Dr Pooky Knightsmith

Keynote Speaker, Author & Advisor

Speaking Enquiry

These slides were developed for whole staff INSET – September 2025.

Here’s the session overview:

Unmasking, Belonging and Believing: Supporting Autistic Girls (and Ourselves) to Thrive

This practical, reflective session explores how we can best support autistic girls – and others who’ve been let down by previous provision – to feel safe, seen and ready to re-engage with learning. Together, we’ll look at masking, burnout, and the importance of belonging, while also thinking about what this work asks of us.

We’ll consider questions like:
• How do we build trust with students and parents?
• How far can we gently push, and when should we pause?
• What does it take to create spaces where everyone can breathe, eat, and be themselves?

You’ll leave feeling reassured, reconnected to your instincts, and clearer on what makes your support so powerful.

Learning Outcomes
• Reflect on masking, burnout, and the importance of safety
• Explore how to work relationally in a high-trust setting
• Consider the balance between permission and pressure
• Take away ideas to support both learner and staff wellbeing

If you were there, I hope these are a helpful aide-memoire. If not, I hope they make enough sense without me to be useful. If you’d like to download them, you can do so via this page on LinkedIn.

Further Resources

Here are some further resources you might find helpful to build on the session:

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***For more information about my speaking and training work,take a look at my speaker pack below, check out my speaking page or email me – [email protected]***

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