Autism - A Guide For Parents
A practical guide for parents to support and help their child with disabilities improve to their maximum potential. This book is written by a parent of an autistic child based on personal experience and years of research.
About The Author - Capt. Norbert F. Rebello
Founder of The Healing Centre
Capt. Norbert Francis Rebello was born and bought up in Mumbai. He relocated to Goa in 2004 and now lives in Cavelossim. Capt. Norbert Rebello joined the shipping industry at the age of 19. He is still sailing and has completed 45 years out at sea out of which he has served for more than 28 years as captain on board ship.
Since college, he has been deeply involved in social work and counselling for the betterment of the lives of people. When one of his close associates gave birth to a child with cerebral palsy he took interest in children with disabilities and special needs. Later in life, when he had a child with special needs, he sought out various doctors in Goa. With not many options available he travelled to various places for assessment of his child. In the last few years he noted the increasing new generation of children with special needs and the problems faced by their parents. With people struggling with various mental health challenges he decided to make a positive change.
To enhance his knowledge about humans and the problems faced by all including children with special needs and adolescents he pursued his Master’s in Counselling Psychology from the Indian Institute of Counselling, New Delhi and is a certified counsellor.
Not happy with the services provided in South Goa he made it his mission to bring about positive changes in the lives of all people facing mental health challenges, irrespective of race, age or gender through a range of well thought services. It was his innovative idea to start a centre with everything under one roof in Margao making it convenient for the people who needed help. Hence The Healing Centre in Aquem was born in April 2023. His intention is to help people with mental health challenges enhance their sustainable skills and knowledge and give them opportunities to exercise their constitutional rights and their full participation and contribution to the community.
The Healing Centre has all types of therapies for children with special needs and adults with disabilities, counselling, psychometric testing, resource room, vocational training and a 24X7 assistance service for the guardians and parents where they can reach out for help in time of need. His mission is to enable these children get independent and assist them with jobs so that they can sustain themselves.
Capt. Norbert Rebello is also the author of four published books, called “Memories of Another Day” and “Pirates Beware”. These two books deal with the practical aspects of life at sea. The third titled “Whispers of the heart,” is a coffee table poem book based on love. The fourth book titled “Autism- A guide for Parents” was released in July 2025. This book besides having information on autism also contains information regarding various mental health issues that could affect people in everyday life.
His hobbies include writing, teaching, cooking and a series of his cook books are planned to be released after this. He is one of the leading influencer in shipping on social media having over 138k followers whom he helps with current vacancies and answers all their queries while assisting them to get job placements.
His sketches are placed all over the world and sold for charity purposes. They are also available at The Healing Centre.
