Advising Neurodivergent Students
Practice, communication, and case craft. For student advisers, welfare officers, and student support practitioners who work with neurodivergent students regularly.
The problem this course addresses
The student who presents as disorganised, avoidant, or resistant is not always any of those things. They may be overwhelmed by a process that was not designed with them in mind. They may be communicating distress in a register that does not match what the adviser has been taught to recognise. They may have tried to engage and found the experience so dysregulating that they stopped.
When an adviser has only been taught to respond to what a student says rather than what the presentation suggests, these cases close without resolution. Not through lack of care, but because nobody ever taught the adviser to look for what was underneath.
These cases are genuinely difficult to hold, and most advisers navigate them without much support. This course is designed to change that.
If your advice team works with neurodivergent students regularly but has never had training that goes beyond awareness, this is the course to start with.
What the course covers
This is the most in-depth training Alkhemy offers. Across two days, participants develop the skills to work confidently with neurodivergent students in a case and advice context.
Day One
How neurodivergence presents in an advice context, not clinically but practically
Adapting communication for different presentations and needs
Designing better advice sessions: structure, environment, pace
Applying trauma-informed principles in ways that are specific rather than abstract
Day Two
Extended role play with real case scenarios
Complex case analysis: working through difficult presentations as a group
Practice development planning: what will you do differently on Monday
Building confidence with cases that do not follow a straightforward path
Who is this for?
This course is for you if:
You work as a student adviser, welfare officer, or student support practitioner, and you regularly work with neurodivergent students but have never had training that goes beyond awareness.
You have had cases that did not go as well as you would have liked, and you suspect the issue was less about the student and more about the approach.
You manage an advice team and want to invest in practical, applied development that actually changes how your team works, rather than a one-day awareness session that does not stick.
How it works
This course is available for in-house delivery at your institution or students’ union, online or in person. Both formats are designed to deliver the same quality of learning.
It is a practitioner development experience, not a compliance exercise: small groups, facilitated discussion, applied scenario work, and genuine reflection time rather than a slide deck and a quiz.
Pricing is available on request. If you want to talk through whether this course fits your team’s current priorities, or whether a bespoke version makes sense for your context, get in touch and we will have a straightforward conversation before you commit to anything.
Register your interest
Dates and pricing available on request. Email us to find out more or to register your interest for in-house delivery.
Email ollie@alkhemy.org.uk