Welcome.
My practice provides counselling for adults who are navigating life with high functioning autism.
You do not need a formal diagnosis to begin. Whether you are recently diagnosed, self-identifying, or simply exploring neurodivergence, feel free to consider arranging a time for an intro chat. Whether ASD is newly on your radar or something you have known for years, sessions focus on building self-awareness and developing practical tools that align with your unique mind.
For those who might have received a late diagnosis of ASD, there may be mixed feelings of relief, confusion, or a sense of frustration. These realizations bring new challenges, but they also open doors to the deepening of self-understanding.
Sessions are not “”a fix”” but a framework for self-discovery:
The sessions do not provide “treatment” for ASD, and are not geared towards treating or “fixing” the person or any conditions. There are no attempts to change any core neurotype.
Instead, the focus is on getting to know oneself better as one explores past events, situations, tendencies, thinking patterns, emotions, sensitivities, behaviors, strengths and struggles from new angles based on new understanding.
Equipped with the clarity of updated perspective, current options and future goals can be explored that facilitate the making of choices and decisions that contribute directly to quality of life.
A Safe Space: Sessions are completely confidential, and free of judgment. The individual sets the pace. Also, there is no need to feel that “information must be supplied”. Preferences for privacy are respected at all times.
Self-Discovery: We explore your thinking patterns, natural habits, aversions, and personal values.
Sessions also provide the opportunity to acknowledge the struggle, how day-to-day life includes degrees of challenge, sensory input and over-stimulation,
The daily struggle is real: Living in an environment with the prevailing cultural and societal expectations designed for neurotypical norms creates real friction.
The attempts to cope and manage effectively are often burdensome, stressful, anxiety-provoking, exhausting, triggering or overwhelming and can leave one feeling tense, agitated, distressed, worn thin and in need of recovery.
Empowerment: But now, imagine learning how to identify exactly when and why things go well – and why they go sideways. What strategies might facilitate this ability to identify what needs changing and in which contexts? And what strategies might facilitate developing action steps that result in positive outcomes? Imagine the value derived from navigating life in ways that respect your mind and body.
Topics of focus for sessions can include:
Relationships and work: Exploring how you tend to communicate across a range of settings and your specific approach to handling interactions in personal and professional spaces.
Emotion regulation: Developing an understanding of how difficult emotions arise both internally and from interactions with others, and from there formulating realistic, doable, self-supportive tools to manage emotions in order to avoid emotional roller-coasters, spikes or crashes.
Burnout and exhaustion: Trying to mask, cope, and fit in every day is stressful, anxiety-provoking, and exhausting. It can be beneficial to explore sensory triggers, perfectionism, overthinking, and a relentless urge to overwork with the view to mitigating or avoiding burnout and/or stress.
Daily habits: Sessions can facilitate exploration of procrastination, conflict discomfort, conflict avoidance, automatic assumptions, energy management and the optimization of relaxation opportunities.
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