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Neurodivergent therapy?

NAS73488

I've had therapy and counselling a few times in my life for social anxiety, but it's ineffective because they're trained to councel neurotypicals. I'm autistic with ADHD.

Is there no autistic therapy on the NHS? (With a therapist who is autistic and trained to councel autistics). I could only find one such service on the website and it's private only.

If they exist, how do I access them, please? I feel like only a neurodivergent therapist could help.

Parents

  • So do I. I would never consider therapy again unless the therapist were themselves neurodivergent.

    Sadly, the NHS pretends it's ok to give us what NTs get with a few adaptations. Sadly, they've no idea how to adapt.

    We need seperate sevices run by other autistic people.

    I have also found CBT, and indeed all therapy for NTs, totally useless for all the reasons you guys mention above.

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  • So do I. I would never consider therapy again unless the therapist were themselves neurodivergent.

    Sadly, the NHS pretends it's ok to give us what NTs get with a few adaptations. Sadly, they've no idea how to adapt.

    We need seperate sevices run by other autistic people.

    I have also found CBT, and indeed all therapy for NTs, totally useless for all the reasons you guys mention above.

Children
  • in reply to Dawn

    You may find this video interesting, it is about the importance of autistic social identity for wellbeing:

    https://youtu.be/0iwm6mPNZXk

    The video is brilliant!

  • in reply to Dawn
    Dawn said:
    We need seperate sevices run by other autistic people.

    Yes I completely agree, we need our own Autopia! (perfect world for autistic people). 

    Having said that, in our current society we still do need neurotypical people to understand autistic mental health, including overwhelm and burnout. Neurotypical therapists should also understand what positive autistic identity and mental health looks like and how connections to our own community, culture and unmasking can really help us to improve and maintain our mental state.

    From my experience, connecting with my own autistic community has been invaluable, really positive and given me a very strong sense of passion, belonging and collective identity. I feel very proud to be part of my autistic community. In my own opinion, connection with my own community is the best source of support for my own mental health.