Autistic Parenthood, Exploring + Understanding the Complexities

We are often asked to support Autistic parents as they proceed through their journey obtaining education, health and care support for their children, because services tasked with helping often don't understand Autism enough.

We are delighted that Cathie Long (Independent Specialist Social Worker, who has a diagnosis of Autism and ADHD), is joining us to present a webinar dedicated to Autistic Parents and those who support them.

What we will aim to cover:

• Cathie will share stories form her autistic journey
• Opportunity for questions
• Cathie will talk to us about the differences between Borderline Personality Disorder and Autism
• Managing sensory processing differences
• Dealing with anxiety and depression
• What is fabulous about being an autistic parent and what can be challenging?
• Why services can find autistic parents challenging to work with?
• Opportunity for questions

As always we welcome your questions and hope you will join us in our discussions via the text chat box on the screen.

Note for professionals: The Autism Act 2009 (England and Wales) stipulates that professionals who provide relevant services to Autistic adults should be trained in Autism. We offer CPD certificates and ongoing training for those who wish to pursue this.

How do our webinars work?

Once you have purchased a ticket, you will be sent a link to register for the event on ZOOM (if you don't already have it downloaded on your phone/tablet/computer then this link will prompt the download, it is free to download). It’s really important you register as soon as possible, as we manually check everyone in for safeguarding and security reasons.

Once registered you will be sent a link to join us on the night, almost as if the 'room to the door' is opened for you and you're checked in.

If you encounter any issues please visit: www.sunshine-support.org/troubleshooting

Please take some time to familiarise yourself with this format in advance so that the process of joining us on the night is seamless for you.

The video of the webinar will be available to watch for 30 days after the webinar takes place, so if you need to leave the webinar at any time or can't make it at that specific time you can watch again at your leisure.

About Cathie

Cathie Long is a highly regarded, award winning independent social worker who specialises in working with autistic children, young people and adults of all ages, some of whom have a Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) diagnosis or profile. She is the Social Care Advisor for the PDA Society. Cathie works tirelessly to achieve justice and equality for those people who struggle to have their voices heard and their needs met. She is an expert witness for Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunals and Judicial Review.

With an extensive background in forensic mental health and now I her third year of training as a psychotherapist, Cathie offers a unique perspective when undertaking parenting assessments for Family Court, particularly where the parents themselves have additional needs. Cathie runs training courses and workshops for professionals, care providers and parents on autism, PDA, mental health, The Care Act 2014 and the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.

Cathie’s work on PDA and Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII) has been published in Community Care at: https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2019/05/15/pathological-demand-avoidance-social-workers-need-know/ She has recently published in her experiences of autism and trauma in The Transactional Analyst, Summer Edition, 2021. Cathie is currently very involved in working with a team of experts writing Practice Guidance for Social Workers on Fabricated or Induced Illness, in conjunction with the British Association of Social Workers (BASW).