The Neurodivergent Therapy Space

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The Neurodivergent Therapy Space

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👉🏼 Founder of The Neurodivergent Therapy Space
👉🏼 Challenging outdated therapy models
👉🏼 Educator & facilitator
👉🏼 Demystifying autism, ADHD & trauma
👉🏼 Insta 30k +

03/09/2026

I spent years thinking everything I struggled with was trauma

And don’t get me wrong… some of it was

But not all of it

Some of it was undiagnosed autism and ADHD
being misunderstood through a trauma lens

Which meant I was trying to “heal” things that didn’t actually need fixing!

I was trying to sit still when my body needed movement
trying to control emotions that were actually overwhelm
trying to force myself out of routines that were supporting me.

That kind of therapy doesn’t just miss the mark
it can make you feel like you’re the problem!

Neuroaffirming therapy isn’t about pushing you to fit a model

It’s about understanding how your brain and nervous system actually work…

and building a life around that!

Some things are trauma
Some things are other areas of neurodivergence

Learning the difference can change everything 🧡

Neuroaffirming workshop - 17th June (see link in bio to secure your spot 🥰)

02/09/2026

How many years have you spent trying to “manage your anxiety” without anyone asking what your nervous system was actually responding to?

Sometimes anxiety isn’t appearing out of nowhere. It’s your body anticipating the noise, lighting, crowds, smells, unpredictability or exhaustion it knows it will have to tolerate.

And when the sensory need underneath that anxiety goes unrecognised, you can end up being encouraged to push through, challenge your thoughts and stop “avoiding”…

When what you may actually need is understanding, accommodation and permission to listen to your body.

This doesn’t mean the anxiety isn’t real. It means we need to be curious about what’s causing it, because you can’t think your way out of a sensory environment that is genuinely overwhelming your nervous system.

You are not being dramatic, difficult or unwilling to try.

Your sensory needs deserve to be recognised and accommodated. ❤️‍🩹

Does this make you question anything you’ve previously labelled as anxiety?

01/09/2026

Healing your trauma can absolutely change your life… but it won’t make you less autistic.

Sometimes anxiety isn’t being caused by an unhelpful thought that needs challenging. It’s your nervous system responding to sensory overwhelm, uncertainty, unexpected change, social demands or an environment that simply doesn’t meet your needs.

Continuously trying to “fix” this anxiety can leave you feeling as though you’re failing at therapy or that you’re somehow too broken to get better.

Neuroaffirming therapy should help you understand what your anxiety is communicating, recognise and accommodate your autistic needs, and build the confidence to hold boundaries around the things you can no longer keep forcing yourself through.

Because healing doesn’t have to mean becoming less autistic. Sometimes, healing means finally recognising that your autistic needs were never character flaws in the first place. ❤️‍🩹

31/08/2026

I’m always late to the party with these insta themes… but

Just a lil proud moment ❤️‍🩹

During therapy training, I heard so many narratives about how difficult it would be to make private practice a full-time career.

Luckily, my ADHD hyperfocus and refusal to accept other people’s opinions as facts had other ideas 😂

Because where’s the data? What is that belief actually based on?

Today, we have an incredible team supporting clients internationally, while challenging outdated therapy models that haven’t always served autistic and ADHD people well.

And not only have our therapists got our clients, they’ve got me when I’ve got big life stuff going on, just as I’ve got them.

That feels like a pretty awesome community to me 🧡

So no, this isn’t about proving anyone wrong. It’s a gentle reminder for any newbie therapist or anyone building something they’ve been told isn’t possible, that other people’s limitations don’t have to become yours 🧡

Question the narrative. Ask where the data is. And build the thing anyway.

Kinda chic, if you ask me 🥰

27/08/2026

The difference between traditional and neuroaffirming therapy isn’t simply the language being used. It’s the lens through which your experiences are understood.

When autism and ADHD aren’t recognised, overwhelm can be labelled anxiety, burnout can look like avoidance, executive dysfunction can be mistaken for self-sabotage and a need for predictability can be seen as resistance to change.

The wrong interpretation can leave people feeling even more broken, difficult or as though they can’t even get therapy right.

Neuroaffirming therapy asks what is happening underneath the behaviour. It considers your sensory profile, nervous system, capacity, communication and support needs.

Because therapy should help you understand yourself, not teach you to override yourself.

26/08/2026

Perimenopause can make the autistic and ADHD traits you never knew you had suddenly become blindingly obvious…

Not because you have suddenly become “more autistic” or “more ADHD”, but because hormonal, physical and emotional changes can leave you with less capacity to mask, compensate and push through.

Now, alongside navigating changes in your body, you may also be trying to figure out who you are without the mask, what your sensory needs are and what you can and can’t tolerate anymore.

And it can feel like a lot!!

You can’t go back to the old version of you because those ways of coping no longer work. But gently finding accommodations, understanding your needs and implementing boundaries can help protect your physical and mental wellbeing through this process ❤️‍🩹

25/08/2026

Being AuDHD can feel like constantly trying to meet two completely conflicting sets of needs.

You crave routine, but feel trapped by it.

You need stimulation, but become overwhelmed by it.

You desperately want connection, but need a huge amount of time alone.

You want your environment to feel organised and predictable, but executive dysfunction makes maintaining it feel impossible.

You want to be spontaneous, but an unexpected change of plan can dysregulate your entire nervous system.

And it can be incredibly confusing when the very thing that helps one part of your brain causes distress for another.

These aren’t character flaws or contradictions in your personality. They are competing access needs.

Supporting an AuDHD brain isn’t about finding the perfect routine and sticking to it forever. It’s about having enough flexibility to notice which need is loudest today.

Sometimes you need structure. Sometimes you need novelty.

Sometimes you need connection. Sometimes you need to shut the door and be completely alone.

You’re not inconsistent, difficult or failing to understand yourself.

In fact, you understand yourself enough to notice the conflict… understanding is one thing, accepting it, is another 🧡

24/08/2026

Have you ever noticed that you can respond to a huge life event as cool as a cucumber, but sensory overload can send you into a meltdown, shutdown or rage response within minutes?

Something genuinely traumatic happens and somehow you remain calm. You go into practical mode, focus on what needs to be done and hold everything together.

Then you find yourself in a room with several conversations happening, the tvplaying, bright lights, repetitive noises, uncomfortable clothes and someone asking you one more question…

And you completely lose your s**t!

You might snap, shout, cry, lash out or desperately need everyone to stop talking. You might need to escape immediately before you completely unravel.

And no, it is not because you are dramatic, overreacting, an angry person or any of the other unsolicited labels you may have been given!

It is because your sensory system has reached capacity.

Every sound, light, movement, touch and demand is continuing to enter your nervous system in real time. There is no space left to think, calmly explain what is happening or choose a more socially acceptable response.

Your nervous system just needs it all to stop.

It is also important to recognise that appearing calm during a traumatic event does not necessarily mean you are regulated.

You might shift into freeze, disconnect from your emotions or focus entirely on what needs to be done. The emotional impact may arrive later, when you finally feel safe enough to begin processing it.

Emotional pain can sometimes give you space to withdraw, reflect, seek support and slowly make sense of what has happened.

Sensory overload can feel different because the input is happening right now and continues flooding your system. You cannot begin regulating while the noise, light, touch, movement and demands are still coming at you.

Your response is not proof that you are dramatic, angry or incapable of coping.

It shows that emotional pain and sensory overwhelm can affect your nervous system in very different ways.

And both deserve understanding, support and accommodation ❤️‍🩹

21/08/2026

I’ve been a little quiet on here lately…

Life has been a lot, and I’m still finding my feet with how to show up on here again when life behind the scenes feels very different.

At first I thought, I just can’t mask to that level… but I realised it wasn’t about masking. It was that trying to show up as my happy, busy, work driven self when I felt anything but that, felt incredibly inauthentic.

And inauthenticity has always been something I struggle to mask. It feels physically uncomfortable in my body.

I wonder if some of that connects to my autistic brain too. I’ve always struggled when, what someone is saying doesn’t seem to match what I’m sensing from them. There’s something deeply uncomfortable about something on the outside not matching what’s happening underneath.

And I think that’s what posting felt like. I couldn’t present one version of myself when internally, I was somewhere completely different.

So this felt like quite a fitting post to start with.

Home has always been my safe space. The place where I can shut the door on the outside world, take off the mask, reduce the noise and demands and just… be.

And lately, I’ve needed that more than ever.

Usually, the things that bring me comfort are pottering around my house, moving furniture for the 100th time, randomly painting a wall… but I haven’t been able to access those parts of myself recently, as life has taken a new, unexpected and unwanted path.

But as time moves, so do feelings. They become a little more bearable, enabling me to slowly access the things that ground me again…

Colours that make my brain happy. Blankets. Cushions. Cosy lighting. Cups of tea. Cats. Stable and secure friendships and family. Familiar things 🧡

Because sometimes the outside world is a lot for our nervous systems to hold, and having somewhere that feels safe, predictable and completely ours can be so important.

Things are still different behind the scenes, and I’m finding my way through that in my own time.

But I’m also slowly finding my way back to the little bits of life that feel like me.

And cosy living room content feels like a pretty good place to start 🤎

07/08/2026

Trauma informed doesn’t automatically mean neuro affirming.

Therapists are often given just an hour or two of training on neurodiversity, yet taught to interpret eye contact, restlessness, lateness and a need for direction using old theoretical models that didn’t include autistic or ADHD people.

We’re taught to unpack it. Dig deeper. Look for the hidden meaning.

But sometimes, this is simply how autistic and ADHD people process and experience the world.

Searching for a deeper meaning that isn’t there can leave clients feeling more misunderstood, frustrated, isolated, unheard and unaccepted.

The whole system needs to shift because without neuro affirming training, therapy can cause MORE harm.

Address

York

Website

http://www.neurodivergenttherapyspace.com/

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