A clinical guide to autistic burnout, PDA-profile demand avoidance, masking, shutdown, skill loss, recovery time, and why demand reduction is often treatment.
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Provisional psychologist · Founder of PsychVault · Perth WA
Author
Ethan Smith
Provisional Psychologist & Founder, PsychVault
Perth, Western Australia
~1,400
Internship experience
Provisional
Professional status
Perth
Location
Founder
Role
Areas of practice
AuDHD / PDA profileAutistic individuals (ages 5–21)ADHD & SLD assessmentNeuro-affirming practiceCBT / ACT / DBT / MBTVideo game therapyNDIS & IEP assessmentsGatekeeper trainedLGBTIQA+ affirming practiceGroup interventionsMotivational InterviewingHigh-risk presentations
About
Founder and editorial contact: ethan@psychvault.com.au. Read the editorial policy and business details. Authorship does not mean an article has had independent clinical review.
Ethan H. Smith is a provisional psychologist based in Perth, Western Australia, and the founder of PsychVault. He has completed approximately 1,400 total psychology internship hours across assessment, therapeutic work, group programs, and work with neurodivergent clients and families.
His professional interests include neurodivergence, assessment, video-game-based therapeutic work, clinician development, and the systems surrounding psychology training and registration.
Ethan created PsychVault to make practical psychology resources easier to find, understand, and share. His writing covers internship pathways, supervision, registration, neuro-affirming practice, documentation, and early-career psychology.
Ethan is neurodivergent himself — PDA, AuDHD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia — and approaches neurodiversity as identity, not pathology.
Therapeutic approaches
CBTACTDBTMBTSolution-Focused TherapyMotivational InterviewingVideo game therapy
Delivered individually and in groups, in-person and online.
Assessment toolkit
Cognitive & educational
- WISC-V
- WIAT-III
- Vineland (adaptive functioning)
Neurodivergence & mental health
- Conners 4 (ADHD)
- RCADS · SCAS · EDA-Q
- ASRS · SRS · AQ-child
What he writes about
- The AHPRA 5+1 internship year — logbooks, hours, and what nobody tells you
- Supervision: finding good supervisors, spotting red flags, getting the most from it
- National Psychology Examination prep and strategy
- Neuro-affirming practice and documentation for autistic and ADHD clients
- Clinical practice realities: NDIS, assessments, and building a caseload
Professional development highlights
- Autism for Mental Health Professionals: Foundations — Dr Belinda Ratcliffe (8 hrs, 2022)
- WISC-V & WIAT-III for SLD Diagnosis — Dr Melissa Stephens (2022)
- CBIT & Habit Reversal Therapy — Dr Amy Talbot (2022)
- Attachment, Neurobiology & the New Science of Psychotherapy — Prof Jeremy Holmes (2022)
- Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Training — Mental Health Commission (~6 hrs, 2023)
- Ross Greene / PDA Conference volunteer, Optus Stadium (2024)
Neuroscience (degree)
Brain-based foundations for clinical practice & psychoeducation
Edith Cowan University
Clinical Masters coursework
Macquarie University
Centre for Emotional Health — research internship
Written by Ethan Smith
108 articles
Practical low-demand communication scripts for clinicians, parents, carers, and schools supporting PDA-profile autistic children, adolescents, and adults.
A practical PDA assessment and formulation framework for clinicians integrating autism history, psychometrics, masking, sensory load, executive function, family context, and school or work data.
A neurodiversity-affirming pillar guide to PDA, demand avoidance, the theoretical pillars behind autistic experience, and what visible behaviour does and does not tell us.
A neurodiversity-affirming guide to PDA, school refusal, emotionally based school avoidance, masking, attendance pressure, and low-demand school support.
A clinical differential guide to PDA, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, anxiety-driven demand avoidance, intent, empathy, and contraindicated behavioural responses.
A plain-English guide to Ahpra notifications, mandatory reporting, informal Level 1 to 3 language, provisional psychologist vulnerability, AAPi, APS, and what to do if a concern is raised.
Coercive control is a pattern, not a single incident. A look at how disagreement becomes risky, why emotional safety matters, and what accountability actually sounds like.
A practical clinician guide to video game therapy, including Minecraft, Roblox, telehealth sessions, gaming groups, consent, privacy, and therapeutic intent.
A practical Australian guide to AI companions, chatbots, privacy, deepfakes, emotional dependence, and the risks of using AI for support, advice, or therapy-adjacent care.
A practical Australian guide to the under-16 social media rules, what platforms are age-restricted, what children can still use, where parents get confused, and what schools and clinicians should say about it.
A practical Australian guide to gaming spending risks, including currency distancing, loot boxes, battle passes, skins, gifting, status pressure, and why modern games can feel more like platforms than toys.
A practical Australian guide to parental controls, monitoring software, Screen Time, Family Link, console settings, purchase controls, and how to use oversight without turning family online safety into a secrecy war.
A practical Australian guide to phishing, malware, trojans, fake giveaways, hacked accounts, and account theft, with simple family rules for links, downloads, passwords, and reporting.
A practical Australian guide to sextortion, intimate-image threats, fake nudes, deepfakes, nudify apps, and image-based abuse, including first steps, reporting pathways, and what adults should avoid saying.