Accepting Support
Building Safety
Therapy for Parents of Neurodivergent Children and Youth
Thoughtful, Neurodiversity affirming, support for navigating Neurodivergent parenting that validates you and your child.
Your family is unique, your care should be also
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Your family is unique, your care should be also
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Your family is unique, your care should be also
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Your family is unique, your care should be also · Your family is unique, your care should be also · Your family is unique, your care should be also ·
What is Neurodivergent Affirming Therapy for Parents?
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A Place that Understands
It can be hard to find spaces that truly understand your child and your family. Over time, it can feel like a constant worry—wondering if your child will be seen, supported, and understood. Neurodivergent affirming therapy for parents offers a place where your child’s experience is honored and where you are met with compassion in your role as a parent.
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Emotional Support for You as a Parent
Parenting a Neurodivergent child in a neurotypically designed world can come with stress, fear, and a quiet reshaping of expectations over time. You may be holding grief, uncertainty, or the weight of wanting to support your child in the best way possible. Therapy offers a space to gently process these experiences and feel more supported within them.
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Practical Tools to Use at Home
You may be searching for practical ways to support your child while staying grounded yourself.
It can feel unclear what will actually help, or how to respond in the moment.
Therapy offers space to build tools that align with your child’s needs and support a more connected, sustainable way of parenting.
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Redefining What Matters
Over time, it’s easy to absorb messages about what your child “should” be or how parenting is “supposed” to look. These messages can create pressure, doubt, or a sense of needing to get it just right. Therapy offers a space to gently notice and release what no longer fits, so you can parent from a place that feels more aligned, compassionate, and free.
Open to learning your unique story.
While I have attended training on supporting ADHD, Autism, and AuDHD, I approach your experience with openness and curiosity so I can understand how to best support you. I know there are many forms of neurodivergence and continually expand my knowledge to better serve the individuals I meet.
My Approach to Neurodivergent Affirming Therapy for Parents
Neurodivergent families deserve therapy that supports their unique needs. Therapy with me is tailored to you — your needs, your goals, and your nervous system.
I want you to know what to expect and feel comfortable asking questions about my approach.
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Using mindfulness, stress cycle education, and taking time to build emotional safety in therapy helps your nervous system feel ready to process.
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I use Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) to help you slow down and make sense of your emotional experience as a parent. Together, we gently explore what you’re feeling beneath the surface and process those emotions in a way that feels safe and supported. This approach helps you feel more grounded, connected to yourself, and steadier in how you show up with your child.
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There is no such thing as a “perfect parent,” and that can feel scary when you want to be everything for your child while also being human. It’s tiring—there’s so much to hold, and it can feel like something is always falling through the cracks. This is a place to be validated, supported, and safe in the messiness of life, so it can become easier to offer yourself compassion in the day-to-day.
I also offer practical tools to help shift from being driven by shame and pressure toward a more sustainable, compassionate way of parenting.
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I provide resources and information to support the day-to-day realities of living as a neurodivergent family. From co-regulation and body doubling to executive functioning and sensory support, I share tools I use in both therapy and my own life—ones you can take home and begin using right away.
My Neurodivergent Affirming Therapy Training
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Identifying the Lost Generation of Autistic Adults (Online Course)
DR. MEGAN ANNA NEFF - AUTISTIC SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST
This course explored the “lost generation” of Autistic adults and how masking and cultural factors have led to under-diagnosis. It built a more nuanced understanding of adult presentations, co-occurring conditions, and thoughtful assessment practices. It also underscores the risks of misdiagnosis and the protective power of accurate identification and identity integration.
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Foundations of Neuro-Affirming Practice: Experiential Training for Working with High-Masking Autism, Burnout, PDA and More (Seminar)
KORY ANDREAS, LCSW-C - AUTISTIC CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER
Practical training on working with Neurodivergent people from the academic, professional, and lived experience of Kory Andreas, an Autistic mental health professional.
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Unmasking for Life: Authenticity, Autonomy, and Autistic Liberation (Seminar)
SEMINAR BY DR. DEVON PRIVE - AUTISTIC SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST
This seminar reflected on the meaningful progress the Autistic community has made in visibility and accessibility over the past decade. It also invited a broader vision of neurodiverse justice rooted in liberation, autonomy, and authenticity. Furthermore, it explored alternatives to pathology-based models and consider more affirming ways to access care, accommodations, and community.
Frequently Asked Questions
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In more traditional approaches, the focus is often on changing or reducing differences. In neurodiversity-affirming therapy, that focus shifts toward understanding and supporting your child’s unique needs. I offer a space where those needs are valued and honored, and where you can feel supported as a parent. This is a place for validation, education, and guidance as you navigate your child’s world.
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I’ve seen many clients develop a sense of safety in their bodies, in their relationships, and in the world around them that they didn’t realize was possible. This kind of healing takes time, and research tells us that steady, consistent engagement in therapy supports the deepest and most sustainable change.
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Because every person’s experiences are different, healing unfolds differently, too. Some clients attend weekly sessions for several months and then feel ready to pause. Others continue longer-term, either for ongoing support or for deeper self-exploration beyond trauma processing. We revisit your goals and progress along the way to ensure therapy continues to meet your needs.
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The initial 50-minute session is $200 and includes additional time outside of session for diagnostic assessment and treatment planning. Ongoing 50-minute sessions are $180 for the duration of your course of treatment.
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I am an out-of-network provider and offer Superbills, which many clients use to seek reimbursement from their insurance companies.
When you begin therapy, you will also receive a Good Faith Estimate outlining the anticipated cost of services for the year, so you can plan and budget with clarity and no surprises.
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I use SimplePractice as a secure, all-in-one client portal for online counseling. You’ll receive an emailed video link before each session, and you can use the portal to manage appointments, update reminder settings, access shared resources, and download billing information for insurance reimbursement.
Meet your Neurodivergent Affirming Therapist
I’m Stephanie Thiessen, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor offering trauma-informed therapy grounded in compassion, curiosity, and relationship. Since 2017, I have helped clients understand and gently shift the emotional patterns shaping their relationships—with others and with themselves—so they can feel more grounded, connected, and at ease.
A Little About Me
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My Specialty
I specialize in supporting adults navigating trauma from harmful relationships at home, within religion, or from not being accepted in the world as a whole.
For many clients, these experiences show up as perfectionism, anxiety, burnout, loneliness, or a sense of being disconnected from who they truly are. I can hold the weight of those experiences and offer a safe place to feel seen and understood.
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My Training
My approach to working with trauma is informed by trauma therapy training in both Observed and Experiential Integration and Emotion Focused Individual Therapy.
These are experiential trauma-processing approaches that help you safely feel and work through emotions that once felt overwhelming or unsafe.
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Additional Insights
I also bring lived experience and additional training in neurodiversity-affirming counseling—an approach that honors who you are at your core and never asks you to be someone you aren’t. Many clients come to me feeling like they’ve had to mask, perform, or be “less” to belong; therapy with me is a space where that pressure can soften and your lived experience is met with care and respect.
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My Style
I show up with warmth, clarity, and a collaborative presence—holding space for the messy, tender parts while supporting your work towards sustainable, meaningful change.
You are always going to see the real me as I create a safe place to be the real you.
