Support that starts with who you are,
what you love and what you want from life.
We bring Autistic lived experience and professional expertise to interest-based supports, counselling and everyday life. At The Nest in Caloundra, shared interests create opportunities for connection, with individual support shaped around you.
Autistic-led · Neuro-Affirming · Registered NDIS provider
Find your people.
Keep yourself.
The same screen families see when they walk in: this week’s sessions, notices, the team and photos from recent sessions.
A shared interest can be a comfortable place to begin. Something to focus on together, with room for conversation, quiet company and getting to know people in your own way.
You bring your interests, preferences and goals. We bring skilled support and a sensory-aware space, designed for different ways of communicating and participating.
See what’s on at The NestConnection, self-understanding, work, relationships or help finding your way through the system. We can start with what matters to you.
Start with something you love.
Connect through gaming, art, anime, Dungeons & Dragons and other shared interests, with individual support shaped around your communication, sensory needs and goals.
Explore this supportSpace to be yourself.
Explore what matters to you with a Neuro-Affirming Counsellor who makes room for your communication, sensory needs and pace. Build self-understanding, explore your feelings and find ways forward that fit your life.
Explore this supportWork that fits who you are.
Explore work that connects with your interests, strengths and goals. Together, identify the accommodations, practical support and workplace conditions that help you participate sustainably, with your needs and choices at the centre.
Explore this supportUnderstand the person. Support their needs.
We explore what behaviour may be communicating, including unmet needs, distress and the environment around the person. Individual assessment, planning, implementation guidance and review focus on communication, autonomy, safety and quality of life.
Accepting referrals for 2027
Explore this supportYour plan. Your choices.
Make sense of your NDIS plan and explore supports that fit your needs, values and goals. We help you navigate services, choose providers and have a stronger say in how your support works.
Explore this supportYour life. Your pace.
For people with psychosocial disability, support to explore what wellbeing means to you. We work alongside your strengths, changing capacity and priorities, helping you navigate services and shape supports around the life you want.
Explore this supportSupport for you, too.
A space for parents and carers to be supported as people in their own right. Explore your own capacity and wellbeing, understand your family member's needs, and find practical ways to make everyday life more sustainable.
Explore this supportAt the same art table, one person might want help asking for space. Another might be finding a way into a conversation. A shared interest brings people together while each person’s support stays individual.
We agree how your practitioner supports you and review what is helping, with your own experience at the centre.
How we workCommunicate in a way that works for you.
Ask for space or something different.
Connect through something you care about.
Make choices about your own support.
Counselling and Specialist Behaviour Support are assessed and agreed separately.
Neurodivergent Empowered is the registered NDIS provider operating The Nest. Our Autistic-led approach makes room for your communication, sensory experiences, interests and changing capacity.
Our speciality is Autistic wellbeing. Our welcome extends to other neurodivergent and LGBTIQA+ people too.
Meet our teamFounded by Tanya Hicks
Autistic Wellbeing Specialist, Neuro-Affirming Counsellor and Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioner.
Explore our team’s experience, interests and ways of working.
Get to know usYou can begin with a clear idea, a question or an “I’m not sure”.
Share what matters to you and how you prefer to communicate. Dot points are welcome.
Talk it through with us, or use written communication. We will explain the options and what happens next.
We agree your goals, support arrangements and next steps together before you begin.
Tell us a little about what you are looking for. We can help you understand the options and find a starting point.
Send your enquiry, then choose a chat time. Written communication is welcome too.
Sovereignty was never ceded. No treaty was ever signed. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remain the rightful custodians of this land, and that truth does not diminish with time, legislation, or silence.
The Nest acknowledges Elders past, present and emerging. We understand that systems cause harm when they refuse to make space for difference, and no community in this country has experienced that refusal more persistently than First Nations peoples.
We commit to action, not just words.