Raelene Dundon

Raelene is the Director of Okey Dokey Childhood Therapy, a large paediatric allied health clinic in Melbourne, Australia. She is a late diagnosed Autistic, an ADHDer, and a registered Educational & Developmental Psychologist with Masters Degrees in Educational and Developmental Psychology and Child Play Therapy. Raelene is also an academic lecturing in Play Therapy at Deakin University.

Raelene has extensive experience working with children 2 – 18 years and their families providing assessment and support for social-emotional concerns, learning challenges, and developmental disabilities, and with a focus on supporting neurodivergent children to flourish. She works in a trauma-informed, neurodiversity affirming and play-based way to support her clients. Raelene is also a board-approved supervisor, and supervises staff within her practice as well as external psychologists looking for support.

Raelene is passionate about supporting Neurodivergent children to understand and accept who they are, and empower them to be themselves in a society that still has a long way to go in terms of accepting and celebrating difference. Recently discovering her own Autistic identity has further fuelled her determination to advocate for the Neurodivergent community at school and in the wider community, as well as supporting families to embrace their child’s differences instead of trying to change them.

Raelene regularly presents workshops for parents and professionals on topics related to supporting Neurodivergent children at home and in the classroom, and has presented at conferences in Prague, New York, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Macau, Singapore, and across Australia both in person and virtually. 

Raelene is the author of four books published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers titled “Talking to your child about their Autism Diagnosis – A parents guide (2017)” and “Teaching Social Skills to Children with Autism Using Minecraft®: A Step by Step Guide (2019)”, “The Parents’ Guide to Managing Anxiety in Children with Autism (2019)” and “PDA in the Therapy Room: A Clinicians Guide to Working with Children with Pathological Demand Avoidance (2021). Her latest book “A Therapist’s Guide to Neurodiversity Affirming Practice with Children and Young People” is due for release in late 2023.