Exploring Your Autistic Self

A 5-week course designed to help you become more authentic, aligned and alive

About ‘Exploring Your Autistic Self’ course

‘Exploring Your Autistic Self’ is a 5-week self-directed learning course for recently diagnosed / self-identified autistic and AuDHD adults.

The aim of the course is to help you become more authentic, aligned and alive — as an autistic adult — at work as well as in other areas of your life. This will be achieved through the following:

  • You’ll be introduced to evidence-based knowledge around autism and autistic experience (and hear from lived experience thought leaders where present research is lagging behind), combined with tried-and-tested activities that I’ve used with my coaching clients since I launched Expand the Circle 3 years ago.

  • The course will be delivered by a series of emails (once to twice a week) directly to your mailbox — no need to sign up to a separate platform and remember login details.

  • There will be an opportunity for you to share your reflections and questions that arise during the course through a shared Google document.

Is this course for me?

    • You learn well by reflecting in your own time and space.

    • You’re not sure who you truly are and feel that you lack a compass to help you make positive choices — whether that’s work-related activities or hobbies.

    • You want the learning experience to be personalised to you and are happy to put some effort into it.

    • You want to learn about autism by reflecting on your experiences first and then connecting them to the key concepts, theories and lived experiences of autism / autistic adults.

    • You are prepared to experiment and try new things in your life.

    • You learn best by discussing your thoughts in real time with other people in a group.

    • You already know what your core values are and apply them in a balanced way in your work and personal life.

    • You want a list of general strategies (5 steps / 10 keys / and so on…) that you can apply and are not interested in creating your own list of strategies.

    • You want to learn about autism by exploring the key concepts and theories first and then connecting them to your own experience.

    • You are not prepared to make changes in your life right now.

Course timeline and structure

The course will be delivered in eight “bite-size” chunks over a period of 5 weeks.

Use the arrows below to learn more about what we’ll cover each week:

  • Week 1: Opening

    • Receive general course orientation.

    • Learn what motivated me to create this course and why I chose the VIA character strengths methodology as a framework.

    • Complete your first activity.

  • Week 2: Authenticity

    • Discover who you are at your core and any learned behaviours that you’ve adopted along the way to keep yourself safe (“masking”) or effective.

    • Learn how the most common values reported by autistic adults relate to what we know about the autistic experience, from both a research and lived experience perspective.

  • Week 3: Alignment

    • Assess how you apply your core qualities in your work and consider how you could adapt your role to make it more aligned with your character strengths (“job crafting”).

    • Get inspired by stories of other autistic adults who redesigned their roles or careers to play to their strengths.

  • Week 4: Aliveness

    • Discover situations in which applying your signature strengths is ineffective (even if it feels good or effective in the moment).

    • Learn how you can “turn to” some of your forgotten qualities to expand the range of choices available to you and prevent autistic burnout.

  • Week 5: Close

    • Consolidate your learning from the course.

    • Generate some ideas to help you build on what you’ve learned from the course and continue to make positive changes in your work and life so you can be more authentic, aligned and alive.

👇 Scroll Down to Learn More and Sign Up

Work in progress ⚒️

I’m currently taking a break to review and revise the course based on participant feedback, so it will be a while before the course is relaunched and open to take part in.

You can still register your interest using the form below - I will contact you once the redesigned course is running (or if there’s enough interest, I might run another cohort using the current format).

Autistic people, again, can only truly thrive as autistic people, not as imitations of non-autistic people; one does not attain long-term wellbeing by stifling one’s True Self

— Nick Walker, autistic advocate and author of Neuroqueer Heresies

What’s the cost?

The entire course costs £25 (£5 per week) — this is roughly equivalent to a cup of posh coffee ☕
(or coffee and cake if you’re based in more reasonably priced areas of the UK / the world).

A few more things to note about the costing of the course:

  • It’s a fraction of the cost of 1-1 coaching and mentoring.

  • I’ve tried to keep the cost low to enable more people to access post-diagnostic / post-discovery autism support by making it “no frills”: email delivery with no individual or group live sessions. Of course, I’m here to answer any questions you might have before, during and after the course (as well as to hear about your revelations and successes!).

  • The course is still in the pilot stage, with the 4th pilot course starting in January 2025. Therefore, the price reflects the fact that there’s still an element of experimentation involved — for both you and me.

What past participants think about the course

  • "The course has been a good entry point course for me to start to explore my autistic experience. It has helped me start to reframe how I see myself in a more positive way (i.e. more strengths-based and affirming).

    I'm looking forward to continuing my journey!"

    — Course participant #1

  • “Since my recent autism diagnosis, I’ve been reading a lot and listening to some podcasts, and getting a little overwhelmed with how much there is to think about. This course has been great for starting to focus in on some specifics and explore them from the perspective of strengths. I feel it has given me more direction and areas I can continue to work on by myself at the moment.

    Thank you!”

    — Course participant #2

  • “Having the opportunity to identify and dissect core and learned behaviours has been significant for me. I am now finding the freedom to be more self compassionate through the process of analysis.”

    — Course participant #3

How do I sign up?

Please complete the form below:

Frequently asked questions and answers

  • To participate in the course, you will need:

    • An email address and access to the internet

    • Willingness to complete the VIA survey — it’s free to complete but you need to create an account with the VIA Institute

    • Space, time and desire to deepen your self-understanding and make changes in your life

  • I’ll email you with further details within 3-5 working days.

  • The next intake is scheduled to start on Monday 13th January 2025, after which the course will temporarily stop while I’m working on making it even better.

  • If for whatever reason the course doesn’t meet your expectations and needs, I’d be happy to offer a full refund to the original payment method.

    Just send me an email to alicja@expandthecircle.co.uk to share your feedback on the course.

Want to know more before you decide?

1. More About Me
2. Ask ME a Question

Further Learning

Neurodiversity Insights and Blog
Have a break, not a breakdown: relaxation as an autistic / AuDHDer and how to rest neurodivergently
Have a break, not a breakdown: relaxation as an autistic / AuDHDer and how to rest neurodivergently

Why are autistic people/AuDHDers ‘bad’ at resting? And how can we learn to rest neurodivergently and reduce burnouts?

Fidgeting, fiddling, stimming: an undervalued key to creativity?
Fidgeting, fiddling, stimming: an undervalued key to creativity?

Should we be encouraging employees to fidget more?

Unmasking: How to use the VIA character strengths survey to learn who you really are
Unmasking: How to use the VIA character strengths survey to learn who you really are

Who are you once the mask is dropped?