Therapy is amazing self-care and valuable mental and physical health maintenance and one of the most amazing investments you will ever make in yourself, one that pays life long dividends. Our minds and bodies and their respective wellness are very much linked to each other and self awareness of what we may not know or have had modelled for us are key to life enjoyment. If we are in chronic states of anxiety or depression it will start to take shape in illness of the body. And vice versa, illness of the body can affect how our brain works becuase illness is stressful typically. There is so much value is managing current mental health experiences and developing a tool kit to prevent them from ever returning...for the sake of your body AND your mind. Many people, for no fault of their own because no one talks about it, do not know the physiological processes that are happening in your body when your mind is not feeling well. That is where a Registered Nurse and Nurse Psychotherapist has a unique outlook with this connection. Thanks for considering me as your therapist!
Why might you consider the services of a Registered Nurse/Certified Nurse Psychotherapist?
-We are certified and licensed by two governing bodies for nursing and for therapy.
-We are skilled and qualified to do a full health history, medication review and health management to identify physiological reasons that may be contributing to, enhancing or be the only reason for your mental health concerns and guide you to adequate health care and advocacy education in today's health care climate. Our bodies and minds are forever connected in more ways than we often realize and a nurse psychotherapist can offer a unique approach to mental health that encompasses body and mind.
-A Certified Nurse Psychotherapist has taken more extensive psychotherapy training at a Master's level of content for a longer duration with supervision and is covered by many insurance plans.
-We can help make sense of medically complex trauma and are knowledgeable on the physiology of the brain and body, offer health and medication management assistance, treatment counselling and help the client to make the mind/body connections.
I do work in all areas of psychology, including trauma, anxiety, depression, men's mental health, medically complex trauma and PTSD and prenatal/post-partum education, spiritual and energy psychology and support and helping you connect to your subconscious or higher self and areas of life purpose and existential questions or concerns or end of life spiritual care.
My Passion for Neurodiversity tailored therapy.
I have a very special interest and specialty in neurodiversity. I am a clinical member of CADDRA, provide strength based ADHD/Autism assessments and treatment counselling to help parents and adults access timely care and learn the amazing things that can happen when the brain has the ability to access appropriate amounts of dopamine in whichever treatment modality you choose, be it medication or natural methods. I also want individuals and families to have all the knowledge and informed consent they need to assist themselves and their children in this stressful decision. I have the clinical knowledge and more importantly the lived experience of all the challenges and strengths that come with this neurotype, insights and perspectives from raising 2 children on completely opposite ends of the spectrum with this neurotype and having also been able to identify relationship strengths and weaknesses in many areas where our relationships and life joys begin to become affected by neurodiversity.
I also have the knowledge to know that traditional therapy and life coaches, though any therapy is better than no therapy, has some limitations to its full success if the clinician does not have the knowledge of how the physiological half of the experience, how executive functions impacts all areas of life, the impact of larger than typical emotional reactivity and impulsivity, risk taking behaviour and why, health implications, working memory concerns, auditory processing implications, shorter attention spans and different communication styles among many other subtle nuances. I have had the opportunity to witness and learn from how this neurotype has personal risk factors that affect individuals, families, environments and health and social systems. I have also had the opportunity to see how neurodiversity affects our physical and psychological health, attachment styles, complexities of living with what is perceived as an "invisible" disability and when this brain is at its limits most certainly is a disability but doesn't have to be and the potential for having psychological injuries that have life long impacts on our lives as we live in a society that expects that we manage, behave and cope as others would because outwardly there doesn't appear to be a problem.
I am a passionate advocate for becoming the voice they need to be seen, heard and successful. And successful they can be at such a huge level but the opportunity for their trajectory to be altered is so very vast and extensive as this neurotype needs executive function support until their brain has fully developed. If they had a chance to be spared from the psychological impacts of the invisible struggles there is an amazing amount of power to be harnessed. A scenario that even the client or child themselves don't even know they are experiencing and may never get the opportunity to know. My goal is to bridge this gap in care, help to educate and manage some of the issues that arise as well as showing clients and their families about the many strengths that come with it.
My Journey with Neurodiversity
I was diagnosed with ADHD in my 40's after the diagnosis of my first child (and subsequent 2nd child), as happens with many late diagnosed adults, especially women who present so differently in their symptoms that they very often get missed in the education system and with their families and go under the radar for many only to struggle later in life with life gets more complex (managing children, aging parents and the dopamine slide that comes with perimenopause) leading to burnout and they are not sure why they are having so much trouble managing. I have always been very introspective and was able to see how my neurotype played a role in my past and present (one of our strengths-connecting dots) and how I managed to develop systems to manage it and why they worked so well. I started to do the same thing in terms of parenting this unique neurotype, so there are few therapists that specialize in neurodiversity affirming therapy and even fewer with the lived experience to make it all relatable and applicable to the clients every day life and difficulties. I would say my type of therapy doesn't fit a typical category because it is tailored very uniquely to what this neurotype needs and structured in a way so that we address medical needs and medical advocacy and they do not have to do a lot of talking in the beginning knowing what happens to this brain when its under anxiety and their history with interacting with people (hasn't been a very safe place to me likely) until they feel more comfortable. CBT concepts are used but not in the same way as traditional therapy and there is certainly no homework. If you know you know. :) I understand that everyone's experience is unique and there can be some very significant challenges depending on the severity and I will never minimize them because I was once there and I am here to help people learn to manage the healing in a positive and effective way so that you can embrace the many good parts about it. I don't shy away from talking about my story or my experiences if it will be of use to someone else's journey. I will, however, focus on you.
Is it really Bipolar Disorder or Borderline Personality?
Many experiences in neurodiversity are very unique and should not really be easily confused with other disorders of the brain but often the diagnosis can get confused with bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder most commonly if the clinician is not familiar with neurodiversity. They can coexist but they can also look very similar. And given the continued perceived lack of significance of this diagnosis it will continue to be misinterpreted until we start talking about it more and asking questions. If your treatment plan for bipolar or borderline personality disorder is not effective consider that it may actually be neurodiversity and you are allowed to ask questions of our severely ailing medical system. This neurotype is one of the most at risk entry points to our health care system and the client certainly is not usually bold enough to question medical authority which in my 25 years of nursing experience we should be doing more questioning of. There is no blood test or scan for mental health and often times diagnosticians are just throwing labels and diagnoses at someone and hoping it fits. In this neurotype, and for anyone really, a label or diagnosis is the worst then we can do in mental health because if we truly acknowledge how anyone's brain works, the brain is powerful and can begin to believe what ever it is told. Misdiagnosis is a very common occurrence in mental health care. Always follow your internal compass, it is doesn't fit right, ask some more questions. The diagnostic criteria was formulated on old science, especially when it comes to neurodiversity and most clinicians didn't get the training they really need. It shouldn't be confused if the clinician is looking for the right identifiers making proper assessment and patient advocacy critical because we will continue to live in a world where misdiagnosis and medical mistakes happen and human error occurs which is why I also get so passionate about patient advocacy in a world where it is still feeling unsafe to ask questions. There are still so many clients that are not able to be heard by their providers and assessed properly, endure lengthy wait times for assessment all while the impacts of executive function makes it difficult for them to remember, plan, organize or engage in this very care. Anxiety and/or depression often start early and are a result of lack of access to protective dopamine sources but further compounded by the unseen and untreated difficulties with how neurodiverse individuals are built to interact with the world, complicated by its invisibility. It certainly doesn't help that the mere name offers no insight or value to the true large scale impact of this experience, for the client, the public and social, educational and justice systems.
Late Diagnosis and Treatment
Late diagnosis and treatment can also be challenging because it can be complex at first and the impact of anxiety, depression and hyper awareness and sensory sensitivity can make it even more challenging making treatment counselling crucial to their success. I want to educate the client about what they need to know to reach treatment success, undo the damage of various myths and let them know that treatment can be a real game changer for the client and their families and their relationship building with peers and educators. As someone who came from years of debilitating anxiety and experiences in my 20's and 30's, it is also possible to be medication free with the right knowledge.
Women and Neurodiversity
Women in particular are being missed and unseen in childhood and continuing still in adulthood because their symptoms don't fit the diagnostic criteria that have not caught up to the science or they were misdiagnosed and have learned to adapt and mask until they have children or ailing parents to care for or elevated work responsibilities and then the true impacts become overwhelming in light of the additional things to manage in their lives resulting in burnout and confusion about how they got there. There is added complexity to treatment and symptom management when we factor in the hormonal implications. Estrogen plays a huge role in the formation of neurotransmitters so it can impact neurodiversity and other mental health concerns. Women with neurodynamic brains are also at higher risk for prenatal and postpartum mental health concerns, premenstrual dysphoric disorder as well as poor symptom management at certain times of their cycle and increased difficulties at perimenopause and menopause. There are still so many misconceptions about what neurodiversity actually is and how crucial it is to receive a proper identification and treatment as early as possible and the continued stigma associated with experiences of the brain.
Parenting
Parenting this neurotype can also be a very stressful and confusing experience and with not a lot of support. Often one or both parents is also neurodiverse which adds to the challenge (unmanaged emotional dysregulation). It is a much harder job than neurotypical parenting and you have been given a very important task of raising this neurotype for their huge heart centers and their strong sense of social justice that gets lost in the deficit of dopamine and anxiety, the brave change makers of the future, if they get through childhood with their self esteem intact. I want to be there to support the caregivers on what I consider to be a very important and sensitive journey to creating what will be really exceptional humans and I hope I get a chance to tell you why, but this parenting can, understandably, lead to really intense emotions for the parent as well. Misunderstanding of their needs affects the young child's delicate psychology and relationship building experiences in grade school with teachers and peers as well as in the family unit that are so crucial in developing a strong self esteem that will follow them and support them into adulthood and impact everything in their adult lives.
Therapy should not be a bad word, it is so empowering. This diagnosis is equally very hard on these children and the complication of its invisibility creates even more challenges and I do believe knowledge is a powerful tool for them in understanding how their brain functions instead of feeling in the dark.
