Neurodiversity Affirming Services

TherapyWorks was founded by a neurodivergent clinician, who has been intentional in reviewing information, examining biases, listening carefully to the neurodivergent community in order to create services that are engaging and do not cause harm.

TherapyWorks team members work collaboratively with clients and families to address the reasons for seeking support. Our primary aim is to supporting our neurodivergent clients to achieve self acceptance, identify their strengths and gather supports to deal with the barriers that come with being in home, work and school settings that were designed for people who have more typical experiences.

In addition to counselling and other support and educational services, TherapyWorks team members use a a social model of disability in understanding the impacts of trying to live in a world that can feel overwhelming and with fellow citizens who may not understand those impacts themselves. It is important to us to identify the systems that create challenges and work with caregivers, schools, employers, and communities to structure environments and interactions to meet the needs of the individual.

We are a PDA / Pathological Demand Avoidance knowledgable practice. We prefer to consider these traits to reflect a high need to maintain autonomy. Our services for individuals with PDA are often family based, where we support self awareness for the individual with PDA, explore aspects of self that might contribute to overwhelm and regulation challenges, and also with family to identify the approaches that are most effective in supporting and communicating with their family member with PDA traits.

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What is Neurodivergence?

The term neurodivergence covers a broad range of conditions or traits that at one time would have been labelled disorders. To be honest, in many settings, they are still considered disorders. Neurodivergence adopts a view that these are a part of identity and can't be cured or medicated away. However, being neurodivergent can come with real challenges. For example, a person can be very reactive in an environment that overwhelms their sensory system.

The variety of conditions or traits are are considered neurodivergent include, (but are not limited to):

Autism
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Dyslexia
Dyspraxia
Tourette’s Syndrome
Dyscalculia
Dysgraphia

Giftedness
Meares-Irlen Syndrome
Hyperlexia
Synesthesia
Anxiety
Trauma
Sensory Processing Disorder
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)

Neurodivergent Therapy Services in Kamloops

Child & Youth Counselling

Does your child feel overwhelmed? Do they manage to hold it together through most of the day and then fall apart at home?

Have you seen so much potential and struggle to understand why your child isn't able to show that?

Youth who learn to accept their neurodivergence in an affirming therapeutic relationship can learn to unconditionally accept themselves. They can learn to manage the challenges that they face, and they can begin to find ways of "being" in the world that actually work for them.

In person services are available in Kamloops and online services are available across BC.

Late Diagnosed Adults

Adults who learn later in life that they are neurodivergent often need counselling support to undo the harm that came from early childhood experiences of living in a world that did not recognize their needs. There can be a lot to unpack when you realize that the challenges you faced were because of neurological differences that were out of your control. Sometimes we can't shake those negative labels that others threw at us, without some help. Exploring your strengths and your experience with this new lens can be freeing. Learning ways to manage your emotional and physical energy, without masking your authentic self creates new opportunities for leading a fulfilling and rewarding life. Let us show you how to do this.

Youth Development Support

Using an approach that is collaborative, and emphasizes their interests, our Youth Development Facilitators work with children and youth on goals that are meaningful to them and their families. Our Youth Development Facilitators can support youth with executive functioning challenges, community integration needs, social engagement needs, and skill practice. Services can be provided in your home, our office, or in community settings. Where permitted, our team is able to support your child's social connections at lunch and recess, in their school/ playground environment.

Additionally, TherapyWorks is proud to offer a range of group programs to support Neurodivergent Youth in pursuing their interests, making new friends, developing executive functioning skills and life skills, and working on goals that are important to them.

Body Doubling

Often individuals who are neurodivergent struggle with executive functioning. Sometimes targeted supports and crafting the task and the environment are enough to support success. Sometimes an individual needs someone to facilitate their ability to engage in those tasks independently, but they don't necessarily need coaching, just a kind, non-judgemental person who has skill in helping with in time decision making, providing direction and suggestions, and keeping someone on task according to their own agreements.

This service can be useful for both children and adults needing assistance to complete projects when they have the knowledge and capability but are impaired by inertia/ challenges with initiation, planning, organizing and staying on task.

Neurodivergence Consultation

Our team can offer training and consultation to make your programs and services, work environments, and schools accessible and welcoming to neurodivergent youth and adults with a variety of needs.

With many years of experience in clinical, academic and community settings, and always with an ear to the needs of the clients we serve, we are well positioned to support you in creating an inclusive environment that caters to individuals with a broad range of cognitive, physical, mental health and sensory needs.

For our clients with Autism Funding, we also offer consultation to support access to equipment and supplies to support the development and learning of children and youth with Autism. As we are intentional in our discouragement of ABA practices, we are not able to support Justification for Equipment requests for children under 6.

Executive Functioning Supports

Neurodivergent Youth and Adults can sometimes feel that they have the strengths and abilities that suggest they can achieve their goals but then hit a wall when trying to execute actions to move forward. Struggles in one or more skills such as short term memory, initiating, planning, organizing, emotional control, maintaining attention, dealing with multiple demands can lead to problems with one's sense of self. Our team can explore strengths and and help find a workaround for those areas that you, or your child, struggle with. In some cases this workaround can be tools to make work more efficient, ways of structuring your environment, recommendations for accommodations to close those gaps.

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THE BOOK!

A Guide to Sometimes Noise is Big

for Parents and Educators

Lori Seeley was privileged to co-author a book for parents, carers and educators with local Kamloops children's author, Angela Coelho. Intended for those who support children with Autism, A Guide to Sometimes Noise is Big for Parents and Educators (2018), is a companion guide to the children's book, Sometimes Noise is Big: Life with Autism. The 2nd edition of the guide offers even more useful information and helpful strategies to support children who experience the world differently and can be purchased as a stand alone reference. Available now on Amazon and Chapter's / Indigo and through Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

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