Training, Consulting, and Speaking for Neurodiversity Affirming Therapists
It can feel isolating to be a neurodiversity affirming therapist in such an ableist world. You’re working hard to unlearn ableism and sometimes it feels like the rest of the world is running headlong into ableist myths.
If you’re a neurodivergent therapist yourself this can add a whole other layer of distress!
You go to trainings, consultations, summits and still find people working from the deficit model, the medical model.
That’s where I come in!
I offer what you deserve: consulting and training that centers affirmation and access, not deficit.
Neurodiversity Affirming Therapy: My Take
The neurodiversity paradigm acknowledges the differences (not deficits or disorders) of all brain and nervous system functioning.
It says “no” to a hierarchy of ways of thinking, knowing, doing, being, and experiencing.
There is nothing to “fix” about people in this model - whether innate or acquired, nature or nurture. All body-minds are welcome here!
This feels easy to understand and agree with, hell “unconditional positive regard” is a hallmark taught in all grad programs. It can be harder to put into practice. Not because you don’t believe it but because our society is so gum-stuck in ableist ways of being.
What it looks like in the therapy room.
An office that centers universal design principles to ensure accessibility.
Flexibility
Equitability
Simple and intuitive
Tolerant to error.
An understanding that there is no one size fits all solution.
An interest in the needs and preferences of the specific client in front of you.
A willingness to name systems such as ableism, racism, capitalism, colonialism, and more that intersect to create a body-mind hierarchy.
What it looks like in your therapy room is different than what it will look like in mine.
What it looks like in your therapy room will even change hour to hour, session to session.
Moving from knowing to doing is the hard part. Society will tell you you have to do it alone, only showing up in spaces once you have it perfect.
Not here, not with me.
I welcome imperfection. I recognize that this work is seldom actually done in isolation, I certainly have not done so in isolation.
I will bring what I have learned from formal sources (such as books, research, trainings, consulting) and my own lived experience as a neurodivergent human with multiple acquired and innate neurodivergences.
"Neurodiversity is not just a concept—it is a call to action against oppression."
— Kassiane Asasumasu
Why Therapists Struggle
You're on the neurodiversity affirming path. You believe in this work. So why does it still feel so hard to practice it?
What I hear from therapists:
Training left you high and dry.
Grad school glossed over concepts related to oppression or skimmed the very top layer.
There was still a supremacy built into the program itself so they were never going to teach you how to dismantle that in thought or action.
Even after grad school, trainings in individual modalities are still aiming at a “right” way for clients to function.
What’s worse? If they did explore neurodiversity they used it interchangeably with autism and maybe ADHD.
This leaves out heaps of neurodivergent people and reinforces the very hierarchy the neurodiversity paradigm seeks to unseat!
Isolation creeps in.
There are some spaces that highlight neuroaffirming care, though a lot are autism and ADHD focused and may leave out entire swaths of neurodivergent people.
Worse, lots of therapist spaces (facebook groups, listservs, trainings, summits) are working from the deficit medical model. They want you to punish your client into “normalcy”.
It can feel like you’re completely alone.
Internalized ableism is pervasive and impactful.
When clients come in, sometimes they’ve been affected by internalized ableism.
They want to find ways to be more “neurotypical”, more accepted by society at the cost of their own authenticity.
You know that client autonomy is hugely important and at the heart of neuroaffirming care and yet sometimes it’s based in internalized ableism.
Finding the balance, creating a nonjudgmental space where a client can also learn and confront those ableist beliefs is essential!
And when you’re neurodivergent yourself?
You’re not just unlearning ableism and learning the neurodiversity affirming paradigm. You’re healing from it.
The ways you’ve been pathologized and even maybe pathologize yourself now impact your work every day!
Getting consultation that is not neurodiversity affirming hurts all the more (rejection sensitivity dysphoria anyone?)
What I Offer
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Live or self-paced training that actually helps you move from knowing to doing. We'll cover:
How to adapt your favorite modalities to be truly affirming
What to do when a client's goals are rooted in internalized ableism
Intake forms, documentation, and policies that center access
No shame. No "you should already know this." Just practical, actionable learning.
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You're running a practice with multiple clinicians. You want to align your policies, supervision, and culture with neurodiversity affirmation – but where do you even start?
I'll work with you on:
Staff training and ongoing support
Affirming intake processes and client materials
Supervision frameworks that don't replicate the deficit model
Hiring and supporting neurodivergent staff
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You need a speaker who can hold the room – clinical enough for therapists, political enough for the moment, and real enough to actually land.
I offer keynotes, workshops, and panels on topics including:
Neurodiversity affirming practice beyond the basics
The intersection of neurodiversity and other liberatory frameworks
Internalized ableism in the therapy room
Building access into everything you do
