SPECIALTIES
Neuro-Affirming Therapy in Vancouver, BC
Growing up neurodivergent in a world designed for a different kind of brain is its own particular exhaustion. Not because there is something wrong with you, but because the gap between how you actually work and what the world expects of you requires a constant, invisible effort that most people around you will never fully understand. Therapy here starts from a different premise: your brain is not the problem.
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UNDERSTANDING THE EXPERIENCE
Neuro-affirming therapy is grounded in the understanding that neurological difference like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, sensory processing differences, and related variations are not a disorders to be corrected but a different cognitive style that deserves to be understood and supported on its own terms. A neuro-affirming approach does not treat your brain as a deficit or set neurotypical functioning as the goal. It works with who you actually are.
Many neurodivergent adults arrive at therapy carrying years of experiences that were shaped by systems, relationships, and environments that were never designed for them. Late diagnosis, or no diagnosis at all, can mean decades of confusion, self-blame, and a persistent sense of being fundamentally different without understanding why. This work creates space to understand that experience, make sense of what has been difficult, and build a relationship with your own neurology that is grounded in clarity rather than shame.
What neuro-affirming therapy means and who it’s for
Experiences that may bring you here
Difficulty navigating social situations in ways that feel natural to others — and the exhaustion of masking
Sensory sensitivities that make certain environments, sounds, textures, or situations genuinely painful
Intense, focused interests that bring deep satisfaction but aren’t always understood by others
Emotional intensity and difficulty with emotional regulation — feelings that arrive fast, strong, and hard to manage
Executive function challenges — planning, initiating, transitioning between tasks, time management
A lifelong sense of being different, out of step, or on the outside of social understanding
Burnout from years of masking, code-switching, and performing neurotypicality
A late diagnosis or recent self-identification — and the complex feelings that come with it
Trauma related to diagnosis, schooling, relationships, or experiences of not being understood or believed
Questions about identity — who you are beneath the strategies you’ve developed to cope
MY APPROACH
How I support neurodivergent adults
My starting point is that you are the expert on your own experience. I bring knowledge of neurodivergent presentations including late-diagnosed and undiagnosed adults, the specific experiences of autistic women and non-binary people who are frequently missed or misdiagnosed, and the intersection of neurodiversity with trauma, mental health, and identity — but I don’t assume I know what your experience looks like. We work together to understand it.
Narrative Therapy sits at the centre of this work. Neurodivergent adults have almost always absorbed a story about themselves that was written by people who didn’t understand their brain, a story of deficits, failures, and falling short of a standard that was never designed with them in mind. We look at that story carefully, where it came from, and what becomes possible when you begin to separate your identity from a narrative that was never really about you. Depth Work helps explore the longer-term effects of living as a neurodivergent person in a neurotypical world, the protective strategies, the grief, the identity questions, and mindfulness approaches are adapted to work with how neurodivergent brains actually engage, rather than defaulting to practices that may feel inaccessible or counterproductive.
Narrative Therapy
The stories neurodivergent people carry about themselves are frequently shaped by systems that pathologised difference rather than accommodating it. Narrative Therapy helps separate who you are from the story that was written about you — and find the evidence, often abundant, for a more complete and accurate account of your own life.
Mindfulness
Conventional mindfulness practices aren’t always accessible for neurodivergent brains — and I work with that directly. The approaches I draw on are more embodied, more dynamic, and more attuned to how attention and sensation actually work when your nervous system is differently wired. The goal is awareness, not stillness.
Depth Work
Years of navigating a world not designed for your brain leave marks that don’t resolve automatically with a diagnosis or a shift in self-understanding. Depth Work creates space to explore what those years have meant and the grief, the identity questions, the ways you’ve learned to protect yourself and what becomes available when those layers are understood.
WHO I WORK WITH
You might be looking for this support if…
You’ve recently been diagnosed as autistic, having ADHD, or both, and you’re processing what that means for how you understand your own life. There’s relief in having language for something you’ve always known was there. There’s also grief, confusion, and a lot of questions. You want space to work through all of it without having to manage anyone else’s reaction to it.
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You’ve never been formally diagnosed, but everything you’ve read about autism or neurodivergence describes your experience with an accuracy that nothing else has. You’ve spent years developing strategies to appear more neurotypical than you are, and the effort is catching up with you. You want to understand yourself more clearly and you want to do it with a therapist who won’t spend the session questioning whether your self-understanding is valid.
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You’re experienced with therapy and maybe extensively so, but previous therapists didn’t understand your neurology, or applied approaches that weren’t designed for how your brain works. The result was therapy that felt effortful in the wrong ways, that pathologised traits that are part of your neurology, or that simply didn’t help. You’re looking for a different experience.
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THE PROCESS
What to expect from neuro-affirming therapy
The First Session
The first session is a conversation, not an assessment, not a skills training, and not a list of strategies for appearing more neurotypical. I want to understand your experience: what’s brought you in, what has and hasn’t worked before, and what you’re hoping for from this work. I’ll be direct, concrete, and honest, and I’ll tell you what I don’t know as readily as what I do. Many neurodivergent clients find that clarity and directness in a therapist is one of the most useful things a therapeutic relationship can offer.
Ongoing Work
Neuro-affirming therapy looks different for different people. Some clients focus on a specific challenge: autistic burnout, navigating a difficult transition, processing a late diagnosis. Others do broader identity work to understand themselves more clearly, developing a more compassionate relationship with their own neurology, and separating out what is neurodivergence from what is trauma. The pacing, structure, and focus of sessions are adapted to work with how your brain engages, including things like the need for predictability, explicit structure, or flexibility around sensory and energy needs. Sessions are typically weekly, adjusting as the work develops.
In-person sessions are available in Vancouver, BC. Online therapy is available across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut via secure video.
FAQs
Common Questions About Therapy for Anxiety
Do I need a formal diagnosis to access this support?
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No. A formal diagnosis is not required for therapy, and many of the people I work with are self-identified, in the process of seeking assessment, or simply exploring whether neurodivergence is part of their picture. Therapy doesn’t depend on a diagnostic label, it depends on your experience and what you want to work on. If you’re uncertain whether you’re neurodivergent, that uncertainty itself is something we can explore together.
What makes therapy “neuro-affirming” in practice?
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Neuro-affirming therapy starts from the position that neurological difference is not a deficit and that neurotypical functioning is not the goal. In practice, this means I won’t pathologise traits that are part of your neurology, suggest that masking or suppressing autistic or ADHD traits is the aim, or apply frameworks that treat difference as disorder. It also means I adapt how we work together from the structure, pacing, and communication style of sessions to suit how your brain actually functions rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all approach.
I’ve had bad experiences with therapy before. How is this different?
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That experience is worth taking seriously and talking about directly. Many neurodivergent people have had therapeutic experiences that were unhelpful, pathologising, or actively harmful, including exposure to approaches that are now understood to be damaging. If that’s part of your history, it shapes what a useful therapeutic experience needs to look like, and I want to know about it. A different approach, a different pace, and a different kind of therapeutic relationship are all possible, and what those look like for you is something we figure out together.
Can you help with autistic burnout specifically?
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Yes. Autistic burnout, the profound exhaustion that results from sustained masking, sensory overload, and the effort of navigating neurotypical environments, is one of the more common reasons neurodivergent adults seek therapy. It can look like depression, it can involve a significant loss of previously held skills and capacities, and it tends to require more than rest alone to recover from. Understanding what drove the burnout, what recovery needs to look like, and what changes are needed to prevent it recurring are all things this work can address directly.
OTHER AREAS OF SUPPORT
You may also be looking for help with…
ADHD for Adults
ADHD and autism frequently co-occur, and many people are navigating both simultaneously, sometimes without a clear picture of where one ends and the other begins. The ADHD page explores how I approach that experience specifically, with the same neuro-affirming foundation.
Trauma & PTSD
Neurodivergent people experience significantly higher rates of trauma — including trauma that resulted directly from diagnostic processes, educational settings, relationships, and therapeutic experiences that failed to understand their neurology. Trauma and neurodiversity are often deeply intertwined..
Burnout & Recovery
Autistic burnout and general burnout share significant overlap, and for many neurodivergent people, what brings them to therapy is the cumulative cost of years of effort that the people around them never fully saw. The Burnout page explores the recovery process from that specific kind of exhaustion.
READY TO BEGIN?
Your brain is not the problem. Let’s find what actually works for you.
Request a free 15-minute consultation to learn more about working together. Whether you’re ready to start therapy in Vancouver or have questions about how we can work together online across Canada, I look forward to hearing what brings you to counselling