15 PDA-informed therapists who support children and teens in Perth
Finding PDA-informed therapists can be challenging. Here are a list of Perth therapists and providers who are PDA-informed and able to support your child, teen and family.
Telehealth (Perth-based)
Karenza Harding is a senior autistic mental health occupational therapist with 12 years of experience. She specialises in providing neurodiversity-affirming, PDA-aware, and trauma-informed support for families, and autistic teenagers/adults with co-occurring mental health diagnoses.
Karenza also specialises in Functional Capacity Assessments through a neurodiversity-affirming, PDA-aware lens.
Telehealth (Perth-based)
Tania Henderson is a virtual paediatric occupational therapist and homeschooling Mum of three very diverse children. Her practice Balance and Connect supports parents whose children find direct therapy challenging and has experience in complex PDA behaviours.
Tania offers telehealth Functional Capacity Assessments which is a great option for all families – especially those outside of Perth. Tania also runs low demand online Minecraft social groups for children from seven years of age.
Diversum Health Group
Fremantle
Diversum Health Group is a mental health OT and parent coaching service for neurodivergent, kids, teens, and adults. Director Natalee Blakemore is neurodivergent and has personal and professional experience in supporting individuals and families to navigate life with PDA.
West Leederville
Did you know 70% of autistic people experience difficulties with eating and feeding?  The dietitians at Advanced Dietitians Group understand that traditional feeding therapies often do not work with all clients and strive to provide a neuro-affirming paediatric dietitian experience.
Their dietitians have completed additional training with The Kidd Clinic to better understand how to support their clients and their families to improve nutrition and growth. Â
Online and mobile services (Perth-based)
Neuroinclusion won’t officially open until July, but this neurodiversity-affirming occupational therapy clinic for children and teenagers is fast filling its dance card.
Director Claire Britton works collaboratively with children with a PDA profile. Her work is inspired by the works of Kim Barthel, Dr Ross Greene, Stuart Shanker, Mona Delahooke as well as from her professional and personal experience. Claire has availability for children under the age of 12 years.Â
Subiaco
Perth psychologist Dr Bailey Bosch helps parents who are struggling with a low demand approach to navigate the resistance or criticism they might get from family and friends to the approach.Â
She helps provide strategy and guidance for the whole family especially siblings who might not see how “this is fair”.
My Family OT has experience working with families who are raising PDA children. We focus on supporting your family through a collaborative and relationship driven approach. We understand how vulnerable your child’s nervous system is and how it can affect your whole household. We want to work with you, your child and other supports to improve your family’s quality of life.
Innaloo & telehealth
Speech Pathologist Sarah offers support for PDA children and teens around mealtimes. She works together with the child or teen and their family to identify how eating and mealtimes in all environments can feel safe and child/teen-led.Â
She looks at addressing the foundations of mealtimes: trust, autonomy and safety in a neuroaffirming way that honours the child/teen’s needs and allows them to identify strategies that will support them at mealtimes.
Reach Life offer a team approach to working with PDA presentations in teens and children. Reach Life are a neuro-affirming practice with a range of clinicians experienced at understanding the unique needs of families and young people with PDA presentation.Â
Therapists have experience in neurodevelopmental assessments and can offer a range of strategies to support young people with PDA. They are currently accepting referrals for psychology, counselling, mental health occupational therapy, social work, family and couples counselling, paediatric occupational therapy and functional capacity assessments.
Play Therapy With Evonne
Success
Play Therapy with Evonne is a small practice of social workers trained in child centered play therapy. They take a non-directive, neuro-affirming and empowering approach which works well for supporting children with anxiety, emotional regulation and social development.
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We have had a positive response from parents with children who present with PDA to the modality of non directive play therapy
Lynn Joels Natural Medicine
Fremantle
Lynn Joels Natural Medicine provides a food-first approach to healthy guts and healthy minds.Â
Lynn is a naturopath who believes that what we eat affects how our gut and brains work.  Lynn has a particular love for working with neurodivergent families and understands that making changes that what is eaten can feel near impossible. Â
Lynn works with families on constipation, selective and restrictive eating patterns, attention challenges, brain fog, sleep issues and anxiety.  She offers a solution-based approach that works for the whole family, delivered in bite-sized chunks to assist you in easing changes in to the family. Â
Mobile (Innaloo based)
Balance to Bloom recognises that for many children it is not that they don’t want to engage in routines or daily activities – it is that they can’t.
Our occupational therapists support children and families to understand their unique profiles, including externalised and internalised responses, build sustainable routines and find joy in their everyday.
Balance to Bloom is a trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming practice. We are owned and operated by neurodivergent therapists who understand and are passionate about advocating for each individuals needs and preferences. A number of our therapists have additional training in PDA presentations and we work closely with families and children to understand them to ensure we are providing them more than a one-size-fits-all approach.
The Kidd Clinic
North Perth & Fremantle
The Kidd Clinic has a range of offerings to meet the needs of PDA children and adolescents, and the people that support them, including family members, health professionals, educators and support workers. Their clinicians are experienced in adapting individual therapy to focus on engagement and rapport building to build a strong therapeutic relationship. They also offer interest based groups for social connection.
The Kidd Clinic recognise that school can be a minefield for PDA-ers. They often advocate for individualised accommodations at school and have experience in facilitating Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) sessions with educators and students. For parents they offer ongoing parent support sessions, one-off Problem Solving Sessions (PSS), support with CPS implementation, on-demand online training and parent groups.
Wembley, Canning Vale, Joondalup
AIM Therapy for Children provides holistic and individualised sessions and can provide neurodiversity affirming support to adapt to each child’s unique needs. This approach focuses on understanding the child’s strengths and tailoring interventions to support their ability to manage everyday demands.
Their therapists work with the child’s support systems including families, schools, day care centres and community programs to provide education, support, and advocacy to enable clients to participate in their everyday activities in a way that works for them.
Mount Pleasant, Canning Vale
If you, or a family member, might benefit from support from therapists who understand and work sensitively with PDAers, Amherst Pyschology may be able to help.
Their practitioners can help with self acceptance, emotion regulation, anxiety, relationships, restructuring routines and approaches to parenting, and many other challenges that can occur for PDAers of all ages.
Disclaimer: The providers listed here have self-nominated themselves and their practices as being PDA-informed and/or neuro-affirming. The list is provided as information only to make it easier for Perth families to find services. It does not constitute a recommendation of any of these services. Families should carry out their own research before selecting a provider that will suit their family’s needs.
Pia
Perth Kids Hub was created and is run by me, Pia Hazelwood.
I'm a Perth Mum of two gorgeous curly haired kiddos, wifey and a communications and marketing professional.
Since our first kiddo was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect 10 years ago, our family has been on a mystery-shopping tour of (seemingly) every kind of paediatric specialist and therapist in Perth.
Along the way we have met the most amazingly talented and dedicated people who are passionate about helping our little (and big) people to flourish. Whatever that looks like and means to them.
Perth Kids Hub has given me a creative outlet and a way of helping families to find their own amazing team, who can help their child or children understand how their brains and bodies work.
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