Trauma therapy
Understanding Trauma Through a Neurodivergent Lens
Trauma therapy for neurodivergent women looks different—because your experiences are different. If you're reading this, you've likely spent years navigating a world that wasn't built for your brain. As a late-diagnosed autistic woman myself, I understand how trauma can layer itself uniquely when you're neurodivergent. The constant masking, the exhaustion from trying to fit neurotypical expectations, and the accumulated wounds from being misunderstood—these experiences create their own distinct trauma patterns that deserve specialized attention.
Trauma therapy in my practice focuses specifically on supporting autistic and AuDHD women who are ready to process their experiences while honoring their neurotype. This isn't about fixing you or making you more neurotypical. It's about healing the wounds while celebrating the brain you have.
What Trauma Looks Like for Neurodivergent Women
For many of my clients, trauma isn't just about specific events—though those matter too. It's about the chronic invalidation of living in a world that consistently tells you you're "too much" or "not enough." You might recognize yourself in these experiences:
The exhaustion of maintaining a carefully constructed mask at work, only to collapse when you get home. The confusion of being praised for being "so put together" while feeling like you're falling apart inside. The grief of realizing, often in your 30s, 40s, or 50s, that you've been autistic all along—and wondering how different life might have been if you'd known sooner.
Many women I work with discovered their autism after their child's diagnosis, suddenly seeing their entire life through a new lens. Others are navigating perimenopause and finding that hormonal changes are making masking impossible, forcing them to confront both their neurotype and accumulated trauma simultaneously.
My Approach to Trauma Therapy
I combine evidence-based trauma treatments with a deep understanding of neurodivergent experiences. My training in Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure Therapy provides the clinical foundation, but I adapt these approaches to work with, not against, your autistic or ADHD brain.
Cognitive Processing Therapy Through a Neurodivergent Framework
Traditional Cognitive Processing Therapy helps identify and challenge stuck points—the thoughts that keep trauma locked in place. When working with neurodivergent clients, I recognize that some of these "stuck points" might actually be accurate assessments of living in an ableist world. Together, we'll sort through what needs processing versus what needs validating.
For example, if you've internalized the message that your sensory needs are "too demanding," we won't just challenge that thought—we'll also acknowledge the real challenges of advocating for accommodations in unsupportive environments. This dual approach honors both your healing journey and your lived reality.
Prolonged Exposure Adapted for Sensory Sensitivities
Prolonged Exposure Therapy traditionally involves revisiting traumatic memories in a controlled way. For my neurodivergent clients, I carefully calibrate this process to respect sensory sensitivities and processing differences. We might work with shorter exposure sessions, incorporate more breaks, or use different sensory anchors to maintain regulation.
I understand that your nervous system might already be operating at a higher baseline due to daily sensory overwhelm. My approach accounts for this, ensuring that trauma processing doesn't push you beyond your window of tolerance.
The Intersection of Trauma and Late Diagnosis
Discovering you're autistic or ADHD later in life often brings its own form of trauma. There's grief for the support you didn't receive, anger at the struggles that could have been prevented, and sometimes relief mixed with overwhelm. My therapy space holds room for all of these feelings.
We'll explore how trauma might have masked autistic traits or how autism might have made you more vulnerable to certain traumatic experiences. This isn't about dwelling in the past—it's about understanding your story completely so you can write the next chapters with intention.
Many clients describe finally understanding why certain experiences hit them so hard, why recovery looked different for them than their neurotypical peers, or why traditional therapy approaches never quite fit. This understanding becomes part of the healing process itself.
Working with Complex Trauma and Masking
For neurodivergent women who've been masking since childhood, trauma often interweaves with identity itself. You might not know where the mask ends and you begin. Perhaps you've been so focused on appearing "normal" that you've never had space to process what happened to you along the way.
My therapeutic approach gently untangles these threads. We'll explore which parts of masking served as protection, which parts became prison, and how to consciously choose when and how you show up in the world. This work requires patience and precision—qualities I bring to every session.
Creating Safety in the Therapeutic Space
As someone who's neurodivergent myself, I understand the importance of a truly accessible therapy environment. My online therapy sessions eliminate the sensory challenges of commuting and waiting rooms. You can be in your own space, with your own lighting, your own fidgets, and your own comfort items.
I won't judge if you need to move during sessions, look away from the camera, or take breaks. I understand that engagement might look different for you than traditional therapeutic expectations suggest. Your comfort and authentic expression matter more than neurotypical performance.
Trauma Therapy for Specific Life Transitions
Parenthood and Trauma
Many of my clients are parents processing their own trauma while raising neurodivergent children. You might be recognizing patterns from your childhood that you're determined not to repeat, or dealing with triggered memories as you watch your child navigate similar challenges with more support than you received.
This work is delicate and important. We'll process your trauma while building skills to stay regulated during your child's difficult moments. You deserve healing, and your family deserves the ripple effects of that healing.
Perimenopause and Changing Capacity
For women in perimenopause, hormonal changes can make masking impossible and bring unprocessed trauma to the surface. Executive function challenges might intensify, and coping strategies that worked for decades might suddenly fail. I understand this intersection and can help you navigate trauma processing during this significant life transition.
The Path Forward
Healing from trauma as a neurodivergent woman isn't about becoming neurotypical or "getting over" legitimate responses to an ableist world. It's about processing what needs processing, grieving what needs grieving, and building a life that honors who you actually are—not who you've pretended to be.
My clients often describe feeling lighter, not because their autism or ADHD has changed, but because they're no longer carrying the weight of unprocessed trauma alongside the daily work of existing in a neurotypical world. They report better boundaries, clearer self-advocacy, and—perhaps most importantly—genuine self-compassion.
Beginning Your Trauma Therapy Journey
I offer a free 15-minute consultation where we can discuss your specific situation and determine if my approach aligns with your needs. During this call, we'll talk about your trauma history, your neurodivergent journey, and what you're hoping to achieve through therapy.
If we decide to work together, our intake session will involve a comprehensive review of your history through both trauma and neurodivergent lenses. We'll establish clear goals that honor both your healing needs and your neurotype. From there, I typically recommend regular sessions—consistency helps build the safety necessary for trauma processing.
Online Trauma Therapy Throughout Portland and Washington State
My practice serves clients throughout Portland, Oregon and Washington State through secure online sessions. This format has proven particularly effective for neurodivergent clients who appreciate the control over their sensory environment and the elimination of travel-related stress.
Whether you're in Portland, Seattle, Spokane, or anywhere else in Oregon or Washington, you can access specialized trauma therapy that truly understands the neurodivergent experience.
Ready to Start Healing?
Trauma therapy for neurodivergent women requires a unique blend of clinical expertise and lived understanding. I bring both to our work together. If you're ready to process trauma while honoring your neurotype, to heal while staying true to yourself, I'm here to support that journey.
Contact me today to schedule your free consultation. Let's explore how trauma therapy can help you move from merely surviving to authentically thriving as the neurodivergent woman you are.
Located at:
Portland, OR
Washington State
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
-
Trauma therapy for autistic individuals needs to account for how your brain processes experiences, sensory information, and emotions. Traditional trauma therapy was developed with neurotypical brains in mind, which means it often misses key aspects of the neurodivergent experience. I adapt evidence-based approaches like Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure to work with your neurotype rather than against it. This includes acknowledging how masking creates its own trauma, understanding sensory components of traumatic memories, and recognizing that your detail-oriented processing style can actually be an asset in trauma work.
-
Many late-diagnosed autistic women question whether their experiences "count" as trauma because they've spent so long minimizing their own feelings. If you find yourself avoiding certain situations, experiencing intense emotional reactions that feel disproportionate, struggling with intrusive memories or thoughts, or noticing that past experiences are interfering with your current life, therapy might help. Trauma doesn't have to be a single catastrophic event. It can be the accumulation of being misunderstood, dismissed, or forced to suppress your authentic self for years.
-
This depends on the approach we use together. With Prolonged Exposure therapy, we do work through traumatic memories in a structured, gradual way, but you're always in control of the pace. Cognitive Processing Therapy focuses more on how you think about traumatic events rather than detailed recounting. During our consultation and intake, we'll discuss what feels manageable for you. My goal is never to retraumatize you but to help you process experiences in a way that reduces their power over your present life.
-
Absolutely. Autistic burnout often has trauma at its roots, particularly trauma related to chronic masking, sensory overload, and living in environments that require constant adaptation. While I won't label burnout itself as something I "treat," addressing the underlying trauma and developing ways to honor your needs rather than override them is central to my work. Many clients find that processing trauma around their neurodivergent experience helps them establish healthier boundaries and reduce the patterns that led to burnout.
-
Yes, this is incredibly common in my practice. Many of my clients are processing experiences that happened when they were undiagnosed and didn't have the framework to understand why certain situations felt so overwhelming or why they reacted differently than others. Understanding your autism now can actually help reframe past experiences and reduce self-blame. We can look at childhood experiences, relationship trauma, workplace situations, or any other events through the lens of your neurodivergence.
-
There's no universal timeline because trauma work is highly individual. Some clients work with me for several months, while others engage in longer-term therapy depending on the complexity of their experiences and their goals. Evidence-based approaches like CPT and Prolonged Exposure have structured protocols, but I adapt the pace to what works for your nervous system and life circumstances. During our consultation, I can give you a better sense of what to expect based on your specific situation.
-
That's completely valid, and we can absolutely start wherever you are. Some clients begin by building skills for managing anxiety or understanding their autistic identity before addressing deeper trauma. Others want to jump right in. I follow your lead while offering my clinical perspective on what might be most helpful. Trauma therapy works best when you feel ready and resourced enough to engage with the material, so we'll make sure the timing is right for you.
-
Yes. Many autistic women have experienced significant trauma within medical and mental health systems, whether from misdiagnosis, dismissive providers, traumatic assessments, or treatment approaches that felt harmful. This is something I take seriously and have extensive experience addressing. If previous therapy experiences were invalidating or if medical encounters left lasting impacts, we can work through those experiences while ensuring our therapeutic relationship feels safe and collaborative.
-
I do work with parents who are navigating their own autistic identity alongside their child's diagnosis. This is actually one of the two main groups I'm seeing right now. For many late-diagnosed mothers, their child's diagnosis triggers a recognition of their own neurotype, which can bring up complex feelings including grief, relief, anger at missed opportunities, and questions about their own childhood. We can process these experiences while helping you integrate this new understanding of yourself.
-
The first step is scheduling a free 15-minute consultation where we can discuss what you're looking for and whether my approach feels like a good fit. If we decide to move forward, we'll schedule a full intake session where I'll get a comprehensive understanding of your history, current concerns, and therapy goals. From there, we'll develop a treatment plan that makes sense for your needs. You can reach out through my website to get started.
-
Therapy- $250 per session
ASD assessment- $2500
ADHD assessment- $500