Who is Dr Theresa Kidd?

I’m a clinical psychologist passionate about translating research, lived and clinical experience into practical and compassionate tools and strategies to reduce anxiety symptoms for autistic young people.

I am a research-practitioner and Director/ Principal Clinical Psychologist at The Kidd Clinic, a private psychology group practice focussed on Autism Spectrum Conditions & Anxiety in Perth, Western Australia. Living in an anxious and neurodivergent family (including demand avoidant profiles) and working with hundreds of anxious autistic young people in research and clinical practice, I have seen first-hand how debilitating anxiety on the background of Autism can be.

My research in this area began about 15 years ago when I investigated the experiences of mothers home educating their autistic children. I visited the homes of ten mothers who had decided to bring their child home from school to learn. Through lengthy semi-structured interviews, I discovered that the reasons these parents decided to home educate their child centred around: (a) their child’s individual needs not being adequately met in mainstream education settings, and (b) their child’s elevated levels of anxiety and stress. I had expected the first theme to emerge from these interviews but was surprised at how common anxiety was amongst these children. Many of the mothers expressed that home education did not feel like a choice but a necessity, since their children appeared to be at both academic and psychological risk. Fortunately for their children, mothers reported increased well-being and a greater engagement in learning for their child with the transition to home education.

At around this time there was some emerging research on the co-occurrence of autism and anxiety. However, the research was still in the infancy stage and therefore was not widely recognised or acknowledged. After seeing the lived experience of this phenomenon in my own family, hearing the stories from these mothers in my research, and discovering that some researchers had begun to investigate the modification of psychological therapies to assist in anxiety reduction, I began to research this area more comprehensively. I discovered that most treatment trials had focused on autistic children, yet there were anecdotal reports that adolescents were more severely impacted by anxiety. Therefore, my research questions were twofold: (a) How does anxiety manifest for autistic adolescents, and (b) What practical strategies can help to reduce it?

With a passion for intervention research, I embarked on a PhD which focused on using family-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to reduce anxiety in autistic adolescents. Concurrently, I co-developed and managed the Curtin University Specialist (peer) Mentoring Program to support autistic university students to engage in tertiary settings. Following, I embarked on a post-doctoral research fellowship with Macquarie University where I was responsible for evaluating a national trial using the Cool Kids - Taking Control online family-based program to reduce anxiety and bullying victimisation in children.

Due to my research and clinical experience, parents, educators and health professionals have often asked me for practical strategies on how they can engage their young autistic adolescents in therapeutic work. In addition, autistic adolescents have frequently expressed that therapies for non-autistics have not helped them to reduce their anxiety symptoms. They have requested tools and strategies developed to suit their neurobiology. For these reasons, I decided to write a book, "Helping Autistic Teens to Manage Their Anxiety” and present training and clinical supervision on Autism and Anxiety, and Pathological Demand Avoidance. In addition, I have been passionate about providing therapeutic support to assist neurodivergent young people with mental health difficulties through The Kidd Clinic. The focus of my work is to assist parents, caregivers, and professionals to better understand anxiety in Autism and to provide practical strategies developed or adapted to purposely suit autistic adolescents and young adults in successfully managing their anxiety symptoms. My book, blog posts, trainings, and online communities are all designed to help parents and professionals to thrive in supporting their autistic young people and I welcome you to join me on social media and online as we gain greater understanding and up skill ourselves in the area of Autism and anxiety.