Sonny Hallett
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scrappapertiger.bsky.social
Sonny Hallett
@scrappapertiger.bsky.social
2.3K followers 370 following 270 posts
Therapist, trainer & consultant. Autistic, trans, mixed race. Woodland creature. They/them

https://linktr.ee/scrappapertiger
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scrappapertiger.bsky.social
Sonny Hallett @scrappapertiger.bsky.social · Nov 27
Hello folks, I’m Sonny Hallett. I’m a person-centred therapist and trainer based in Edinburgh UK. I’m autistic, trans, mixed race, bendy and sore of joints, weird woodland creature.

Here’s my therapy website which I’m hoping to overhaul before too long:

autisticmentalhealth.uk/sonny/
Sonny Hallett Training and Support – Autistic Mental Health
autisticmentalhealth.uk
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
fergus.oolong.co.uk
Kifl is in another of her in-between states on the sofa, this time propped up on a blanket and lying against @scrappapertiger.bsky.social.

Her eyes are open, but she is intermittently snoring.
Sonny looks down at the dog, who is lying next to them in some kind of trance. That dog-trance in full. Kifl is lying on her back, gazing into nothingness, head slightly tilted, front paws folded by her chest, rear paws together. We are viewing her from above. Side view of Kifl (dozing) and Sonny (poking at a phone, holding an empty bowl).
January 9, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
fergus.oolong.co.uk
Kifl doing an *extra* cute thing with her paws.
The dog's paws are folded inward, horizontally, so they're like little furry spirals in front of her? I don't know how else to describe them. She's lifted her head, and she's looking nonplussed, because I had to convince her to look up for this photo.
December 2, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
fergus.oolong.co.uk
Kifl receives the attention she is due.

Photo by (and with) @scrappapertiger.bsky.social.
Kifl is upright yet floppy on the sofa, her left paw raised imperiously. I'm sitting next to her, reaching over to pet her (I'm a whore longhaired human wearing glasses and a bright yellow Derpy Tiger hoodie). Sonny's hand is reaching for her from the other side.
December 28, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
fergus.oolong.co.uk
Santa - or Captain Christmas, as he was also known - is traditionally an elf. Not a big Tolkienish elf either, a rotund little guy with eight tiny reindeer.

Merry Yule to all who celebrate!

www.fatherly.com/entertainmen...
Wait. Is Santa Claus Just a Big Elf?
We all think of Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, as a big guy, but it says right there, in "'Twas the Night Before Christmas": he's an elf. How did we miss that?
www.fatherly.com
December 25, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
fergus.oolong.co.uk
"She's like a bunch of flowers!"
Sonny (Kifl's other human) smiles on the sofa while Kifl pulls an amazing face, half-hidden by the cone she has to wear while she's recovering from surgery. She's mid-yawn.
December 18, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
fergus.oolong.co.uk
A tremendous educational video to share with anyone who affects to be confused about pronouns.
youtube.com/watch?v=koZF...
Schoolhouse Rock Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla (Pronouns)
YouTube video by dawemmy
youtube.com
December 17, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
autisticrealms.bsky.social
"The double empathy problem decentres the idea of normalcy"
A nice summary from Damian Milton in their talk today: "Key Concepts in the Development of a Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice" from Tizard Centre University of Kent.
A soft green slide with a pale pink circle at the top showing two facing human head silhouettes, each with a heart inside, connected by curved arrows to suggest mutual understanding. Below, black text reads: “The double empathy problem decentres the idea of normalcy.” Attribution underneath: “Damian Milton, 16th Dec 2025.” Further text states: “From their talk: ‘Key Concepts in the Development of a Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice,’ Tizard Centre, University of Kent,” followed by a web link. The Autistic Realms logo appears in the bottom right, with the words “Neurodiversity Affirming.”
December 16, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
thrivingautistic.bsky.social
Sharing a fantastic blog "Be yourself. No, not like that."
Written by @scrappapertiger.bsky.social who is part of our animations team at Thriving Autistic. Sonny also works as a Neurodivergent & Queer therapist & is in our Neurodivergent Practitioners Directory.

Blog:
medium.com/@sonnyhallet...
Be yourself. No, not like that.
This piece is a text version of the keynote I delivered for the PCE Europe Symposium in Glasgow, November 2025, on the theme of diversity…
medium.com
December 15, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
clearautism.bsky.social
This is a really interesting and thought provoking piece.

There is too much in it for me to pick a standout section without being reductive, so I will simply suggest you take some time for yourself and enjoy reading it, as I did.

Thank you for sharing this, @scrappapertiger.bsky.social
December 15, 2025 at 12:52 PM
scrappapertiger.bsky.social
I talked about diversity in therapy, experiences of minoritised trainees, what we can all do as a community, learning from outside of the therapy world, the radical potential of the person centred approach… I covered quite a lot I think!
December 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM
scrappapertiger.bsky.social
Here’s a text version of my keynote at the PCE Europe Symposium last month.

medium.com/@sonnyhallet...
Be yourself. No, not like that.
This piece is a text version of the keynote I delivered for the PCE Europe Symposium in Glasgow, November 2025, on the theme of diversity…
medium.com
December 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
autisticrealms.bsky.social
It's here!
It Takes All Kinds of Minds: Fostering Neurodivergent Thriving at School
Edited By Rachael Davis, @claruineill.bsky.social
@suereviews.bsky.social

Excited to finally share the chapter I wrote with
@fergus.oolong.co.uk alongside fab illustrations from @scrappapertiger.bsky.social
Promotional graphic for the book It Takes All Kinds of Minds: Fostering Neurodivergent Thriving at School. On the left is the colourful geometric book cover, edited by Rachael Davis, Claire O’Neill, and Sue Fletcher-Watson (Speechmark). On the right, text reads “Published December 2025” and highlights a chapter titled Embracing Monotropism and Flow by Fergus Murray and Helen Edgar, alongside a contents excerpt showing chapter sections. Along the bottom are three black-and-white illustrated pages labelled “Environments,” “Practice & Pedagogy,” and “Relationships,” credited to illustrator Sonny Hallett.
December 12, 2025 at 10:17 PM
scrappapertiger.bsky.social
Finally home from Glasgow after four long days of conferencing at the PCE Europe Symposium. So tired no more words. It’s been a lot.

I did these doodles while listening to talks:
A tiny square concertina-style sketchbook, opened out next to the ink pen I used. The long strip of paper is covered in pen line drawings of animals, plants, mushrooms, etc. A tiny square concertina-style sketchbook, opened out next to the ink pen I used. This is the reverse side to the previous image. The paper strip on this side is shown vertically, with pen and ink drawings of outer space with planets, stars, a satellite and a space while, fading down into clouds and sky with birds, waves, the sea and fish, a hammerhead shark, and deep ocean with a whale, a gulper eel and an angler fish. A conference lanyard and badge. The badge has my name Sonny Hallett on it and my pronouns, they/them. Surrounding that is loads of ink doodles of animals and plants, including a tapir, a bat, a dolphin, butterfly, lemur, owl… Reverse side of conference badge showing the conference logo and theme: growing in difficult and challenging places. Around it one doodled mostly plants, mushrooms, and abstract shapes
November 23, 2025 at 6:23 PM
scrappapertiger.bsky.social
I think it went well! It’s been great talking with so many people after & hearing their reflections. Looking forward to more of that over the weekend ❤️

Because of the way I put together this talk I don’t have a coherent written version now, but I’m aiming to have one to share in the next few weeks
November 20, 2025 at 10:23 PM
scrappapertiger.bsky.social
A sunny day to be travelling through to Glasgow!
Feeling nervously excited for my keynote at the PCE Europe symposium this afternoon.
My talk is titled: Be yourself. No, not like that - Normativity in therapy training and its impact on all of us.

More info: www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/p...
Me - selfie of a brown haired human with mixed Asian and European features and glasses, smiling at the camera as the sun shines through a coach window. They are wearing a hand knitted rainbow jumper and rainbow coloured shirt.
November 20, 2025 at 11:01 AM
scrappapertiger.bsky.social
A morning blep to all who celebrate
A small black and white schnauzer and westie cross terrier, lying on a white faux wool blanket, partly rolling over to expose her chest for rubbing. She’s looking up at a human out of frame (apart from a hand), and her tongue is sticking out in a tiny blep.
November 13, 2025 at 8:53 AM
scrappapertiger.bsky.social
I have a chapter in a book!

I feel really excited and honoured to be alongside a whole bunch of great chapters and authors writing on the Person Centred Approach.

Ebook also available.
You can get a 20% discount until the end of December using code 25ESA3

www.routledge.com/Applying-the...
Kifl the small terrier sitting with the book Applying the Person-Centred Approach to Global, Social and Personal Crises in front of her First page of my chapter: 6. Neurodiversity and the Person-Centred Approach: Am I doing this right? Sonny Hallett “My counsellor and I meet out in the woods every week; we walk and sit on mats on the ground, notice the changing seasons in the plants, fungi and wildlife, talk or walk in silence. This time I’ve asked him to show me how to make a fire without a lighter. He shows me how to use the striker against the kindling, bundling twigs and strips of cloth along with a piece of King Alfred’s cake, a fungus that burns very slowly. He passes the pieces over to me. ‘Just have a play with it’. I feel a familiar anxious turning-over in my stomach as I fumble the handful. I’m used to being uncoordinated, misunderstanding instructions. I often try to study how to do something on my own and practice obsessively before I let anyone watch me. It feels newly bold of me to ask someone to show me something when I haven't prepared by trying to study on my own. By practicing a skill alone, I can get a feel for it, make mistakes, and try things out. I find that there is something very soothing and satisfying about this, but the process of being observed in learning and exploring can feel very vulnerable. I realised I am autistic almost ten years ago, when in my late twenties, though I always felt that something was different. Academically I did okay because I could go away and study alone, carefully and intensively, making the most of my tendency and ability to be sucked monotropically1 into intense interests and passions. I also did okay with art because I spent a lot of time drawing on my own, when I was anxious or to express and process my feelings. Over time I got a lot of positive encouragement so I mostly felt confident to be seen making art. But with sports, music, learning another language or anything that required practice with other people, I felt dread. Everyone got things wrong, but I seemed to get things wrong in weird ways - somehow I felt I was even getting it…”
November 6, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
amase.org.uk
Lightbulb Moments: Being Autistic is an animation about those things that people tend to think are just individual quirks, until they realise they're common Autistic experiences.

It's so important to feel seen!

Many of these are very commonly misunderstood.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O6h...
Lightbulb Moments: Being Autistic
YouTube video by Thriving Autistic
www.youtube.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
amase.org.uk
Two of our founders worked on a pair of affirming animations for @thrivingautistic.bsky.social, introducing key ideas.

The first is Discovering You're Autistic, basically giving people the messages we most needed to hear when we were first realising we're Autistic...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDv...
Discovering You're Autistic
YouTube video by Thriving Autistic
www.youtube.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
fergus.oolong.co.uk
Wow. So. Wayward.

...huh.

Damn.
The poster for Wayward, with Toni Colette's Evelyn looming like the creepy psychologist she is, and Mae Martin and various other actors, around a door. It's a Netflix show. The tagline is 'We think you'll be very happy here'.
October 1, 2025 at 8:55 PM
scrappapertiger.bsky.social
Here’s the other one bsky.app/profile/ferg...
fergus.oolong.co.uk Fergus Murray @fergus.oolong.co.uk · Sep 18
First up is Discovering You're Autistic, about the experience of realising you're autistic, and the things we've found most valuable for anyone starting out on that journay.

Realising that there are many other people out there with similar experiences is so powerful.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDv...
Discovering You're Autistic
YouTube video by Thriving Autistic
www.youtube.com
September 19, 2025 at 12:22 PM
scrappapertiger.bsky.social
Excited to finally be able to share these animations I’ve been working on with @fergus.oolong.co.uk , @iara-abigalil.bsky.social , @autisticrealms.bsky.social and other team members not on here. Particularly pleased to get my favourite image that I use of “thinking in constellations” in there ✨
fergus.oolong.co.uk Fergus Murray @fergus.oolong.co.uk · Sep 18
The other animation is Lightbulb Moments: Being Autistic.

So much about Autistic experience is still missing from most professional accounts, which have been formulated from the outside.

Many people talk about all these little epiphanies: 'I thought it was just me!'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O6h...
Lightbulb Moments: Being Autistic
YouTube video by Thriving Autistic
www.youtube.com
September 19, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
fergus.oolong.co.uk
First up is Discovering You're Autistic, about the experience of realising you're autistic, and the things we've found most valuable for anyone starting out on that journay.

Realising that there are many other people out there with similar experiences is so powerful.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDv...
Discovering You're Autistic
YouTube video by Thriving Autistic
www.youtube.com
September 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
autisticrealms.bsky.social
Hurrah!
We can finally share the animations I have been working on with @thrivingautistic.bsky.social
First short film is: Discovering You're Autistic
Please do let us know what you think and share if you find valuable!

youtu.be/-eDv2omDMko?...
Discovering You're Autistic
YouTube video by Thriving Autistic
youtu.be
September 19, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Reposted by Sonny Hallett
fergus.oolong.co.uk
A break for freedom.
One or more onions are sending shoots out of a wooden vegetable box, through cracks in the side and out of the open top.
September 18, 2025 at 2:50 PM