Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy

My approach is grounded in the belief that your bodymind is not a problem to be fixed — but a unique system to be understood, supported, and honoured.

I offer neurodiversity-affirming therapy. My work is shaped by both professional and personal experience. I am based in Brighton and Hove and work online.
 
My approach begins with respect for the intelligence, meaning and value of neurodivergent ways of being, without the expectation that you need to change who you are.
 
“Neurodiversity is the diversity of human minds — the infinite variation in neurocognitive functioning within our species.”
— Nick Walker
 
I hold neurodivergence within this understanding of natural human variation, rather than seeing it as something that needs to be corrected.
 
Late Identification and Re-Reading Your Life
 
Many people I work with come to therapy later in life after recognising themselves in descriptions of autism, ADHD or other forms of neurodivergence, sometimes with a formal diagnosis and sometimes without.
 
Late identification can bring many different experiences, including:
• relief
• confusion
• grief
• anger
• a sense of re-reading one’s life
 
Therapy can offer a space to explore this gently, without rushing to conclusions or turning difference into something that needs to be fixed.
 
Environment Matters
 
I am influenced by the work of Luke Beardon, who describes the idea that:
 
Autism + environment = outcome
 
This shifts the focus away from trying to change the person, and towards understanding how environments, expectations and relationships shape experience.
 
In therapy we may explore the environments, relationships and expectations that influence your day-to-day life, and consider what helps support regulation, sustainability and wellbeing.
 
This might include looking at:
• sensory environments
• work and life structures
• relationships and communication patterns
• expectations placed on you by others or by yourself
• ways of living that support your natural rhythms and capacities
 
Moving Beyond the Pathology Model
 
My work holds neurodivergence within a difference and diversity framework, rather than a pathology model.
 
While acknowledging the biological aspects of neurodivergence, I understand neurodivergent ways of thinking, sensing and relating as authentic forms of human variation that can thrive in the right environments.
 
Much of the distress experienced by neurodivergent people arises not from neurodivergence itself, but from:
• misunderstanding
• lack of accommodation
• chronic masking
• long-term stress

Trauma-Informed & Empowering


I understand how trauma and neurodivergence can intersect. My practice is trauma-informed and resourcing-focused — helping you rebuild both internal and external connections. A core part of this work may involve finding safe, affirming ways to unmask and reclaim aspects of your neurodivergence, free from the medicalised or deficit-based narratives that so often dominate mainstream perspectives.

This can be healing, empowering, and even liberating. 

Creativity, Flow and the Transpersonal
 
I am also interested in the creative and sometimes transpersonal aspects of neurodivergent experience.
 
Experiences that are often pathologised — such as stimming or deep hyperfocus — can also be understood as forms of:
• regulation
• creativity
• flow states
• deep engagement with the world
 
In therapy we may explore how these experiences contribute to meaning, creativity and connection.
 
Bringing Lived Experience
 
I bring both my professional training and my own lived experience of being Neurodivergent.
 
My aim is to offer a place where neurodivergent identities are:
• recognised
• respected
• supported
 
What We Might Explore in Therapy
 
Therapy with me may include exploring:
• anxiety
• overwhelm
• burnout
• masking
• identity
• relationships
• the search for meaning and belonging
 
I aim to support greater self-understanding and sustainable ways of living, with careful attention to limits, timing and what is workable in everyday life.
 
Intuition, symbolism and felt sense may be used in therapy where they support understanding and agency, but they are never prioritised over clarity, consent and practical needs.
 
Who I Work With
 
I welcome neurodivergent clients, including those who identify as:
• autistic
• ADHD or AuDHD
• dyslexic
• living with OCD
• questioning or exploring possible neurodivergence
 
Getting Started
 
If you are neurodivergent, or think you might be, I would welcome the opportunity to work together.
 
Therapy can be a space to explore your experience and to consider how your environment, relationships and ways of living might better support you.
 
Together we may look for ways of shaping a life that feels more inhabitable, sustainable and meaningful.