“This is my protected timeslot. It is saved in my calendar and my partner knows that this is a non-negotiable for me. I have learnt so much from everyone in the group and I love being able to share and help other parents.”
Who we are
Belongside Families is an independent, not-for-profit peer support organisation for families of children with disability, developmental delays and autism. We help families to navigate complex disability systems and services and build the skills, knowledge and confidence that will see their children and family thrive. Our peer groups and programs, trusted resources, and supportive community are online and free. We're passionate about all children and families living their best lives and discovering a future full of possibility.
Learn MoreNo family should start their journey alone
Help us reach families navigating a new disability diagnosis for their child.
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Don’t worry, we’re not here to overload your inbox. What you’ll get from us will be inspiring stories, details of upcoming events, helpful resources and other opportunities to be part of our community. From our family to yours, every fortnight or so.
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To connect, celebrate and learn with parents and carers on their own beautiful journeys. Ours is a safe space where you can come to ask advice and share experiences on anything from your child's diagnosis to navigating the NDIS.
Join nowFollow us
@belongsidefamilies We’re proud to be partnering with Siblings Australia to bring families of children with disability a free five-part webinar series focused on supporting siblings.
Each session combines expert guidance with lived experience through practical presentations and open conversations with professionals, parents, and carers. You’ll gain tools and strategies to build resilience, strengthen sibling relationships, and support the needs of every child in your family.
We’ll cover:
🔸Understanding the Sibling Experience: Tue 27 May
🔸Supporting Relationships & Resilience: Tue 3 June
🔸The Sibling Role: Now & Into the Future: Tue 10 June
🔸 Building School & Community Connections: Tue 17 June
🔸Sibling Support in Medically Complex Families: Tue 24 June
🕰All sessions run 12:00–12:45pm (NSW time)
✏️Register to attend live or receive the replay via linkin.bio
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#SupportingSiblingsOfShildrenWithDisability #ByFamiliesForFamilies #PeerLed #ParentingDisability #PeerSupport #WalkingWithFamilies #ReframingDisability #SpecialNeedsMum #SpecialNeedsMother #DisabilityParenting
May 19
Check out the events coming up in the next 2 weeks:
🔶Tube Feeding: Medical Info Session
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🔶Introduction to Advocacy: Interactive Workshop
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🔶Reimagining Your Parenting Role: Conversations
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🔶Understanding ARFID: Virtual Autism MyTime
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🔶 Healthy Mothers Healthy Families: Workshops
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🔶 Connect & Chat: Virtual MyTime
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🔶Picnic in the Park: Central Coast Catch-Ups
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🔶Have your Say Western Sydney: In-Person Event
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🔶Understanding the Sibling Experience: Webinar Series
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🔶Returning to Work: Virtual MyTime
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🔶Dealing with Family & Friends: Conversations
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🔶Coffee Catch-Ups at Gables: In-Person Events
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🔶Everyday Advocacy at School: Interactive Workshops
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🔶Finding You Again: Conversations
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🔶 Connect & Chat: Virtual MyTime
All times are based on NSW Time
#ByFamiliesForFamilies #PeerLed #ParentingDisability #PeerSupport #Belong+Alongside #WalkingWithFamilies #ReframingDisability #SpecialNeedsMum #SpecialNeedsMother #ParentingDisability #MyTime #CheckInAndConnect #DisabilityAwareness #ConnectAndChat #DropInAndChat #AutismParentingTips #CareGiverSupport #DisabilityParenting #DisabilityEducation #InclusiveEducation
May 18
The messy, beautiful reality of caregiving. Who can relate 🙋♀️
If you`re navigating the challenges of tube feeding in your family, you`re not alone.
Pam will be facilitating a free info session on Tube Feeding with Natalie Gentile, Paediatric Nursing Specialist and Registered Stomal Therapist from @childrens_nursing_queensland .
Together, they`ll talk about the hard parts, what helps, and share practical tips about the ins and outs of tube feeding.
🗓 Monday 19 May, 12:00pm (NSW Time)
📍 Free online session
🎥 Register to attend live or be emailed the replay via linkin.bio
#TubeFeeding #PEGFeeding #MedicalParenting #BelongsideFamilies #DisabilitySupport #FeedingTubeLife #cmvwarrior #cmv #tubefed #pegfed #newpeg #mumguilt #showercry
May 15
Parenting a child with disability brings a unique mix of joy, challenge and growth—and emotions we don’t often make space for.
Beyond the Diagnosis—is our free four-part webinar series exploring the emotional realities of raising a child with disability through real, honest conversations.
In Session 1 we’re joined by author and parent Melanie Dimmitt and counsellor and educator Helen Poulos. Together they`ll bring deep professional insight and lived experience to a powerful conversation about Reimagining Our Parenting Role.
Join us, as we unpack:
✨ Letting go of expectations
✨ Making space for complex emotions
✨ Holding joy and grief at the same time
✨ Finding beauty and strength in a parenting journey you didn’t expect
🧡 Whether you’re newly navigating a diagnosis or have been on this path for a while, this session offers space to reflect, feel seen, and draw strength.
🗓 Wednesday 21 May, 12:00pm
🎥 Attend live or receive the replay
🔗 Register now via Linkin.bio
#BeyondTheDiagnosis #BelongsideFamilies #DisabilityParenting #ConversationsSeries #MelanieDimmitt #HelenPoulos #FreeWebinar
May 14
✨ Meet Bree: Program Manager at Belongside Families ✨
Bree began her career in medical practice management before moving to Karratha, WA to work in administration on a mining site.
💁️ Bree returned to NSW when her son Dax was born with Congenital Cytomegalovirus (CMV). This sparked a deep passion for disability inclusion and showing what’s possible for families like hers. Bree began sharing her family’s story through CMV Australia and Cerebral Palsy Alliance, helping to raise awareness and connect with other families on similar journeys.
👨👩👧👧 Now, as Program Manager at Belongside Families, Bree leads the design and facilitation of programs that support, empower and connect parents and carers of young people with disability. She works across workshops, peer groups and webinars – creating spaces where families feel informed, uplifted and, most importantly, not alone.
🐶 A fun fact about Bree is that she has a beautiful one-year-old German short-haired pointer called Dolly Dog, who keeps Bree accountable for exercise.
⛱ Outside of work, Bree loves going outdoors on the NSW South Coast where she now lives with her family.
🧡 What Bree loves most about her job is the feeling she gets after a session, knowing a parent or carer has walked away feeling heard, supported and more confident.
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Everyone on our team is raising a child with disability, delay, or autism. That lived experience is at the heart of everything we do — and it’s what makes Belongside Families different.
#BelongsideFamilies #WalkingAlongside #FamiliesSupportingFamilies #BelongsideCommunity #ByFamiliesForFamilies #PeerLed #ParentingDisability #BelongsideFamiliesTeam
May 13
Families Week is an important time to recognise the vital role families play in the fabric of our society.
At Belongside Families, the importance of families is not just something we acknowledge this week—but every single day of the year. You are at the heart of everything we do.
Every member of our team, and most of our board, has lived the journey of raising a child with disability. This lived experience is deeply woven into every decision we make, every program we design, and every resource we create.
But being family-led isn’t just about who we are. It’s about how we work.
Each year, thousands of parents and carers shape our work in meaningful ways. They share honest feedback that strengthen our programs, guide our advocacy and organisational priorities, co-create practical resources, and offer insights through webinars, fact sheets, and stories that help others feel seen, supported, and less alone.
This collective wisdom is our greatest strength. It makes everything we offer real, relevant, and deeply trusted by the families in our community.
We do more than support families—we walk beside you. With heartfelt empathy, practical wisdom, and the kind of understanding that only comes from lived experience.
That’s what it means to be family-led.
And that’s what makes Belongside Families different.
May 12
Check out the events coming up in the next 2 weeks:
🔶Coffee Catch-Up at Willowdale: In-Person
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🔶Supporting Sibling Relationships: Virtual MyTime
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🔶Connect & Chat: Virtual MyTime
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🔶Family Fun Nights: In-person Catch-Ups
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🔶Tube Feeding: Medical Info Session
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🔶Introduction to Advocacy: Interactive Workshop
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🔶Reimagining Your Parenting Role: Conversations
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🔶Understanding ARFID: Virtual Autism MyTime
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🔶 Healthy Mothers Healthy Families: Workshops
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🔶 ENVISAGE: Workshops
All times are based on NSW Time
#ByFamiliesForFamilies #PeerLed #ParentingDisability #PeerSupport #Belong+Alongside #WalkingWithFamilies #ReframingDisability #SpecialNeedsMum #SpecialNeedsMother #ParentingDisability #MyTime #CheckInAndConnect #DisabilityAwareness #ConnectAndChat #DropInAndChat #AutismParentingTips #CareGiverSupport #DisabilityParenting #DisabilityEducation #InclusiveEducation
May 11
🧡 Happy Mother’s Day to the mums and mother figures in our community.
We see your love, your growth, your quiet strength. These are the things that shape your child’s world in irreplaceable ways. It’s a role full of beauty and complexity, and one that at times can feel deeply emotional.
That’s why we created our new webinar series—about the parts of parenting we often carry alone.
Conversations: Beyond the Diagnosis is a four-part webinar series exploring the emotional realities of raising a child with disability.
Whether you`ve just received a diagnosis for your child, or have been on your journey for some time, this series offers understanding, practical ideas and strategies, and space to reflect on all the parts of parenting that often go unspoken, but that can make all the difference.
Starting Wed 21 May 12pm
Register to attend live or receive the recording:
https://collections.humanitix.com/conversations
May 10
Part 3/3: Advice for a Good Life
For me, a good life is to live fully – to build social connections and make a difference.
On my journey to become a non-speaking Autistic advocate, I have met many challenges and worked hard to manage and overcome these. I now feel the need to devote time to help others in the same boat. Helping other non-speaking Autistics has also led me to develop and grow in many ways, in becoming the person I aspire to be, to be more skilled, compassionate and resilient.
My advice to young Autistic people is this: don’t be deterred by neurotypical, deficit-based views of Autism – that Autism is a disorder. Live fully, as your Autistic differences provide valuable perspectives and can be assets. Always strive to show others what we are capable of, with our strengths and resilience in meeting life’s curve balls.
To parents of Autistic children, I say: believe in your children, be aware of their differences and refrain from aligning with non-autistic values, often unconscious, in parenting. Don’t be afraid to take the road less travelled, in letting your kids pave the way to become self-advocates to meet their own support needs, with your support and guidance.
Tim Chan is a proud Autistic non-speaking advocate and student. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sociology and is currently undertaking a PhD on the neurodiversity movement and its applicability to Autistic individuals with complex communication needs. Tim is a board member of @reframing_autism and an ambassador for Communication Rights Australia and the @ican_rethinkautism .
🧡 You can read more about Tim`s Good Life via the Linkin.bio
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#StoriesOfTheGoodLife #BelongsideFamilies #ByFamiliesForFamilies #AutismAwareness #AustismAdvocate #AutisticAwareness #AAC #FacilitatedCommunitcation
May 9
Part 2/3: Family
My mother has played a pivotal role in translating the world to me, and translating me to the world.
Mum has devoted her time and commitment to support me. She does everything. She is the chef, the washer-upper, the cleaning department, my personal wardrobe coordinator, as well as my social secretary and personal assistant. She is my teacher, my therapist and my advocate. She is the tinker, the tailor, the baker and the gluten-free bread maker. She is my chaperone and chauffeur. She also drives me up the wall with her insistence that I do things her way, some of the time.
Her unconditional love for me knows no bounds. I would not have aspired as high, attempted as much nor gone as far, without her guidance and unwavering support.
Stay tuned for the final instalment of Tim Chan`s Good Life story ...
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#StoriesOfTheGoodLife #BelongsideFamilies #ByFamiliesForFamilies #AutismAwareness #AustismAdvocate #AutisticAwareness #AAC #FacilitatedCommunitcation
May 9
Part 1/ 3: Growing up
I am the youngest of four children. In the first weeks of my life, my mother says, everything was going well. But then it became clear that I would not settle or sleep easily. My milestones were also delayed, not sitting up until I was eight months old. I never crawled, but stood up at around fourteen months, and walked two months later.
My communication was also a little late, with babbling at 12 months, then single words not long after. Unlike my siblings whose first word was ‘ma’ (mother in Chinese), my first word was ‘dang’ – light – which I spent much time looking at. By 14 months, however, the single words disappeared, although there was nothing wrong with my hearing: I would start to cry whenever my older sister practised the violin.
As the months rolled on, my developmental delays became more obvious, and by two and a half years of age my mother, a psychologist, could no longer deny my difficulties. She booked an appointment with a multidisciplinary team for an assessment and three weeks later she was told I had Autistic Disorder, with severe delays in cognition, social understanding and communication.
From a toddler with no speech and huge developmental delays in all areas, I am proud to have mastered language between the ages of five and seven years via an individualised program designed by my mother. I went on to acquire communication at nine via the Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) method of Facilitated Communication, which involves assisted typing.
With continued improvement in assisted typing, a whole new world opened up for me, and despite many hurdles and exclusionary barriers, I have been able to attend and complete mainstream schooling, make friends, join advocacy groups, present at forums, give a TED talk, go to university, graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sociology and currently to undertake a PhD program.
Stay tuned for more of Tim Chan`s Good Life story ...
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#StoriesOfTheGoodLife #BelongsideFamilies #ByFamiliesForFamilies #AutismAwareness #AustismAdvocate #AutisticAwareness #AAC #FacilitatedCommunitcation
May 9
✨ Meet Ginny: Community Lead at Belongside Families ✨
Ginny has divided her career between her two passions: books and advocacy. While the early years of her career were spent in the fascinating world of book publishing, she has invested her energies in more recent times into working on content for not-for-profit organisations in the disability space.
👪 After becoming a mum to Finn and Ren, Ginny discovered both her children had wonderfully divergent brains. Soon after their autism diagnosis, Ginny was formally identified as autistic herself – a pivotal moment in her life.
🎤 Following her autism identification, Ginny felt inspired to share her experiences as a multiply neurodivergent person. She joined the team at Reframing Autism and began writing blog pieces, which have been read widely. She hosted a podcast, Amplified, downloaded by thousands of listeners around the world. And she was invited to share her insights into neurodivergence on other podcasts and at conferences.
📄 Ginny now has the pleasure of running Belongside’s growing Facebook community and also developing valuable new resources for parents and carers.
📚 A fun fact about Ginny is that she is the author of a children’s book, Australia’s Greatest Landmarks and Locations.
🐕 Outside of work, Ginny is a volunteer carer for Guide Dog puppies – spirited creatures which keep her on her toes!
🧡 Ginny hopes that the families she connects with through Belongside feel seen, supported and uplifted.
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Everyone on our team is raising a child with disability, delay, or autism. That lived experience is at the heart of everything we do — and it’s what makes Belongside Families different.
#BelongsideFamilies #WalkingAlongside #FamiliesSupportingFamilies #BelongsideCommunity #ByFamiliesForFamilies #PeerLed #ParentingDisability #BelongsideFamiliesTeam
May 7
