Neurodiversity affirming therapy honors a diversity of cognitive, sensory, emotional, and communication styles. I reject the idea that there is a single “right” or “healthy” way for a brain to function. Rather than viewing neurodivergence as something inherently defective or pathological, I believe distress often emerges from the interaction between our neurotypes and a world that is not designed to accommodate them.
You’ve probably heard the term neurodiversity most often in relation to ADHD and autism, and those are important examples. But neurodiversity can also encompass a wide range of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental experiences, including OCD, PTSD, anxiety, depression, bipolar, and more.
Recognizing neurodiversity does not mean ignoring suffering or refusing treatment. It does not mean we won’t work toward reducing anxiety, depression, trauma symptoms, or other forms of distress. Instead, it means approaching those experiences without shame, pathologizing, or the assumption that your worth depends on becoming “normal.”
To me, neurodiversity-affirming therapy is deeply connected to anti-sanist mental health care.
Sanism refers to the stigma, discrimination, and oppression directed toward people with psychiatric or neurodevelopmental disabilities. It can show up in obvious ways - such as assuming someone is incapable, irrational, dangerous, or unable to make decisions for themselves - but it is also woven into cultural beliefs about productivity, emotional expression, communication, and what it means to be “well.”
Sanism teaches many people that they are broken, burdensome, or fundamentally wrong because of the way their minds work. It can shape how we see ourselves just as powerfully as how others see us.
I offer therapy that creates space for greater self-understanding, self-compassion, and acceptance of all parts of yourself, including your neurodivergence. This includes not only autism and ADHD, but also other psychiatric and neurodevelopmental experiences.
I especially enjoy supporting people navigating eating disorders, perinatal loss and complex reproductive experiences, grief and loss, trauma, life transitions, and queer identity from a neurodiversity affirming perspective.
I am neurodivergent myself. For me, the most significant part of that experience has not been any specific diagnosis, but the impact of sanism - both the stigma I experienced from others and the ways I internalized those messages over time. I know what it is like to feel defective, inadequate, or as though something is fundamentally wrong with you.
Neurodiversity affirming therapy helped me begin unlearning that shame and developing a more compassionate relationship with myself. That sense of self-acceptance is something I hope to help foster in our work together.
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