Neurodivergent Affirming Therapy
Because you shouldn’t have to explain yourself before you can begin healing.
For many neurodivergent folks, feeling chronically misunderstood isn't occasional—it's fundamental to their daily experience. This often begins within one's own family, where even the most loving attempts at connection can fall short. When your way of experiencing and moving through the world differs from those around you, the gap between your internal reality and others' perceptions can feel vast and isolating.
For those who are late-identified as neurodivergent, this sense of being misunderstood by others is often layered on top of a profound self-confusion. Protective parts have learned to mask over years or decades, and the process of unmasking—while potentially liberating—can bring both relief and grief. Relief at finally understanding yourself, and grief for the years spent trying to be someone you weren't.
“Neurodivergent affirming therapy offers a space where you can feel safe enough to explore the parts that carry the pain of chronic misunderstanding. Here, your experience doesn’t need translation or justification.”
What Is Neurodivergent Affirming Therapy?
Neurodivergent affirming therapy is grounded in a paradigm shift in how we understand neurological differences. Drawing from the framework articulated by Nick Walker, this approach rests on the foundational principle that neurodiversity is a natural and valuable form of human diversity. In other words, your neurodivergent brain isn't broken, despite the repeated messages you’ve received otherwise.
But affirming these principles isn't enough. Truly neurodivergent affirming therapy requires adaptation on behalf of the therapist, not the client. Some approaches, when applied without these adaptations, can cause further harm to neurodivergent individuals.
As a late-identified AuDHDer, my lived experience has given me a particular mix of challenges and privileges. I bring the insight of someone who has navigated the world with a neurodivergent brain, including the experience of late discovery and unmasking. At the same time, I recognize that my experience is just one expression of neurodivergence among many. Your journey is your own, and I approach our work together with genuine curiosity about your unique experience rather than assumptions based on mine.
How Internal Family Systems (IFS) Can Support Neurodivergent Healing
Internal Family Systems therapy holds particular beauty for neurodivergent individuals because of one fundamental principle: all parts are welcome and deserve understanding. This is transformative when so much of the neurodivergent experience has involved invalidation and misunderstanding.
The core of IFS work is focused on creating a space where parts can begin to trust a different way of operating. Rather than focusing on "fixing what's broken" (a narrative many neurodivergent people have internalized from countless external sources), IFS emphasizes changing the inner relationships among parts and between parts and your core Self.
This shift matters profoundly. Instead of asking you to change who you fundamentally are, IFS invites you to develop more compassionate internal relationships. Parts that have been working so hard to protect you—perhaps through masking, perfectionism, or withdrawal—can begin to relax when they trust that understanding and acceptance are possible.
Together we can honor your unique system
When approached with sensitivity to both the common patterns and the unique expressions of neurodivergent experience, IFS can help you develop a more compassionate and empowering internal system. This work honors your neurological differences while healing the wounds that come from navigating a world not designed for your unique brain, body, and spirit.
Extending a neurodivergent-affirming approach to my work with couples, mixed neurotype partnerships receive unique support through my integration of the IFIO framework, which helps partners understand different ways of processing experience, while EFT's emotional exploration can help neurodivergent individuals who struggle with emotional identification build a richer vocabulary for their internal experience. By broadening our understanding around how people experience their parts, we release expectations around what "the right way" looks and feels like and instead empower partners to co-create "our way" that honors both partners' sensory, emotional, and processing needs.
You deserve a therapeutic relationship where you don't have to spend your energy explaining yourself before you can begin healing. Where your way of being in the world is met with genuine respect and curiosity. Where the goal isn't to make you more "normal," but to help you live more fully as yourself and feel a deep sense of relief knowing that you truly belong within.