Opportunity to join the Talking Mats Spirituality Resource pilot

We’re excited to invite you to take part in piloting the new Talking Mats Spirituality Resource.

This new resource has been developed by The Centre for Autism and Theology at Aberdeen University in partnership with Talking Mats. It grew out of:

• The research of Leon Van Ommen, who has used Talking Mats in his academic work.
• A workshop in Aberdeen (April 2025) attended by representatives from Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Pagan, and Christian communities.
• Ongoing contributions—including from a representative of the Jewish faith—through emails, online meetings, and collaboration with the Talking Mats artist.

Our aim has been to create a resource that opens conversations about spirituality in a way that is broad, accessible, and inclusive.

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What’s in the Spirituality Resource?

The resource covers four key topics:

If you are Talking Mats foundation trained, then please consider volunteering.. We are looking for twenty volunteers. If you are interested please email paula@talkingmats.com giving her details of

• your foundation training,
• why testing this resource would be useful to you
• the faith background of those you will test it with – that includes those with no religious beliefs for Mat 3

We will send you the pilot resource as a PDF ( you will need to cut it up!) in return we will ask you

✅ To use the resource with at least one person (more is even better).
✅ For each person, fill in the feedback form we’ll send you the link .
✅ Share what worked, what didn’t, and your suggestions for improvement.

Deadline

Please return all comments and feedback by 10th October 2025.