The DivergAntz Collective is proud to be home to one of Queensland’s few Developmental Educators (DE). Our DE and founder of InstinctAu, Tara Kent, is registered with Developmental Educators Australia Inc. As a Developmental Educator, she is able to conduct comprehensive sensory assessments, identify and respond to Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD)’s and provide support to all those around participants regarding complexities relating to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Rejection Sensitive Disorder (RSD), Sensory Processing Disorder and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA).

Tara is a Director of:

• InstinctAu (www.instinctau.com.au)
• TecAntz (www.tecantz.com.au)
• The DivergAntz Collective (www.divergantz.com.au)

She is also President of the Board of Management of both River North Lifestyles Association Incorporated and The Other Way Incorporated – The Other Way public Facebook Group & The Other Way private Facebook Group.

As an allied health professional, a DE specialises in providing adults and children with disorders or disabilities practical help so that they can attain their independence. Some of their clients may include people who are autistic, or who have intellectual, physical and neurological disabilities.

They work closely with families and caregivers, and other allied health professionals who may be involved in the support of an individual.

​Tara Kent has been working in the education, community services and justice sector for over 20 years. Tara is multiply qualified in Education, Human Services, and Law. Tara has been the Director of Instinct Au (formerly Instinct CBT) since it’s commencement in 2001 and has been steadily helping it grow as she advanced her skills in many other roles.

Tara uses sensory-based and brain-based strategies including Dr Ross Greene’s Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS), Dr Dan’s Siegel’s ‘whole-brain learning’ and implements strategies conducive with the bottom-up and top-down approaches endorsed by Mona Delahooke. These strategies support children’s brains to manage the world around them. Ethical assessment of the reason and needs of explosive children helps those around them to understand neuroception and respond to explosive behaviour. Tara utilises the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP) promoted by Dr Ross Greene to work with explosive children, with immense success.

1. Principal Guardian (QLD) at the Office of Public Guardian (2010 – 2013, during the transition to the positive behaviour support framework, at this time the office was called the Office of Adult Guardian).

2. Director of 2 Companies, President of the Board of Management of a Registered Charity.

3. Clinical lead of Instinct Au Pty Ltd since 2001.

4. Wrote and delivered 5 separate courses in literacy and numeracy for young adults, transitioning from high school to further education and delivered them across 2 TAFE campuses over 5 years.

5. Developed the “How to write a PBSP” training and delivered it across QLD for the Centre of Excellence for Behaviour Support.

6. Speaker at a literacy and numeracy conference, in conjunction with master’s level study at the time, on topics regarding alternative models of facilitating andragogy in education environments.

7. Speaker at State Disability Conference regarding positive methods of responding to behaviour indicating crisis.

8. Speaker at QLD Disability Expo (Gold Coast) regarding the role of the Developmental Educator in NDIS provided services.

9. Accommodation and Clinical Services Manager of multiple disability and forensic mental health organisations. Offered specialist clinical support and direction to highly agitated, frequently distressed participants during a period of transition and re-regulation.

10. Developed and implemented the policy framework to numerous community service, disability, and educational facilities.

11. Currently a Registered Teacher (QLD Education) with 20 years experience facilitating education to  children and adults across a range of education based platforms, including schools, tertiary institutions  and alternative models of education.

12. Previous work with the QLD Deaf Community, able to use Auslan to a moderate level (whether an interpreter is also needed is up to each participant to decide, but Tara is a relatively confident Auslan signer). Tara is very willing to work with Deaf participants who use Auslan and loves to work with the Deaf community.

13. Completed the Professional Certificate in Autistic Wellbeing with Reframing Autism in 2022.

14. Completed the Course in Interpersonal Neurobiology with Dr Dan Siegel through the Mindsight Institute in 2022.

15. Completed the Pre-Certification program in Collaborative and Pro Active Solutions (CPS Model – Dr Ross Greene) through his business “Lives in the Balance”.

16. Wrote, facilitated and made publicly available, a Professional Certificate of Neurodivergent Affirming Practices course, which is accessible from https://divergantz.com.au/education and is free for parents, workers, professionals, or anyone wanting to learn about Autism, ADHD, Sensory Registration and Neuroscience. There is no obligation to those completing this course, it is provided to add value to the sector and help facilitate education.

17. Wrote, facilitated and made publicly available a course of ‘Professional Certificate of Neurodivergent Affirming, Specialist Behaviour Practitioner Theory‘. This is designed for those who want to work as a Specialist Behaviour Practitioner using neurodivergent affirming practices, and framework. This course is aimed at those already working in the sector who want to refine their practice AND those who are wanting to join the sector. The course is provided at a cost of $1000 and includes all templates needed to write Positive Behaviour Support Plans (PBSP) and complete Functional Behaviour Assessments (FBA).

18. Both a TikTok and a YouTube Channel have been created by Tara to help facilitate education in an accessible manner for those who cannot manage the lengthy zoom training sessions provided in the free course and/or are time poor. The name of her profile on these platforms is Miss_DivergAntz. You can find Tara’s TikTok channel here and the YouTube channel here.

19. LinkTree is a sharing website where Tara updates her content with valuable resources and information to help support the sector and to push the Neurodivergent Affirming agenda across Australia. You can access that here.

20. Tara has written / developed a ND Affirming Quiz for professionals and organisations to undertake as a self-reflection to determine if they are ND Affirming themselves. You can access that here.

21. Tara completes diagnostic assessments as a Developmental Educator through the DivergAntz Collective. She commenced this work to help the significant bottleneck in accessing diagnosis, which exists across Australia. Tara works with a Clinical Psychologist who is able to provide confirmations of these diagnosis’, thus allowing the participant to have sufficient evidence to access NDIS (in Australia) and for verification in the QLD school system (perhaps in other States and Territories too, but this has not been checked). Booking in for a diagnostic assessment can be done by going here and completing the application.

22. Tara works with the Directors of The Experience Collectors, Kylie Cox and Sarah Nelson, as shared Directors in TecAntz. Kylie and Sarah are winners of the 2022 Aspect Autism Awards and are a great source of professional development regarding the broader Autistic Community. They provide Tara ongoing feedback about the needs of children, mothers, families and others within the Autistic community in QLD.

Currently enrolled in the Master of Autism Studies – Griffith University. This was commenced in July 2022 and is expected to be completed by July 2023.

Long-Term Care Attendants, Elsevier Published Textbook. Authored 3 chapters in 4 Editions of this Text. Most recently in 2021.