The Internal Sunshine Holiday Toolkit
An honest guide to holidays away from home in additional needs families
Everyone says, “A holiday will do you good.”
But when you’re parenting an additional needs child, that’s not always the case.
You want to relax — but instead, you’re managing medications, meltdowns, disrupted routines, and the pressure to “make memories.”
Truth is, holidays can feel like more work than staying home.
That’s exactly why I created this.
The Internal Sunshine Holiday Toolkit is your honest, no-fluff guide to surviving — and even enjoying — holidays as an additional needs family.
In just one short audio session, I’ll share the
Top 15 tips (+ 1 bonus) I rely on to help reduce stress, find calm, and make space for small, meaningful moments — even if everything’s a bit messy.
Whether you're planning a trip, halfway through packing, or just daydreaming about getting away… this is for you.
Something that can make a real difference to your mental health and well-being—and help shift things from chaos and overwhelm to a sense of calm and pockets of peace.
✅15+1 Lived-In, Tested Tips
Real, practical advice for managing holidays with an additional needs family — not Pinterest-perfect, but human, helpful, and honest.
✅Reduce Stress Before You Even Leave
Simple strategies to get ahead of the overwhelm, and soften the chaos.
✅Manage Expectations Without Losing Hope
Because it doesn’t have to be perfect to be meaningful.
✅Protect Your Energy (Yes, Yours!)
Gentle mindset shifts that make space for
you, too.
✅Handle the Hard Bits + Celebrate the Small Wins
Tools for navigating the tricky moments and noticing the good ones.
✅Permission to Do It Your Way
Unpack the guilt, ditch the pressure, and design a holiday that works for your family — not someone else’s highlight reel.
This isn’t another parenting course. I don't do parenting courses.
The Parent Pause Moments are designed to be exactly what they say on the tin. A moment of pause.
Whether you’re listening on the go or taking a quiet moment for yourself, I'd like for you to walk away feeling like you come away with possibilities to meet everyone's needs including your own.
📌 You’re a parent of a child with additional needs.
📌 You’re tired, holidays feel like things other people can do but not you, or they often leave you more burnt out than refreshed.
📌 You’re looking for realistic support — not fluff, not fantasy.
📌 You want practical tools to bring more calm, more connection, and a little more ease… even if the holiday isn’t perfect.
With The Internal Sunshine Holiday Toolkit, you’ll be able to:
✔ Reduce feelings of stress, anxiety and overwhelm
✔ Respond more calmly and effectively to your child's needs.
✔ Create an environment that supports both you and your child.
✔ Experience more moments of calm, connection and clarity.
✔ Navigate challenging moments with more ease and self compassion.
✔ Feel more confident managing the tricky bits.
✔ Protect your energy and guard against burnout
Meet Liz Evans - The Untypical OT
A Highly Experienced Occupational Therapist Specialising in Parental Burnout, Mental Health & Sensory Wellbeing. An occupational therapist for parents!
Liz has supported countless families over the years and knows, both professionally and personally, how often parents and carers end up at the very bottom of their own priority list. Their challenges are rarely seen, let alone understood—and that needs to change.
It’s become her mission to bring awareness to the mental health and well-being of parents and carers, to help them feel less alone, and to celebrate the quiet, powerful work they do every day in raising the next generation of brilliant, neurodiverse minds.
But Liz doesn’t just know this from her work—she’s lived it.
As a solo parent to two children, one of whom is neurodivergent, she’s navigated EHCP's, faced tribunals, and experienced the realities of a broken SEND system. All while juggling work, parenting, mental health, her own health, and dyslexia.
Liz has trained with the SI Network and in Sensory Attachment Intervention, and has spent years supporting children, young people, and their families in understanding how their unquie sensory systems impact on stress, anxiety, overwhelm, burnout and well-being. Her approach gently helps parents tune into their own sensory needs—because this is system often overlooked and sometimes not even known about. It plays a huge role not just in our children's regulation, but in our own ability to cope, recover, and feel well.
I know what it feels like to want the holiday magic but find yourself drowning in logistics and worry. These are the tools I’ve gathered through experience, trial, and the odd breakdown in a beach car park.
I created this toolkit not to add more to your plate — but to help you
lighten the load.
Testimonials
"I wish it didn't have to end."
"I wish it didn't have to end. Courses with you are like talking to a friend - and that's priceless"
- Parent feedback from the parental burnout support package
"Gentle and understanding"
"Gentle and understanding nature and expertise"
- Parent that attended a live support course
"Certainly the most helpful"
"I really felt you understood our situation. I have been on other burnout courses and this was certainly the most helpful."
- Parent that attended a live workshop
Still scrolling?
If you’ve made it this far, your gut is telling you something.
You know holidays can be hard — and you're ready for things to feel even just a little easier.
This isn’t about perfect parenting or magical getaways.
It’s about real support for real families.
The Internal Sunshine Holiday Toolkit offers practical, honest guidance you can actually use — to bring more calm, connection, and ease into your time away.
Instant access. Recording available to listen in your own time.
You don’t have to keep doing this the hard way
For just £7 you'll have access to real strategies that have worked for me and my family. No fake promises - just possibilities.
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