Educational and Supportive Resources

Introduction

This webpage contains a wealth of educational and supportive resources for those who are neurodiverse, neurodivergent or want to better understand how they can support their colleagues.

It contains an array of useful internal and external resources, including eLearning, blog posts, research articles, websites and much more.

If you identify a resource that you think would be valuable to others, please share it with us by emailing the Professional Support team at: England.professionalsupport.yh@nhs.net

Courses for Trainees
Self-directed Support
Courses for Educators, Supervisors and Medical Education Teams
Other Resources

Courses for Trainees

Our Professional Skills Courses support the development of non-clinical professional behaviours and competencies some of which have benefits for traits commonly associated with neurodiversity, such as planning and organisation, wellbeing and stress, rejection sensitivity and self-criticality.

We encourage you to review the full suite of Professional Skills Courses on offer in case more of interest or benefit, but particularly recommend the following options. For more information about Professional Skills courses and for guidance on booking a course, please see our Professional Skills Courses webpage.

Mind Matters Workshop Series

This series of courses is delivered by a Yorkshire and Humber trainer, who has specifically designed them with neurodivergent PGDiTs in mind, though they are also appropriate for ‘neurotypical’ PGDiTs.

You do not need to attend the full range of courses in this series, even though they are badged as a series. You can pick and choose which ones would best fit your needs and only book those sessions.

Mind Matters: Communication Differences and Neurodiversity in Medical Training

Have you ever been told you're too direct, too quiet, over-explain things, miss subtle cues, or struggle with certain feedback conversations?

Communication differences are common and can influence teamwork, supervision, feedback and working relationships throughout medical training. Factors such as personality, culture and neurodiversity can all shape how we communicate and how we interpret others.

This interactive workshop will help you:

Understand different communication styles
Recognise your own communication preferences and patterns
Explore how neurodiversity can influence communication
Reduce misunderstandings in workplace and training relationships
Develop practical strategies for clearer, more effective and more inclusive communication

Suitable for all doctors in training, whether you're interested in improving communication skills, understanding yourself and others better, or learning more about neurodiversity in medical training.

Mind Matters: Energy Budgeting for Neurodivergent Doctors and Dentists

Many neurodivergent doctors and dentists experience fluctuating energy levels that can impact day-to-day functioning in busy clinical environments. This interactive session introduces the concept of energy budgeting and explores how it can support sustainable working. Participants will develop practical strategies to manage energy, reduce overload and maintain wellbeing.

Mind Matters: Executive Functioning Toolkit for Busy Doctors and Dentists

Managing workload, prioritising tasks and staying organised can be challenging in busy clinical environments. This interactive session introduces executive functioning and explores how it impacts day-to-day working in medical training. Participants will develop practical strategies to improve focus, organisation and task management in a sustainable way.

Mind Matters: Sustainable Compassion in Healthcare

Compassion is central to healthcare but can become difficult to sustain under pressure. This interactive session explores the concept of sustainable compassion and the factors that can lead to emotional exhaustion and burnout. Participants will develop an understanding of how to maintain compassionate practice without compromising their own wellbeing, through reflection and practical strategies.

Mind Matters: Taming the Inner Critic

Many doctors and dentists in training experience a strong inner critic, particularly in high-pressure environments. This interactive session explores how self-critical thinking develops and how it can impact confidence, wellbeing and performance. Participants will develop practical strategies to respond to their inner critic in a more balanced and supportive way.

Mind Matters: Understanding Burnout Beyond Workload: The Role of Self-Worth

Many doctors and dentists in training experience a strong link between self-worth and performance, which can contribute to stress and burnout. This interactive session explores how achievement, expectations and training culture can shape self-worth. Participants will develop a better understanding of these patterns and practical strategies to support wellbeing and more sustainable ways of working.

Mind Matters: Understanding Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD)

Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) is a common but often unrecognised experience, particularly in neurodivergent doctors and dentists. This interactive session explores how RSD can impact emotional responses, confidence and working relationships in medical training. Through reflection and practical strategies, participants will develop a better understanding of their own responses and ways to manage them more effectively.

Communication in the Real World

This participative course covers a wide range of topics to help you improve your communication skills and feel more confident at work. You will have the opportunity to practice and will receive constructive feedback on your communication skills in a friendly and supportive learning environment.

Topics covered include: Understanding how communication difficulties arise and how to handle them when they do; Communication models and strategies; Becoming more assertive at work; Communicating effectively with colleagues, patients and relatives; Breaking bad news; Giving constructive feedback and responding positively to critical feedback; Identifying your preferred team role; Understanding conflict resolution styles and how to respond effectively to conflict at work. The course is highly participative and practical.

Doing What Matters: Essential Skills for Effective Learning

Do you sometimes struggle to get everything done? Is engaging with your e-portfolio a challenge? Do you find it tricky to identify the most important activity in a long to-do list? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then this course is for you!

Delivered via a series of group coaching sessions, this course provides a safe and supportive learning space where you can increase your self-awareness and confidence and take away a range of tools and tips to improve your organisation and task management which you can practically implement in a sustainable way.

Focus | Plan | Do It: Improve Productivity and Reduce Stress

How can we manage an ever-increasing, complex workload, during unprecedented change and still have time for personal life?

Positive People created this hands-on programme to support busy staff at all levels, providing an approach which puts you in control, improves productivity and reduces stress. This programme will provide both a methodology to stay on top of work and also hands-on, live help to optimise a range of corporate productivity tools (eg. Microsoft Outlook, To Do, Planner and Onenote. There will also be optional support for Google-based users).

Interpersonal Communication Skills

A two-day course aimed at developing communication skills and expanding confidence in dealing with a range of communication challenges with patients, relatives and colleagues. There will be opportunities to practice, in a safe environment, a variety of approaches to tackle these issues. The learning will be problem based and experiential.

Managing Imposter Syndrome

‘Imposters’ suffer chronic self-doubt and are unable to internalise their accomplishments, no matter how successful they are in their field. This phenomenon can get in the way of professional progress and job satisfaction, which time out of training can exacerbate.

This course provides a safe and supportive group setting to explore what imposter syndrome is, how it may affect you and what you can do about it.

Overcoming Unhealthy Perfectionism

This course will examine and increase your understanding of healthy and unhealthy perfectionism traits within healthcare, including approaches to identify your perfectionist traits to understand when they can be beneficial and address less helpful ones.

Self-directed support

Neurodiversity and Me

NHSE Yorkshire and Humber have a procured a ten-module personal development course called 'Neurodiversity and Me' from Genius Within. The course is hosted on our virtual learning platform, Blackboard, and can be accessed by following our guidance: How to Access the Neurodiversity and Me Resource on Blackboard.

Accessible to both trainers and postgraduate doctors and dentists in training, each module is informed by research that has identified neurodiverse strengths and challenges in clinical settings.

The course will support you to identify what it is like to be at your best more of time, consider preventative models and strategies to meet your workplace and study needs, and encourage you to reflect on your own personal experiences to leverage your strengths.

The focus of each module is provided below:

Wellbeing and stress management
Managing fatigue and burnout
Achieving proactive communication
Planning and prioritising work and education commitments
Planning revision
Memory and recalling information
Concentration and focusing
Literacy and numeracy
Building reflective learning
Building confidence, supporting motivation and meeting professional goals.

Whether you choose to access the full course, or dip into those modules which are best suited to you, we hope you find the resource valuable.

Courses for Educators, Supervisors and Medical Education Teams

Available courses and eLearning are advertised on our Development Courses for Educators and Supervisors webpage.

Professional Support