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Looking for a therapist with autism

NAS64953

I've tried therapy/counselling several times and never found it helpful, and I'm starting to wonder if that's because neurotypical therapists just don't understand me properly. My last counsellor had a Masters degree in Autism but was neurotypical. I stopped seeing her because I got frustrated that she was constantly misinterpreting or apparently not hearing/acknowledging things I brought up with her - I felt like she wasn't listening at all and it was really discouraging - but I'm wondering if part of the problem was that I was somehow not making myself clear and if perhaps another autistic person would understand/"hear" me better.

Been thinking about this since becoming friends with someone who is autistic like me and finding that I feel more comfortable with and understood by her than I ever have with anyone else. 

Does anyone know of any UK therapists/counsellors who have autism themselves and work with autistic adult clients? 

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  • There are a few professionals who understand autism - most don't.

    I'd try talking to them first to ascertain their experience with autism before you engage their services.

    I'd think you would be very unlikely to find a professional with autism as they would have difficulty getting through the course to get the qualifications - because of the very problems you are encountering.

  • in reply to Plastic

    There are actually a few around plus, of course, there are those who have already trained as counsellors and then later realise that they are autistic themselves.  I myself fall into this category, although I'm not curently practising due to the various issues within my own family (it would have been unethical under the circumstances).  

    There is a FB group called "Counsellors working with neurodiversity" and many belonging to this group are themselves neurodivergent, usually autistic.  Might be worth a look.   

  • in reply to Jenny Butterfly

    I just wrote a really long reply and it got swallowed by the cyber abyss :'( basically I was just rambling about the Double Empathy theory (that instead of just autistic people being bad at understanding & communicating with others, it's actually a two-way thing - neurotypicals are just as bad at communicating with us, and when we communicate with other autistic people there is much less of a "deficit"), and about a study I read recently that investigated this theory.

    www.thinkingautismguide.com/.../the-problem-with-autistic-communication.html

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  • in reply to NAS64953

    Yes, there is certainly a mismatch there and the double empathy theory shifts the balance well away from blaming just one party to any interaction (usually the neurodivergent person).

    There are also different kinds of empathy, emotional and affective, and generally on counselling courses no distinction is made.   This is in spite of empathy generally being seen as one of the core tenets in building a therapeutic relationship.  With hindsight I'm surprise this isn't explored.  

    Generally though, i find the assumption that autistics will be low on empathy to be way off the mark.  Certainly within myself it feels as though it grows out of sensitivity  - and sensitivity is certainly up there in traits that tend to be associated with autism.  

    I accept though, that, given the stereotyping around autism, people can be puzzled.  And one strong reaction to my own diagnosis was, "But you can't be.  You're a counsellor!"  Nevertheless, I must confess to coming out with a low score on the EQ test.  Not sure what to make of that.