I provide neurodivergent-affirming therapy for autistic and ADHD individuals, people experiencing OCD, and individuals and families navigating demand avoidance. I also specialize in working with men’s issues-such as identity and relationship/intimacy struggles- and providing an environment for men to exist without judgement. My approach considers how these experiences affect daily life, relationships, identity, and emotional well-being. Because diagnoses and individual experiences often overlap, I work collaboratively with clients and their care-team to understand their needs and identify approaches that fit their lives.
Autism-affirming therapy that respects how you experience the world
Autism shapes how a person experiences communication, sensory input, relationships, emotions, and everyday life. My approach to working with autistic individuals prioritizes understanding their unique needs, strengths, and experiences rather than trying to make them appear less autistic. Therapy may explore emotional regulation, burnout, masking, social expectations, identity, relationships, and the challenges of navigating a world that isn’t always built with neurodivergent people in mind. The goal isn’t to change who you are, but to help you better understand yourself, develop tools that work for you, and build a life that feels more sustainable and authentic. My approach is informed by an appreciation for the gap that can exist between how someone experiences the world internally and how others interpret their behavior. I prioritize curiosity, individualized support, and understanding over assumptions about what a person should look like or how they should communicate.
Understanding your brain, working with your strengths, and finding what actually helps
ADHD can affect attention, motivation, organization, emotional regulation, time management, and the ability to get started on or follow through with tasks. These challenges can be frustrating, especially when years of criticism or misunderstanding have led to shame or the belief that you’re simply not trying hard enough. My approach moves beyond productivity hacks and symptom management to explore how ADHD affects your daily life, relationships, self-image, and emotional well-being. Together, we can identify practical strategies that fit the way your brain works while addressing the frustration, overwhelm, and self-criticism that often accompany ADHD. I recognize that difficulties with follow-through, organization, and motivation are often interpreted as a lack of effort or care. My approach focuses on understanding the barriers a person is experiencing and developing strategies that work with their needs rather than relying on shame or willpower.
Making sense of OCD without letting it dictate your life
OCD is more than being particular, organized, or concerned about cleanliness. It can involve intrusive thoughts, unwanted doubts, distressing mental images, and compulsive behaviors or mental rituals intended to create certainty or relieve anxiety. These experiences can become exhausting, particularly when the need to feel completely sure begins to interfere with everyday life. My approach considers the reasoning and uncertainty underlying OCD while helping clients develop a different relationship with intrusive thoughts and doubts. Treatment is individualized and may draw on inference-based cognitive behavioral therapy (I-CBT) and other evidence-based approaches, with attention to neurodivergence, the function of compulsions, and the client’s previous treatment experiences. I value understanding the reasoning and uncertainty that sustain OCD rather than treating distressing thoughts as irrational in a way that simply needs to be corrected. This informs my interest in approaches that help clients examine how OCD operates while building a different relationship with uncertainty.
Understanding demand avoidance through the lens of autonomy, safety, and nervous system needs
Some individuals experience everyday demands as intensely distressing, even when those demands involve things they want or need to do. This pattern is often described as PDA and may involve a strong need for autonomy, a heightened sense of threat around expectations, and difficulty with demands that others might consider routine. Rather than interpreting avoidance as defiance, laziness, or a lack of motivation, I work to understand what makes a demand feel overwhelming and what helps restore a sense of safety and control. Therapy may focus on reducing unnecessary pressure, increasing collaborative problem-solving, understanding underlying distress, and finding ways to meet needs without relying on coercion or constant power struggles. For parents and caregivers, this can also mean rethinking how expectations, transitions, and support are approached at home. I approach demand avoidance with curiosity about what a person may be experiencing beneath the surface. Rather than assuming resistance reflects defiance, I consider the roles of autonomy, perceived threat, overwhelm, and the relationship between the individual and their environment.
Understanding your relationship with food without reducing it to appearance or willpower.
Eating disorders and disordered eating can affect people of any body size, gender, or background, and they are often more complex than they appear from the outside. My approach considers the emotional, psychological, sensory, and environmental factors that shape a person’s relationship with food. This can include experiences with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), and patterns of rigid or restrictive eating associated with orthorexia.
For neurodivergent individuals, eating difficulties may intersect with sensory sensitivities, interoception, executive functioning, routines, and a need for predictability. What looks like pickiness, rigidity, or a lack of interest in food may reflect genuine sensory or emotional distress. Likewise, an intense focus on nutrition or health can sometimes become restrictive, compulsive, or disruptive to everyday life.
Rather than relying on shame or a one-size-fits-all approach, I work to understand what food represents in a person’s life and what may be maintaining their difficulties. Therapy can explore the emotional and behavioral patterns surrounding eating while respecting sensory needs, neurodivergent experiences, and individual circumstances. When eating disorder symptoms require specialized medical or nutritional care, collaboration with appropriate providers is an important part of treatment.
A space to exist without judgment, without having to prove anything.
Men deserve spaces where they can be honest about what they are experiencing without feeling that they have to perform strength, suppress vulnerability, or have everything figured out. Social expectations around masculinity can make it difficult to acknowledge loneliness, anxiety, grief, insecurity, relationship struggles, or the feeling of being overwhelmed. For some men, these experiences emerge as irritability, withdrawal, overwork, or difficulty identifying and expressing emotions rather than an obvious sense of sadness or distress.
My approach to men’s mental health recognizes that there is no single way to be a man. Therapy offers an opportunity to explore identity, relationships, expectations, emotional experiences, and the parts of yourself that may not always feel welcome elsewhere. The goal isn’t to replace one set of expectations with another, but to create room for greater self-understanding, flexibility, and connection.
Positive male role models and meaningful relationships remain important throughout adulthood. Having people who offer guidance, encouragement, accountability, and acceptance can make a difference well beyond childhood and adolescence. Therapy can provide space to examine the impact of past relationships, identify what healthy connection looks like, and develop a more supportive relationship with yourself and others. You don’t have to reach a breaking point or fit a particular idea of masculinity to benefit from having someone in your corner.
Because people don’t experience their diagnoses one at a time.
Autism, ADHD, OCD, and demand-avoidant patterns can overlap, and understanding those connections can make a meaningful difference in therapy. An autistic person may also have ADHD, experience OCD, or struggle with demands that feel overwhelming or threatening. Sensory overload, executive functioning difficulties, uncertainty, anxiety, and a need for predictability can interact in ways that make it difficult to determine what’s driving a particular experience.
These overlaps matter because similar behaviors can have very different underlying causes. Avoiding a task, for example, might reflect executive functioning difficulties, sensory distress, fear associated with an obsession, or an intense response to perceived demands. Each requires a different kind of understanding and support. My approach considers the whole person and the context of their experiences rather than assuming every difficulty comes from one diagnosis. The goal is to develop an individualized understanding of what’s happening and find approaches that respect the person’s neurotype, needs, autonomy, and lived experience.
