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Before you explore

Acknowledgement of Country

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.

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FREE 2B ME · Professional learning

Access Before Intervention

Foundations of Neuroaffirming Practice

When your usual approach isn’t working, know what to try next.

Who it’s for: counsellors, allied health practitioners, educators and other professionals supporting autistic and other neurodivergent people.

For the sessions that leave you wondering

You’re trying to help. So why does it feel like you’re getting nowhere?

You’ve prepared for the session. You’ve listened, offered ideas and made a plan together. But your client goes quiet, misses appointments, or tells you later that the plan just wasn’t possible.

Now you’re asking yourself: “What am I missing? What should I do differently?”

You care about doing good work. You want your client to feel comfortable coming back and to get something useful from your time together. But when the strategies you usually rely on aren’t working, it can be hard to know where to start.

  • Conversations feel one-sided, and you’re unsure how to help your client tell you what they need.
  • A plan sounds good in the session, but doesn’t fit into the person’s everyday life.
  • Your client seems overwhelmed, shuts down or stops attending, and you don’t know why.
  • You want to support autistic clients with confidence, but general training hasn’t shown you what to do in these moments.

There is another place to start

Before you change the plan, look at what is making it hard.

Sometimes the difficulty is not the goal. It might be the noise in the room, the pace of the conversation, the way a question is asked, or the effort it takes to get to the appointment.

Access Before Intervention helps you notice things like these, ask your client what matters to them and find ways to make your work together more comfortable and useful.

What could be different in your practice?

When you return to work, the aim is to help you:

  • Respond with more confidence when a client goes quiet, misses appointments or feels overwhelmed.
  • Work out with the person what may be getting in the way and decide what to adjust first.
  • Create plans that account for the person’s circumstances, communication and support needs.
  • Check whether changes are useful to the person and adjust when they are not.
  • Write clearer notes about the person’s strengths, needs and the reasons for your decisions.

In your next session

A client stops answering questions in a session. Instead of feeling stuck or moving straight to another strategy, you can pause, consider what might be making the conversation difficult and ask how they would prefer to continue.

What you’ll explore

  • Understanding neurodiversity and the assumptions we bring to our work
  • Why turning up is not always the same as feeling comfortable or being able to take part
  • How noise, light, communication and time to process can affect a session
  • The difference between what you notice and what your client tells you
  • Making sure people have real choices and can say yes or no
  • Writing about strengths, support needs and what is still unclear
  • Adjusting appointments, activities and follow-up to suit the person
  • Checking together whether your support is making a difference

You don’t need to have every answer. You need to know what to look at, what to ask and what you can change together.

Who this is for

For counsellors, allied health practitioners, educators and other professionals who work with autistic and other neurodivergent people and want more confidence in making their sessions and support work for the individual. Apply the learning within your own role and professional scope.