Events and training

• Deepen Your Understanding of Domestic Abuse: Explore key psychological theories behind abuse, how it happens, and its impact on mental health.
• Enhance Your Ability to Support Recovery: Learn how to positively support individuals in rebuilding confidence, self-esteem, and trust.
• Understand the Barriers to Seeking Help: Recognise how abuse-related trauma affects decision-making and access to services.
• Improve Service Accessibility: Identify ways to reduce 'did not attend' (DNA) rates and make services more inclusive and attractive.
• Strengthen Supportive Relationships: Discover strategies to help individuals feel safe, heard, and engaged with services.
• Apply Research-Based Approaches: Gain insights into best practices for supporting survivors in both professional and personal contexts.

• Helpful for anyone working with or supporting people who have experienced domestic abuse.
• Suitable for professionals and trainees including counsellors, psychotherapists, mental health nurses, psychologists, social workers, support staff.
• No prior experience required.
• Combines theory, practice, case studies, group work, and personal reflection.

The workshop will be led by Dr Jeannette Roddy, PhD. Jeannette is a qualified counsellor/psychotherapist and is an accredited member of BACP. She has been working with and conducting research into client experiences of domestic abuse counselling and mental health support for the last 15 years. She is the author of ‘Counselling and Psychotherapy after Domestic Violence: a client view of what helps recovery’ (Palgrave, 2015), ‘A competency framework for domestic violence counselling’ (with Lynne Gabriel in 2019), and editor and main contributor to ‘Working with client experiences of domestic abuse: a handbook for counsellors, psychotherapists and other mental health practitioners’.

After a career in higher education, she is used to teaching, yet she describes her teaching style as ‘Essentially pragmatic'. "What matters most to me is helping people to understand and to support their clients more effectively. I find exploring the reality of situations that can occur with hints and tips for how to respond can be as helpful to people as the theory.

• Tuesday 30 June 2026, 10.00am to 5.00pm (York St John University campus)

This course costs:

• General public: £110
• Concession rate: £75

A concession rate is available to the following:

• York St John University Counselling students
• York St John Communities Centre Placement students

There is a limit of 3 concession places available for each date that the course runs

For further information and to sign up, please visit the below webpage.

Domestic Abuse and Mental Health course

“I highly recommend the training. It was an incredible learning experience.”

“Jeannette’s knowledge and insight into the subject was incredibly useful and thought provoking.”

“It felt relational, inciteful and delivered with compassion and honestly.”

“It was really useful to gain further understanding of Domestic Abuse, its theory, how it can happen, and the impact on mental health. I went away with greater understanding and more awareness to my own personal reflections on the subject area too.”

• Develop a True Understanding of Neurodiversity: Gain clarity on what neurodiversity really means and how it shapes experiences in daily life and work, including a deeper understanding of ADHD, Autism, and Dyslexia.
• Recognise the Strengths of Neurodivergent Minds: Discover the unique talents, perspectives, creativity, and problem-solving abilities neurodivergent individuals bring to workplaces and communities.
• Challenge Misconceptions and Bias: Learn to identify and unlearn common myths and assumptions about neurodivergence, including dyslexia, while fostering a more inclusive and reflective professional mindset.
• Build Empathy Through Experience: Engage in practical activities that invite you to explore the lived experiences of neurodivergent people, deepening understanding and compassion.
• Create Inclusive, Supportive Spaces: Take away practical tools, strategies, and reasonable adjustments to ensure workplaces, services, and learning environments are accessible and welcoming for all.
• Champion Neurodiversity in Practice: Develop the confidence and skills to apply learning in real-world settings, supporting neurodivergent clients, colleagues, students, and communities more effectively.

• Suitable for managers, line managers, and educators across schools, colleges, and universities.
• Relevant for health, nursing, counselling professionals and mental health practitioners seeking to build skills when working with neurodivergent individuals, including those with ADHD, Autism, and Dyslexia.
• Beneficial for council and community staff working directly with diverse groups.
• Open to neurodivergent individuals themselves, as well as anyone passionate about creating change and fostering inclusivity.
• No prior experience required - just a willingness to learn, reflect, and engage.
• Designed to support professionals to develop practical skills and confidence and to translate learning directly into their own roles and settings.
• Combines theory, lived experience, real-life scenarios, individual reflection, pair and group activities, and practice-focused tools for creating more inclusive spaces.

As a neurodivergent practitioner with lived experience of dyslexia and the challenges of mainstream education, Stef delivers training that is not only educational but also authentic, engaging, and impactful.

With over 27 years’ experience working across diverse communities, Stef brings both deep professional insight and powerful lived experience to her neurodiversity training. A qualified educator, youth worker, and Dramatherapist, Stef holds a PGCE (Post-16), a postgraduate qualification in Dramatherapy, and a BA (Hons) in Communication Arts/Drama. Her work is grounded in a strengths-based, trauma-informed approach, with a strong focus on accessibility, inclusion, and real-world application.

• Thursday 4 June 2026, 10.00am to 5.00pm (York St John University campus)
• Monday 13 July 2026, 10.00am to 5.00pm (York St John University campus)

This course costs:

• General public: £110
• Concession rate: £75

A concession rate is available to the following:

• York St John University Counselling students
• York St John Communities Centre placement students

There is a limit of 4 concession places available for each date that the course runs.

For further information and to sign up, please visit the below webpage.

Neurodiversity in Action