Amy is a culturally sensitive; LGBTQ+ affirming; sex and body positive; and kink and poly friendly Licensed Social Worker (LSW) who enjoys working with those struggling to live their life as the most authentic version of themselves.
Amy feels strongly about changing the narrative around neurodiversity. “There is no binary. We are all neurodiverse. It is not neurotypical vs. neurodivergent.”
We sat down with Amy to learn about her as a therapist and get her insight into Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Amy: As a therapist, I am given the opportunity to accompany someone on their personal journey toward self-improvement. Being invited in, bearing witness to the process, and watching someone heal or grow more comfortable and authentic within their lived experience is one of the most beautiful, intimate human experiences one can have.
Amy: My work as a psychotherapist predominantly focuses on individuals who are experiencing challenges living with ADHD; I especially appreciate being able to work with folx who had their diagnosis identified well into adulthood and are navigating the rollercoaster of information, thoughts, and feelings that come with that. The understanding of what ADHD is and is not, and neurodiversity as a whole, has come a long way over the past few decades. Being able to provide updated psychoeducation to clients that helps them to feel empowered and in control of their day to day lives is one of the best parts of my job!
My second area of expertise is human sexuality; honestly, it’s my whole jam and was my first area of concentration. When people hear human sexuality, I think they immediately tend to consider that synonymous with sex or sexuality and they’re not wrong! But human sexuality is so much more than that, too! … Sometimes this work looks exactly as you would expect it to—it looks like working with individuals or couples who are facing struggles with their sexual identity, experiences, pleasure, and the like. It can also look like folx working on acceptance, esteem, confidence, and worth; negative beliefs about themselves or others; communication, boundaries, and interpersonal relationships; or anything else that might be hindering someone from living life as the most authentic, fulfilled version of themselves.
Amy: What I want people to know is that ADHD is not a one-size-fits-all diagnosis. ADHD looks different in everyone. It looks different in children, in adulthood, at every stage of life. It looks different depending on your sex assigned at birth, your sexuality, your lived experience, cultural influences, societal expectations, and family dynamics.
Amy: I think a lot of times people hear ADHD and they think of that stereotypical hyperactive child, usually a boy. Whereas girls are perceived as being more of a chatty Cathy. I had “talks too much in class” for every quarter for every report card for all of grade school. So a lot of girls went undiagnosed, myself included, because of what was understood about it.
It is not just hyperactivity, being able to sit still or fidgeting all the time. It is racing thoughts, the inability to sleep at night because your brain and nervous system can’t shut down enough to allow you to sleep, the inability to focus on the task at hand.
ADHD is not just a childhood diagnosis. Typically you had it in childhood and it went undiagnosed. That doesn’t mean it is too late for a diagnosis because you can. It doesn’t mean that it is too late for treatment, because it isn’t. You don’t have to white-knuckle your way through life. Your ADHD experience doesn’t have to be extreme for medication, regulation skills, psychotherapy, ADHD coaching and executive functioning work to be beneficial to you.
Amy: If you are an adult who has been diagnosed with depression or anxiety and you have tried the gamut of psychotropic medications out there and none have been effective enough, a conversation needs to be had about ADHD. Find someone who specializes in ADHD, whether therapist or psychiatrist or both. Don’t go to your primary care physician. Also, you don’t have to be interested in medication to explore executive functioning skill development and symptom management. There are many methods to improve your lived experience.
Amy: As a parent of multiple children living with ADHD, I know firsthand how rewarding, though at times challenging, it can be. Children living in all their neurodiverse glory benefit from structure and routine as it helps them to remain regulated day to day. If children’s everyday lives have consistency at baseline, it empowers them to be able to handle the dysregulation that comes from the unexpected. Parents who remain calm and maintain control over their own emotions, who demonstrate tolerance, empathy, and support, not only model for their kiddos healthy emotional reactions and interpersonal skills but also play a significant role in helping them navigate those challenges in a more effective way. And above all else, GRACE! Not only for your children but for yourselves.
Amy:
Amy: I am a rather direct, some might even say blunt, person outside of the office and I tend to bring that into the therapy room, too. I provide empathy, compassion, insight, feedback, and, at times, even some tough love, from an authentic and honest place while holding a brave space for others to explore what may be difficult, uncomfortable, or outright painful. That’s where my humor tends to come in—you can always count on me to make a joke or two while we’re together!
Amy: I tend to say “live your best life” more frequently than I would care to admit… Thanks, Oprah! … I would argue that humans are at their happiest when they are experiencing life as the most authentic version of themselves so, when I use that phrase, what I’m really saying is hold true to who you are and give the world the gift that is you in all your unbridled uniqueness and self-expression.
