Affirming care · 6 min read
Supporting neurodivergent clients with affirming care
Affirming therapy starts with respect for a client’s way of moving through the world.
By Issy Kleiman, MA, LMFT · AAMFT Approved Supervisor
A neurodivergent-affirming approach does not ask a client to become more acceptable before they can feel well. It asks us to understand sensory needs, communication styles, executive functioning, masking, and the impact of environments that were not designed with them in mind.
Therapy may focus on boundaries, self-advocacy, relationships, burnout, or the grief of realizing how much energy masking has required. The work is collaborative: we pay attention to what helps a person feel more like themselves, not less.
Care becomes more effective when the client does not have to spend the session proving that their experience is real.