Therapy​: “I want ongoing support.”

 

Therapy gives us time to understand what's happening, not just in the current moment, but across the different parts of your life that have led you here, and to work toward meaningful change over time.

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I work with individual adults, couples, and families, and therapy may focus on your own internal patterns, the relationships between people, or both. Our work can include understanding what's underneath a problem, developing practical strategies and skills, processing past experiences, changing relationship patterns, and finding ways of functioning that are more sustainable for you or your family.

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We start by getting a really good understanding of the bigger picture.

Before our first visit, you'll complete questionnaires and assessment measures that help me learn more about your current experiences, history, and areas of concern. Our first appointment is an in-depth 90-minute clinical interview. Rather than jumping immediately into treatment, we'll take time to understand what you're experiencing, what's contributing to it, what you've already tried, and what you want to be different. From there, we'll develop an individualized plan for our work together and continue adjusting it as we learn more.

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Therapy may include:

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Individual Therapy

For adults navigating ADHD/autism, OCD, anxiety, trauma, burnout, executive functioning, emotional regulation, relationships, life transitions, perfectionism, or patterns that have been difficult to shift.

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Couples Therapy

For couples who want to better understand the patterns happening between them, improve communication and connection, navigate neurodivergence or other differences, and develop healthier ways of responding to one another.

 

Family Therapy

For families wanting support with communication, conflict, boundaries, changing roles, neurodivergence, or patterns that affect the family system.

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What about ADHD or autism diagnosis?

Diagnostic clarification can be part of therapy. If you're wondering whether ADHD or autism may explain some of your experiences and you also want ongoing therapeutic support, we can explore that during the first several sessions. I may use standardized measures alongside our clinical work, and we'll continue refining our understanding over time.

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You do not need a separate comprehensive evaluation simply to explore neurodivergence within therapy.

 

Therapy may be the best fit when:

• you want an ongoing therapeutic relationship

• your goal is bigger than obtaining a diagnosis

• you'd like time to understand patterns and make changes gradually

• you're interested in exploring neurodivergence while also receiving support

• you don't need a comprehensive formal evaluation report

 

 

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Therapeutic Intensives: “I want focused support and practical change.”

 

An intensive gives us extended, concentrated time to work deeply on one area without committing to ongoing weekly therapy.

Sometimes you don't need ongoing therapy, you need dedicated time to really dig into one thing. Intensives offer a more focused path to insight and change, with time to understand what's getting in the way, practice strategies together, and create a personalized plan you can actually use in your life.

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Intensives can focus on areas such as:

• Executive functioning & neurodivergent support

• Task initiation, organization, transitions, routines, time, overwhelm, and creating systems that work with your brain.

• Better understand emotional intensity, rejection sensitivity & reactivity, while developing practical tools to navigate emotions without becoming overwhelmed by them.

• Understanding activation, shutdown, overwhelm, sensory load, and building individualized nervous system regulation strategies.

• Addressing burnout, building sustainable systems & working on expanding capacity

• Identifying what's draining your resources, reducing unsustainable patterns, and creating a more workable balance between demands and capacity.

• Perfectionism, boundaries, people-pleasing, relationships, life transitions, or another specific pattern you want concentrated help addressing.

• Other focused concerns: Feel free to reach out via e-mail and we can discuss whether an intensive would help to address the specific areas you'd like to focus on.

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Important: Intensives are not diagnostic evaluations.

You do not need a formal ADHD or autism diagnosis to use neurodivergent-affirming strategies in an intensive.

An intensive may be especially useful if you:

• already have an ADHD/autism diagnosis

• strongly identify with a neurodivergent framework and formal diagnosis isn't important to you

• want practical support rather than diagnostic clarification

• don't want ongoing therapy

• have a fairly specific challenge you'd like to work on

 

If your primary question is “Do I actually have ADHD or autism?”, an evaluation or therapy are a better fit.

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ADHD, Autism or 'AuDHD' Evaluations: “I want diagnostic answers and documentation.”​

A comprehensive evaluation is designed specifically to answer a diagnostic question:

Do I have ADHD?
Am I autistic?
Could I have both ADHD and autism ('AuDHD')?

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Unlike therapy, where diagnostic understanding develops within an ongoing relationship, an evaluation is a dedicated assessment process.

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It includes a detailed clinical and developmental interview, standardized assessment measures, consideration of overlapping conditions, collateral/developmental information when appropriate, and careful integration of all of the information gathered.

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You'll receive a comprehensive individualized written report, diagnostic conclusions when supported, personalized recommendations, and a feedback session to review everything.I use a Therapeutic Assessment framework in evaluations, which means the process is collaborative, not simply something being done to you. We use your questions and experiences to guide the assessment, make sense of the findings together, and focus not only on diagnosis, but on helping you leave with a deeper and more useful understanding of yourself.

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An evaluation may be the best fit when:

• obtaining a diagnosis is your primary goal

• you don't necessarily want ongoing therapy

• you want a dedicated diagnostic assessment rather than exploring the question over time

• you want your developmental history and findings comprehensively documented

• you want a detailed written report and recommendations

• you may need documentation or accommodations

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Still Torn Between Therapy and an Evaluation?

 

If your concern is: “I think I might have ADHD or autism.”

The next question is: What do you want to happen afterward?

 

If your thought is:

“I want to understand whether I'm neurodivergent, but I'm also struggling and want someone to help me over time.”

 

→ Start with Therapy. We can explore ADHD/autism as part of the therapeutic process while also working on the things that brought you in.

 

If your thought is:

“I mostly want an answer. I don't necessarily want therapy. I want to know whether I meet criteria and understand what the findings mean."

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→ Choose an Evaluation. The evaluation is designed specifically to answer that question and provide comprehensive written documentation. This is also often a good choice if you are interested in accommodations for school, or are interested in medication management and your provider has requested that you receive a formal evaluation.

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What If I Don't Need a Diagnosis?

This is where Intensives become really easy to understand. Maybe you already have a diagnosis. Or maybe you've done enough self-exploration to know that neurodivergent strategies help you, and having a formal label isn't especially important to you.

 

If what you really want is:

• Help me figure out how to start tasks.

• Help me build routines that I can actually maintain.

• Help me understand why I'm constantly overwhelmed.

• Help me regulate my nervous system.

• Help me recover from burnout.

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You don't need an evaluation just to access neurodivergent-affirming support. → A Therapeutic Intensive may be a great fit.

 

A Quick Way to Decide

 

Choose Therapy if:

• You want support over time.

• Diagnosis can be explored as part of therapy when relevant.

Choose an Intensive if:

• You want focused help with a specific set of challenges in a shorter amount of time.

• No diagnosis required or provided.

Choose an Evaluation if:

• Your primary goal is diagnostic answers.

• Includes comprehensive assessment, written report, recommendations & feedback.

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Still Not Sure?

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You don't have to choose perfectly or by yourself.

 

If you're still not sure whether Therapy, an Intensive, or an Evaluation is the right fit, schedule a free consultation.

Tell me what you're hoping to understand or change, and I'll help you figure out which option makes the most sense.

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