Supporting Healthy Friendships: Practical strategies for supporting healthy, authentic relationships.

Helping young people build authentic, safe and meaningful connections without asking them to mask who they are.

Friendships can be one of the most rewarding, and one of the most challenging, aspects of growing up for neurodivergent children and teenagers. Yet too often, support focuses on teaching neurodivergent young people to behave more like their non-neurodivergent peers, rather than helping them develop relationships that feel safe, authentic and mutually respectful.

In this practical and research-informed webinar, we explore friendships through a neuroaffirmative lens, helping parents, teachers and professionals better understand the unique social experiences of neurodivergent young people.

Together, we will explore how differences in communication, sensory processing, emotional regulation, masking, social energy and the Double Empathy Problem can influence friendships, while providing practical strategies to help children and teenagers recognise healthy relationships, establish boundaries, navigate conflict and build genuine connection without compromising their identity.

Whether you are supporting a child who longs for friendships, feels overwhelmed by them, or is navigating increasingly complex social dynamics, this webinar will provide compassionate, practical guidance you can begin using immediately.

What You’ll Learn:

✅ What Makes a Friend?
Exploring the qualities of healthy friendships, different friendship styles, and recognising that there is no one "right" way to connect with others.

✅Understanding Different Levels of Relationships
Learning how relationships naturally vary in closeness, trust and responsibility, and why different people belong in different circles of our lives.

✅ Recognising Red Flags and Staying Safe
Identifying unhealthy friendship patterns such as manipulation, exclusion, people-pleasing, coercion, love bombing, bullying and boundary violations, while developing strategies to respond confidently.

✅ Building Healthy Boundaries
Understanding personal boundaries, consent, self-advocacy and how to say "no" without guilt while respecting the boundaries of others.

✅ Supporting Authentic Connection
Exploring how masking, the Double Empathy Problem, sensory needs and social energy influence friendships, alongside practical strategies to build relationships that are genuine, reciprocal and sustainable.

Who Should Attend:

• Autistic individuals
• Parents, carers, and educators of autistic children and teens
• Professionals supporting autistic clients

📅 Date & Time: 13th October 2026 7pm-8.00pm via ZOOM

⏳ Duration: 1 hour (Recording available for 1 week after the event)

📚 Resources: eBook of strategies and practical resources included

💻 Secure your spot now