Esther Fidock

For clinicians to help their clients feel safe, it’s really important that they themselves feel safe at work.

I recently ran a conference for clinicians who practise in neurodiversity-affirming ways, and I heard the same thing from so many of them, that they’re doing this work quietly and consistently but inside practices that don’t share their philosophy.

That sounds exhausting!

If you want to adjust your intake process, embed more visuals, lean into special interests, or build in executive functioning supports - but you have to fight your own leadership to do it – it’s so hard to manage your capacity and wellbeing.

Back in 2021 I consulted on the Trauma Responsive Framework used by DHS in South Australia. One of the things that stood out most was how the core themes had to echo through the entire system to actually work. Safety, for example - it couldn’t just exist in the therapy room.

Clinicians had to feel safe with their leadership for clients to feel safe with them.

That idea has shaped everything about how I run The Neuro Nurture Collective.
I need our team to feel safe to practise the way they know is right. To make changes. To try things. To trust that the system around them is designed to support affirming work - not just tolerate it.

That’s why I built The Neuro Nurture Collective. (And I’m still looking for psychologists who want to be part of it, so please get in touch if you’re interested in exploring a role 😌)