Therapy for Neurodivergent Adults
Neurodiversity Aware Therapy® (NAT) is a clinical framework developed by Dan Spring that incorporates—and extends beyond—a basic neurodiversity-affirming approach. NAT requires a substantive understanding of neurodivergent experience, recognition of ableism and contextual harm, and the deliberate adaptation of counselling practices to meet the needs of neurodivergent clients. In contrast, the term neurodiversity-affirming is not associated with a universally recognized standard of training or competence.
Why Neurodivergent Adults Come to Therapy
Many neurodivergent adults come to therapy with us after years of trying to fit expectations that don’t work for them. This can involve chronic stress, shame, or a sense that something isn’t working despite continued effort. Therapy becomes a space to make sense of those experiences and to develop ways of living, working, and relating that are more sustainable and aligned with who you are.
What is Neurodiversity Aware Therapy®?
Neurodiversity-Aware Therapy® (NAT) is a counselling approach designed to support neurodivergent people without forcing them into norms that do not fit. Rather than treating difference as dysfunction, this approach starts from the understanding that neurodivergent ways of thinking, feeling, sensing, communicating, and relating are meaningful forms of human variation.
In practice, that means therapy supports clients to understand themselves, reduce harm, build sustainable lives, strengthen relationships, and make choices that fit their actual needs.
NAT can include support around nervous system overload, masking, identity development, emotional regulation, self-trust, communication, boundaries, trauma, grief, or the mismatch between a person and their environment.
In practice, that means therapy supports clients to understand themselves, reduce harm, build sustainable lives, strengthen relationships, and make choices that fit their actual needs.
NAT can include support around nervous system overload, masking, identity development, emotional regulation, self-trust, communication, boundaries, trauma, grief, or the mismatch between a person and their environment.
What Makes Neurodiversity Aware Therapy® Different?
- Many therapists say they are neurodiversity-affirming, but this label alone does not establish training, competence, or a consistent standard of practice.
- Some neurodiversity-affirming therapists suggest that therapy can be made safe if therapists agree not to do certain forms of therapy. This is a modality-first approach.
- Research shows that some forms of therapy, like ABA therapy, have been harmful to neurodivergent people, especially when rewards and punishments are used to train neurodivergent people to act like neurotypicals. Traditional CBT can also be harmful because many of its assumptions are neuronormative and conformance-oriented.
- Research shows, however, that any therapy that encourages conformance could be harmful to neurodivergent people. Thus, even postmodern therapies, like narrative therapy, can be harmful if the therapist doesn't understand the dangers of encouraging conformance.
- Neurodiversity Aware Therapy® therefore emphasizes the importance of understanding neurodivergent lived experience - what feels right to neurodivergent people - over conformance. In this way, NAT is a truly ethical, awareness-first therapeutic model.
How This Approach Might Feel Different for You
Many neurodivergent adults have had therapy experiences that felt misattuned, pathologizing, too abstract, too behaviour-focused, or insufficiently responsive to sensory, cognitive, and relational differences. Neurodiversity-Aware Therapy™ aims to be different by:
- adapting pace and communication style
- making room for directness, reflection, or processing time
- recognizing sensory and nervous system realities
- understanding masking as an effortful adaptation rather than a simple social skill
- exploring environmental fit instead of locating every problem inside the person
- supporting self-knowledge rather than pushing conformity
Who We Support
Neurodiversity Aware Therapy® may be a fit for adults who experience or identify with:
As well as people who are:
- questioning whether they may be neurodivergent
- recovering from burnout
- struggling with chronic overwhelm or shutdown
- trying to understand years of masking
- navigating relationship difficulties
- processing trauma, shame, or repeated invalidation
- looking for a therapist who understands neurodivergence more deeply
Explore Therapy Options
Our goal is to make the lives of our clients better and happier
Types of Therapy
We offer several ways to access support depending on your needs and relationships including:
Individual Counselling,
Couples Counselling,
and Family Counselling
Individual Counselling,
Couples Counselling,
and Family Counselling
Locations
We provide online Neurodiversity-Aware Therapy™ for adults in British Columbia and Ontario, with services tailored to the therapists and registrations available in each province.
Find a therapist who fits
The relationship matters. Different clients need different kinds of support, communication styles, and therapeutic presence. You can explore our therapists’ profiles to find someone whose experience, orientation, and way of working feels right for you.
Learn More About Neurodiversity Aware Therapy®
Our blog includes a comprehensive guide to therapy for neurodivergent people
Check out our Blog
Our blog has some information about masking and the history of neurodiversity that you might find relevant to your therapeutic journey.
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Book a free consultation by clicking on the link below this section.
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