Neurodivergent Therapy
Are You Tired of Trying to Fit Into a Neurotypical World?
Do you feel like you're constantly trying to balance who you really are just to fit in? Are you tired of overthinking every social interaction, trying to decode what people really mean when they say one thing but expect another? Does it feel like the world demands you function in ways that simply don't work for your brain? You're not alone, and you're definitely not broken.
Maybe you recognize yourself swinging wildly between extremes. One week you're taking on every exciting project with boundless enthusiasm, and the next you've crashed into complete burnout. Perhaps you procrastinate until the absolute last second, then work frantically with panic and anxiety to meet a deadline. Or maybe you're on the opposite end, compulsively organizing every detail of your environment because unpredictability sends your nervous system into complete overdrive. You might find yourself intellectualizing everything, stuck in your head, unable to actually be in tune with your emotions and body. Daily tasks feel like an impossible puzzle, and the anxiety and discouragement that come with it are wearing you down.
The daily impact is real. You doubt your own judgments constantly, spiraling into racing thoughts of "I should have done this differently" or "How do other’s make this look so easy?" Sitting still and relaxing feels impossible. Your relationships are strained because you're always on edge, trying to control what you can't predict. You might be struggling at work, especially with remote work where the relational expectations are even more confusing.
You're Not Alone in This Struggle
Thousands of neurodivergent adults in Grand Rapids, Rockford, Comstock Park, and throughout Michigan face these exact same challenges every single day. Whether you have a formal diagnosis of ADHD or Autism, or you simply recognize yourself as neurodivergent, the exhaustion you feel from constantly masking and navigating a neurotypical world is valid and shared by many others. Society has set up expectations that simply don't align with how your brain works, and that's not your fault.
The cultural pressure is especially intense for women and people socialized as female. You're expected to be calm, complacent, and emotionally attuned to everyone around you at all times. When you're naturally objective and task-oriented, the way many neurodivergent brains work, you're misunderstood or even rejected. If you're a woman who thinks differently, speaks directly, or prioritizes tasks over social niceties, you've likely been labeled as "difficult" or "too much."
For those carrying intersecting identities as LGBTQIA+, people of color, or members of marginalized communities, the weight becomes even heavier. You're not just masking your neurodivergence. You're managing multiple layers of identity that the world tells you to hide or minimize. Each layer adds another dimension of exhaustion, another set of unwritten rules to decode, another reason to doubt yourself. The trauma of navigating a world that wasn't built for you in multiple ways compounds every symptom.
Society tells us to "say what we mean," but then expects us to read between the lines and decode hidden meanings. The world doesn't accommodate additional sensory processing differences or learning challenges either, so instead of asking for what you need, you may mask even harder. The shame runs deep. Asking for accommodations feels humiliating or impossible when you're already navigating bias in other areas of your identity. Instead of thriving, you're stuck in survival mode.
But here's the truth: therapy can help you unmask, understand your unique needs, and develop strategies that actually work for how your brain functions. You don't have to keep exhausting yourself trying to fit into a mold that was never designed for you.
Ready to stop masking and live authentically?
I offer a free 15-minute consultation to explore how neurodivergent-affirming therapy can help you. Whether you're in Grand Rapids, Rockford, Comstock Park, or anywhere in Michigan, we can work together to help you understand your unique brain, reduce the exhaustion of masking, and build a life where you can be fully yourself without apology.
Neurodivergent-Affirming Therapy That Respects How Your Brain Actually Works
My approach to neurodivergent therapy isn't about fixing you or forcing you to fit into neurotypical expectations. Neurodivergent therapy is a lens that recognizes everyone's needs are unique and specific to them. There's an emphasis on accepting and navigating your differences and strengths, not eliminating them or pretending they don't exist. This is about helping you reduce masking, asking for what you need, and uncovering your most authentic self.
In our first session, we'll get to know each other, and I'll learn about your history and story to understand the patterns and coping skills you've developed over time. We'll discuss the challenges you're currently facing and work on making sense of them and the way you've navigated the world. This isn't just about cataloging symptoms. It's about understanding how your neurodivergent brain has been trying to survive in a neurotypical world and what that has cost you.
In ongoing sessions, we work together to identify the symptoms and beliefs about yourself and the world that are unhelpful and contributing to your ongoing exhaustion, anxiety, and depression. These might be feelings of inadequacy, fear of rejection, or deep shame about what you’re simply unable to do, or unable to do as easily as other people.
I specialize in Brainspotting, a therapy that uses eye positioning similar to EMDR to access the deep brain where your sensory information is stored. This allows us to work with the automatic responses and conditioning that keep you stuck in survival mode. Brainspotting helps you get out of your "automatic" and "default" state that you've been conditioned into, and increases your awareness of what your body is actually telling you about what you want versus what you've been doing automatically to survive. We'll work together to find a balance that fits for you, between processing and restructuring thoughts, feelings, and beliefs verbally, as well as through body-based work.
I'm also a huge fan of tangible tools you can use outside the therapy space. I teach HeartMath strategies to help you increase awareness and safety in your body. I also teach concrete strategies and skills for effective communication and boundaries, along with emotional regulation techniques. Through neurodivergent-affirming Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), we identify unhelpful thoughts and beliefs that have been conditioned into you and work to unlearn them. I specifically teach skills that regulate the nervous system and use your body's natural ability to find calm, which directly addresses the constant state of dysregulation many neurodivergent people live in.
Much of the emotional dysregulation you experience is imprinted from past experiences and comes from being pressured to be one way when you feel most authentic another way. This pressure might have been necessary for survival and connection with others, but you've likely found that it's now causing exhaustion and real problems in your life. My goal is to help understand your brain and body so you can reduce masking, be your most authentic self, and be in tune with your body and mind so you can respect your neurodivergent needs without apology or shame. Through years of working with neurodivergent clients, I've seen how powerful this approach can be when clients commit to the process and give themselves permission to unmask.
Questions You May Have About Neurodivergent Therapy
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You don't need a formal diagnosis to benefit from this work. Many people self-identify as neurodivergent, and you'll find only affirmation in this space. Diagnosis can be helpful for medications or accommodations, but it's primarily used for billing insurance. Neurodivergence includes many variations beyond ADHD and Autism, including sensory processing disorders, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and OCD. What matters most is that you recognize yourself in these experiences and are ready to stop exhausting yourself trying to fit in.
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Neurodivergent therapy, at its foundation, is a lens of therapy that recognizes everyone’s needs are unique and specific to them. There is an emphasis on accepting and navigating differences and strengths, instead of “fixing” them or trying to eliminate them. We understand that there are many neurodivergent variations in the human experience. Neurodivergent therapy is a lens of therapy rather than a specific mode of practice.
Neurodivergent Therapy Grand Rapids, MI:
4829 East Beltline NE, Suite #303,
Grand Rapids, MI 49525