IN-PERSON COUNSELLING IN VANCOUVER & ONLINE ACROSS BC
Neurodivergent Counselling
Life can be so much more than what you can’t do
Exhausting yourself to meet standards in a world not made for you?
You’ve gotten used to people calling you “scatterbrained” or “messy” to the point where you’ve adopted those names for yourself. You might joke about your sense of time or lack thereof, but privately, you panic while counting down seconds to the deadlines on projects you haven’t started. People see the results of your work, but not the struggles to get there. Your accomplishments and reality feel opposed to each other. And you don’t know how much longer you can keep going like this.
On other days it’s the conversations that spiral long in your head after they’ve played out, wondering whether you missed or misread a cue or came off as too intense. All you know is that you’ve put so much effort into forcing yourself to act like everyone else, but it hasn’t worked. And you still worry whether if people actually like you, because after all the hyper-fixating, you feel worse off than before. Asking for help feels embarrassing — no one else you know needs help to get through conversations, and you feel like you should have your life together like everyone else already.
There’s no “right way” to be a person.
Being neurodivergent in a world made for neurotypical norms can leave you feeling like an alien — constantly misunderstood, confused, out of place. Maybe you relate to feeling:
Like you need to constantly hide who you are to fit in and avoid being told you are “weird”
Deeply irritated or dysregulated by certain sounds, textures, or other stimuli
Constantly over- or under- stimulated even when others around you seem to be feeling fine
Your emotions really deeply or hardly noticing them at all
Exhausted from the effort you’ve put into trying to fit into social situations
Overwhelmed by trying to stay on top of all your tasks, wonder why it’s so tough to stay motivated and organized
Stressed out trying to be on time for things, especially if they’re early on in the day, and end up staying up too late
Neurodivergent counselling is never about changing you.
Counselling is about empowering you and finding ways to improve your life for the better, it’s never about making you less autistic, or less ADHD.
You get to decide which goals are right for you, whether that is wanting to embrace your identity as a neurodivergent person, understand yourself on a deeper level, get relief from the constant need to mask in your daily environment, or work on preventing burnout. I can help you understand more about yourself and strategies that work the best for you. We can talk about stress, social situations, stimming, sexuality, or family expectations — no topic is too big or too small or off-limits.
What we’ll work on
Neurodivergent counselling can help you:
Find ease in your everyday
Learning about your sensory triggers and find tangible ways to ways to deal with overstimulation for more calm in your life, and create systems of organization that work with how your brain functions, rather than against it.
Create a sense of belonging
Finding connection and a sense of belonging by forming sustainable relationships, be more comfortable with expressing your needs and resolving conflicts when they happen. Grow in self-confidence and self-acceptance, knowing you may not need to conform to traditional ways of success.
Process shame & trauma
Processing the shame, trauma, honouring and understanding the protective strategies you have built around yourself to bring safety, so that you can explore ways of freer existence and self-expression, at your own pace.
Cultivate confidence
Confidently assert your needs and adapting your environment instead of changing yourself, improve your tolerance for fixed situations without compromising who you are, and feel less stress in your social situations and relationships, so you can feel more confident that people in your life accept you for who you are.
You don’t have to change for the world around you anymore.
We can create a life where you’ll thrive as you are.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Neurodivergent refers to a spectrum of individuals who function “differently” from the considered norm or “neurotypical.” Neurodivergent differences include how people think, learn, and process information. Beyond ADHD and autism, many conditions are considered to fall under the neurodivergent umbrella, including learning disabilities, medical conditions, and trauma.
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Being on the fence about possibly neurodivergent is a common experience. Getting a diagnosis is difficult for many folks, and although there’s a lot of information out there, getting access to personally relevant information can also difficult. While I can’t give official diagnosis, counselling can offer you a sense of better understanding of your experiences, and a better informed decision of whether to adopt a label or pursue an official diagnosis.
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No. I work with both self-diagnosed and ‘formally’ diagnosed neurodivergent adults. Self-identification is valid, and we can explore your experiences and needs regardless of how you have come to identify. If you're questioning whether you might be neurodivergent, that's also a valid starting point for our work together.
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Both ADHD and autism can go undetected for many years, especially for women and ethnic cultural minorities, due to bias in the diagnostic criteria in the DSM. Many adults come to realize they’re neurodivergent after years of struggling with attention, organization, impulsivity, or fitting in that were misunderstood or overlooked earlier on. Getting a diagnosis later on in life can bring a mixture of emotions, but open up new ways to manage and understand those challenges.
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Depending on your child’s age and developmental stage, counselling might look different. Having caretaker support helps to make counselling more effective for younger children, and older children benefit more from individual sessions. Click here to schedule a free consultation with me, and I’d love to know more about how I can support you.
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Schedule a free and confidential 20 minute consultation with me. During the consultation, we can discuss the kind of help you are looking for and see if we will be a good fit going forward. Click here to schedule yours, and I’ll send you an email with more information.
A consultation isn’t commitment, it’s a chance for you ask me questions and to get a sense if I’m the right person for you. My goal is to give you a sense of clarity, relief, and the confidence that healing is possible.
If you choose to work with me, your sessions are personalized, and you can work on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, whichever feels the best for you.
Counselling With Wren
Contact
counsellingwithwren@gmail.com
209-2150 Western Parkway, Vancouver, BC
As an uninvited guest on stolen, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), I commit myself to the continued work of assessing and responding to the ongoing impact of colonization.