Certificate in Working Therapeutically with Autistic Adults
This page describes the Certificate in Working Therapeutically with Autistic Adults course that is running from September 2024.
You can see on this page,
the course description
the training dates
the supervision group dates
the fee (enrollment, then either a one-off, or 4 payments)
some video clips of actual segments of training from the last time the course was offered (February 2024).
The segments of text on this page that have BLUE BACKGROUNDS are course descriptions, and what we believe in.
The text on WHITE BACKGROUND describes what the adjacent video clip is about.
What is this course?
This course has been written for counsellors and psychotherapists who are concerned about equity and inclusion regarding neurodiversity, and, most importantly, are very concerned about autistic people when they come into therapy.
What we are offering here isn’t a ‘model’ of therapy, as such. But our training is focusing on being neuroaffirming, culturally attuned, trauma informed, and social justice minded, and genuinely therapeutic. These are key elements of being neurodiversity-affirming, and our course emphasises the skills of doing good therapy as well. Our work as therapists must be leading to outcomes of better mental health and wellbeing of autistic clients.
We take the positionality of the bio-psycho-social model, rather than the medical model, in all that we believe in. The course presentations are around big subjects, such as relationships, minority stress, being a human being, the history of autism as it relates to us therapists, and much more.
Training Sample: The Framework
In this video, Vauna Beauvais discusses the vast amount of information about autism. The volume of available literature can be overwhelming. She talks about the framework that the course supplies to trainees to help them to organise all of the autism information, both during the course and beyond.
In recent years, research has been carried out by autistic people themselves, and Vauna explains some of the importance of autistic voices in shaping how autism gets talked about and documented (more detail of that is on the course itself).
This clip is a short 8-minute segment from one of the 6 training days on the Certificate Course ‘Working Therapeutically with Autistic Adults’.
Why do therapists do training to work with autistic clients?
You probably already know this, that legally, autistic people have a right to mental healthcare being adjusted to their needs. And yet, what exactly does that mean - ‘adjusted to their needs?’ Does it mean that therapists have to adjust the design and delivery of therapy so that it works for autistic people? Yes, it does. You know, autistic people themselves state that the biggest barrier to therapy is the lack of knowledge of the therapist about autistic people. The research materials show this, and it is what we hear from clients on a weekly basis. Autistic clients do know when a therapist actually does not understand what real autistic people are like, and the realities of life experiences and wellbeing.
Autistic people have the most challenges with their mental health and suicide, and yet they are the population that are least likely to seek help. Our sector needs to rebuild trust in the quality healthcare that we have the potential to provide to improve mental health outcomes for autistic clients.
Training Sample: Rethinking Diagnostic Explanations.
In this clip, Eoin Stephens talks about how many autistic clients tell their therapists that they have previously been diagnosed with conditions such as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), or Social Anxiety. He emphasises the importance of recognising autism as a potential explanation for various struggles and behaviours, rather than solely relying on those explanations and suggests that understanding the role of autism can lead to more accurate self-understanding and appropriate support.
Eoin challenges outdated assumptions about autism, such as the belief that autistic individuals do not struggle with addiction. He explains that this notion stems from a narrow understanding of autism, which fails to account for the diverse range of autistic experiences.
This clip is a short 9 minute segment from one of the 6 training days on the Certificate Course ‘Working Therapeutically with Autistic Adults’.
What is the format like?
The training is delivered live in a group of attendees and trainers on Zoom.
Each course module is one day. Each day has 4 sessions.
From 10 am until around 11:20 am (then a15 min break)
From 11:35 to around 1 pm (then one hour for lunch)
From 2 pm to around 3:20 pm (then a 15 minute break)
From 3:40 to around 5 pm. (end of the day, end of module)
Nearly all of the sessions has something presented and that then is followed by a group discussion related to it.
Additionally, there is a supervision group / safe space that you can come to (10 am until 11:30 am). We found these to be really lovely for bonding, processing, and reflecting together (also an option of bringing your client work for supervision or for group insights).
Training Sample: Autistic Burnout
Eoin Stephens, in this clip from another module, is emphasizing how prevalent burnout is in his own clinical practice working with autistic clients over the past few years.
Eoin talks about how recovery from autistic burnout requires more than just rest and that therapists need to be aware of the unique challenges their autistic clients may face in this regard (explored later in the module). He also mentions the connection between autistic burnout and depression, indicating that this will be explored further later in the talk as well.
This clip shows a section of the course where there was a lead-n to a group discussion about a topic that all therapists working with neurodivergent clients are familiar with - burnout. Here, Eoin engages with the training group, inviting them to reflect on their own experiences working with autistic clients who have faced burnout and how they can better support their clients through it.
How will this enrich my work?
The learning materials have been written by Vauna Beauvais and Eoin Stephens, both psychotherapists of over 25 years with expertise in autism and neurodiversity, as well as in therapy - and both are autistic people
The course curriculum includes insights from the clinical experiences of the trainer's professional therapy and supervision practice, their own lived experience (along with those of attendees) and learning assertions that are supported by up-to-date research.
Overall, what emerges is that colleagues who study with us are impacted by the experiences on the course and this becomes integrated. We found that what happened as the course was going along was that the attendees were evolving as professionals. Paramount is our respect for you and for what you already know and do in your therapeutic practice. in the ways that you already know it. And we join together with who and where you are (and who we all are, in fact) along with what is contained in the course materials, to enrich us all with the added layer of the lens of autistic people. Insights, lightbulb moments, and thought-provoking times follow our exploration of autistic clients’ inner experience and outer realities. We leave with this informing our work.
Training Sample: Autistic Adults and the Prevalence of Relationship Abuse
Vauna Beauvais touches upon various aspects of autistic relationships, including the risk of social exclusion, the lifetime impact of marginalisation and oppression, and the difficulties that autistic people can have in setting boundaries and navigating conflicts.
She also discusses LGBTQ identities, kink sexualities, and diverse relationship arrangements that autistic people may have and the importance in validating the sexual orientations, identities, and relationship styles of their autistic clients.
She highlights the role of internalised stigma in having the potential to increase vulnerability to exploitation and trauma, and the long-term consequences such experiences can have on an individual's self-worth, confidence, and belief in their life opportunities.
Vauna concludes by emphasising that these issues often remain unaddressed until they are specifically brought up in therapy, as autistic individuals may have grown accustomed to living with these challenges.
Is this course for me?
If you feel reasonably skilled to work with autistic adults already, and yet know there are some ways in which you feel there’s something not always working out with those clients, this certificate course offers a lot of information and practical how-to’s. And, because real clients are never like case vignettes in books, the group discussions are invaluable for exploring the nuances involved. equips you to work therapeutically with autistic clients and feel confident about having an inclusive practice that enhances (and saves) the lives of autistic people coming therapy.
If you are already doing good work with autistic clients (that is actually therapeutic) we know that you will also benefit from this course. When you have a group of therapists from a variety of backgrounds and training modalities, there is a lot to offer each other in the viewpoint sharing realm, as we talk through the work that we do. And with everything focused on deeply understanding and responding to autistic adult clients, we find that we travel from a place of being with clients therapeutically from intuition to a place of informed work about how and why therapy is therapeutic for autistic clients. This is, not only empowering for the therapist, but also is exciting and interesting progression and development as a professional person.
Curriculum
6 modules
Module 1: Who Is Our Autistic Client?
Module 2: The Therapeutic Dyad
Module 3: Development And Identity
Module 4: Common Presentations
Module 5: Wellbeing And The Future
Module 6: Important Considerations
Contents
Some of the content that is covered in the course is shown below and in the adjacent graphic.
However, each course is adapted to wh is in the course and what their needs and interests are.
Internalised ableism
Stimatisation of autism
burnout / shutdowns
‘meltdowns’ and high arousal states
dealing with life and executive functioning
life experiences of being pathologised, oppressed and marginalised
the role of social scripting, sterotypying and social norms causing harm
issues around eating, sleeping, anxiety, and going to GP’s
how therapy can harm
collective trauma of the autistic population
Where is the social justice issue here?
Neuroaffirming language, and presuppositions
autistic community and culture
and more, and more, and more……
Course Benefits
Gain 36 high-quality training hours for professional development and a certificate
Expand awareness and enjoy developing as a person, as well as a professional, in line with our changing society.
Enjoy deepening learning together and stay in touch to be part of a growing and supportive community of therapists
Understand barriers to therapy, and how to approach the big issues of equity, diversity and inclusion
Enrich and deepen your own understanding of self, as an autistic or ND person
Know how to (legally) modify the delivery of therapy to meet autistic need
The Dates
TRAINING DAYS
10 am until 5 pm, (Western European Time, UTC) on the following Mondays:
September 16th 2024
September 30th 2024
October 21st 2024
November 4th 2024
November 18th 2024
December 2nd 2024
SUPERVISION GROUP / SAFE SPACE.
(Attendance is included in the course fee, and it is entirely optional)
Time: 10 am to 11:30 (Western European Time, UTC)
Monday September 23rd
Monday October 7th
Monday November 11th
The Fee
For everyone to enroll, there is £200 to pay to book your place on the course.
Then:
one-off payment £1000
or
4 payments of £255, £255, £255, £255
CERTIFICATE AWARD CRITERIA
To attend all of the dates and comple the two assignments.
Assignment one:
A short self-reflective piece following on from module one (due by October 20th)
Assignment two:
3,000-3,500 word piece 3,000-3,500 word piece OR any format, eg video, presentation, or something creative (due January 2025) (due January 2025)
Secure Your Place on the Course
If you would like to book a Zoom chat with Vauna, please use the contact form to get in touch and we can arrange a time that suits
Certificate award, on completion of the course and the two assignments.
We issued our first certificates this week, to attendees who enrolled on the February 2024 program. How great is that?
(Very!)
Meet the Trainers
Eoin Stephens.
Vauna Beauvais.
FAQs
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Inclusion and diversity policy coming soon, along with comprehensive descriptions of our values and positionality as people, and as trainers.
For the moment, in short, here is who we are: While we recognise and value people of all social groups and lifestyle choices, and we (trainers) are members of various minority groups ourselves, we know that we are White, and Cisgender, and that there will be some unconscious biases in our training. We are committed to exploring and unlearning prejudiced beliefs, and are driven to undertake this important reflexive action as an ongoing base reality.
For all people who are thinking of joining this course, it's essential to know that participants are of equal worth and it is crucial to us that folks be referred to and treated as such throughout, by ourselves, and by members in the learning groups. It's really important to us that any harms are not done, and if any delegate experiences anything harmful on our training sessions that time will be made available for exploration, feedback, education, and repair.
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Yes. You can have your camera sound either on or off, or sometimes one or the other. We make use of the chat and raised hand facility, too. There are no rules about whether you are sitting, standing, or moving around. It is of primary importance that you meet your own comfort and energy needs. All we ask is that you block out noises that are not meant to be introduced into the training group (eg people talking in your room) and that you turn up dressed.
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Counsellors and psychotherapists. If you are working with autistic adults and you aren't sure whether this is the right course for you, please contact me and lets talk about it.
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On completion of the course and passing the assignment you will be awarded ‘Certificate in Working Therapeutically with Autistic Adults’.
You can count this as valid CPD hours: 36 hours if you attend the training days only, plus the 6 hours of supervision group if you attend those as well.
This isn't a certificate that Is recognised as one by mainstream education, nor is it currently accredited any other way. Now that we have ran the course through once, we are in a position to apply for course accreditation and will keep you posted about that. But, as said before, the CPD hours are valid, regardless.
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The following Mondays from 10 am to 5 pm for the training dates: 2024.
September 16th, September 30th, October 21st, November 4th, November 18th, December 2nd.
There are 4 supervision/ safe-space group events included (not mandatory, but you'd get a lot out of coming to them).
Mondays 10 am till 11:30 am.
September 23rd, September 7th, November 11th, December 9th.
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If you think that you may be interested in joining this course and gaining this certificate, you can register your interest here.
if you arent yet sure, or would like to talk it through, please contact me by using this contact form
The Course
Handbook
NEW FOR SEPTEMBER 2024
Download the NEW Course Handbook
Training Dates and Times (Live group on Zoom)
Supervision Group Dates and Times (Live on Zoom)
Fee - one off or 4 payments
Course description and modules topics
Requirements for the certificate award
