Nicolina Newcombe reading Anissa Ljanta’s book Wild of Brain at the retreat.
Dr Nicolina Newcombe shares a review of the first Wild of Brain Neurodiversity Wellbeing Retreat, facilitated by Anissa Ljanta.
I went to the first one-day Wild of Brain Neurodiversity Wellbeing Retreat. It was held at the Waygood Foundation in Piha.
We were greeted with a hot pot of nervous system support tea, hand‐curated by medical herbalist Nicki Mackinnon, and invited to “land.” Every surface was set up as a little neurodiversity station: the snack station, the LEGO station, the blanket fort building station, the art station, the book station, and the fidget station. After exploring all the stations, the next highlight was meeting everyone.
The number of attendees was intentionally kept small. By chance, we were an all‐women group—a contrast to the numerical weighting of males in many autistic spaces I am normally part of. Making new connections and hearing each other’s stories is the most powerful form of learning, and we did that through whakawhanaungatanga.
I have reserved my description of the group facilitator, Anissa Ljanta, until after my overview of the space and the group, because she does not position herself as the expert; the time was intended for collaborative learning from all of us. The space was also key to the day—an oasis away from our normal lives, encapsulating us in a sensory haven where everyone was part of the same tribe and doing whatever we needed, like picking things we don’t like out of our food, was encouraged.
That said, Anissa is an award‐winning neurodivergent author of Wild of Brain and has an obvious wealth of experience in education and advocacy. She also runs a trauma‐informed coaching business working with neurodivergent and neuro‐curious people. Her informational contribution was structured around strategies for nervous system care and the crucial importance of those strategies in our lives.
The day was punctuated by the most incredible spread of food I have ever had at any training day. We were given the menu in advance, with every dish accompanied by a list of ingredients. It was natural and mostly homemade—I loved the chickpea soup. There was also kombucha and a variety of non‐dairy milks. Nourishing our bodies with good food was an essential part of the experience.
I took away some key learnings about how to organise my workday as an autistic person, as well as insights into the relief-anger-grief rollercoaster that can accompany late diagnosis. But more than that, I left with another experience of neurodivergent people coming together and creating safe spaces to talk about our lives. Events like the Wild of Brain Neurodiversity Wellbeing Retreat build community. We are taking back our culture from the medical establishment and the services that align with their way of thinking—defining who we are and what we want for ourselves. This is power. We need more of this.
Dr Nicolina Newcombe is Autistic and has a PhD in Education and a Master in Māori and Pacific Development. She works as an Inclusion Advisor for IHC. www.linkedin.com/in/nicolina-newcombe