Presentation 1: Beyond either/or - Integrating the medical and social models of disability in neurodiversity-affirming practice
The field of psychology is undergoing a critical shift. Historically grounded in the medical model, clinical practice has prioritised diagnosis, symptom reduction, and individual change. In contrast, the social model of disability reframes disability as arising from environmental, systemic and relational barriers rather than inherent deficits. For neurodivergent individuals, this tension is not theoretical. It is lived.
This presentation explores how clinicians can move beyond a binary 'medical vs social' debate and instead adopt a both/and framework that is ethically aligned and deeply responsive to client experience.
Emerging Australian guidelines already point toward this integration. The Australian ADHD Clinical Practice Guideline explicitly acknowledges the need to balance medical, biopsychosocial and social disability perspectives to improve outcomes and consistency of care. At the same time, national autism and neurodevelopmental guidelines emphasise that effective supports must be neurodiversity-affirming, focusing on participation, wellbeing, and environmental fit rather than normalisation.
Critically, this shift is no longer optional. From December 2025, the Psychology Board of Australia required all psychologists to demonstrate competency in neurodiversity-affirming practice, including the ability to make reasonable adjustments, adopt strengths-based approaches, and respond to diverse neurotypes in ethical and practical ways. This represents a significant evolution in AHPRA-aligned expectations: clinicians are now accountable not only for diagnostic accuracy, but for how their frameworks shape client identity, access and outcomes.
This session will examine:
- Where the medical model remains essential (diagnosis, access to supports, risk identification, co-occurring conditions)
- Where the social model is critical (reducing harm, addressing systemic barriers, supporting identity and autonomy)
- The risks of over-reliance on either model, including pathologising difference or minimising genuine support needs
- How to integrate both models in assessment, formulation, intervention, and reporting
Drawing on current research, clinical guidelines and lived-experience-informed practice, this presentation introduces a practical integration framework that clinicians can immediately apply across settings, including schools, private practice, and multidisciplinary teams. This is not just a clinical issue, it is an ethical one. Neurodivergent individuals experience significantly higher rates of mental health challenges, often driven not by their neurotype, but by chronic mismatch, misunderstanding and systemic exclusion. When clinicians shift from “What is wrong with this person?” to “What is getting in their way?”, outcomes change not only diagnostically, but developmentally, relationally, and emotionally.
This session will challenge participants to reflect on their own practice, language and assumptions, and will provide clear, evidence-informed strategies to ensure that clinical work is both scientifically grounded and human-centred.
Integrating the medical and social models is not about compromise. Rather it is about ethics and better outcomes.
Presented by: Emma-Rose Parsons
Presentation 2: Beyond the standard model - Practical skills for working with dissociation, trauma, and identity complexity
Many clinicians are trained in therapeutic models that assume a relatively consistent sense of self, linear presentation, and predictable responses to intervention. However, in practice, we often encounter clients whose experiences do not fit neatly within these frameworks, particularly those presenting with dissociation, identity complexity, and the impacts of complex trauma.
When therapy does not “work” in the expected way, clinicians can be left feeling uncertain about how to respond. This may include navigating conflicting internal states, sudden shifts in presentation, difficulties with engagement, or interventions that appear to land inconsistently. Without a framework for understanding these experiences, clinicians may inadvertently apply approaches that feel invalidating, ineffective, or destabilising for the client.
This workshop offers a practical, trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming approach to working with dissociation and diverse experiences of self. Rather than introducing a new model, the focus is on adapting existing therapeutic skills in ways that better align with complexity. This includes recognising the range of dissociative presentations clinicians may encounter, and adjusting stance, language, and intervention accordingly.
Attendees will be supported to build confidence in responding to presentations that feel unclear or contradictory, while maintaining ethical and client-centred care. The workshop will explore how to work with multiple internal states, navigate shifts in capacity and awareness, and recognise when standard approaches may need to be adapted. You will leave with practical strategies that can be immediately integrated into your current practice, including specific language shifts, engagement strategies, and ways of structuring sessions when working with dissociation and identity complexity.
Presented by: Johanna Knyn
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