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Welcome to The Nurture Programme®

About Jodie
I founded The Nurture Programme during the 2020 pandemic. There was a huge loss of support and connection for families like mine and The Nurture Programme aimed to fill that void. We did so by creating a regular and consistent neuro-affirming presence on social media, connecting with vulnerable families and sharing insights into our lived experience in the hope we could help them move from CRISIS to CALM within their households.
As disabled families we are no stranger to isolation, society being more geared for the “typical” human brain, we create safety and inclusion in our own spaces, but From 2020 – 2022 our families lost all and any sense of the little security and support that we had managed to secure. So this was crucial. We had no schools, no respite, no activities, and our caring networks were taken from us. (Those who had them) Building programmes and creating content quickly became my passion and the families I worked with inspired my creativity.
READ MORE ABOUT JODIE
My Autistic Journey

About Calm, Connection & Co-Regulation®

A Nurturing Parenting Approach

The Nurture Programme® has a unique focus, our Calm, Connection & Co-Regulation (CCC®️) model has been developed over the last year throughout our trainings and is now embedded through everything we offer.

Our programmes are designed to inform and nurture your learning with a strong emphasis on neuro-affirming and neuro-inclusive practice. Calm, Connection & Co-Regulation®️ is at the heart of  what The Nurture Programme® aspires to achieve.

We believe wholeheartedly in lived experience and centreing those neurodivergent voices in everything we create. The Nurture Programme® aims to challenge the textbook theories, abandon the medical model and help you overcome “Textbook Syndrome”. By inviting you into our diverse and accepting community, we offer our experiences through strength and connection, and aim to provide a safe, inclusive space for ALL which may sometimes feel challenging, but never with judgment and always with grace.

The Concept
Copyright 2022

Calm, Connection & Co-Regulation is essential for all families especially those with a neurodivergence.

A Trauma Informed & Nurturing PROGRAMME

A BRAND NEW Programme aimed at parents/carers of ALL children with a focus on NEURODIVERGENCE. Our Calm, Connection & Co-Regulation®️ Parenting model is embedded throughout this programme which is designed to give you back the confidence in taking back the power to parent instinctively.

We ditch the textbooks, the consequences, the punishments and instead we guide and advocate for CONSENT, AUTONOMY and AUTHENTICITY  

Three crucial aspects for our children to develop healthy connections with the world around them.

NB: Any professionals joining this programme will need to interpret the language to their own setting. I.E – Parent/ Carer – Teacher/Teaching Assistant Etc.

This programme is accredited by Continuing Professional Development at Intermediate level and webinars are recorded. 

Radical Support for 2024

Life can be overwhelming and stressful at times, and it is during these times that we need to find a sense of calm, connection, and co-regulation. The CCC IN 10, 5 and 3 programme focuses on these aspects, providing an avenue for individuals to discover and understand their emotions, learn how to manage stress, and build meaningful relationships.

This programme is designed to help you navigate your emotional overwhelm with ease and confidence.

I am so excited to guide and support you on your journey through Calm, Connection & Co-Regulation.

I have designed this with so much love and care, with the intention of helping you find calm, build connections, and learn to co-regulate. I am here to provide you with the necessary support and guidance every step of the way. Looking forward to our journey together.

Please Note: Support tiers vary. Please check which one suits you best.Support begins in March 2024.

Support is limited and therefore offered to previous RADICAL attendees first.

The Nook by Nurture - Monthly Membership

The Nook by Nurture is a dedicated space provided by The Nurture Programme to grow connection and hold space for families to enable growth. As Neurodivergent people we are often sidelined into obscurity due to the spaces created by individuals who live and thrive in a neuronormative society, making socialising, connection, building friendships and learning inaccessible. 

Our online membership doesn’t just create a space for you to learn from, but to feel safety within your very own community whilst shutting the door on the shame and judgment we often experience. 

Jodie leads this space through Authenticity, Autonomy and Acceptance. No one is EVER left behind. With webinars, Connection Sessions, A dedicated Facebook Group and Messenger Chat we are always here for you.

This space is yours and you are always welcome. 

Only in The Nook by Nurture

MEET THE FOUNDER

Jodie Isitt, Founder

I’m Jodie, and I am Autistic. Nope, scrap that! I’m Autistic and absolutely 100% proud and privileged to be able to share my experiences with you in the hope that we can bring about change, and balance, and inspire NURTURE throughout not just the community, but adventurously the universe!

I was only diagnosed on 2020 over 8 years after my first child was diagnosed (three Autistic children altogether) and whilst I have been predominantly using a Nurturing parenting style, it never fully translated to myself, therefore I was frequently in a state of shutdown and burnout and unable to tend to my own needs. Impossible really when I wasn’t aware there were any, let alone understand them to be able to advocate for them to be met. I made the mistake of believing I knew everything about autism, until I was diagnosed myself. I now understand and fully support that there simply are NO experts. Not one single expert on Autistic experience or other neurodivergence, because no one person can simply know and understand every single person on the planet. Our experiences are individual and unique and absolutely beautiful and learning about neurodivergence is one of the most inspiring, fulfilling things I have ever done in my life. I want to learn more, every single day. Because not only does it help me understand myself and my family, it has also helped me to become a much better person, less afraid, less misunderstood about difference and absolutely more accepting. It is a powerful thing, knowledge. And knowledge is absolutely the power we need to be able to thrive in a world with outdated beliefs of our “disordered selves”.  We can use our knowledge in the most inspiring of ways, to create change, to reframe thinking and understanding and to nurture people to make that step from thinking we need to be modified, to KNOWING that we are 100% exactly as we were meant to be. And becoming that stepping stone, building that bridge and facilitating the movement from “US” to “THEM” is exciting.

We do NOT need to be modified, we do not need to change. What we need is a more inclusive, understanding and accepting society that we are appreciated in as an equal contributor.

Eloise Elford, The Nook Manager

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The Nurture Programme® Testimonials

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Guide Five: RADICAL CONNECTION - Neuroparenting with Kristy Forbes & Jodie Isitt

Kristy and Jodie have worked together for a number of years and are completely aligned in their parenting, and in fact all round beliefs. Creating neuro-inclusive spaces, using neuro-affirmative approaches as standard. 

Week 3: Reasonable Adjustments

The pathway of SEN / EHCP’s / Reasonable adjustments and so forth can be a scary and bewildering place. But knowledge is POWER and this session aims to provide members with this power. 

Attendees will be given clear information and knowledge so they will be able to navigate these pathways armed with confidence. This will include basic law and children’s rights including ideas about what reasonable adjustments vs unreasonable adjustments are. We give examples of our own reasonable adjustments, how to ensure these adjustments are put in place and ideas on how to approach the professionals in your children’s lives to ensure that their needs are met. 

Members will also be equipped with ideas for “reasonable adjustments” versus “unreasonable adjustments”. A guest expert speaker – Karen Stepanova – SEN Consultant is arranged for this week who will give her very own presentations on the basics of SEN Law.

Week 4: Mental Health

In this session we look at how Imposter Syndrome can cause people to doubt their abilities.

The toll of advocating for children with additional needs can be detrimental to a parent or carer’s health. Our aim is to build up confidence and restore the mental health of parents or carers so that they have the inner strength to fight as hard as they can for their children.

This week focuses on changing negative thoughts to positive ones and helps restore the mental health of attendees. Jodie and Laura provide ‘Top Tips’ to staying mentally well during tricky times.  

Week 5: No-one can help me

What can I do? By week 5 we hope that all attendees will feel more confident, less stressed and have the skills and facts that they need to successfully advocate for their children. But we know that sometimes this is not enough.

The system can be fraught with challenges, and no matter how skilled you are, it can feel like your journey keeps being taken off track. In this session, an expert speaker will join to give fantastic advice on where to turn next when you feel you have exhausted all avenues. Practical advice regarding matters such as benefits, grants and additional sources of advice is also given, leaving the attendees feeling well equipped in their journey ahead.  

Guide Three: I'm Giving Up

Making sure that consistency is key, as our young people will not learn to trust us if we do not show them we are trustworthy. So making sure that when we start this process, we are committed to making it as successful as we possibly can.

Gaining trust, and keeping it is extremely important, however we all make mistakes, we will get triggered at some point, it is how we manage those mistakes that count. We are so used to being judged for our parenting choices, that throughout this session you be inspired to take back control of who you are, and give you the confidence to shut out the negative and leave more room for the positive.

Guide Two - Trust Your Gut

Guide Two: Trusting your instincts is a vital part of the process for RADICAL (UN)Parenting and we will discuss the many experiences of the facilitator and the learners where this has either proven to be true when listened to or when you wish you would have listened and acted on that gut feeling.

Briefly discussing methods of communication for the neurodivergent person and how important it is to study our young people intently so that we can begin to talk their language.  This session guides you back to your most confident, enabling those advocacy skills to flourish once more and encouraging you to always trust your gut.

Radical Guide Four: F*ck That Sh*t

Tuning out all the negative interference from around you will be crucial to enhancing your progression through this change, and this is something that will be difficult for a lot of families particularly when people are not yet ready to accept the RADICAL approach. Ditching the negative impacts on your parenting so that you can be free to be you. No shame. No judgment, just unapologetically you!

Join us whilst together we chant:   

F*ck That Sh*t

Week 1: Introduction to ASC

We will explore the many aspects of being autistic or having an autistic family member. Jodie will share her road to diagnosis for her three children and finally herself and her own diagnosis in 2020 at 35 years of age.  This first week will lay the foundations for the rest of the Five week programme. 

Week 3: Worrier to Warrior

In this final session, we will help you and those you support to find ways to reframe negative thoughts so that it is possible to “think better and feel better.”  We will also cover practical strategies to help you manage your anxious self, keep calm and turn you from a worrier, to a warrior, ready to battle everything that life throws at you.

Week 2: Differences I May Experience

Focussing on the saying, “When you have met one autistic person you have met one autistic person” we will take a deeper dive into the way that autism effects everyone individually.  During this session we will look at sensory needs in more detail and provide some ideas to help keep autistic children more regulated.

Week 3: Advocating For My Autistic Child

Laura and Jodie feel that “small changes make a big difference” for autistic individuals – and during this session we will discuss helpful tips for parents and reasonable adjustments for schools and colleges. 

In this session you will also be able to ask us questions relevant to this topic and we will signpost you to other helpful organisations and sources of information related to Autism. 

Week 4: Sibling Support

There is no doubt that an autism diagnosis can affect the whole family.  In this fourth session we will explore the impact autism can have on families and siblings.

We will discuss lots of helpful approaches to help you support your whole family and explore the positive aspects of an autism diagnosis.  We will also discuss how to support siblings of autistic individuals using empathy and understanding whilst also covering the importance of looking after your own mental health as parents.

Week 5: The Autistic Experience

Chloe, Jodie and Laura will discuss the medical model of autism and some of the theories of autism which are now proven to be out-dated and detrimental to autistic individuals.

Chloe will talk using her personal insight as an autistic adult, will discuss effective ways to support the mental well-being of autistic individuals and answer questions from attendees.

Week 2: Nurturing Anxious Minds

Whilst it is true that many children suffer from anxiety at any one time, those who are neurodivergent (ie are autistic, with or without PDA; have ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia etc) are more likely to have anxiety to varying degrees as part of their experience.  In this session, the anxiety experienced by any child is approached with understanding and acceptance and is jam-packed with practical ways to support children in a positive and nurturing way.

Week 1: Understanding Your Anxious Self

In this first session, Laura and Jodie gently introduce what anxiety can look and feel like with a real and tangible understanding that all participants come from a variety of experiences. Together, we will look at the impact anxiety can have on how we behave and interact with different people as well as the internal struggles it can bring.  By offering an invitation to reflect on and recognise our own anxiety and the negative internal voices that drive it, they begin to consider ways to quieten those voices and fears both for ourselves and those we wish to support. 

Week 2: Nurturing Advocacy Confidence

The aim of this session is to break down attendees’ advocacy skills, then rebuild them so that facts and controlled emotions are used successfully.

Laura and Jodie share their experiences of advocating for their children – both good and bad and demonstrate how to use assertiveness skills effectively and remove emotive language.

They also share their “Top Tips” before, during and after transitions to ensure that all objectives are achieved.