Tusla Training: From Survival to Safety (Navan Edu Centre)

From Survival to Safety is a trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming training designed for professionals working with neurodivergent children and young people in care, education, and other high-pressure systems.

Many neurodivergent children, particularly PDAers and highly masked young people, are still being supported through behaviour management approaches that prioritise compliance over safety. This training offers a different lens: one that understands behaviour as communication and distress as a nervous system response, not a behavioural choice.

Delivered by Sorcha Rice, an Autistic, ADHD occupational therapist with a PDA profile, this training is deeply shaped by lived experience as well as clinical practice. It is also informed by survey responses from neurodivergent people reflecting on their own experiences of school, care, and survival — ensuring that real voices remain central to the learning.

Understanding PDA as a nervous system survival response

Recognising masked and internalised dysregulation

Moving from compliance-based approaches to co-regulation and connection

Designing environments that reduce pressure and prevent crisis before it occurs

At its core, From Survival to Safety aims to shift systems away from behaviour management and towards nervous system safety — so children and young people feel safe, validated, and supported without having to reach crisis first.