Embracing Neurodiversity: Cultivating Confidence, Finding Peace
Autism Therapy in Huntsville and across Alabama.
SPECIALIZING IN TEENS 16+ AND ADULTS
Being neurodivergent in a non-neurodivergent world filled with non-neurodivergent people doesn’t have to be annoying, exhausting, confusing or overwhelming.
Right now, is your day a slog through exhaustion?
OR can you make it through the day, but just fall into bed when you get home?
Are you struggling to find good friendships and relationships?
OR perhaps you have made friends in the past, but find that you struggle to keep them?
Are you fighting such high anxiety that the idea of talking to anyone is overwhelming, and the idea of a friendship is so far in the distance, it’s impossible?
Is it excruciating to try to keep up with cleaning your space?
OR is your perfectionism driving you to spend a lot of time making sure everything is ‘just so’?
Do disruptions in your routine give you immense and even paralyzing anxiety - so much so that you can’t do anything else that day?
Maybe you try to be super vigilant so that you don’t miss an appointment, and get there incredibly early.
Or even though you tried to be super vigilant, you accidentally hyper focused on something, and ended up missing the appointment anyway.
Does school or work feel overwhelming?
Or is it the only thing in your life that feels good?
Sleep has likely always been something of a struggle, maybe even a catastrophic struggle, and you may feel that you are always falling short of figuring out how to make it work in a world that operates on a ‘9-5’ clock.
Having a diagnosis or suspecting you are neurodivergent can be helpful, but may also raise so many confusing questions you’re just not sure where to start.
You’re ready to feel at ease, to find peace.
How can working with me help you?
You can learn to move:
FROM
Feeling overwhelmed
Feeling frustrated or angry at how people are dealing with you and the world around you.
Feeling uncertain and even confused around people.
Struggling to ask for what you need, or even knowing what those needs are.
Exhaustion
TO
Feeling relaxed and at ease
Finally getting why there are so many misunderstandings with people and learning ways that may help them understand you and your needs..
Confidence in yourself
Ability to advocate for your sensory needs, your work needs, your social interaction needs.
Using your energy in the optimal way to lead a fulfilling life.
What will therapy for Autism be like?
During our sessions, we'll collaboratively explore your experiences at your own pace. Together, we'll identify and delve into the challenges you want to focus on. We may discover aspects of your neurodivergence that may have been overlooked in the past that might be helpful to consider now.
We’ll also discuss the engagement of different areas of your brain, which may give you some useful insights into why the non-neurodivergent world may feel alien to you.
Then, together, we will define how you want life to look and feel. You may find that you often aren’t certain of what you want, and you may say 'I don't know' quite often. This is not unusual, and we'll keep exploring various possibilities and experiment with changes until we discover a vision that resonates with you.
As we work together, you'll discover how your inner thoughts play a part in how the world seems, and we’ll work on techniques that will allow you to reshape your perceptions of both yourself and the world around you if you choose. We’ll be able to improve your understanding of how your body’s reactions can help you label emotions, and with practice you will start to understand your emotions well enough to begin giving yourself and asking others for what you need. This transformation in thinking and perception has the potential to significantly enhance how you experience life.
You will learn how to trust yourself so that it becomes easier to interact with others.
Additionally, we will work on navigating the process of making friends and fostering meaningful relationships if that is one of the things you are interested in.
Frequently asked questions about autism therapy
FAQs
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Perhaps you have heard of the term ‘Autism Burnout’. The reality is that it takes a great deal of energy to interact with people who are looking for social cues from you, who are expecting you to understand their social cues, and for you to mask adequately to provide both of these. Give yourself the understanding that this level of mental work is not going on in those around you (unless they are also autistic).
Can you get past this exhaustion to find energy? Yes. It can take some creativity to help you find your way out of this state, but it is possible.
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There are likely as many reasons for this that don’t have anything to do with you as have to do with being autistic. Sorting out what might be going on in a particular situation will take detective work. But in general there may be ways that your anxiety about developing friendships can undermine them. Or it can be that you don’t know how to find ‘your people’. Often developing a friendship with someone with autism that is one of ‘your people’ can lead to developing friendships with any of ‘your people’ regardless of their neurodivergence.
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Absolutely not. Nor will we have to keep the lights on, make you keep your shoes on, or any other sensory issue that you may have. If there is something in my office that does not work for you we will find a way to adjust it.
In particular, eye contact is not required for us to connect. We can talk about ways that you can interact with non-neurodivergent people who may not understand what is happening when you struggle to look at them, including self-advocacy if it’s appropriate, or self-acceptance if it isn’t.
It’s possible to break free of the confusion, overwhelm, and exhaustion that comes from being autistic in a world filled with non-neurodivergent things and people.