A lifetime of communication conflicts, misunderstandings, emotional and sensory sensitivities, and rigid expectations can impact the ways you think about yourself and how you grow up in the world.
Neurodiversity states that all our brains are on a spectrum from neurotypical to neurodivergent. It challenges the idea that there is a “normal” way for a brain to function. Neurodiversity is a human rights movement that believes everyone should be treated and cared for equally, no matter how your brain or mind works. There are many diagnoses that fall into the neurodiversity movement, but it was started by Autistic people.
Neurodivergent people have brain-based differences such as Autism, ADHD, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, and other neurological conditions. As a neurodivergent person, you may experience multiple minority stressors, including teasing and discrimination, negative first impressions, concealment of important identities, social isolation, or internalized shame. You may have had some of these experiences in therapy too.
Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and conversion therapy were developed by the same group of people, around the same time. We know that those kinds of therapy are harmful and unethical. We actively work to undo the harm caused by these therapies with our clients and in the community.
Affirmative therapy can be an empowering space for you to get to know yourself more intimately and explore some of the barriers that may get in your way of living the life you want, both internally and externally. Your therapist’s goals are to seek to understand experiences different from their own, to help you find more assertive and confident ways of expressing yourself, and to foster a sense of belonging that feels right for you.
