Areas I Work With

​Over half my clients have either been diagnosed with ASD or ADHD or are considering pursuing diagnosis. Often these are late diagnosis (made in adulthood rather than childhood).

People talk about feeling like there’s fundamentally something wrong with them – as though they somehow didn’t get a copy of the rule book that everyone else has. Through masking and learning, they manage to get through life but it’s exhausting. It can be a very lonely place.

Receiving a diagnosis or becoming aware of your own neurodiversity is a huge thing to process and often comes with very mixed and confusing feelings. Often, the team who diagnoses does not have time to explain to you what your diagnosis might mean for you. You don’t have to do this alone.

I see a lot of clients who have multiple diagnoses – perhaps BPD and autism, or autism and ADHD, or autism and an eating disorder. Recent research now shows us that conventional counselling techniques can be unhelpful for neurodivergent people, which it just feeds into that feeling of being wrong, of being from a different planet.

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There isn't something fundamentally wrong with you. The way you process is part of what makes you you.
 

The good news is that therapy can be adapted – techniques for learning to understanding your feelings, managing distress or mindfulness can still be incredibly helpful in therapy, as can talking therapy. I adapt my environment based on your sensory preferences and how much guidance you feel you need in the early stages. From training with the NI used tools such as sensory profiling and psycho-education to help you build up a picture of what your diagnosis (or suspected diagnosis) means to you.

If the things you have tried so far only partially worked, or haven't worked for you, it might mean that a slightly different approach is needed. We can’t change the word or how others perceive us, so we’ll work to make it easier to be comfortable with your place in the world so you can do the things you want to do. We’ll look at managing meltdowns and overwhelm.

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