Frequently Asked Questions

The calendar is released each half year at the same time as registrations open: in December for January – June workshops, and in April for July – December workshops.

As Mindful’s workshops are funded by the Victorian Health Department we offer subsidised places to publicly employed Victorian Mental Health Clinicians (CYMHS/CAMHS/ICYMHS/AMHS -see website for further details).  There are places are held for bookings by Victorian clinicians until two weeks before a workshop and then these may be offered to other professionals who have registered on our waiting list.

Please refer to our website for all information regarding our training. To make your booking please go to ASD Training.

On the website you will find our calendar of training plus detailed information about individual workshops, plus links to our ecommerce site for registration and payment by credit card. The calendar is released each half year. Workshops are categorized under:

Core Training is our introductory level assessment and treatment workshops. Some of these workshops are pre-requisite training to enrol on advanced training workshops.

Advanced Assessment skills workshops provide clinicians with training in specific autism assessment tools for use in clinical practice.  Some of these workshops have pre-requisite courses.

Skill Development workshops are designed for professionals working with clients with ASD. They focus on increasing knowledge and in increasing practical skill development for delivering a wide range of ASD interventions.

If you practice overseas, please email mindful [email protected] prior to booking online due to our limited places.  If your registration is approved, your costs may include additional international shipping expenses for licenced training materials (if required). All costs must be paid prior to the workshop via our website.

No. Our online workshops are currently delivered as live webinars and are not recorded. This is due to the interactive/clinical component.

No, all participants must individually register and pay for a place in workshops.

Yes, it is okay for a small group (3 max) to be in one room for training if necessary BUT each participant must have booked their own place in the workshop.  We recommend using individual devices as it can be difficult to pick up sound from multiple participants at a distance unless there is a good quality external microphone.  It is important for all participants to be able to ask questions during the workshop and to take part in the breakout room learning activities.

If you have not received any course information 1 week prior to the workshop we first recommend checking your spam/junk folder.  Emails are sent 1-2 weeks before training.

If Mindful emails are not found in your spam/junk folder, check your confirmation of registration email to ensure you registered with the correct email address.  If you are unsure, email the Mindful ASD administration team on [email protected]

If you have registered for any ADOS-2 or ADIR workshops you will receive licensed materials through the post one week before the training.  If you have not received these materials, please contact [email protected]

Unfortunately, we cannot send our slide handouts in any other format due to copyright restrictions.  We provide participants with editable PDFs which do not need to be printed.  We recommend opening these handouts using Adobe PDF Reader and using the ‘zoom in’ function to easily access the text and information.

Please note you may not be able to edit or zoom in/out on ‘safe’ versions of the document.  You may need to request an ‘unsafe’ version of the document to view.

The licenced forms used in our ADOS-2 workshop includes (but are not necessarily limited to) ADOS-2 Protocol Booklets for Module 1, Module 2, Module 3 and Module 4 and The Toddler Module.

All the ADOS-2 and ADI-R workshops are certified training, and we engage certified trainer Deborah Sweeney to deliver these workshops.  The protocols/forms are copyrighted and strictly controlled by external parties.  They cannot be reproduced electronically or photocopied.

These licenced protocols/forms are integral to the training as each participant uses them to practice their coding during the workshop.  Mindful sends these resources to each participant prior to the workshop at the address they have provided.  We use registered mail to ensure they are received as without the forms participants cannot complete the workshop and the "hands on" coding.

To be eligible for the ADOS-2 Introductory and ADI-R workshops you must complete the pre-requisite training. At Mindful, our training is supported by Victorian Department of Health and our mandate is to provide high quality autism training that is accessible and affordable for clinicians, particularly those working in Victorian CAMHS/CYMHS/ICYMHS.  

As our autism training calendar is designed for mental health clinicians working with complex clients, we have made the ASD Assessment Fundamentals and Co-occurring Conditions a prerequisite to these workshops as it covers all components of a comprehensive ASD assessment. This includes a comprehensive developmental history, consideration of collateral information and issues of comorbidity, differential diagnosis and formulation. The ADOS-2 is one component of an ASD assessment and we would like to ensure that all clinicians attending have a broad understanding of the complexities of ASD assessment.

If you are working in adult mental health, completing both the Adult Autism Introductory and Advanced training will suffice as the pre-requisite for this training.

The ADOS-2 Introductory Workshop (2 days) introduces the ADOS-2 as an assessment tool.  The trainer takes participants through each element of the four modules.  Videos of each module are watched by participants and coded.  This is the first step in the process for establishing reliability.  You are able to undertake ADOS-2 assessments once you have completed this workshop, which was previously called clinical training.  We encourage all participants to engage in supervision with a clinician experienced in ADOS-2 administration. When you purchase an ADOS-2 kit the supplier may request a copy of your certification of the Introductory ADOS-2 training.  

The Introductory workshop does not include the Toddler Module.  This is a separate one-day workshop as this is a newer module and not included in the original Introductory ADOS-2 Workshop.

The ADOS-2 Advanced Workshop (2.5 days) is for a small number of participants to increase their knowledge of the ADOS-2 and their coding skills.  A key component of this training is participating in administering the ADOS-2 face-to-face with a range of volunteer clients covering assessment Modules 1 to 4. This workshop is highly recommended for those wishing to advance their clinical skills.

Mindful also offers half day ADOS-2 Coding and Reliability Workshops for participants who have completed the ADOS-2 training.  In this workshop new video material is shared for participants to code two modules moderated by the Trainer, Deborah Sweeney.

We are a very small organisation with limited capacity to assess every individual’s previous training and experience.  Our prerequisite training focuses on video material of client assessments presented by a tertiary multidisciplinary team.  Our training is supported by the Victorian Department of Health for Victorian Clinicians.  Interstate clinicians are welcome to join our training, but the prerequisite training applies to all.

Prior to signing up for our courses, we encourage all potential trainees to familiarise themselves with the National Guideline for the assessment and diagnosis of autism in Australia | Autism CRC

This Guideline provides an overview of which clinical disciplines can be involved in and lead diagnostic assessments for Autism.

There are a limited number of places for interstate or international clinicians for these workshops as Mindful is funded by the Victorian Health Department and many of our workshops are specifically designed to skill up the Victorian mental health workforce.

Deborah Sweeney regularly offers training in NZ (online and face-to-face when possible).

Autism New Zealand offers workshops in ADOS-2 and ADI-R training that is equivalent to Mindful’s training.  Please find a link to their website here: https://autismnz.org.nz/programmes/

Alternatively contact the Autism NZ coordinator Larah van der Meer at [email protected]

Organisations can book a maximum of five staff into any of our ADOS-2 training workshops.

As our training is funded by the Victorian Department of Health, we have capped the number of places booked by individual services to ensure there are places also available to Victorian Clinicians.

Registered participants who are unable to attend and notify us of this in writing prior to fourteen days before the workshop may either:

(1) cancel their registration and receive a refund of their payment minus administration fee of 20% or $40, whichever is greater;

(2) transfer their registration to another eligible participant within the same workplace (no fee);

(3) in some circumstances may be able to transfer their registration to an equivalent-cost autism workshop in the same calendar year, if space is available.

Cancellations with less than 14 days' notice are not refundable. If there is someone else in your workplace that you wish to transfer your registration to, this may be permitted. In exceptional circumstances, please contact us.

Mindful reserves the right to make changes to the training calendar or any general or specific information published in our calendar. Mindful reserves the right to cancel courses that do not achieve minimum participation, in which case, course fees will be refunded in full.

Mindful reserves the right to cancel courses at short notice, where unexpected/rare emergency circumstances require it, and will endeavor to move participants bookings to an alternative date or provide a full refund.