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Becoming Yourself Counselling and Consulting

Neurodiversity Affirming Therapy

Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy & My Approach

Therapy tailored to fit you - online across Ontario - for ADHD, autism, AuDHD, gifted and twice-exceptional adults.

Your experiences, challenges, and hopes are uniquely yours, so your therapy should be too.

Therapy for gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) adults in Ontario

 

What Brings Neurodivergent Adults to Therapy

Many adults in Ontario feel overwhelming when your brain, body, and emotions pull you in different directions. Many neurodivergent adults describe working twice as hard to keep up, carrying invisible weight, or feeling disconnected from their authentic selves. Therapy often begins here,  in the space between exhaustion and hope. This section shares some of the most common reasons neurodivergent adults seek therapy and the struggles that lead them to reach out for support.

 

Understanding Yourself & Identity

When you first begin exploring neurodivergence, it can feel like your life splits into “before” and “after.” For many late-diagnosed or self-diagnosed adults, there’s a flood of grief, relief, and self-questioning all at once.

Common Themes:

  • Navigating a late or self-diagnosis (ADHD, autism, AuDHD) and reframing life without shame 
  • Wrestling with imposter syndrome and fears of being a fraud in the life you’ve built 
  • Feeling like a walking contradiction — e.g., ADHD spontaneity alongside autistic need for predictability
  • Questioning identity: “Who am I, really?”

Emotional Well-Being

Emotions may feel overwhelming, sudden, and hard to regulate, or at times, completely shut down. Many neurodivergent adults describe living with intense anxiety, rejection sensitivity, or burnout. 

Common Themes:

  • Anxiety, overwhelm,  depression, or chronic burnout after years of pushing harder than others 
  • Rejection Sensitivity (RSD) and constant worry about being misunderstood or criticized 
  • Emotional intensity that leads to shutdowns, rumination, or spirals 
  • Grief and anger about missed opportunities or years of misunderstanding

Relationships & Connection

Many neurodivergent adults long for safe relationships but feel drained by social demands or misunderstood in their communication. 

Common Themes:

  • Struggles with miscommunication across neurotypes (autistic/ADHD to neurotypical differences)
  • Fear of judgment leading to masking or withdrawal 
  • Feeling disconnected from old circles while unsure how to find affirming communities 
  • Oscillating between craving closeness and withdrawing for protection
  • Fear of letting others down due to perceived “unreliability” 

Coping Tools & Habits

When life feels overwhelming, it’s natural to reach for whatever helps in the moment, whether that’s overworking, masking, or substances. These tools may ease short-term stress but often drain energy over time. 

Common Themes:

  • Relying on substances or self-medicating to cope with stress, sleep, or anxiety 
  • Fluctuating performance tied to cycles of use, recovery, or burnout
  • Using urgency, perfectionism, or overworking as primary coping tools.
  • Struggling to find strategies that feel effective and healthy

Daily Life & Executive Function

Even the most capable and intelligent adults can struggle with daily routines, planning, or getting started. Many describe life as a cycle of procrastination, last-minute scrambles, and burnout. 

Common Themes:

  • Difficulty with focus, organization, and follow-through despite high intelligence 
  • Procrastination or perfectionism that leads to stress and self-criticism
  • Frustration that “small tasks” feel harder than complex projects
  • Over-reliance on urgency/adrenaline for productivity 
  • Fluctuating productivity: bursts of brilliance followed by paralysis

Sensory & Physical Needs

Your nervous system affects not just your thoughts and feelings, but your physical body and sensory experience. Many neurodivergent adults live with sensory sensitivities, chronic fatigue, or the impacts of pushing beyond their limits. 

Common Themes:

  • Sensory overload and difficulty coping in environments not designed for you 
  • Sensory-seeking needs: movement, stimulation, or input to regulate energy
  • Ignoring body signals until burnout or health challenges appear
  • Sleep disruption, fatigue, or physical discomfort tied to nervous system stress 
Online therapy for executive function, rejection sensitivity (RSD), and masking support in Ontario-1
Neurodiverstiy-Affirming Care

How We Work Together – Trauma-Informed and Collaborative Therapy

Neurodiversity-Affirming & Trauma-Informed

I begin from a neurodiversity-affirming and trauma-informed foundation, ensuring therapy honours your lived experience and fosters a sense of safety. Within this, I take a client-centred, integrative, and relational approach that adapts to your needs and moves at a pace that feels right for you.

In neurodiversity-affirming therapy, your brain and body are not viewed as ' problems to be fixed; we see neurodiversity as a natural variation, not a deficit, and it is an essential part of human diversity.

We recognize your challenges in the context of your environment, lived experiences, and nervous system, not as personal failings.

Client-Centred & Collaborative

You remain the expert on your own life_

You set the pace. Therapy progresses at your comfort level, with regular check-ins to ensure the process feels safe and meaningful.

Integrative & Tailored & Relational

Integrating strategies that work with your goals and nervous system, not against it

We provide virtual, Ontario-wide therapy informed by approaches like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), Internal Family Systems (IFS-informed), and mindfulness-based practices. We select tools and adapt them to fit your unique needs, strengths and values.

I also draw from contemplative, existential, and humanistic traditions. In practice, this means therapy emphasizes mindful awareness, slowing down, and creating space to reflect on what feels most important to you. These perspectives support exploration of meaning and purpose, encourage self-acceptance, and invite you to move toward living more authentically and compassionately, always within the safety of a collaborative therapeutic relationship.

 

Therapy for adults with ADHD, autism, or 2e in Ontario-1

Things We Can Explore Together in Therapy

Starting therapy is more than naming what’s hard. It’s about creating a safe, collaborative space where we can work with your strengths, values, and needs. We’ll explore strategies that fit your life, practices that bring steadiness, and new ways of relating to yourself and others. This section highlights the areas we may focus on in therapy, offering possibilities for growth, healing, and sustainable change.

 

Self-Image & Identity: Building Self-Understanding, Self-Acceptance and Self-Compassion

Your story is still unfolding. In therapy, we’ll work on building self-understanding, exploring ways to quiet the inner critic, and supporting you in cultivating pride in who you are, without an apology.

Together, we might explore:

  • Reframing your neurodivergent traits as strengths, not flaws
  • Healing from self-doubt, shame, or imposter syndrome
  • Rebuilding confidence and self-trust after setbacks
  • Practicing self-compassion and acceptance
  • Living more authentically, even in spaces that don’t always feel safe

Attention & Thinking Patterns: Working With Your Unique Mind

Your mind is powerful and unique. We’ll explore how to work with your natural rhythms instead of against them.

Together, we might explore:

  • Executive functioning tools that may support focus, planning, and organization in ways that feel more sustainable
  • Strategies for navigating hyperfocus and task-switching
  • Approaches to working with procrastination and perfectionism
  • Practicing observation of thought patterns without judgment or reactivity
  • Exploring ways to move from urgency-driven cycles toward steadier, more sustainable rhythms

Emotional Regulation: Understanding and Navigating Emotions

Your emotions reflect deep sensitivity and intensity. In therapy, we’ll explore ways to understand, work with, and channel them in ways that feel safe and sustainable.

Together, we might explore:

  • Coping strategies for moments of overwhelm, shutdowns, or mood shifts
  • Support in navigating experiences of rejection sensitivity (RSD) and fear of criticism
  • Naming, processing, and making space for complex feelings
  • Gentle approaches for exploring grief, trauma, or emotional wounds
  • Practicing acceptance of emotions and learning to “surf the waves of emotion”

 

Anxiety & Mood: Finding Calm and Balance

Your nervous system works hard to keep you safe, but sometimes it can leave you feeling stuck in cycles of worry, low energy, or exhaustion. In therapy, we can explore tools and approaches that may support calm and protect your well-being.

Together, we might explore:

  • Techniques that may help with overthinking and rumination
  • Approaches for working with low mood and exploring motivation
  • Tools to support burnout recovery and energy protection
  • Exploring ways to reframe unhelpful thought patterns with more compassionate perspectives
  • Building daily practices that may support balance and emotional well-being

 

Social & Communication: Creating Connections

You deserve relationships where you feel seen and understood. In therapy, we’ll practice skills and boundaries that may support safer, more nourishing connections.

Together, we might explore:

  • Navigating communication differences across neurotypes
  • Practicing boundary-setting in ways that feel more sustainable
  • Exploring ways to build supportive friendships and community
  • Approaches for managing relational conflicts with greater clarity and compassion
  • Working toward confidence in expressing your needs and self-advocacy
  • Practicing strategies for advocating with healthcare providers

 

Sensory & Physical Needs: Supporting Mind and Body

Your body and sensory system are part of your mental health story. In therapy, we’ll explore ways that may support your physical well-being alongside your emotional growth.

Together, we might explore:

  • Grounding and self-soothing practices for moments of sensory overload
  • Outlets for sensory-seeking energy
  • Exploring routines that may support sleep and rest
  • Understanding how our environment impacts us and what modifications might help accommodate it
  • Exploring connections between physical symptoms and stress or burnout
  • Working toward daily rhythms that may nurture both body and mind

 

Learning to Navigate a World Not Designed for US

These experiences are not signs of weakness; they are often natural responses to living in a world not built with your brain and body in mind.

In therapy, we’ll work together to better understand your patterns, explore strategies that may fit you, and work toward creating more space for self-acceptance.

 

What Therapy Can Offer You - Sustainable, Authentic Change

Therapy here isn’t about ‘fixing’ you; you’re not broken

We’ll work together to:

  • Explore your unique wiring, thoughts, emotions, sensory experiences, and behaviours in the context of your life and relationships
  • Reflect on experiences of shame from misunderstanding, invalidation, or trauma, and consider ways to respond with greater self-compassion
  • Consider coping and regulation strategies that may support you in daily life
  • Explore identity, connection, and meaning in ways that feel safe
  • Reflect on what it might look like to move toward a life that feels more sustainable, authentic, and aligned with your values

Life begins the moment we decide to become ourselves.

You can use the online booking link to schedule a session and learn more about how therapy may support you.

 

“There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

FAQs About Services: Therapy Services FAQ: ADHD, Autism, Giftedness, and Online Counselling

 If you can't find an answer to your questions here, plea

Do you offer harm-reduction therapy instead of requiring abstinence?

Yes. I understand that substances are often used as a way to regulate stress, anxiety, or pain. My harm-reduction approach allows you to explore your relationship with use without pressure to quit. Together, we focus on reducing harm, building alternative regulation tools, and making conscious choices that align with your goals.

How can therapy help with executive functioning and ADHD challenges?

Therapy can help you create systems that work with your brain rather than against it. We explore task initiation, organization, time management, and procrastination, not as personal failings, but as areas where tailored strategies can make a big difference. Many clients experience relief when they finally understand why past systems didn’t work and build ones that actually fit.

What if I’m “gifted” but still struggling with underachievement or burnout?

Giftedness often comes with high expectations and painful self-criticism. Therapy can help you reframe your story from one of “wasted potential” to one of resilience and complexity. Together we address burnout, emotional intensity, and rejection sensitivity (RSD) while helping you reconnect with your creativity, intelligence, and worth, without pushing yourself to collapse.

Can therapy help me process a late diagnosis of ADHD or autism?

Yes. A late diagnosis often triggers grief for missed opportunities and relief for new clarity. Therapy supports you in integrating both stories, who you thought you were and who you now know yourself to be. We work on identity reconstruction, self-compassion, and building a sustainable lifestyle that honours your neurodivergence.

How does therapy address rejection sensitivity and relationship struggles?

Rejection sensitivity (RSD) can create intense emotional reactions and relational challenges. In therapy, we focus on recognizing these patterns, calming your nervous system, and building healthier ways to respond. The goal isn’t to eliminate sensitivity but to reduce its grip so you can feel more grounded, understood, and connected in your relationships.

Do you work with people who feel like contradictions or don’t fit neatly into one label?

Yes. Many of my clients describe themselves as paradoxes, part ADHD, part autistic, part gifted, and entirely unique. Therapy here is not about boxing you in. It’s about helping you integrate your complexity, hold your contradictions with compassion, and design a life where you can belong to yourself fully.

What does a first session look like?

The first session is about getting to know you. We explore your story, what brought you here, and what you hope to gain from therapy. There’s no pressure to share everything at once; you set the pace. From there, we start identifying your goals and shaping therapy around what feels most supportive for you.

Do you provide online counselling in Ontario?

Yes. I provide secure, confidential online therapy across Ontario. Many clients prefer online sessions because it saves travel time, reduces sensory and social stress, and allows you to meet from the comfort of your own space. All you need is a private place and an internet connection.