Davida Hartman
Founder & Clinical Director
Davida i(she/her) s an Adjunct Professor in the UCD School of Psychology and Chartered Educational and Child Psychologist with the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) (Membership Number: M5129C).
She founded The Adult Autism Practice in 2020 with a vision of providing respectful, neurodiversity affirmative, strengths based adult autism assessments within a team that is shaped by the Autistic voice and experience.
In addition to her work with The Adult Autism Practice, Davida continues to be Co-Director and Principal Psychologist at The Children’s Clinic, open since 2016 and providing multi-disciplinary services to children 0-18 with a strong specialty and expertise in assessing and supporting Autistic children. See www.thechildrensclinic.ie.
Davida has written several books with Jessica Kingsley Publishers on topics related to supporting Autistic children and young people. See www.davidahartman.ie.
Alongside her colleagues in The Adult Autism Practice, Davida has just published ‘The Adult Autism Assessment Handbook: A Neurodiversity Affirmative Approach’ which is out now.
Davida attained her undergraduate psychology degree from Trinity College Dublin and graduated from her Masters in Educational Psychology from University College Dublin with a 1st class honours.
Davida has been working with Autistic children, young people and adults for over twenty years. Prior to setting up The Children's Clinic and The Adult Autism Practice, she worked for ten years with the HSE as a Senior Psychologist in HSE Disability Services in Carlow/Kilkenny and prior to this in HSE Beechpark Services, Dublin (providing specialist services to Autistic children and their families).
Davida is also a lecturer and trainer, providing consultation in the area of autism to a number of different groups and agencies including Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, the National Council of Special Education and the National Educational Psychology Service (NEPS) in addition to presenting training workshops at Psychological Society of Ireland, As I Am and Cork Autism Conferences. However, “Nothing About Us Without Us” is something Davida works hard to uphold, and she now ensures that an Autistic colleague is also present at all events alongside her.
Davida has contributed to local and national media including The Irish Times, The Sunday Independent, Newstalk, the Irish Independent, KCLR Radio and the Organisation for Autism Research as well as professional publications in The Irish Psychologist.
Davida is neurodivergent herself, having been identified as ADHD in 2022, and is a passionate ally of the Autistic community in Ireland, the UK and beyond. To this end, she has ensured that The Adult Autism Practice both employs and is shaped by #ActuallyAutistic professionals.
Davida does not currently undertake adult autism assessments in the practice, but is very happy to link you with one of our amazing team members, all of whom she works very closely with.
Here is a video of an interview that Davida did with Autism Journeys in April 2021 about her work.
