Key Takeways
Care that meets your neurotype, not a corrected version of you
The question "is this me?" shows up in different ways for different people. Some of you have been wondering for years whether you might be autistic, ADHD, AuDHD, or neurodivergent in a way you don't have a name for yet. Some of you already have a diagnosis and you're tired of being talked about like a checklist, or a cluster of symptoms, rather than a person. Some of you have been in therapy before where the unspoken ask was that you behave more like everyone else, and the harder you tried, the worse you felt. Some of you didn't realize any of this until your thirties, forties, or later, when something slid into place.
Wherever you're starting from, you're welcome here. Our practice is Vancouver-based and works online with neurodivergent adults across Canada. Laura and I are both neurodivergent ourselves, and we meet the people we sit with from inside the experience, not from the outside looking in. You don't have to prove anything to come in.
Where we start from
We don't treat neurodivergence as a disorder to be managed, corrected, or smoothed out. We understand it as a form of human variation, a particular way of processing, sensing, relating, and being in the world. This framing, sometimes called the neurodiversity paradigm, has been developed primarily by neurodivergent people themselves over the last thirty years. Organizations like the Autistic Self Advocacy Network have been articulating it clearly for decades, and their framing is much closer to how we actually work than any clinical deficit model.
What that means in practice is simple. We're not trying to help you become more neurotypical. We're helping you live more fully as yourself, with more ease, more capacity, and more of your own internal direction.
You don't need a diagnosis to work with us
Some of the people we sit with arrive with formal diagnoses from assessment. Others have been wondering for years and haven't gone through testing, often because assessment is inaccessible, expensive, or likely to produce a result that doesn't actually help them live their lives. Others have been told they couldn't possibly be autistic or ADHD because of how they present, because they're articulate, or female, or high-functioning in one domain while struggling in others. Some don't want a clinical label at all. All of them are welcome.
What we need from you isn't a diagnosis. What we need is your interest in working the way we work: relational, experiential, and creative. We start from you as a person, not from a label.
Why this approach tends to fit
Conventional therapy often relies on a particular mode. Sit still, maintain eye contact, talk about your week in chronological order, explain your emotions in standard narrative language, keep your body looking regulated while you do it. For many neurodivergent adults, that isn't a neutral format. It's a format that asks you to perform while trying to do the actual work of therapy at the same time. Exhausting, and often counterproductive.
Our approach works differently. Experiential therapy online makes room for what words can't always reach. Creative modes, whether art, writing, or movement, give access to felt experience that verbal narrative sometimes misses. Relational attention tracks what's happening between us, not only what you're saying out loud. Pacing follows your rhythm. Sensory needs get honoured as part of the work, not argued for as accommodations.
None of this is a special arrangement for neurodivergent clients. It's just how we work. Many neurotypical clients find it suits them too, but neurodivergent adults often feel the difference right away, because so much else in their lives is structured in ways that don't.
What sessions can look like
Different things work for different people, and different things work for the same person on different days. Sessions can include any of the following, depending on what you need:
- Working with what's present in the moment, not only what happened during the week
- Using art, writing, movement, or other creative modes when words don't fit
- Pacing that respects your processing time, including pauses, silences, and returns
- Sensory choices that help you focus, like camera off, reduced lighting, blankets, or fidgets
- Permission to stim, move, rock, pace, or look away without needing to explain
- Continuity across sessions, so you don't have to re-explain the baseline every time
The point isn't that every session uses every option. The point is that you get to make choices about what helps you actually arrive in the work, instead of spending the first twenty minutes regulating your body into looking like you've arrived. If something isn't working for you, you can say so, and we'll adjust together.
What you won't be asked to do
You won't be asked to earn recognition with a diagnosis. You won't be asked to perform neurotypicality to get care. You won't be asked to treat your way of processing as a problem to solve. You get to show up as you actually are, and we work from there.
If you've been in rooms where the unspoken ask was the opposite of all this, where the goal seemed to be helping you pass more easily, the exhaustion you brought home wasn't a failure on your part. Some rooms fit, and some don't. You're allowed to try a different one.
You're welcome here
Whatever you're carrying, and whether or not you have a label for it, you're welcome. Laura and I work with neurodivergent adults across Canada, people who are autistic, ADHD, AuDHD, twice-exceptional, highly sensitive, and many who don't use any of those words. We recognize you from the inside.
You can start where you are. You can bring your actual neurotype, not a corrected version of it. You don't have to perform to earn care, and you don't have to prove anything before we begin. If it would help to have a space to think, or to simply be, without first having to make the case for being there, that's what we're offering.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a formal autism or ADHD diagnosis to work with you?
No. Some of the people we sit with have diagnoses, some don't, some are exploring self-identification, and some don't want a clinical label at all. What we need is your interest in working the way we work. Your neurotype is yours to name, to explore, or to leave unnamed, at your own pace.
I've had difficult experiences in therapy before. How do I know this will be different?
Honest answer: you don't fully know until you try. What we can say is that we're both neurodivergent ourselves, we don't work from a deficit model, and we're not trying to help you pass as neurotypical. A free consult is a way to see if the fit feels right before committing to sessions.
Can we do sessions with the camera off, or other sensory accommodations?
Yes. Camera off, reduced lighting, blankets, fidgets, breaks, walking while we talk — all of these are options. Sensory needs are part of the work, not things to argue for. What helps you focus is what helps the session go well.
I'm neurodivergent and also working through other things like trauma, grief, or relationship stuff. Do you work with both?
Yes. Neurodivergence isn't something we treat separately from the rest of your life, because it isn't separate from the rest of your life. If you're working through trauma, grief, relational patterns, identity, work transitions, or anything else, your neurotype is part of how you're doing that work, and we hold both together.
How do I know if I'm neurodivergent without a formal assessment?
Self-identification is valid, and a lot of neurodivergent adults arrive at recognition without formal testing. If reading about autism, ADHD, or other neurotypes has felt like finding language for something you've always known, that's meaningful information. We can explore it with you without needing to produce a diagnosis at the end. What matters is whether the framing helps you understand yourself and live with more ease.
