Neurodivergent-affirming EMDR therapy

I provide online counselling across Canada for neurodivergent adults interested in trauma processing. My practice is informed by both training and lived experience.

EMDR adapted to your neurodivergent brain

Neurodivergent humans are significantly more likely to develop PTSD than neurotypical humans. I work with a variety of clients across the spectrum of neurodiversity, including:

  • Autism

  • Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

  • AuDHD (Autism & ADHD)

  • Giftedness and twice-exceptionality (2e)

  • Sensory processing disorders (SPD) and sensory differences

  • Highly sensitive people (HSP)

  • Bipolar disorder

  • Borderline personality disorder (BPD)

Maybe you don’t identify with a specific label, and you’re looking for support rooted in understanding rather than pathologizing.

Singular white cap mushroom standing in a soft bed of green moss
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Being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world is exhausting.

Here are some ways neuro-affirming EMDR can support you:

  • Processing experiences of rejection, burnout, and masking

  • Trusting your own experience after being told you were “overreacting” or “just anxious”

  • Regulating your nervous system after decades of hypervigilance or dissociation

  • Grieving the masked version of yourself that you were pressured to perform

  • Addressing the shame from years of hearing you’re “not enough” or “too much”

  • Making sense of shutdowns and meltdowns

  • Releasing the guilt of internalized ableism, like accommodations, rest, or simply, the need for a different pace than others

  • Working through trauma without first needing to argue or justify your neurodivergence

  • Connecting with your sense of self while discarding external expectations

  • Reducing the need for extensive verbal processing while discussing past traumatic experiences

  • Integrating the traumatic memories that keep you awake at night

  • Coping with comorbid conditions or complex chronic illness

The default of our work begins with believing your experience, not questioning its validity.

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Neurodivergence and cPTSD often go hand in hand.

Being neurodivergent and growing up in a neurotypical environment is a unique kind of trauma. Its repeated and ongoing, like a death by a thousand cuts. For many people, complex post-traumatic stress disorder (cPTSD) and neurodivergence is so entwined that it’s difficult to tell them apart.

The overlapping symptoms of cPTSD and PTSD are experiencing a persistent sense of threat, avoiding reminders of traumatic experience, and re-experiencing (flashbacks and intrusive thoughts). However, cPTSD has three additional symptoms:

  • Interpersonal disturbances: Avoiding relationships or social scenarios, feeling separated from others, and struggling to feel closeness

  • Negative self-concept: Chronic feelings of worthlessness, guilt, defeat, shame, failure, or evil

  • Affect dysregulation: Difficulty managing emotions or experiencing numbing or dissociative symptoms while under stress. Unexpressed or internalized emotions can lead to self-destructive or impulsive behaviours, like self-harm and suicide attempts.

EMDR can be well-suited to this kind of layered and ongoing trauma, but EMDR may not be a fully standalone treatment. The reality is that both these statements can be true. If you’ve tried EMDR and had no luck, it doesn’t mean you’re too broken for help.

Use my contact form to hear from me!
Or book a free vibe check here!

Frequently Asked Questions about EMDR

  • EMDR is a procedure with an extensive eight-stage protocol. The stage most asked about is the desensitization stage, where we use bilateral stimulation in the form of eye movements, sounds, or tapping, combined with prompts and minor verbal processing to work through trauma. I know it sounds weird, but I also know it works.

  • Despite EMDR having a protocol, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, and neurodivergent brains often need an adjusted protocol. This can mean many things: additional stabilization, alternate forms of bilateral stimulation, attention to sensory needs, and less emphasis on verbal processing. My goal is to adapt EMDR to fit your needs, rather than ask you to adapt to fit EMDR.

  • Research has shown that EMDR is effective for things beyond PTSD, including specific phobias, OCD, anxiety, chronic illness, grief, and cPTSD.

  • Treating cPTSD, developmental, or relational trauma, especially stemming from early childhood, takes time. Sometimes even the prep stabilization phase takes months. Consider that the trauma took years to develop, and healing isn’t a quick process. However, it’s not hopeless, and clients often notice significant changes along the way.

  • Being an EMDR Trained Clinician means taking 50 hours of lecture, practicum, and consultation.

    I expect my EMDR Trained Clinician certificate in October 2026. Until then, I am considered EMDR informed.

  • Diagnosis is beyond my scope of competency, and a diagnosis is not necessary to work with me. If you are interested in an assessment, I am happy to connect you with an assessing professional.

  • Yes! My work as a client undergoing EMDR inspired me to complete EMDR training. You can read more about me here, and you’re welcome to ask further questions.

  • Yes, I offer online counselling to clients in Canada's unregulated provinces and territories, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador, Yukon, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories.