Trauma Through a Neurodivergent Lens: Understanding Trauma in Autism and ADHD (Thursday 10 December 2026)

This webinar explores how the lived experiences of autistic and ADHD people shape vulnerability to trauma and what this means for psychological assessment, formulation and clinical practice.

Psychologists increasingly work with autistic and ADHD people across a wide range of services, yet trauma and neurodivergence are often taught and conceptualised separately. This can contribute to diagnostic overshadowing, with trauma responses being misattributed to autism or ADHD, or neurodevelopmental differences being interpreted primarily through a trauma framework. There is also a risk that standard trauma assessments and psychological practices may not adequately account for differences in communication, sensory processing, interoception, emotional expression or executive functioning. The webinar aims to strengthen psychologists’ ability to recognise trauma-related difficulties, distinguish overlapping presentations, develop more nuanced formulations and reduce the risk of invalidating or retraumatising neurodivergent clients. This need is supported by Rumball et al. (2020), Quinton et al. (2024), Trundle et al. (2023), and Cook et al. (2021).

The webinar will integrate current research on trauma, autism and ADHD with neuroaffirmative and trauma-informed psychological practice. It will consider trauma across the lifespan, including relational misattunement, bullying, victimisation, masking, chronic misunderstanding, sensory overwhelm and environmental mismatch. The content will encourage critical thinking about causation, overlapping presentations and the limitations of standard assessment tools, and will emphasise developmental history, context, chronology and individual meaning.

What will I learn?

The learning outcomes for this webinar are to be able to:

• Describe how autistic and ADHD lived experiences can contribute to increased vulnerability to traumatic stress across the lifespan
• Recognise developmental, relational, sensory and systemic contributors to trauma in neurodivergent people.
• Differentiate between trauma responses and characteristics of autism and ADHD within a neuroaffirmative formulation
• Reflect on how psychological practice can reduce the risk of re-traumatisation.

What is the course structure? 

Date: Thursday 10 December 2026

Time: 15:00 - 17:00

This is a two-hour webinar. 

Webinar joining details: The Zoom link will be available in the webinar page within BPS Learn, and you will also receive an email notification 24 hours before the webinar. Please ensure you check your spam/junk folder for an email from noreply@bps.org.uk.

Please note, we use Zoom to host our webinars. If you require any help with Zoom, please refer to these Zoom instructions. 

This webinar is available to book until 15:00 on Wednesday 9 December 2026 and is available in English only. 

Is this course being recorded?

This webinar is being recorded. You will have access to the recording for 12 weeks after the live session.

How long will I have access to this course for? 

You will have access to this webinar and it's supporting resources for 12 weeks after the live session.

Will I receive a certificate for completing this course?

Attendees of this webinar will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

Is this course right for me?

This webinar is aimed at psychologists and trainee psychologists across clinical, counselling, educational, forensic, health, occupational, neuropsychological, coaching and academic settings, as well as members of the wider psychological workforce working with appropriate supervision.

It is relevant to practitioners at any stage of their career. 

Learners will develop greater confidence in recognising how neurodivergent lived experiences may increase vulnerability to trauma, differentiating trauma responses from neurodevelopmental characteristics, identifying diagnostic overshadowing, and producing more accessible, individualised and neuroaffirmative formulations. The webinar will support improved psychological reasoning across assessment, consultation, research and intervention. 

Who is the presenter? 

Dr Jo Coombs

Dr Jo Coombs is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist specialising in neurodevelopmental assessment and psychological therapies with neurodivergent people. She has extensive experience working therapeutically with neurodivergent people across NHS and independent practice and has particular interests in trauma, attachment, masking, burnout and the complex interplay between neurodevelopmental differences and psychological wellbeing. Alongside her clinical work, Dr Coombs provides professional training, consultation and clinical supervision to psychologists. 

How much does it cost?

Price: £91.67 (+VAT)

Members: £55.00 (+VAT)

Please log in to see your best price. 

In addition to the site policies this course is subject to additional terms and conditions.

Our accessibility statement gives more details on our approach. 

Group discounts

If you or your colleagues are looking to book onto this course as a group you can make savings by booking five or more places.

Invoicing

In order to request a quote for five or more learners, please email cpd@bps.org.uk. If you are looking to book for fewer than 5 learners please proceed directly to requesting an invoice.

To request an invoice for you or your group, please complete this invoice request form. We also provide guidance to support this process. Please note, to raise an invoice you will need to provide a Purchase Order. Once the invoice has been paid we will provide your learners with details of how to access their learning.

Contact 

This course has been organised by BPS Professional Practice and Development. You can contact us at cpd@bps.org.uk

You may also be interested in our other courses on BPS Learn, including those related to neurodiversity, trauma and your professional skills.

You can also explore the range of BPS books available via Routledge where BPS members receive 25% discount.