Foundations of Neurodivergence | The Centre

Session six in the Mental Health training series, Foundations of Neurodivergence and Neurodevelopmental Disorders provides practitioners with a comprehensive introduction to neurodiversity, neurodivergent identities, and the major neurodevelopmental conditions encountered in child, youth, and family service contexts. The workshop emphasises a neuro-affirming framework, contrasting traditional medical models with social and human-rights-based perspectives, and offers foundational knowledge on autism, ADHD, intellectual disability, and other neuro-developmental differences. Participants gain practical insight into early presentations, developmental trajectories, brain development, trauma-neurodivergence overlap, and best-practice support strategies.

Audience

This workshop is for practitioners across community, child and family, youth, education support, psychosocial, disability, and broader welfare services.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish between medical and neurodiversity -affirming models of disability.
• Identify common characteristics of neurodivergent individuals and neurodevelopmental conditions.
• Explain foundational concepts of brain development and developmental milestones.
• Describe major neurodevelopmental conditions (autism, ADHD, intellectual disability), including presentations, symptoms, assessment pathways, and support strategies.
• Recognise the impact of trauma on development and the overlap between trauma-related presentations and neurodevelopmental conditions.
• Identify appropriate community supports, services, and referral pathways for neurodivergent young people and their families.