Blog

Enjoyment needs to be taken more seriously – especially when it comes to supporting adult therapy clients with ADHD. To mark Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2024, ACT trainer and Senior Psychologist for ADHD Ireland Aisling Leonard-Curtin describes a common vicious cycle with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and suggests some exploratory questions that avoid problematising an individual’s need for stimulation and instead encourage a new and nourishing relationship with enjoyment.

When supporting neurodivergent clients, increasing numbers of practitioners are looking to bridge a gap left by many counselling and therapy trainings. Ruth Williams, a psychotherapist specialising in neurodivergence, including autism and ADHD, has seen both the damage done by ill-informed therapy and the transformative power of attuned, informed, flexible practice. She shares some of the reasons therapists seek specialist supervision in the area of neurodiversity – including the experiences of neurodivergent supervisees.

A link between anxiety and neurodivergence is widely observed and commented upon by mental health professionals – yet often narrowly understood. To mark the start of Mental Health Awareness Week 2023, neurodivergent therapist Angela Kelly asks us to centre an appreciation of the lived experience of being an individual who learns, thinks or processes differently in a world designed for the neuromajority, including the impact of invalidation trauma.