9-week Autism Parental Stress Relief Program

Autism specific parenting 
program helping Aussie families

Join our flexible online program with expert counselling and lifetime support.

Next Course Starts June 12, 2023

We've worked with over 20,000 parents and helped more than 1,000 families with autistic children,
aged three years right into adulthood, improve their daily lives.

3 ways this program will help:

1

Helping You

We address your mental health first, so you are in a better place to support your child.  

2

Understanding Your Child

We teach you to identify the reason behind the behaviour so you can apply better strategies for your child.

3

Managing Behaviour

We give you proven practical and psychological tools to reduce meltdowns, anxiety, school avoidance and aggressive behaviours.

"Absolutely life changing program.  My daughter is 19 and I truly wish that I had access to such a program when she was first diagnosed" 

Simone Downie

How the course is delivered
100% online. Access it from anywhere, learn when you can find the time, we are completely flexible.

A

Lifetime Access

Jump in and out or repeat the program as often as you need.  

We know life is already hectic, so you have access to our programs & counselling services forever.  You also get access to all 14 of our other programs as a part of your one-off enrolment fee.
Can't start this round? No worries, enrol now and start on a later program, we run it 6 times per year, but spaces are limited.

B

Weekly Video

Approx. 90 mins long, this is the core of the course.  Just find time to watch this during the week and you will be on track.

C

Daily bite-sized tools

10-15 minute tools and tips to put things into practice.  These are audio files you can listen to on the go.

D

Fortnightly Counselling Q&A

We meet online at 8:30pm AEST every second week, as well as chat through our closed FB group to ask questions and hear from other parents. We record the sessions so you don't miss out.

Snapshot of what
you'll learn...

Week 1 & 2  - Helping You First

We work on your mental health.  What's triggering you?  We upgrade your thinking and teach you tools to reduce overwhelm and change your approach to everyday challenges. You'll see instant results!


Week 3 - Emotional Regulation

Emotion Coaching for Emotional Regulation and Secure Attachment.  What you say and do in those interactions with your child really does make a huge difference.  We'll take you through it step-by-step.

Week 4 - Meltdowns & Aggression

Managing Meltdowns, Shutdowns and Aggressive Behaviours.  There are reasons this behaviour makes sense to your child. We'll take you through practical and psychological strategies to help here too. 

Week 5 & 6 - Understanding Behaviour

'What must my child be thinking/feeling to be behaving this way?' We set goals relevant to your child as well as addressing anxiety & supporting a child with PDA.  

Week 7 - School Avoidance 

We go through more behaviour management strategies as well as breaking down the complex issue of school avoidance.   Let us give you a different perspective on this you can share with your child's school!

Week 8 & 9 - Other relationships

This is where we look at the other relationships including sibling rivalry, marital conflict and other key peope in your life. Empowering you to advocate, keeping it all together and where to go from here.

Anglicare Victoria

Child & Family Services

The session information is easy to understand, inclusive and likely to benefit culturally diverse and complex need families who would ordinarily struggle to access such comprehensive and supportive materials.

Ange Maree

Mum of neurodiverse son

If you want a program to help you manage a neurodiverse kid this is it! Jackie Hall knows her stuff.  She has helped me greatly, and still is.  I highly recommend this program.

Course Fee & Inclusions

9wk program with lifetime access & support +
bonus inclusion


$1495

OR choose 3 x $500 monthly paymentS


  • Weekly Videos to reduce stress and understand your child better.
  • Bite-sized daily tools to put things into practice.
  • Live online support from professional counsellors and peer support from parents just like you.
  • 4 x Live Q&A sessions with Jackie Hall (Professional Counsellor and Course Creator).
  • Bonus -   Access to all 14 of our other PSC Programs for life.  (see column below)

Bonus Inclusions


  • Lifetime access to all 14 PSC Parenting Programs
  • Lifetime access to any LIVE ONLINE programs
  • Monthly webinars with PSC founder, Jackie Hall
  • Access to our Private (monitored) Facebook Community
  • All 5 Ebooks by Jackie Hall (in PDF or Kindle)

14 Programs included as BONUS are:

  • 28-day Tame Your Temper Parenting Challenge
  • 28-day Awakening The Peaceful Parent Within
  • 6-week Truce Program (for Marital R'ships)
  • 6-week Sibling Rivalry Relief Program
  • 9-week Happy Mum Support Program
  • 6-week Stress Free Kids, Stress Free Parenting Program (school aged children)
  • 4-week Be The Change Program (for Stress, Depression & Anxiety
  • 28-day Find My Calm Within The Chaos Challenge (for parents of children under 4 yo)
  • 12-week Postnatal Depression Recover Program
  • 5-week Adjusting to The Change Program
  • 21-day Give Me Back My Time Program
  • 28-day Make My Child Listen Program
  • Recording of The Wired For Happiness Seminar  - How to teach your kids to love life and avoid Stress
  • 30-day Mindset, Emotions & Mayhem Project

*Conditions Apply:  Please note if your invoices are directly paid by the NDIA (Agency Managed) unfortunately we cannot invoice to these plans as we have no access to the NDIS service provider portal. Payment Plans are available.

Ilyad A. 

Dad of 7yo autistic nonverbal son

This course has guided me to a better understanding of my emotions when dealing with my kids, not only my son who is nonverbal and on the spectrum but also helped me dealing with my neurotypical daughter.

Bec Buick

Mum of 12yo autistic daughter

I rang this place accidentally and its the best wrong number I've ever called ;) My daughter's NDIS plan covered the cost and it has been amazing, we are only 3 weeks into the course and it has already been invaluable.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Parental Stress Centre's experience working with parents of autistic children?

The Parental Stress Centre has been working with parents since 2007.  We have worked with hundreds of families with autistic children outside and within our autism specific program.  We believe every parent knows their child best and is their best teacher.  We provide support for parents to improve their wellbeing, and lots of evidenced-based tools so they are better equipped to support their child.

Jackie Hall, founder of The Parental Stress Centre and this course facilitator, is a qualified counsellor and member of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA). She has worked in mental health for the past 12 years, with extensive experience in trauma, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, eating disorders, and more. 

  • Specialised skills in CBT for Anxiety and Depression.
  • 11 years of Trauma Counselling experience including EMDR (for PTSD, anxiety and depression).
  • Residential Youth Care, working with complex needs autistic children.
  • Training for Challenging child behaviours, Solution-Focussed Therapy and Trauma-informed approaches.
  • Registered ‘Circle of Security’ Facilitator
  • Tuning into Teens accredited facilitator

Working in residential youth facilities, Jackie often worked with autistic children with co-existing complex backgrounds, applying the very strategies you will learn in this program, including therapeutic crisis intervention strategies for complex and aggressive behaviours.

This program is absolutely neurodiverse affirming.  We are not here to 'fix' anyone and just want to help both parents and children become the best version of themselves possible.  

We are all about understanding why behaviour makes sense to your child and giving you a whole bunch of tools and strategies to help both of you.

As part of this course creation, Jackie Hall also became an Applied Behaviour Therapist, however soon realised that some of their approaches were not in alignment with our values and thus, we do not teach ABA principles in our courses, hence why we do not openly advertise this qualification.

The program is CBT based and 'child-centric'.  Jackie has a trauma therapy informed background and is passionate about helping people understand pain-based behaviour.

What is the time commitment for this program?

You will get the most out of the course if you can find approximately 2-3 hours per week.

The content is delivered as daily bite-sized lessons Monday through Friday,  and weekly videos, all of which can be consumed at your convenience and pace.


You do not have to be online at any particular times to view, read or listen.


The daily lessons take on average, around 15 minutes per day and can be listened to or read.


The weekly videos take about an hour on average (some a little more and some a little less) and are the core of the program.  If you are too time poor, just find the time to watch the weekly video and catch the daily lessons when you can. There is no pressure to watch the videos in a certain time frame.


We deliberately do NOT give you daily lessons on Saturdays and Sundays to allow weekends as an opportunity to catch up if any lessons were missed during the week, and to give you some space to digest the week's content.

It's also an opportunity to use this time to watch the weekly video too. 


The only times that are set are when we have our 4 x live group webinars that are run as an optional Q&A session you can attend if you want to have a real time conversation with Jackie.  They are held fortnightly, generally starting at 8.30pm AEDST.

If you cannot attend them, support from Jackie can also be given through the closed Facebook group specifically for participants of this round of the program only and via email if you don't wish to post in the group.

How do I know if mine / my child's NDIS plan will cover the course fee?

There are three criteria a plan needs to meet for you to be able to use your NDIS funds for this course.


  1. You need to be plan managed or self-managed (unfortunately, we cannot use NDIA managed plans).

  2. You need to have available funding in your Capacity Building - Improved Daily Living.

  3. Your plan must include goals for your child that are similar to emotional regulation or mental health improvement.

The line item we use under Capacity Building is #15_038_0117_1_3 - Parent & Carer Training. 


NDIS don't pay for a future dated program, so how will this work?

Some LAC's and plan managers will tell you that they cannot pay for this course until the date of commencement, as the NDIS does not pay for future dated programs. 


Although our 9 week Program itself has a start date, as part of this program all participants get immediate access to our full suite of 15 programs and online support and webinars once payment is made through our gold program.


Because the gold program provides immediate and lifetime access, thus has no end date, this satisfies the NDIS requirement that the service be delivered at the time of invoicing.
 

I have NDIS Funding and meet the criteria. What do I do next?

 Our process is super easy!

All you have to do is click on the button below to fill in the NDIS Invoice Request form, and we will take care of the rest. 

Here's the full process of what happens next...

What if it's really close to the start date? Have I left it too late?

No. Not at all.  Many people sign up to the program in the final days, and even the first few days after the program begins, and that's completely fine. 


Whenever we are close to the starting date of the course and it is unlikely that we will receive payment before we commence, here's what we do:


  • If Plan managed - we simply call your plan manager and get confirmation that your invoice is being processed and that verification is enough for us to see that payment is pending and we are happy to set you up on the program right away. We don't need to wait for funds to finalise before you can get started.

  • If Self-managed - Once you submit your claim though the NDIS or MyGov portal, just take a screen shot of the receipt you get after you submit the invoice, and we will take that as verification that payment is pending and set you up on the system.  If for some reason the NDIS declines your payment and we cannot help you to troubleshoot, we simply withdraw you from the program.  You would NOT be obligated to fund the program yourself. 

You see, it's super simple.  The next step is to click on the button below to fill in the NDIS Invoice Request Form and we'll be able to get the ball rolling for you.

Is this program a replacement for face-to-face services?

This program is designed as an 'in between session' support service. 


With the increase of wait times for psychological support and other services, never before have we more needed an online solution to help parents manage stressful situations. 


While face-to-face psychological support and services will always be superior to online support, the reality is that you see your psychologist once a week, fortnight or month and then have to wait until your next session before you can troubleshoot a problem.  Our program assists you in between these appointment times: providing strategies to implement the information provided in the appointments, troubleshoot behaviours at school while they are happening and provide in-the-moment support during stressful times at home.


Because this program provides lifetime access to online support from a qualified counsellor 7 days a week, you can be reaching out for help whenever you need it, and from the comfort of your own home. 


And, because you are getting this support for life, you can access it through any of the stages of your child's life. Utilise the support service, as well as the 15 programs available to you, to help you to navigate through the different ages and stages of your child's development. 

I'm in the planning/review stage of getting an NDIS plan. Any tips to get this program funded?

When you have your initial plan/review meeting with the NDIS, you will be setting some key goals for your child to meet.  NDIS funding is designed to support the achievement of these goals.


If you want to get this program fee included in your child's NDIS plan, you need to demonstrate how this program, along with the suite of programs (15 of them) you get as part of this fee, is going to help you to learn the skills necessary to ACHIEVE YOUR CHILDS' GOALS (this is important to the NDIS).


Setting and meeting your child's goals are what's going to be the focal point from the NDIS perspective, so the more you can convince them that our programs are going to help you to obtain the skills to meet those goals, the better stead you'll be to get funded.


Often 'emotional regulation' is a goal that aligns with our program, as Jackie is teaching you skills that can assist your child to regulate their emotions and by regulating your emotions, you're going to be able to regulate your child's more easily too.


FYI, your LAC (local area coordinator) may not remember to tell you this, but any specific request for funding that you make has to be submitted, so it would pay to specifically ask for this course fee to be funded somewhere in the program.


Typically, it will come under the 'Parent & Carer Training' line item, which sits in the Capacity Building - Improved Daily Living section.


Here is a link to an itemised costing report that breaks down the program and has a course overview that aligns with the emotional regulation goals and also contains key line item from the current NDIS price guide in the  Capacity Building budget - 'Parent & Carer Training' - Line item # 15_038_0117_1_3.  You can download this document and take it to your LAC so they can submit your request to have this course included in your plan.


Some LACs and plan managers may try to tell you that this program is not NDIS registered and therefore cannot be accessed.  However, this only applies to NDIA managed plans. Whilst the Parental Stress Centre is not a registered NDIS service provider, participants whose plans are self managed or plan managed may use their choice and control to engage non-registered NDIS service providers.


In summary, if you are self-managed or plan managed, or you have partial plan or self-managed sections of the plan that have access to capacity building – improved daily living, adequate funding available, and the program aligns with the child’s goals, this program can be eligible for funding through an NDIS plan.

Watch our (15 minute) presentation on Alleviating Anxiety in Autism

Feedback from parents
just like you...

Wendy M.

12YO autistic Son

I feel like I have entered a whole new world of information and possibilities on how to manage the difficult situations that we are faced with every day. 

I would highly recommend this program to any parents who are struggling with their own emotional responses and the emotional responses of their children.

simone d.

19yo Autistic daughter 

My daughter is 19 and I truly wish that I had access to such a program when she was first diagnosed.

Jackie has been a constant source of encouragement and assistance. I would say to anyone thinking about embarking on the journey – do it for yourself and do it for your family!

lisa a.

6yo autistic son 

I am currently doing the course and it is so much better than I expected.  No wait-lists or cancellations because of lockdowns and all that stuff.  No appointments to rush to, just quality information to help you and your child.

Lisa D

9YO son ASD3/ADHD

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for creating this program.

Before I commenced this program, my biggest challenge was where to begin? I knew mine and my family's lives were in turmoil but where was I supposed to start? You were able to easily identify the different challenges we were facing and provided multiple approaches and solutions. 

Sylvia h.

12yo son ASD3/ADHD/ PDA/OCD/SPD/GDD/ Intellectual Disability Expressive Language Delay & Dispraxia 

The changes I have noticed have been subtle yet significant. I have used the many tools learnt along the way and my son has responded well to them, creating a shift within our dynamic. It’s been wonderful. 

The brilliance about doing this program is it can be at your own pace and the support you receive from Jackie and other parents is a blessing you never knew you needed. It’s life changing. 

anita s.

15yo asd teen 

I highly recommend this program to all ASD parents - regardless of where you are on your parenting journey as we all need to review our negative thinking and our approach to everyone around us.


This program will boost your confidence so that you can be the parent advocate you need to be but also enjoy the daily ups and downs.

Mandy H.

6yo autistic son

This program has been amazing.  I have learnt so much and as a result my house is a lot calmer.  I am better able to handle my stress and anxiety levels.  I recommend this program to anyone looking for a change.

Mamey N.

4yo aSD/ADHD son

This is by far one of the best programs I have ever been a part of. It is information rich and has very practical activities to help. It is easy to follow and if you do the activities you will see huge changes in both yourself and your child.

Sarah M.

neurodiverse family

Always so informative and helpful.  So glad I got a PSC membership. It is so worthwhile and all the info that's provided is something you can go back to and refer to for the future.