When Autism Meets Attachment in the Therapy Room

£9.99

Autism & Attachment in the Therapy Room
Tutor: Darren Sharpe & Jo Oxley

In this 2.5 hour training, Darren Sharpe explores the intersection between autism and attachment in the therapy room, with a focus on helping therapists avoid misreading autistic clients and adapt practice in ways that support safety and engagement.

The session begins by framing autism as a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference, with highly variable presentations. Darren introduces key ideas including the spectrum model, the neurodiversity perspective, and differences in communication, social interaction and flexibility. The training invites therapists to consider which behaviours in therapy may be autistic traits rather than resistance, disengagement or emotional avoidance.

A strong focus of the workshop is sensory processing and the nervous system. Darren explores how sensory sensitivity or sensory seeking can shape emotional regulation, relational safety and therapy engagement. Participants are encouraged to think about behaviour as communication, and to ask what the client’s nervous system may be communicating in the room.

The training also includes an attachment theory refresher, looking at secure, avoidant, ambivalent/anxious and disorganised attachment patterns. Darren then explores where autism and attachment can overlap, and how autism may sometimes look like attachment difficulty. For example, reduced eye contact may be about sensory regulation, independence may be misread as avoidance, and literal communication may be mistaken for emotional distance.

A key part of the session focuses on therapy-room misreads. Darren invites therapists to reflect on how clients who appear disengaged, distant, avoidant or emotionally unavailable may in fact be overwhelmed, processing, regulating or communicating differently.

The workshop includes case study exploration and practical strategy building. Participants consider clients who speak in monologues, struggle with emotional language, or appear distant but attend consistently. The session then moves into autism-supportive adaptations, including clear structure, predictable pacing, explicit expectations, processing time, sensory adjustments and open repair of misunderstandings.

This recording is suitable for counsellors, therapists and mental health professionals who want to better understand autistic clients through both autism and attachment lenses, and adapt their work to reduce harm and increase therapeutic safety.

Key clinical themes

• Autism as a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference
• Neurodiversity-affirming therapeutic practice
• Understanding highly variable autistic presentations
• Sensory processing and nervous system safety
• How sensory safety supports relational safety
• Attachment patterns in the therapy relationship
• Where autism and attachment may overlap
• Avoiding misreads around eye contact, distance and engagement
• Understanding behaviour as communication
• Working with clients who appear distant but attend consistently
• Adapting therapy through structure, clarity and predictability
• Supporting emotional language and processing time
• Reducing sensory load in the therapy room
• Using both autism and attachment lenses in formulation

This training offers practical, reflective guidance for therapists who want to work more confidently and safely with autistic clients in the therapy room.

PLEASE NOTE: The time of the recording has been adapted from a live session and includes time for reflection