Episode 7: Autism Learning Lab's Family Retreats: A Model for Family Growth

Chris welcomes Maura Nolan, a licensed professional counselor who specializes in working with young adults, families, and adults with PTSD, neurodivergence, and psychosis spectrum disorders. She is currently pursuing her passions in nature-based and wilderness therapy and is working towards licensure as a psychedelic-assisted therapist and facilitator in Colorado. Together, Chris and Maura discuss Autism Learning Lab’s family retreat model and the specific benefits that parents and other family members can expect to experience through their unique program structure. Links:Autism Learning Lab Website: https://www.autismlearninglab.com/Email: [email protected]:[3:45 - 4:26] Maura: The other piece to this, beyond diagnosis, is that I’ve found psychological testing can be a lot about empowerment. So, when individuals and families are understanding more of the why behind certain struggles or behaviors, they can start to make more informed decisions, right? So it can shift this narrative from, what’s wrong, to how do we support this moving forward, right? And ultimately, individuals becoming the experts on their brain and it can also really help with individuals feeling seen and understood, right? So with this knowledge, they can advocate for themselves, develop new strategies that truly work for their unique experience and their brains. [5:25 - 5:49] Maura: That’s why these retreats are designed not just around psycho-education but a lot of experiential learning as well, right? So, we want to be able to address family dynamics as they’re happening in the moment, give parents and families opportunity to practice new skills to better communicate - so they feel like they’re walking away with knowledge of how to handle maybe difficult situations moving forward.[19:05 -19:57] Maura: It’s really, really important for parents to explore their own emotions, parenting styles, the ways that they communicate when navigating their child’s Autism diagnosis. This self-awareness will directly impact how they support their child, right, and foster that stronger parent-child connection. So Autism shapes, right, how an individual experiences the world. Whether it’s through communication, social interaction, sensory processing - so for parents, there’s such an importance of them understanding how Autism influences their child's functioning, right? Because that is key to how they respond from an understanding, empathic, and also an effective, and productive place. So, the retreat will support parents in a couple of different ways.