Therapy for Neurodivergent Adults
What is Neurodiversity- Affirming Therapy?
Neurodiversity-affirming therapy aims to support (not to "fix") the ways you experience, process, and move through the world, while building a stronger sense of autonomy and emotional regulation in daily living.
Key Components of Neurodiversity Affirming Therapy
Cognitive and sensory needs are respected.
The environment will be adjusted based on your needs, such as lighting or sound. Breaks can be taken as well as body doubling through as a task and support in settling intrusive thoughts and discomfort that can arise in session.
Executive function support
Techniques and practical steps to work with your brain instead of against it, including coaching, planning aids, routine building, and time-blindness tools.
Masking and burnout support
Your nervous system takes on a lot of energy and labour when you are expected to mask in the world, which can lead to burnout and shame. We will honor your experiences while also giving you the unmasked parts of you a voice so they can also be affirmed and witnessed.
Trauma processing
Moving through an ableist world can not only be challenging but can create adverse experiences and trauma stored in your mind and body.
As a neurodivergent affirming therapist, my goal is to help you through..
Understanding your brain and nervous system response and needs
Unmasking and exploring your authentic identity
Developing tools for communication, sensory regulation, and/or executive functioning
Navigating relationships, boundaries, and workplace environments
Healing from trauma, systemic invalidation, and oppression
I combine talk therapy with a holistic approach…
Somatic Experiencing Therapy
Somatic therapy is based on the belief that trauma or stress can cause dysfunction in the nervous system and prevent people from fully processing their experiences, creating the feeling of being stuck in an activation or stress response. This is especially true for neurodivergent people whose system can be stuck in a state of freeze and exhaustion due to the demands of their daily life, often masking, which results in chronic fatigue, depression, or anxiety.
Somatic therapy helps create a mind-body connection where neurodivergent folks can find self-regulation through the body and release the trauma and stress response.
Through somatic experiencing therapy, the therapist encourages you to slowly unmask in sessions and track your body sensations when you are at a place of regulation. This is important because your body needs a break from the demands of the world. Through somatic activity, you are able to gauge your energy levels, sensory load, and daily functioning before you reach burnout. Somatic experiencing is a holistic modality that restructures your body for more flexibility and ease.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT emphasizes psychological flexibility, values-based living, and acceptance of inner experiences—all of which can support the complex, often overwhelming realities that many neurodivergent adults face.
ACT avoids labeling certain thoughts or feelings as “irrational” or needing to be eliminated. This is ideal for ND folks who often experience:
Sensory overload
Executive dysfunction
Repetitive thoughts or behaviors
Emotional intensity
Many neurodivergent adults struggle with avoidance (e.g., task avoidance, social withdrawal) due to overwhelm or past trauma. ACT teaches you how to sit with discomfort, emotional regulation, and take action anyway, without self-judgment.