Skills Based Therapy for Late-Identified Autistic Adults

Explore what it means to finally have a name for your lifelong experiences, without shame, guilt, or judgment.

Receiving an autism diagnosis in adulthood can feel like a relief, a grief, and a revelation all at once. In therapy, we make space for all of that.

• Deconstruct internalized ableism and myths you may have absorbed about autism

• Grieve lost time or misdiagnoses with compassion, not self-blame

• Talk openly about what this new lens shifts in your self-concept, relationships, or identity

• Find words and frameworks that help you feel seen

Identify what’s truly you vs. what you’ve done to survive in neurotypical spaces. Practice slowly dropping the mask in safe, intentional ways.

Unmasking is not about ripping everything away at once. It’s about curiosity, choice, and liberation.

• Explore the coping strategies you've used to fit in, stay safe, or succeed

• Notice how masking affects your energy, emotions, and identity

• Learn to recognize when you’re masking without judgment

• Practice showing more of your authentic self—bit by bit, in spaces that feel safe

• Make space for play, creativity, and connection outside of performance

Make sense of your history, especially the parts shaped by being misunderstood, dismissed, or praised for your ability to "pass."

When you've spent a lifetime trying to be "normal," burnout can feel inevitable—but it’s not the end of your story.

• Understand autistic burnout and how it differs from other types of exhaustion

• Explore how people-pleasing, perfectionism, or dissociation may have helped you cope

• Process the pain of being overlooked, misdiagnosed, or pathologized

• Untangle your worth from your productivity or ability to perform

• Rebuild your sense of self from a place of truth, not adaptation

Learn tools for planning, scheduling, prioritizing, and task initiation that actually fit your brain’s processing style. We’ll explore ways to build routines without shame or self-criticism. Systems you can rely on instead of fight against.

Many autistic adults experience executive functioning challenges that look like procrastination, burnout, or inconsistency. Together, we’ll unpack what’s really happening and build strategies that help you get stuff done in ways that respect your nervous system.

Instead of vague encouragement to “feel your feelings,” we work on concrete, accessible ways to recognize emotions (even when they’re delayed or confusing) and respond in ways that calm your nervous system instead of overwhelming it.

Social norms can feel like unwritten rules that never made sense. I teach communication strategies, boundary language, and scripts for real-world situations. This way you can navigate relationships (work, family, friendships, dating) with clarity instead of guesswork.

Build a life around your rhythm (not one based on masking or overcompensating). Together, we’ll make space for rest, fun, and connection that feels real.

You don’t have to spend your life chasing “normal.” You get to choose what living authentically looks like.

• Celebrate your special interests, sensory joys, and unique perspective

• Build community with other neurodivergent people (if that feels good to you)

• Practice rest as a radical, necessary part of life

• Redefine success on your own terms

• Make room for joy that doesn’t require fitting in

Career changes, relational shifts, moving, navigating expectations — transitions can be overwhelming. I help you break these into manageable steps, build anticipatory coping tools, and design transitions that reduce chaos, not add to it.