The PDA Nook is a warm, inclusive space created by PDA parents, for PDA parents-a place to gather, be seen, and exhale.

Founded and facilitated by Deborah Meggitt, a trained PDA North America Support Leader and fellow parent. Deborah holds an MA in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy, and brings a trauma-informed, nervous system-aware lens grounded in lived experience and deep compassion.

We come together as the experts of our individual PDA journeys-to share, to co-regulate, and to remember we are not alone.

At the heart of our community is a deep commitment to being the change for our children, for each other, for ourselves. Parenting a child with a PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) profile often means unlearning conventional systems and choosing relationships over control, safety over compliance, and connection over correction.

PDA is a profile of autism that reflects a nervous system wired for autonomy, sensitivity, and connection but often overwhelmed by the demands of everyday life. PDAers experience an intense need to resist or avoid everyday expectations, not from defiance, but as a subconscious response to anxiety and perceived threat. What may look like refusal or control-seeking is often a protective response - a way to reclaim agency and stay regulated in a world that can feel safe unpredictable and overwhelming.

Children and individuals with PDA are often highly creative, deeply relational, and profoundly insightful. But they are also frequently misunderstood - especially in systems that prioritize compliance or behavior management over trauma-informed, neuroaffirming care.

Our peer support groups exist to hold space for those of us walking this less traveled path. We are parents, caregivers, advocates, and learners showing up to support one another, shared lived wisdom, and build a new culture of care that centers safety, dignity, and true connection.

We are not here to fix our children. We are here to be with them. To lead with love. To unlearn what no longer serves.

Parenting a PDA child asks us to slow down, stay close, and show up in ways the world does not always understand.

It calls us to be the safe space.

To be the change with compassion, not control. Not perfectly, but bravely. Not alone, but together.