NEURO-AFFIRMING COUNSELING
You were never the problem. You were just wired differently.
Therapy that understands — and honors — the ADHD brain, the autistic experience, the sensitive nervous system, the porous empathic perspective, and the particular exhaustion of spending a lifetime trying to fit a world that wasn't built for you.
Maybe you've known for a while that something was different. The way you process. The way you feel everything so intensely — or go completely numb. The way social situations leave you depleted in ways that are hard to explain. The way you've always had to work three times as hard just to appear like you're trying the same amount as everyone else.
Or maybe you're newer to this — a diagnosis in midlife, or a dawning recognition without a formal label yet. Maybe someone reflected something back to you and a door opened that you're still standing in the threshold of.
Wherever you are in that journey, you deserve a therapist who doesn't just tolerate neurodivergence — who actually gets it. Who won't pathologize the way your brain works, won't push you toward neurotypical norms, and won't ask you to mask in the very room where you're supposed to be healing.
You are in the right place if...
You have a diagnosis of autism, ADHD, or both — and want therapy that actually understands what that means for your daily life, relationships, and sense of self
You're exploring the possibility that you're neurodivergent — late-identified, self-suspecting, or recently diagnosed and still making sense of it
You've been in therapy before but felt like you had to explain yourself constantly, or like the model just didn't fit your brain
You mask heavily — at work, in relationships, everywhere — and you're exhausted by it
You're highly sensitive, an empath, or an "outlier" in ways that have never been named but have always been true
You're dealing with the grief, anger, or relief that often comes with late identification
You want support that holds your neurodivergence as a variation, not a deficit
This is also a space for the particular intersections — neurodivergent people healing from religious trauma, from people-pleasing, from the specific burnout that comes from decades of unrecognized masking.
What ND counseling looks like here
Neuroaffirming therapy starts with the belief that your brain is not broken. We're not trying to make you neurotypical. We're trying to help you understand yourself more fully, move through the world with less friction, and heal the wounds that came from spending years in environments that didn't understand you.
Depending on what you're bringing, we might work with:
The exhaustion of masking — unlearning the performance, finding who you are underneath it
Sensory and emotional regulation — not as deficits to fix, but as a nervous system to understand and work with
Relationships and communication — autistic communication styles, ADHD patterns in connection, the particular loneliness of feeling different
Self-trust after late identification — making sense of your history through a new lens, grieving what you didn't get, reclaiming what was always yours
Burnout and recovery — autistic and ADHD burnout is real, specific, and different from general burnout; we work with it as such
The parts of you that learned to hide — IFS is particularly well-suited to neurodivergent healing; many ND people have exile parts who were shamed for their "too much-ness" and protector parts working overtime
I'm neurodivergent myself. This isn't just clinical knowledge — it's lived understanding.
Not sure if you're neurodivergent?
If you're exploring whether you might be autistic or have ADHD, I offer assessment services alongside counseling.
You don't need a formal diagnosis to begin counseling. Many people start therapy while they're in the process of figuring it out — and that's a valid place to begin.
Investment
Individual sessions: $225
3-session package: $555
Sessions are 45 minutes. Available in person in Pensacola, FL, or via secure telehealth throughout Florida, Virginia, Illinois, and Arkansas.
A limited number of sliding scale spots are available. Please reach out if that would make this accessible for you.
FAQs
Do I need a formal diagnosis to work with you?
1
No. Many of my clients are self-identified, late-diagnosed, or in the middle of figuring it out. You don't need paperwork to deserve support that understands how your brain works.
Can you do an assessment and then provide counseling?
2
Yes — and many people find it helpful to do both. We can talk about what makes most sense for your situation.
How do you approach things like emotional dysregulation or executive function?
3
With curiosity rather than correction. We look at what's underneath the pattern — often there's trauma, burnout, or parts work that needs to happen before strategies become sustainable. I'm not going to hand you a planner and send you home.
Is your approach affirming of autistic identity and culture?
4
Yes. I hold autistic identity as a valid, valuable way of being human — not a disorder to be managed. This matters to me both personally and clinically.
You've spent enough time trying to be easier to understand.
It's time to be fully understood.