Join us on 11 March 2026, 5:30 pm (AEDT) for a 90 min, live workshop hosted by the Australian Educational and Developmental Psychology Association. While the session will be recorded, participants are strongly encouraged to attend live.

Originally created by Dr Marsha Linehan (1993) for individuals diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) has since expanded to serve a variety of clinical populations, including those with substance abuse issues, individuals with depression alongside comorbid personality disorders, and offenders. There is increasing evidence supporting the use of DBT with autistic clients, as emotion dysregulation is often a common challenge within this group. However, DBT primarily employs a behavioural approach, which can inadvertently promote social camouflaging or masking and may lead to autistic burnout and assimilation. Additionally, it can be argued that DBT-based interventions, rooted in behavioural principles, conflict with neurodiversity-affirming values.

This presentation highlights the development of an innovative group program designed to meet the needs of autistic clients through a neurodiversity-affirming approach. The NDA-DBT-informed group program was created to recognise the dialectics of neurodivergence and assist autistic people in finding the ‘middle ground’ and moving towards acculturation. Dr Joseph Sakdalan, a clinical psychologist and clinical neuropsychologist, and Ms Nimasha Weerakon, a clinical psychology registrar and lived-experience consultant, made significant adjustments to DBT concepts and language to ensure greater neurodiversity affirmation. Clinicians with lived experience and autistic clients who have completed the program have provided invaluable feedback to tailor it to the needs of autistic clients who face challenges with emotion dysregulation. The NDA-DBT can be viewed as a strengths-based model aligned with psychoeducational and neurodiversity-affirmative practices. This group program has been running at the CMI clinic over the past three years, and the results of our pilot study appear promising in addressing emotion regulation challenges and supporting the needs of autistic clients.

About the presenter

Joseph is an NZ and AHPRA-registered clinical psychologist, counselling psychologist, and clinical neuropsychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience working with complex clients with mental health issues, cognitive problems, intellectual disability, developmental disorders, and challenging/offending behaviours. His colleagues pioneered the adapted DBT coping skills program for clients with intellectual disabilities and challenging/offending behaviours. In addition, he has developed a suite of offence-related and offence-specific group-based treatment programs (e.g. sexual offending, family violence, general offending, treatment readiness, substance abuse) for forensic and correctional services. He has run training workshops and presented at conferences locally and internationally on utilising a neurodiversity-affirming approach to assessment and treatment. Dr Sakdalan has written book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles in his specialty areas. He works as a Principal Psychologist with the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health Services (Forensicare) and as a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the Cairnmillar Institute.