Winner of NDS Excellence in Innovation Award
Holly Bridges, Winner of the Excellence in Innovation Award, 2018. National Disability Service, WA
In a challenging industry, without any financial backing or university affiliations, Holly Bridges has single-handedly created an award winning, somatic therapy.
Video of the Awards Night. Holly was working overseas and her award was accepted by a colleague.
WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY…
DR. STEPHEN PORGES
Professor of Psychiatry.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“I became acquainted with Holly in 2014, when she contacted me to evaluate a prepublication copy of her book, Reframe Your Thinking Around Autism: How the Polyvagal Theory and Brain Plasticity Help Us Make Sense of Autism.
Since I developed Polyvagal Theory, I was curious how she would distill the concepts of theory into an accessible volume that would be helpful to those on the autism spectrum, their families, and the therapists and educators who support them. In reading her book, I realized that Holly had a gifted presentation style that enabled her to communicate the optimistic and important principles of the Polyvagal Theory.
Holly continues to refine her clinical style, embodying aspects of Polyvagal Theory, that enable her to support her clients’ journey to have richer lives and to experience the benefits being safe enough to co-regulate with others.
Focusing on witnessing the client’s biobehavioral state and providing cues of safety through own presence and accessibility, she has successfully expanded the range of the social behavior and resilience”.
DR. GERARD COSTA
Former Director, Centre for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health.
Montclair State University, New Jersey
“Holly is an incredible thinker and a sought-after consultant and interventionist with neurodiverse children and families. However her skills as a writer and presenter are extraordinary.
She is warm, engaging and energetic with the capacity to teach about very complex topics in very understandable ways.
One of her special gifts as a presenter is her use of simple line drawings of human and brain/nervous system structures and functions, making the complex interactions come alive, making incredible sense to participants with varying levels of knowledge.
Holly is one of those rare “translators” of science into application and practice. She teaches professionals and families and supports those with developmental difficulties with deep understanding, passion and care.
She is a gift to our work.”
IN THE PRESS
Irish examiner
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IACP
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INTERVIEWS & PODCASTS
May 2020
Our Deeper States with Holly Bridges. ‘We’ve lost the language of the dorsal state, our deeper states, our otherness states’. In the third of this series on the Polyvagal theory, we are joined by Holly Bridges who explains its connection to Autism and ‘otherness states’. Tune in for a deep dive into bodily states, neuroception, and what might be possible as open up spaces for other ways of being…
May 2022
Multidimensionality with Holly Bridges. A returning guest – Holly Bridges continues to shed new light on different states of being and the possibility of opening up new spaces of acceptance and thriving. Tune in as we talk about the neurophysiological world, body sovereignty, and the genius of place…
Mar 2023
Holly speaks about gaming fixation; the importance of respecting the sentience of the system and not imposing order. She likens the nervous system to a highly intelligent octopus that requires patience, respect and a level of mutual enquiry, if we are to find points of change. This talk is an extension of the A.R.T. Express Course.
May 2021
Holly Bridges will talk about her award winning work with children, teens and adults on the autism spectrum and how by working gently and directly with the body’s nervous system we can see amazing changes in self-awareness, self-confidence and self-regulation.
Aug 2021
Holly Bridges is an autistic author and therapist. She is author of the book Reframe your thinking around autism and creator of Autism Reframe Technique or A.R.T. a therapy centred on the poly-vagal theory. Essentially, this technique looks to reset autonomic sensory responses in each sensory system from a place of sensory overwhelm and cause for anxiety to a more regulated state.
Mar 2019
Interview with Holly Bridges, creator of the ‘Autism Reframe Therapy’ programme. A strengths based programme focusing on maintaining and celebrating the individual.
2019
Incorporating the principles of co-design and brain plasticity, Holly developed the Autism Reframe Therapy program, teaching techniques that help to restore the connection between the brain and nervous system.
2020
In conversation with the amazing Holly Bridges, practitioner and author as she speaks about her work and the simple but life changing work she does in her practice in Australia.
2019
Interview with autism author and practitioner Holly Bridges, prior to departure from Perth, Australia for a working tour to the USA and UK. In an at times, candid and personal discussion, the pair cover a wide-range of difficult, contemporary (and historical) issues around the phenomenon of autism, the limitations of Western science and language, and try to address some of the deep-seated problems autistic people constantly face in a predominantly medical, deficit-based environment.
2018
Danny Raede talks about his experience of doing an Intensive with Holly
2018
Danny Raede, CEO and co-founder of Asperger Experts, discusses with Holly how the Polyvagal Theory may be the defining moment in a true understanding of asperger syndrome and autism.”Your book is the only one on autism that I recommend”, says Danny of Holly’s work.
2018
Holly is interviewed by Rhiannon Crisp. Rhiannon is an Occupational Therapist, and Director of Homebase Hope. She has worked with children with autism at special education schools, mainstream schools, childcare centres and her own private therapy practice at locations across Australia.