Counselling for Neurodivergent Adults
What neurodivergent counselling can look like
Many neurodivergent adults arrive in therapy after years of being told they are too sensitive, too much, or simply not trying hard enough.
You might have received an ADHD or autism diagnosis (or even both). It might have come late, or you might still be wondering and have nothing official at all. All of that is welcome here. You don’t need an assessment to start counselling.
What I can do is help you make sense of how you are wired, what it has cost you to work around it, and explore what would make everyday life easier.
Masking, burnout and what sits underneath
Neurodivergent clients often describe feeling exhausted no matter how much they rest, performing “fine” at work and collapsing at home, or struggling with relationships where communication keeps going sideways. Many also describe feeling overstimulated by noise, light, crowds, notifications or simply too many demands at once, and not understanding why an ordinary day leaves them so depleted. Some are working through what a late diagnosis has stirred up.
Neurodivergence also often sits alongside anxiety, trauma and addiction, and I’m particularly interested in how these fit together. We don’t have to treat them as separate problems. What also interests me is how autism and ADHD interact with each other in AuDHD.
How I work with neurodivergent clients
My approach is neurodiversity-affirming, which means I don’t treat your traits as faults to be corrected. Our work together is predominantly relational and person-centred, with some practical tools and emotional regulation techniques added where they’re useful. We can adjust the pace, the structure and how we communicate to suit you.
If you’ve spent years masking, it can be hard to tell where the mask ends and you begin, and many late-diagnosed adults arrive asking exactly that. If a diagnosis has left you grieving the years you went without understanding or support, there’s room for that too.
You can read more about my general approach to therapy on the About my practice page.
I see adults diagnosd with or suspecting ADHD or autism in person in Brighton and Hove, or online anywhere in the UK and beyond.
An enquiry starts with a free 15-minute consultation, so we can talk through what's brought you here before either of us commits to anything.
In-person and online therapy sessions
Common Questions about Therapy for ADHD and Autism
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It’s talking therapy that takes how your brain works as the starting point, rather than something to fix. It gives you space to understand your patterns, process past experiences and find ways of living that cost you less energy.
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No. Many people come after receiving a diagnosis, while on an assessment waiting list, or because they recognise ADHD or autism traits in themselves but have no formal label. You’re welcome either way.
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No. Counselling and diagnostic assessment are different things. If you’re considering assessment, your GP can talk you through the options, while we can explore what you’re hoping to get from it in our sessions.
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Burnout is a deep exhaustion that builds up when the demands you face stay higher than what your resources can manage, for too long. It can bring loss of skills, shorter patience and a lower tolerance for noise or people. Counselling can’t remove the demands, but it can help you understand what’s driving them and create a life with more room in it.
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Overstimulation, sometimes called sensory overload, happens when your nervous system takes in more than it can process. That might be noise and light, or social and mental demands. It can look like irritability, shutting down or needing to get away.
Counselling can help you make sense of why it happens, recognise your early warning signs and work out what helps you recover.
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Masking means hiding or suppressing your natural ways of communicating and behaving in order to fit in. It consumes a lot of your mental resources and can leave you feeling chronically depleted.
Therapy can help you notice when you’re doing it, what it’s protecting you from, and where it might be safe to do less of it. -
It’s a stance more than a separate method. Neuro-affirming therapy doesn’t aim to make you seem more neurotypical.
We can still use tools from CBT, DBT or ACT, adapted so they fit how you think rather than the other way round. -
Yes, and with the overlap between them (sometimes called AuDHD).
Many people recognise both, and I’m happy to work with that without needing to pin down where one ends and the other begins, but rather how they interact. -
For many people it works well, because you’re in a familiar, sensory-comfortable space and don’t have to face the journey. Others prefer being in the therapy room.
We can talk through which suits you, and it’s okay to change your mind.
