Neurodiversity-affirming therapy

Embark on a journey of self-discovery that helps you uncover who you are behind the mask and how to live life more fully just as you are.

  • Neuro-affirming Clinical Psychologist
  • Online sessions via telehealth (50 minutes)
  • Australia-wide
  • Fluent in English, French and Romanian
Neurodiversity-affirming therapy
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Neurodiversity-affirming therapy with a strong focus on cultivating a growth mindset

Being a neurodivergent adult can feel like you’re constantly colliding with the neurotypical world: wired, tired, and only just coping. But when you’re always ‘just coping’, there’s no room to thrive.

Neuro-affirming therapy means approaching how your brain works with curiosity, not assumptions or labels.

It’s about developing a stronger sense of self and accepting that you don’t need to change your neurodivergence to live a vibrant life.

Together, we’ll go deeper, moving gently through healing and growing — without setting off every internal alarm in the process.

We can work on

  • Post-identification support
  • Autistic and ADHD burnout
  • Difficulties with the sense of self
  • Trauma (ranging from moderately distressing life experiences to complex trauma and cPTSD)
  • Chronic health concerns – I am passionate about supporting people who have hypermobility (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders) and co-occurring health issues, such as chronic pain, CFS/ME, fibromyalgia, POTS, MCAS, gastrointestinal and autoimmune issues.
  • Anxiety
  • Low mood
  • Relationship and communication difficulties
  • Attachment wounds
  • Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD)
  • Emotion regulation challenges
  • Sensory overwhelm
  • LGBTQIA+ related difficulties
  • Grief and loss
  • Sleep disturbance
  • Disordered eating
  • Executive functioning difficulties
  • Workplace issues
  • Challenges with studying and procrastination
online therapy services

My approach as a neuro-affirming Clinical Psychologist

Evidence-based · Trauma-focused · Informed by neuroscience

I’m a big believer in working together as a team to make sure you have agency over the therapy process (after all, you’re the one living inside your brain, not me).

Together, we’ll find the right mix of evidence-based therapy modalities for your needs and goals — kind of like assembling your very own mental health toolkit. Then, we will create a tailored treatment plan that resonates with you.

This personalised roadmap can guide you in processing past trauma and recognising your strengths so that you truly know yourself, embody your values, and embrace being exactly who you are at your best.

Because let’s face it, there’s no such thing as ‘normal’ — just a wide spectrum of wonderfully unique brains trying to figure out where they left their keys.

Therapy modalities

Schema Therapy

A schema is a cluster of thoughts, images, emotions, physical sensations and behavioural patterns that have been acquired during childhood, usually as a result of trauma, abuse, neglect, and more generally unmet needs.

Examples of unhelpful schemas revolve around the following themes:

  • Defectiveness (‘There is something wrong with me’)
  • Isolation (‘I don’t belong’)
  • Emotional deprivation (‘My emotional needs don’t matter’)
  • Mistrust (‘People can’t be trusted’)

If left unaddressed, these schemas tend to continue into adulthood, impacting how we see ourselves and others, and ultimately preventing our emotional needs from being met in a meaningful way.

In addition to working through these schemas, in Schema Therapy, we also explore the different parts of self (also called ‘schema modes’). For example, we can work on:

  • Meeting the needs of the inner child (such as a need for validation, empathy, compassion, reassurance, guidance, or rest)
  • Setting boundaries with the inner critic
  • Negotiating with the inner protector parts to create opportunities for growth and connection with others
  • Building up the inner caregiver part

EMDR Therapy

EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based modality that helps people reprocess traumatic memories. During an EMDR session, the person is guided to visualise the traumatic memory while engaging in specific eye movements for a short time, after which they are asked to check in with their internal experience.

People who undergo EMDR treatment often describe the reprocessed traumatic memory as less vivid and no longer bringing up distress in the body.

EMDR therapy is backed by research and recognised by the World Health Organisation as a recommended treatment for PTSD. Studies have shown that it can also help with issues such as anxiety, phobias, depression, complex grief, or addiction.

Doing EMDR in a neuro-affirming way means being flexible enough to adapt the protocol to you, within treatment guidelines. This can mean modifying the type of bilateral stimulation (for example, using tapping or binaural sounds instead of, or in addition to, eye movements) or rewording instructions to resonate with you.

EMDR can be a great modality to combine with the other therapies. For example, we can use EMDR to process memories of the events that led to the development of a specific schema.

Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)

EFT posits that for good psychological health, we need to access, understand, and express our emotions. However, autistic and ADHD individuals often feel pressured to suppress their emotions because of the mismatch between neurotypical expectations and their own needs. Constantly suppressing emotions disconnects us from our sense of self and keeps us stuck.

In EFT, the client is guided to gently work through the existing layers of emotions. For example, deeper exploration can reveal that underneath anger and frustration, there may be more tender emotions like sadness, fear or shame.

Once the core pain has been identified, the therapist supports the person to access the underlying unmet needs and to start exploring useful actions they can take to get those needs met.

EFT can be particularly useful for neurodivergent individuals who struggle to clearly identify their emotions and needs. It also provides tools for working through issues such as inner conflicts (like feeling torn between a need for safety and a need for self-expression) or unfinished business (such as unresolved feelings towards someone).

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Many neurodivergent people find it distressing to try to change their thoughts, or to practice formal exposure therapy as per traditional CBT protocols. Being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world can already feel like you’re doing ‘exposure therapy’ on a daily basis.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT (pronounced ‘act’ like the verb), can be a neuro-affirming alternative to the more traditional forms of CBT.

ACT posits that what generates a lot of suffering is not just the difficult thoughts and feelings we have, but our tendency to judge ourselves for having them, followed by our efforts to control or eliminate these unwanted internal experiences.

Instead, in ACT we learn to drop the fight with these painful internal experiences, while not getting caught up in them. These skills can free up precious time and energy that can be used to move in the direction of our core values — what matters to us, what we want to stand for, and how we want to treat ourselves and others.

For neurodivergent clients, it can be empowering to get a sense of their personal values. Doing values work in therapy can help cut through neuro-normative expectations to access a stronger, more authentic self.

Once you have identified your core values, we look at how you can translate them into meaningful actions and how we can address obstacles that might get in the way of the desired actions.

Psychodynamically-Informed Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy aims to address the presenting issues at a deeper level. Together in session, we examine old narratives and explore the emotional and interpersonal patterns that are causing the suffering.

As a result, we bring into awareness previously unexplored patterns of relating to yourself and others. Importantly, this exploration is done with kindness, the quality of the therapeutic relationship being a key part of psychodynamic therapy.

The benefits of this therapy approach can include:

  • Building a stronger sense of self
  • Developing a kinder, more nurturing relationship with yourself
  • Moving away from unhelpful interpersonal patterns

All this so that you can live a larger life, unconstrained by old narratives and defence mechanisms that no longer serve you.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

DBT complements the deeper therapeutic work we do in session as it offers practical tools for regulating emotions, managing distress, and meeting sensory needs. Various worksheets are available and can be used between sessions.

Many neurodivergent people feel their emotions intensely. In DBT, we explore a variety of  tools for understanding emotions and learning to regulate them.

Neurodivergent individuals can also have difficulty articulating how they are feeling, which is why we can go beyond words to use alternative ways of expressing emotions, such as movement, music, and other forms of expression.

We can also work on learning to set better boundaries with others, creating a sensory toolkit, or accessing ‘Wise Mind’ (a state of being that is a helpful middle ground between an overly logical and an overly emotional state).

To learn more about DBT skills and see how it can be adapted to suit your neurotype, you can check out the book The Neurodivergent Friendly Workbook of DBT Skills by Sonny Jane Wise.

Mind-body practices

Mind Body practices have stood the test of time, and for good reason. While many of these practices come from traditional disciplines like yoga or tai chi, they are now backed by research and can be a gamechanger in therapy.

When we are in a constant physiological state of hyperarousal (fight or flight, such as feeling anxious and activated) or hypoarousal (freeze, such as feeling numb and exhausted), healing is difficult.

We need to teach our nervous system to shift from these states to a parasympathetic state of safety and connection, allowing the body to rest, repair, and digest food.

Accessing calm is especially important for people who experience chronic pain and other health issues that can keep the nervous system stuck in fight, flight, or freeze.

Tools frequently used in session include:

  • Breathwork
  • Movement
  • Visualisation
  • Mindfulness activities
  • Sensory self-soothing

If needed, we may also discuss lifestyle modifications to further support your nervous system.

As every neurodivergent person is unique, not every tool will resonate and that’s okay. Through gentle experimentation we can select and modify tools to suit your needs.

Looking for more?

Resources

Recommended books, apps and websites to help you on your journey.

Fees & Bookings

Everything you need to know about working with me as your psychologist.

FAQs

As my main area of interest is psychotherapy, I do not provide formal diagnostic assessments of autism and ADHD. However, as part of my intake process during the first couple of appointments, I will typically do a screening assessment for autism and ADHD.

A screening assessment is much more brief than a formal diagnostic assessment — think of it as a “quick peek” rather than a full deep dive. It will be based on just a few questionnaires, some additional questions I’ll ask during our sessions, and my observations from our sessions.

A screening assessment doesn’t provide a diagnosis (so it’s not suitable for an NDIS application). Instead, the outcome will be my clinical impression — essentially, I’ll let you know whether I think it may be worth pursuing the formal diagnostic route.

No, I don’t provide medico-legal reports.

No, I work specifically with adults over 18 years old.

No, I only work one-on-one with my clients. It is common for my clients to share their relationship and communication challenges and we can work together on strategies to cultivate healthier relationships. I will let you know if we encounter an issue that needs to be addressed in couples therapy. If so, I would be happy to recommend some great couples therapists.

Psychology could be described as the science of understanding the human psyche in terms of emotions, thoughts, behaviours, and so on (yes, including the 3 AM overthinking about conversations from five years ago).

These processes can be studied within the individual, as well as within bigger entities and systems (such as relationships, social groups, culture, and health systems).

There are many different branches of psychology (for example, social, organisational, developmental, personality, clinical, counselling, or health psychology). Each one tries to get to the bottom of why humans act the way they do (because let’s be honest, we’re all still trying to figure that out).

On the other hand, psychotherapy is a science and an art at the same time. It is one of the practical applications of the clinical and counselling psychology branches.

Psychotherapy requires us to put into practice the knowledge we have from research and theory to support you with your growth and healing, as well as with more concrete goals such as problem-solving and symptom reduction.

neurodiversity psychologist

Let’s work together to move you from coping to healing and thriving.