Therapy That Frees: A Liberatory & Creative Approach to Neurodivergent Care

Conventional therapeutic models often fall short for neurodivergent clients—particularly autistic adults—because they rely on norms that pathologise difference and overlook the profound impact of ableism, masking, and lifelong invalidation. This session introduces a liberation-psychology approach to neurodivergent therapy, integrating creative, arts-based methods with anti-oppressive practice.

Drawing on contemporary neurodiversity theory, disability justice, and liberation psychology, this session reframes distress as contextual rather than individual and explores how therapists can hold space that is affirming, imaginative, and genuinely emancipatory. Participants will learn why creative approaches (including metaphor, imagery, and arts-based expression) often meet neurodivergent needs more effectively than purely verbal processing, and how to build therapeutic environments that reduce shame, support agency, and foster authentic expression.

Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event

• Participants will leave with a practical understanding of how liberation psychology and creative methods can transform therapeutic work with neurodivergent clients, enabling them to recognise contextual sources of distress, challenge internalised ableism, and facilitate work that is empowering rather than normalising.
• Understand how shame and the “abject self” shape autistic experience and emotional life.
• Explore how art-based approaches can support integration, regulation, and self-acceptance.

Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?

• Psychotherapists, counsellors, and clinical psychologists
• Coaches, mental health practitioners, and wellbeing professionals
• University counsellors, disability support staff, and student services
• Therapists working with newly diagnosed autistic adults
• Professionals interested in neurodiversity-affirming or anti-oppressive practice
• Anyone wanting to understand neurodivergence beyond deficit models
• No prior knowledge of liberation psychology or creative methods is required.

How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?

• Attending this workshop will deepen participants’ ability to recognise autistic clients’ shame-based defences and abjection responses, helping them attune more accurately, avoid pathologising language, and use creative methods to support regulation and self-acceptance. It will enhance confidence in working neuroaffirmingly and expand their therapeutic repertoire with arts-based interventions.

Link to my book on publisher website:

https://www.pccs-books.co.uk/products/poetry-and-therapy-why-words-help

RECORDING 

This event will be recorded and you can use the ticket function to pre-purchase the recording before the event. This will be useful for colleagues who are not able to attend the event live and also for those who attend the event live and want to watch it again.

ZOOM 

This event will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.

SELF-SELECT FEE

The self-select fee is a radical inclusion policy to open learning for all colleagues. The guide price for this event is £20.00, however, we appreciate that income varies greatly in different locations and circumstances. Please contribute what you can to help us maintain inclusive professional training.

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At Onlinevents, we and the presenters we collaborate with are committed to working in a way that aligns with the ethical codes and frameworks of our respective professional organisations. We expect all colleagues attending our events to uphold the ethical principles of their professional membership.

If you are not a member of a professional organisation, we ask that you participate in a way that is both authentic and respectful, fostering a space of mutual learning and professional engagement.

By registering for this event, you agree to be present and interact in a manner that reflects these principles.

Dr Stephanie Aspin PhD.

Dr Stephanie Aspin Phd is an autistic therapist, former academic and author specialising in arts-based approaches to therapeutic work. She has over 25 years’ experience in higher education, academic development, and creative pedagogies, and now runs a successful private practice supporting autistic adults. Stephanie also provides neurodiversity training to universities and large organisations, with a particular interest in liberation-oriented, anti-oppressive practice. She holds two doctorates—one in American poetry and another examining the relationship between poetry and psychotherapy—and is dedicated to helping neurodivergent people live with less shame and more freedom. She is the author of 'Poetry and Therapy: why words help' (PCSS Books 2025)

Website | www.stephanieaspin.com