Autism & ADHD Neurodivergent-Affirming Therapy Online in Massachusetts
Diverge Counseling offers neurodivergent-affirming therapy for autistic adults and teens, ADHDers, and AuDHD folks, people who are both autistic and have ADHD, in Massachusetts. I'm Aiden Reis, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Registered Art Therapist, and autistic person myself. I built this practice because I know firsthand what it is like to search for a therapist who actually understands your experience. Sessions are fully online available to anyone in Massachusetts and of course LGBTQ-affirming. I'm based in Northampton in Western Massachusetts and serve clients across the Pioneer Valley and throughout the state via telehealth.
Adapting therapy to be friendly to Autistic, ADHDer, and AuDHD clients is at the very heart of what I do.
It can be tough navigating a world that was not built for your brain. You may have grown up getting a lot of negative feedback for not fitting in or for not doing things the way that you “should.” You may have reached out to therapists in the past who just don’t seem to get it.
Diverge Counseling is a place where you can really be yourself. Clients come to Diverge for support learning to unmask, better meet sensory needs, prevent or recover from burnout, and develop ways of using inherent strengths to face challenges. Fidgets, sitting comfortably, talking about deep interests… it’s all welcome here.
Sometimes clients come to therapy looking for support coping with health conditions associated with autism and ADHD, such as Ehlers-Danlos or Epilepsy; if you are struggling with these issues, you are not alone.
Of course, sometimes Autistic/ADHDer clients come to therapy for support with concerns that have little to do with their neurotype, that works too— I’m ready to meet you where you are.
Many autistic clients come to therapy after years of being told they're too much, not enough, or simply wired wrong. Whether you're newly diagnosed, just beginning to explore the possibility that you might be autistic, or have known for years and are still figuring out what that means for you, this is a space where your neurotype isn't a problem to be fixed. I work with autistic adults and teens on unmasking, navigating burnout, understanding sensory needs, building self-advocacy skills, and developing a clearer, kinder relationship with their own identity.
This includes a lot of people who are coming to therapy after a late diagnosis, adults who spent decades wondering why the world felt so much harder for them than it seemed to for everyone else, and who are now in the process of looking back on their history through a new lens. That process can be disorienting, liberating, grieving, and clarifying all at once. It deserves compassionate support.
Autism-Affirming Therapy in Massachusetts
ADHD and the rejection sensitivity, lower confidence levels, and regulation difficulties that come with it, are often misunderstood. A lot of ADHDers arrive at therapy carrying years of being told they were lazy, careless, or not living up to their potential. That narrative is damaging. I work with ADHDers on the things that actually affect daily life: executive function, emotional regulation, rejection sensitivity, and the specific kind of exhaustion that comes from spending your whole life working twice as hard to do things that seem effortless for everyone else. You're not broken. Your brain just works differently, and therapy can help you learn to work with your brain, instead of against it.
Autistic and ADHD clients often come to therapy managing more than one thing at once. Anxiety, depression, and OCD frequently co-occur with autism and ADHD, and having all of them together requires a therapist who can hold that complexity. If you're autistic and also navigating OCD specifically, that overlap is a particular area of expertise at Diverge Counseling.
ADHD Therapy in Massachusetts
Co-occurring Conditions
Autistic and ADHD clients often come to me carrying more than one thing at once, and that's not a coincidence. Autism and ADHD frequently co-occur with anxiety, OCD, and depression. Sometimes these show up as separate diagnoses; sometimes they're tangled together in ways that take real time to untangle. Either way, you don't have to leave part of your experience at the door.
Some clients also navigate physical health conditions that often run alongside neurodivergence — including Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), hypermobility, epilepsy, and chronic pain. If that's part of your picture, I'm familiar with these conditions and don’t need you educate me before we jump right into the work you want to do.
Therapy here is built to hold you as a whole person.
Frequently Asked Questions
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For me, practicing from a neurodiversity-affirming lens means I respect your identities, autonomy, and goals.
I recognize that the ways you are currently coping, make perfect sense and have been a piece of what has let you survive 100% of your hardest days so far.
Clients I have worked with have expressed feeling more in line with themselves, taking better care of their specific communication, social, and sensory needs and feeling more able to self-advocate.
Stimming and other sensory regulation/accommodation is welcome in therapy sessions! -
Yes, absolutely.
Principals of universal design show us that making adaptations for specific groups, benefits us all. For example, making curb cuts in the side walk for those who use wheelchairs also helps those without disabilities to use strollers, shopping carts, etc.
Similarly, neurodiversity-affirming therapy isn’t just helpful for those who identify as neurodivergent. Neurodiversity-affirming therapy recognizes and supports what is unique in us all, without seeing difference as a problem.
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Yes — and it's more common than you might think. A lot of adults, particularly women, nonbinary people, and LGBTQ folks, go undiagnosed for years because their presentations didn't match the outdated, narrow profile clinicians were trained to look for. Getting a diagnosis later in life can bring enormous relief alongside a complicated mix of grief, anger, and self-recalibration. Therapy can help you make sense of your history, understand your needs more clearly, and figure out what you actually want your life to look like now that you have language for your experience. You don't have to process that alone.
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Therapy for autistic adults looks like learning to better support your sensory, social, and communication needs. You may work on unmasking, recovering from burnout, reducing shut downs and meltdowns, or problem-solving life challenges that come with navigating a world that wasn’t designed for your brain. Sometimes it can be helpful to work with a therapist to make self-care such as eating, sleeping, etc. easier.
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Therapy after adult identification or diagnosis can absolutely be helpful. Therapy is a place for you to unpack the feelings that come with this new understanding of yourself. Therapy can also help you advocate for yourself and find the words to inform others about your experiences of autism or ADHD. Having this new lens of autism and or ADHD is a great starting place for therapy; you can explore how autistic and ADHD traits show up for you and what supports you might need.
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Yes, I often work with people who are questioning whether they may be autistic or have ADHD. I am happy to explore these ideas with you and provide information about each of these experiences so that you can see what resonates with you. I strongly believe that self-diagnosis is valid and I can support you in leaning into your own self-trust. If you are wondering about professional diagnosis, I am happy to talk through your options including clinical diagnosis, which I can provide, or more formal evaluation provided by a psychologist, which may be a better fit for certain documentation or accommodation needs.
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When you experience autistic burnout you may be more irritable, notice increased sensory sensitivities, feel exhausted, temporarily lose abilities you once had, and start to withdraw more from others. Autistic burnout is a sign that you have exceeded your ability to cope with life’s demands and difficulties. Autistic burnout treatment starts with reducing demands, lowering stressors where possible, and adding in easy pleasurable experiences that meet your needs. Over time you can start to add in more activities that are well paced; with intentionality and built-in recovery time you can construct a sustainable life that does not exhaust you and lead to future burnout.
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Yes, many of my clients are AuDHD. Being AuDHD can feel like being pulled in two directions constantly. You might feel a need for structure and routine but struggle to get started or stick with a schedule. You may feel a need for novelty and excitement, but get burnt out doing too much. We can work together on balancing your needs while honoring both autism and ADHD simultaneously.
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It can be! Many autistic, ADHD, and AuDHD clients benefit from online therapy because they can be in the comfort of their own home. Online therapy reduces executive function demands because clients do not have to drive, organize or plan travel to and from home. When you do online therapy you control your sensory environment which can be a big plus too. Autistic and ADHD clients have enjoyed screensharing in sessions to share a deep interest and have used the chat features when verbalizing is challenging.
Let's Find Out If We're a Good Fit
Finding a therapist who genuinely understands neurodivergent experience, not just professionally, but personally, is not always easy. If what you've read here feels like it might be what you've been looking for, I'd love to hear from you.
