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Life-changing content and community for PDAers & our families.

The PDA Safe Circle™ is not only a course with transformative content.
 
It is also a community of practice that connects you to others for the long term, and empowers you as a peer coach in the strengths-based PDA Safe Circle™ Approach.
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LEARN

Learn the 6 Elements of The PDA Safe Circle™, a strengths-based approach that decreases distress and increases thriving for PDAers & our families.

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CONNECT

Connect with members around the world and in your area through an online community searchable by location.

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EMPOWER

Empower yourself and others through peer-coaching, opt-in cohort experiences, & the chance to share your passions, business, and expertise.

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PDAers and our families are lonely and hurting.

Many of us are in crisis or exhausted.

Many of us have intersecting marginalized identities, financial stress, or chronic illness.

We battle medical and educational systems that don't understand us.

We are isolated during burnout.

We struggle to connect with our loved ones.

We scroll through everything we can on social media, searching in vain for a comprehensive roadmap to support our lives.

We long for sustained, meaningful connections with other people on the journey.

What if I told you I could help?

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PDAers and our families are done with isolation.

We are ready for a supportive community we can access with one tap on our phone.

We are ready for a comprehensive approach to decrease distress and increase thriving for PDAers – in all settings, at all ages, in burnout, after burnout, and in burnout prevention.

What if I told you I could help?

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PDAers and our families are ready for a strengths-based approach.

We're ready to identify and foster PDA strengths, and use those strengths to craft lives that work for the PDA nervous system. 

 

We’re ready for improved relationships

with ourselves, with our children, with our partners, and with our friends.

We’re ready for a simple visual system that explains PDA to our family members, teachers, and clinicians

What if I told you I could help?

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Meet Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

PDA Autistic coach
Founder & Creator of The PDA Safe Circle™
Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

I’m excited to share how my background in community organizing, pastoral care, and congregational leadership is shaping something transformative in the PDA space:

The PDA Safe Circle™

This isn’t just a course packed with powerful, transformative content—it’s a community of practice designed for meaningful, long-term connections.

Through membership in The PDA Safe Circle™, you’ll not only gain valuable insights. You'll also gain skills to act as a peer coach, increasing your confidence to support both your PDAer and others in our community if you like.

Together, over time, we’ll build collective power to drive systemic change and create a safer world for all PDAers, across race and socioeconomic class.

 

When PDAers thrive, our families and communities can, too.

Let’s make this vision a reality—together.

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"We first consulted with Shoshana when our ten-year-old son was hospitalized after developing a functional neurological disorder from the stress of unaccommodated PDA autism. With Shoshana we finally got the right help after several years of feeling unsupported by our school and the medical system. Her personal experiences with being PDA and parenting a PDA child helped with very practical ideas as well as a conceptual framework for how to support our son through The PDA Safe Circle™. Over the time we have been consulting with Shoshana, our son has made major progress toward a happy, healthy, and enriching life that accommodates his nervous system disabilities in a sustainable way."

R. and B.

Parents of a PDAer

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"I have read everything I can get my hands on to better understand PDA and support my many PDA clients.  The PDA Safe Circle™ is by far the most actionable, intuitive approach to PDA I’ve ever seen."

Kory Andreas, LCSW-C

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"I have never felt so understood."

Stephen W. 

PDA adult

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"Shoshana brings depth, compassion, and freshness to the world of Autism and PDA, with lived experience and deep research to support her practice. As a coach, she can name the hard things with courage and gentleness in a way that helps me walk away empowered to pursue my own healing, knowing she supports me every step of the way. Shoshana is a rare gem."

Amanda Diekman

"Low Demand Amanda," author of Low Demand Parenting

PDA adult, parent, and coach

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"Shoshana's safe circle has become an essential tool that helps me to conceptualize and track my child's capacity. It has allowed me to think more clearly about where he feels safe, where he feels threatened, and adjust my own behaviors accordingly. Even better — the safe circle invites me to consider what areas my child might be ready to access and develop strategies that will support his growth."

Jennifer B.
Parent of a PDAer

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"Rabbi Shoshana is the first person I’ve ever talked to who truly understands not only what I’m going through as the mom of a child who has PDA, but also my son’s lived experience as a PDAer. She is empathetic and affirming and I feel so much better knowing I have her and The PDA Safe Circle™ as a resource."

Emily G.
Parent of a PDAer

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"The PDA Safe Circle™ is a game-changer."

Diane Gould, LICSW
Founder of PDA North America
Author of Navigating PDA in America

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"The self trust I've been able to develop, over the course of my relatively short time working with Shoshana and The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach, has me facing the start of every day with what feels like an unfair advantage. I've been able to access so much relief now that I can walk through life with this ace up my sleeve of self trust. My previously overwhelming life has eased into one of overwhelming gratitude.​"

Jax

Adult PDAer

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

Shoshana and The PDA Safe Circle™ helped us come to know ourselves better as caregivers to our truly special and magic kid and we were able to make big impactful changes with her support that prevented burnout in our young PDA child.​ Shoshana has a way of making us feel hopeful while identifying the hard work ahead. This balance she provides families is absolutely a gift."

Jen W.
Parent of a PDAer

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"Rabbi Shoshana is an incredibly knowledgeable and insightful presenter! We absolutely love The PDA Safe Circle™ as a way to better understand and support Autistic and PDA children. Our Occupational Therapy, Speech Language Therapists, and Physical Therapists feel empowered to provide more affirming care to our clients. Thank you Shoshana!"

The Boston Ability Center

Natick, MA

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"The PDA Safe Circle™ is framing how I can view my son's journey, and I'm encouraged and hopeful for him to thrive in this world."

Meeyoung

Parent of a PDAer

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"After 5 months of trying all the PDA accommodations we knew to help our son with his extreme toileting withholding, we found Shoshana and walked away from a session deeply relieved. Looking at our son’s safe circle, we saw for the first time just how small it was. Shoshana helped us get incredibly granular, allowing us to pinpoint exactly the areas that were within our control to alleviate stress from his day to day to widen his safe circle. While he has struggled some since then, the panic doesn't reach the levels it did before our session. Shoshana helped us remember that our son does indeed desire to care for himself when he has the nervous system capacity to do so."

C and K

Parents of a PDAer

"Low Demand Amanda," author of 

Low Demand Parenting

Late-diagnosed Autistic

& PDA parent & coach

"Since working with Shoshana and The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach regularly we have seen our child’s safe circle grow in small but steady ways!  Her metaphors and visuals to explain things help me embrace the concepts instead of feeling overwhelmed by them.  Shoshana is modeling and supporting us so we can find a way forward towards thriving, not just surviving.  And we are forever grateful to have found her!"

Delaney

Parent of a PDAer

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What makes us special in the PDA community?

What people are saying about The PDA Safe Circle™

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The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach is visual and intuitive.

By using the extended metaphor of a circle and its boundary to explain the PDA nervous system, the Approach helps explain PDA quickly to anyone, including those who are skeptical. Visuals give a framework for a PDAer to understand themselves.

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The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach is highly actionable. 

With specific exercises that only require pencil, paper, and an open mind, the Approach helps you conceptualize what is going on for your PDAer and make grounded decisions to decrease distress and increase thriving. It's an entire schema of understanding and action.

Friends

The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach supports kids, teens, and adults.

While much of the attention in PDA is on kids and parents, The PDA Safe Circle™ is a tool that can start in childhood or at any age, and remains actionable and supportive throughout a PDAer's lifespan.

Family Together

The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach can be used by PDAers, our loved ones, and clinicians.

The same tool can be used by a parent trying to support a PDA child, by a PDA adult learning to advocate for themselves, or by a clinician working with a PDAer. This means we can build community around the approach that will welcome many different voices.

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The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach supports PDAers in thriving, not just surviving. 

The approach is extremely powerful for burnout recovery, but it is not fundamentally about burnout recovery. It's about understanding how PDAers' nervous systems operate so we can craft lives that work for us throughout our lives, preventing burnouts before they start.

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The PDA Safe Circle™ situates the disability within a cultural context.

The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach understands that PDAers' distress levels are a product of our vulnerable nervous systems combined with a Western culture in which homo sapiens are far from the social and environmental context in which our nervous systems evolved. This allows us to challenge cultural norms that aren't serving us, while keeping in mind the ways these norms play out differently across race, socioeconomic class, health, and other factors.

Family at a Beach

The PDA Safe Circle™ was born from inside a PDAer's body.

Every aspect of this Approach comes straight out of what it feels like from the inside for me to be PDA and parent a PDAer, including the disabling threat response and the gifts that come with our wiring. My personal experience has then been checked against hundreds of conversations with PDA clients and parents of PDAers to inform a The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach.

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The PDA Safe Circle™ community empowers you as a peer coach. 

While I love being the charismatic teacher at the front of the room, and you'll see me happily playing that role in our community, what the world needs right now is a lot more people who deeply understand the PDA nervous system and feel empowered to support not just themselves but others in our community. We intentionally create opportunities for you to practice coaching skills if you want to, increasing your ability to support both your own PDAer and other members of our community.

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The PDA Safe Circle™ community has its own app, with a searchable member database. 

To access our community, you just need to tap once on your phone. Our app is powered by Mighty Networks, which is designed to host powerful and sustainable online communities. You can search for other members based on relationship to PDAer, location, and other identifiers to make meaningful connections. Together we will break down the isolation so many of us feel.

Team work

The PDA Safe Circle™ is an equity-based membership community. 

The PDA community comprises people with financial security and people who are financially struggling. While the LLC is a for-profit business, I am 100% committed to financial accessibility. Members pay the amount that corresponds with their level of financial security, breaking down the barriers to support that many have faced. No one is turned away.

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Contact us

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How It Works

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  • Select the membership rate that best matches your level of financial security.​ All rates access the same benefits. Follow the prompts to create an account.

    Thank you for selecting honestly and helping to build an accessible neurodivergent-affirming community that is also financially sustainable. 

  • Download the The PDA Safe Circle™ App on iOS or Android for easy one-tap access to content and community. You can also always login on a browser.  

  • Immediately gain access to life-changing features:

    • A growing, interactive, and searchable community of PDAers and our family members, all learning and practicing The PDA Safe Circle™ together. Searchable by location, relationship to PDAer, keywords, and area of interest, we are powered by Mighty Networks' ground-breaking online community-building software.​

    • An asynchronous course covering all 6 Elements of The PDA Safe Circle™.  The course includes powerful yet intuitive insights and exercises that support you in supporting your PDAer - whether your PDAer is yourself or a loved one.

    • Weekly Office Hours with Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman, PDA Autistic adult and creator and host of The PDA Safe Circle™. Day and time change up every month to provide accessibility across timezones - plus, novelty on your calendar!

    • Monthly Community Calls to welcome new members, build face-to-face connections, and explore monthly themes.​

    • Community Feed where members can share stories, ask targeted questions, and request 1:1 peer support in applying The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach.​

    • Community mentors in the feed and helping with events, including a licensed clinical social worker and a child psychologist who are neurodivergent themselves and trained in The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach.​

    • Invitation to join a Cohort Experience offered several times a year, where we go deep into The PDA Safe Circle™ content, and practice applying it to our lives in small peer groups that build relationships and increase peer coaching skills. The Cohort Experience is an add-on that is only available to PDA Safe Circle™ members. First one offered May, 2025. Stay tuned for dates and times.

    • Opportunities share your business, passions, and skills with others in a dedicated Share Your Gifts space. Private business owners can share your business here.​​

    • An SOS Library of Help for Hard Moments.  One tap short videos and guides for crisis moments. (As of launch this feature is still being built out.)

    • A Give & Receive Items space where you can offer or sell sensory supports or former-special-interest accessories that are no longer being used in your home.

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