Educator • writer • speakerÂ
Kristy Forbes
is a pioneering advocate & educator for Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) and Autistic identity and culture; offering trauma-informed, non judgmental, affirming education & support for individuals, parents and carers.
She is also the parent of four children with varying forms of neurodivergence.
Her work brings together more than two decades across education, family support and community practice with research, formal study and lived knowledge.
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Experience is not an aside to Kristy’s work
It's a crucial part of how she notices, listens and teaches. Formal education provides language, frameworks and discipline. Lived experience reveals how systems feel from the inside, what they miss, and what can happen when a person is interpreted without being understood. Neither replaces the other. In Kristy’s work, they remain in conversation.
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Kristy became an educator because she knew what exclusion felt like
Kristy left school at fifteen after years of school avoidance, behavioural programs and imposed school based isolation.
She experienced homelessness during pregnancy as a teenager, spent time in and out of the juvenile court system, and became a parent at eighteen.
She later returned to education as the first person in her immediate family to attend university. She became a qualified teacher because she wanted fewer children and families to be harmed by systems that misunderstood them.
Her story is not offered as a qualification or inspiration. It explains why Kristy cannot separate education from power, culture, belonging and safety, and why the work begins with autonomy, dignity and relationship rather than compliance.
Education cannot be separated from power, culture, belonging and safety.
Across more than two decades
Education, classrooms, family support and community practice
The work grew through direct practice with children, families, educators and services.
2001–2009
Early childhood education
Worked directly with children and families, led infant and toddler programs, and designed inclusive early-learning and outside-school-hours programs.
2007–2014
Education support and teaching
Worked in primary and secondary classrooms, including student-disengagement, community-connection and creative curriculum.
2012–2013
Child and family support
Worked across Melbourne with children, families, educators and services during social, emotional, behavioural and trauma-related challenges.
2017–present
inTune Pathways
Founded an international education practice centred on PDA, autistic identity, school distress, burnout, trauma and relational safety.
Formal study and continuing learning
A mixture of professional and lived knowledge
Kristy holds a Bachelor of Arts with a triple major in Sociology; Politics and Culture; and Literature, Film and Art. Her postgraduate in Education specialised in the middle years and student disengagement, qualifying her as a P-12 classroom teacher.
Her continuing education includes postgraduate study in counselling and psychology, alongside substantial professional learning in trauma-responsive education and leadership, dissociation, somatisation, childhood trauma, cultural safety and culturally informed practice.
She is continuing her studies currently in child and youth mental health and trauma informed, inclusive education.
Qualifications matter, but they are not presented as the only source of knowledge. Kristy’s work also recognises autistic knowledge, family knowledge and community-led understanding, particularly where research and formal systems have historically spoken about communities without listening to them.
Family life and experience from the inside
The work is personal, but never individualised away from systems
Kristy is autistic with ADHD, PDA and cPTSD, and lives with chronic illness and the effects of trauma. She is a single parent of four neurodivergent children whose communication, sensory, support and learning needs vary widely.
Her family experience includes AAC, home education, school transitions and reintegration, burnout, disability and navigating health systems, and the everyday work of protecting connection when capacity is low.
The work in the world
Education, writing, speaking and community
A practice built for families and individuals, as well as educators, allied health professionals and organisations.
Thousands of families and professionals
Since 2018, inTune programs and resources have supported thousands of people. Kristy also facilitated a long-running community of more than 500 families experiencing isolation, school distress and complex support needs.
International professional learning
Kristy has delivered education across Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States, including work with Goodstart Early Learning, Oakland Schools in Michigan, Yellow Ladybugs, the Neurodivergent Voices conference with Dr Ross Greene and many more.
Writing and public contribution
Her work includes essays, a podcast, filmed education, keynotes, book chapters and forewords, as well as contributions to professional publications and research conversations.
The thread across all of it
People are not problems to solve. Safety cannot be built through control.
Kristy’s work centres autonomy, dignity, relational safety and belonging while making complex ideas practical and humane.
Education and Resource Library
Self-paced learning for individuals, families, carers, educators and professionals.
Media and speaking
Podcasts, interviews, articles, filmed conversations and selected speaking work.
Writing and reflections
Essays on PDA, autism, identity, trauma, parenting, school distress and relational safety.
