4 years and running – supporting almost 1200 people across 14 camps in SE Qld
Spectrum Adventures was created when a few neurodivergent families went camping together. Our children played together, delighting in each other’s company, stimming away at times, vocalising and info dumping whilst enjoying shared interests. As adults, we were able to relax and just talk, without fear of judgement or the uncertainty that our children wouldn’t be accepted. When meltdowns occurred, we supported each other and when our children experienced something new for the first time, we all cheered. We watched our children’s social skills develop and loved witnessing how they learnt from each other and gained valuable skills in making friends. We formed lasting friendships. This is our wish for you all.
It is incredible to think ….of our first camp, with 11 families who joined us for a rainy but heartfelt weekend.
And now…we deliver up to 5 camps a year at a time, we see young people flourish, and develop skills, confidence. We hear from families that coming to camp delivers confidence to help them attend other social activities and school events. We hear that our camp strengthens their family relationships, that their children talk about being themselves, being able to be natural, to stim, to drop the mask, the be accepted. That they themselves feel supported, that they are together as a community, learning from others, attending workshops and sharing ideas and resources.
Spectrum Adventures delivers positive and Neuroaffirming supports to our Autistic community, creating social opportunities and building capacity through authentic and meaningful connection.
Dee – Spectrum Adventures Director
Dee is a Learning & Development professional with a background working in community organisations. Dee also identifies as Neurodivergent, ADHD powers her day and she has lived experience parenting Neurodivergent children.
Dee works within the disability sector, and is passionate about sharing her understanding of neurodiversity, gained across countless hours of therapy and workshop attendance, supporting families within online forums and connections and of course juggling the demands of Autistic & ADHD family life.
Dee is passionate about helping improve the lives of neurodiverse families, through facilitating social connections at family events, guiding and sharing information to help others on their journey, to creating communication tools helpful in navigating the NDIS and more.
Dee was nominated for an Australian of the year award in 2024, recognising the support and dedication she delivers to her community – supporting this community and helping others brings incredible satisfaction and joy to her life.
Further to this Dee lso was recognised with the Community Impact award at the ND/Autistic Excellence awards, Spectrum Adventures is her heart space where she delights in facilitating Autistic friendship and connection in a safe and supported environment.
Our Team
The Spectrum Adventures team includes our cohort of wonderful support workers who help to deliver camp and support our autistic children and families to connect.
We are a proudly inclusive and diverse team – supporting neurodiversity, gender diversity and more within our ranks, allowing us to bring authentic lived experience to how we support our community.
Our team include allied health specialists, registered nurses, teachers and more – all with significant understanding of disability support needs – and we continue our learning to ensure our supports are current with emerging researches and approaches.
Our Origin Story
Spectrum Adventures was formed as the brainchild of Dee & Julia in late 2020. Having previously worked together as the admins of the Brisbane Autism & ADHD Network, they brought lived experience as carers for their own neurodiverse families, understanding the great need for supporting social connection for Autistic and ADHD children together.
Together in 2021 they were invited to join the Autism Centre of Excellence’s Advisory Group as community representatives, providing the community voice in influencing the direction around research into autism and autism intervention.
By the end of 2022 they had delivered 5 camps together for Spectrum Adventures, across locations from the Sunshine Coast to the Moreton Bay and Scenic Rim and supported a combined total of over 450 individuals for wonderful weekend adventures.
After a restructure, Spectrum Adventures continued under Dee’s guidance, supported by her awesome team.
2023 saw Spectrum Adventures ventured to new locations, with even more supports on offer, and welcomed a further 320 people across 4 camps. We can’t wait now for 2024 and the future.
Julia
Julia was one of the co-founders of Spectrum Adventures, having been previously working as a Social Worker with a passion for working with families.
Julia left Spectrum Adventures late in 2022 and is now on her path for further studies. We know she will be brilliant at whatever she sets heart to achieve, and we wish her all the luck! It’s been wonderful working on this joint venture together.
