters to you.
Eight books. Two perspectives. A$39 each. Reserve now; pay when your book launches.
Be first to know
A book for anyone who became very good at functioning in a life that was costing too much.
Pre-order now · A$39Life & access
Meaning & behaviour
Body & regulation
Support & systems
Why I built this
Founder · MC · Speaker · Author · Practitioner
I know what it costs to spend years trying to become easier for the world to hold.
As a late-identified AuDHD woman living with disability, chronic illness and trauma, and as a single mother of a transgender daughter, I have seen how difference becomes something to correct, and how much life is lost when belonging depends on becoming smaller, quieter or easier to understand.
I stopped trying to fix myself into acceptability and began building what I could not find: places, practices and pathways where people can belong without becoming less of themselves.
That became FREE 2B ME Global: Less fixing. More living.
It lives in The Nest, where therapeutic practice meets shared interests, relationships and community life; in the Practitioner Pathway, developing people to carry neuroaffirming practice with capability, humility and accountability into different professions and systems; and in books, learning and tools changing how people are understood and supported.
My story is about turning lived experience into infrastructure so our daughters inherit more than encouragement. They inherit different possibilities.
What we make possible
Build lives we could not yet imagine for them.
FREE 2B ME for practice
Build the skills to support people while respecting their identity, choice and authority in their own lives.
Structured learning, supervised application, observed practice and capability evidence.
Explore the Pathway
Workshops, practice development and organisational learning.
View professional learning
Books, public resources, worksheets and reflection tools.
Explore the library
Recognition
International and Australian recognition across leadership, education, inclusion, innovation, advocacy and community impact.
A sentence for your pocket
You don’t have to justify the life you want.
Keep the words that help. Leave the rest.
by Tanya Hicks
