9-week Autism Parental Stress Relief Program for School Refusal

Overcoming challenges like school refusal is possible with the right approaches...

9-week autism specific parenting program with lifetime support 

7 Live Programs per year - enrol now.

We know there are loads of therapies out there to help your child, but who's helping you?

"The sessions support parents to build confidence and self-awareness with very practical evidence-based tools to understand and manage child behaviour." 

Child and Family Services - Anglicare Vic

"As a teacher in a special education setting that works solely with Autistic children, I found the webinar on School Refusal exceptional. I would highly recommend it to both parents and teachers."

Sandy Beatty - Special Education Teacher

  • Helping you;  We address your mental health and overwhelm first, so you are in a better place to help your child. 
  • Understanding your child; We help you to understand the thinking behind the behaviour so you can apply the right strategies for your child.
  • Managing Behaviour; We give you practical and psychological tools to reduce meltdowns, anxiety, school refusal, PDA and aggressive behaviours.
  • We provide a Supportive Environment as people completely misunderstand your life and your child's behaviour.
  • We've helped over 1,000 parents of children 3yrs to adulthood

How the program is delivered

100% online through the PSC App.

A

Own the program for life

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

We know life is already hectic.  So you can repeat the program as many times as you like and you have access to our counselling services forever.  You also get access to all 14 of our other programs for life as a part of your one-off enrolment fee. Cant start this round? No worries, enrol now and just start on a later program, we run it 6 times per year.

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, so you can ask questions and hear from other parents. Also connect in our closed FB group, ask questions and connect with likeminded parents. 

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.

Wendy Mcconaghy

Mum of 12 yo 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.  

Course Fee & Inclusions

9wk program with lifetime access & support +
bonus inclusion


$1495

OR choose 3 x $500 monthly paymentS


  • Bite-sized daily tools to help you and your child.
  • Weekly Videos - to help alleviate stress and understand the thinking behind the behaviour.
  • Live online support from professional counsellors and peer support from parents just like you.
  • 4 x Live Webinars 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 the PSC Suite - 14 Additional Parenting Programs
  • Lifetime access to any LIVE ONLINE programs
  • Monthly webinars with PSC founder, Jackie Hall
  • Access to our Private Facebook Community monitored by our counsellors 24/7 FOREVER
  • 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

Snapshot of what you'll learn...

Reduce your stress

Learn to reduce your stress, regardless of your circumstances, so you are in a better space to help your family.

Mind/Body connection

Understand how the mind and body can keep you and your child in a heightened state of stress, depression or anxiety.

Why their behaviour makes sense

Learn why their behaviour makes sense to them and what you can do about it.

Strategies for behaviour

Prevent and manage meltdowns, anxiety, aggressive behaviour and school refusal. Including co-regulation strategies.

Tools to implement immediately

Step by step practical tools you can implement immediately to improve your child's wellbeing.

Sibling rivalry & other relationships

Maintain strong connections with your other children and learn to parent on the same page, without conflict.

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 Carer executing Therapeutic Crisis Intervention 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.

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.

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.


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?

We know that at times, anything to do with the NDIS is complicated, but surprisingly our process is 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 invoice to the NDIS 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.  Now all you need to do is 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 the uncertainties of COVID-19 lockdowns, never before have we more needed an online solution to help parents manage stressful situations. 


While face-to-face psychological support 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. 


Because this program provides lifetime access 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. 


In addition, you are getting this support for life, meaning you can access it through any of the stages of your child's life, using the support service as well as the 15 programs that will be 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 to them 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), then it will likely be funded.


Setting and meeting your child's goals are what's going to be the focus 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 usually aligns with a program like this as I'm 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' section which is the best place to receive it.  The other place is the Capacity Building - Improved Daily Living section, however if you can get the P& C Training section with funding, then the CB section can be left for direct support for your child.


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 I just spoke about, and also contains key line items from the current NDIS price guide where I've highlighted on page 108 and 104, the two, line items that are most popularly if you do end up using your Capacity Building section.  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.

If you have the funding available under your core support budget, these line items won't apply.


Typically page 108 is where we do the most invoicing, under Line item # 15_038_0117_1_3 because most people don't know to ask for specific parent and carer training in their core budget.


Also, 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.


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 and adequate amounts available, and the program aligns with the child’s goals, this program can be eligible for funding.

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

Want more detail? Here's a breakdown on topics covered each week:

Week One: Why do I keep getting triggered?

"I shouldn't be getting so angry or upset.  I should be doing a better job.  I shouldn't take it so personally when my child behaves the way the do.  I know my child can't help it, so why do I get so worked up?."


This is the catch cry of many parents raising an autistic child.  This first module helps you make sense of your own stress, depression and anxiety and why you get reactive, even though you know not to.  


In this module you'll learn:

  • The four specific thinking lenses (viewpoints) we look through that trigger stressful emotions and lead to depression and/or anxiety
  • Understand what's happening in your brain to trigger emotional responses that are irrational
  • To let go of perfectionism and pressure to get everything right (even your child's life).
  • Understand more about the mindset behind common overwhelming emotions
  • How to prevent angry outbursts with your children
  • Get an understanding of why your child is being triggered emotionally too.

Week Two:  How do I accept my reality & remain calm?

This second week helps you to begin changing your mindset when faced with the challenges of family life with an autistic child, so that overwhelm doesn't become your default. 

In this module you'll learn:

  • Increase your distress tolerance & learn flexibility when things don’t go to plan or when your children are not co-operating.
  • Learn how to find the hidden good in the bad.
  • Change your thinking to reduce emotional distress
  • Exercises to stay calm in the heat of a moment
  • Learn how to stop taking your child's behaviour personally, so you don't get reactive

Week Three:  The mindset game changer

Week Three becomes a game changer.   You will apply your improved thinking and mindfulness skills to ANY situation to keep you present, rational, solution focussed and out of overwhelm. 

In this module you'll learn:

  • Apply the 5 step TRACK Process to you and your life
  • Apply the 5 step TRACK Process to working on your child’s behaviour 
  • Learn how to stop anxiety around the future of your child’s life
  • How to stop anger and guilt in their tracks
  • More tools to shift your mindset and find your calm

Week Four:  Why your child's emotions and behaviour makes sense

Sometimes behaviour management strategies can be so generic and don't work on your child because it's not factoring in why your child is behaving the way they are in the first place. 

This week we begin to shift focus from yours and your child's emotions, to your child's behaviour.  We start by teaching you how to answer the question, 'what must my child be thinking or feeling to be behaving this way?'

It's imperative that you understand the function of the behaviour and why it makes sense to your child, before you can assign the right behaviour management approach, making it child-centred.

From this place of accurate understanding, you will recognise exactly what your child is needing to learn and can set clear and specific goals that you can begin working on in the home and in therapies.  

In this week, we also look at the goals you want to set for yourself.  

In this module you'll learn:

  • What is your child’s behaviour communicating?
  • Investigation tools to help you understand why your child's behaviour makes complete sense to your child
  • How to set specific goals for your child that gets to the heart of the real problem that's fuelling their behaviour.
  • What do I want?  What do I need for my life to improve?

Week Five:  Break week

This week is designed to give you a chance to practice what you've learnt so far and to digest the valuable information you have received. 

By this week you would have learnt the tools to become more patient, change your thought processes, help your child with their mindset and start to get curious about their behaviour, understanding why they do what they do. 

This week will help you to get clarity on what direction you will focus on to help your child progress and improve certain behaviours, so that in week 6, you'll know exactly what you're going to start working on to bridge the gap between where your child is at, and where you want them to be. 

We also know from running this program in the past, that life can throw you many curve balls that can set you back in the program and that can be discouraging. 

So this break week is also a chance for you to catch up if you need to, while still getting support from your professional counsellors when you need to ask any questions or need help to troubleshoot a situation. 

Week Six:  Behaviour management strategies - Part A

While this module is not designed to replace your child's OT, or behaviour support therapist, this week is about arming you with different practical and psychological tools you can use to reach the child-centred goals you set in week four.

In this module you'll learn:

  • Different strategies to teach skills & address behaviour change.
  • How to create the right environment to support your Autistic Child – emotional and physical environment
  • How to help your child to want to co-operate
  • Breaking skills down into management steps
  • How to build on strengths your child already has
  • Creative ways to help your child to learn
  • Helping your autistic child to handle anxiety.
  • Learn how to teach all your children a healthy mindset and positive self-worth they will adopt for life.
  • Knowing how and when to use rewards, consequences, give choices, when to be flexible and when/how to be consistent.

Week Seven:  Behaviour management strategies - Part B (Handling Aggression)

Carrying on from the week before, you will continue to learn child behaviour strategies by focussing specifically on how to handle meltdowns and aggressive, anger-related behaviours.

In this module, you'll also learn:

  • The difference between a tantrum and a meltdown
  • How to recognise  signs your child is about to escalate
  • How to prevent an escalation
  • How to support your child and reduce the length of the outburst
  • What to do to minimise violence and distruction during an escalation
  • How to communicate with your child during an escalation / meltdown
  • How to repair your relationship or debrief with your child after an escalation / meltdown

Week Eight:  What about my other relationships and my other children?

This week we turn our attention towards the quality of your relationship with other members of your family - your other children and marital relationships. 

In this module, you'll learn:

  • How to alleviate guilt and pressure related to raising your other non-autistic children.
  • How to deal with Sibling Rivalry
  • What to do when your partner is not on the same page as you.
  • How to take care of your marital relationship during challenging times.
  • To understand how men and women think and how the way we each communicate can cause unnecessary problems in a relationship

Week Nine:  Mindfulness, Time Management and Keeping It all Together

This final week will bring you tools to stay present in each moment, manage your time so you can fit in everything you need to and want to do without stress and give you some final pointers on how you can bring everything together that you have learnt over the last 9 weeks. 

In this module, you'll learn:

  • Mindfulness tools to keep you present and in the moment (instead of focussing on past ‘failures’ and future worries that haven’t happened yet).
  • How to manage your time effectively to include everything you want to do and everything you need to do.
  • Final lessons on how to deal with the continual highs and lows of life and not losing your identity within it all.

Professional counselling support 7 days a week for the entire 9 weeks

You are never alone in this program!  For the entire 9 weeks you will be receiving professional counselling support by way of our Closed Facebook Group, Plus 4 x Live Fortnightly webinars with Jackie Hall so you can get any of your questions asked along the way.

That means whenever you get stuck with any situation you're facing, or you just need support for a rough day, we will be there for you alongside a group of parents all learning through this program too. 

That isolation you often feel as you're travelling along this journey?  That won't happen by being a part of the PSC Family!

What more parents have to say about our program

"This course gives an amazing amount of information and practical support."

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.

Wendy McConaghy

12yo autistic son

"My child's meltdowns kept triggering my own meltdowns."

I was so grateful to have the tools I learnt from Jackie to help me help her to understand the reactions her behaviour was triggering in me and help me to cope better when life was not going to plan!!

Jackie's support and easy to understand and apply techniques helped me so much, and I highly recommend The Parental Stress Centre to all families!

Michelle Flanigan

Mother of 3 (autistic daughter)

"Absolutely Life Changing Program!"

The program has really made me feel validated and understood and helped me understand that I am not the only parent who has struggles with their child.

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!

Simone Downie

19yo autistic daughter