About This Training
The quotation marks are the whole point.
Most clinicians working with couples and families will encounter neurodivergent clients, and traditional systemic approaches often position neurodifference as the problem to be solved. The behavior gets pathologized, accommodations get framed as special favors, and the neurodivergent family member absorbs the message that the way their brain works is what is wrong with the family.
This 3-hour live training challenges that framing. KJ Glaves walks clinicians through how classic systemic models, structural, behavioral, and psychodynamic, can inadvertently pathologize neurodivergent family members, and introduces alternative approaches for working more ethically with neurodiverse family systems. You will be introduced to Collaborative & Proactive Solutions as an alternative to behavioral compliance approaches, and to the concept of competing access needs when more than one family member is neurodivergent.
This training is grounded in Lovewell’s anti-oppressive, trauma-informed andragogy and a health-equity lens, and may be applied toward Washington State’s health equity continuing education requirement under RCW 43.70.613 and WAC 246-12-830.
REGISTER NOWWhat We’ll Explore
Where Classic Systemic Models Go Sideways
- How structural, behavioral, and psychodynamic frameworks locate the “problem” in the person
- What that costs neurodivergent family members and the family as a whole
- Distinguishing distress that needs support from difference that needs accommodation
Competing Access Needs
- What it means when more than one family member is neurodivergent
- Recognizing the dynamic in a clinical case
- Working with competing access needs in real time
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions
- Concrete principles you can use in session
- A clinical alternative to behavioral compliance approaches
- Case examples that anchor the practice
Ethics, Autonomy & the Clinician’s Lens
- An ethical rationale for centering client autonomy
- Examining the neuronormative assumptions we carry into the room
- How this reshapes assessment, referral, and documentation
Learning Objectives
Continuing Education (CE) Information
NBCC Approved Continuing Education Provider™
ACEP No. 7776
Lovewell Initiatives, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7776. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Lovewell Initiatives, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
This training is eligible for 3 NBCC continuing education hours. Participants must attend the full training and complete the required evaluation to receive a certificate of completion.
Washington State Health Equity CE
This training counts as 3 hours of Washington State Department of Health health equity continuing education, consistent with RCW 43.70.613 and WAC 246-12-830. Content addresses bias, structural competency, and self-reflection on the clinician’s social position in keeping with the WA DOH standards for health equity CE.
Registration & Pricing
Equity Pricing
A limited number of equity-based or hardship-rate seats are available.
Email us at [email protected] to request one. No documentation needed.
About the Trainer
MEET
KJ (Katie Jo) Glaves
MA, LMFT, CMHS (she/they)
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist · Anarres Psychotherapy
KJ Glaves is a licensed LMFT in Washington State and has specialized in working with neurodivergent children, teens, and families for over 10 years. KJ holds an MA in Psychology with a concentration in Couple & Family Therapy and Art Therapy from Antioch University Seattle. KJ is associate faculty at City University of Seattle, a Senior Lecturer at Antioch University Seattle, and is part of the University of Washington’s INCLUDE/MHI on intellectual and developmental disabilities.
KJ has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on neurodiversity and is currently designing the AAMFT’s certification course on neurodiversity. KJ is multiply neurodivergent and brings both clinical and lived experience to this work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Accessibility and how this session works
Format orientation
Recording and policies
Conflict of interest disclosure
