Neurodivergent-Affirming Therapy in Lansing, MI
Looking for neurodivergent-affirming therapy in Lansing? You are in the right place. We’re right on the Lansing-East Lansing line, just minutes from MSU, and we also see clients virtually across Michigan.
What Neurodivergent Means
Neurodivergent is an umbrella term rather than a diagnosis. It covers autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, sensory processing differences, and others. Affirming therapy isn’t a technique or a modality; it’s a stance about what we’re treating and what we’re not.
Your brain isn’t a problem to correct. The goal isn’t getting you closer to normal; it’s a life that fits how you actually work.
So we don’t treat stimming as a symptom. We don’t treat rest as laziness. If a coping strategy only holds up while you’re masking, it isn’t a coping strategy.
Plenty of our clinicians are neurodivergent. We might not experience things exactly the way you do, but most of us to have lived experience and that kind of knowing can help so much.
What to expect
Sessions that work the way you work. This can mean no eye contact expected, therapy in our sensory room where you have more control over the stimuli, stimming welcomed without questioning, sensory items in our offices such as fidgets, coloring books, sand trays, and more.
We will listen to you. For many of our clients, being able to ask for what they need is one of the first times they have been able to do this and be truly listened to, without judgment.
If you’re not sure whether it’s trauma or how you’re wired
A lot of people show up asking some version of this. Was I always like this, or did something make me this way?
The frame we find useful: neurodivergence is the wiring. Trauma is the injury. Most of the people we see have both, and that’s not a coincidence. Being neurodivergent doesn’t cause trauma. Growing up misunderstood, unaccommodated, or punished for how your brain works does. Autistic kids rack up more adverse childhood experiences than their peers, and it’s not because of the autism. It’s because of how people responded to it.
The frame we find useful: neurodivergence is the wiring. Trauma is the injury. It is common to have both. Being neurodivergent doesn’t cause trauma. Growing up misunderstood, unaccommodated, or punished for how your brain works does. Autistic kids rack up more adverse childhood experiences than their peers, and it’s not because of the autism. It’s because of how people responded to it.
They look alike from the outside, too. Emotional intensity, shutdowns, executive function trouble, relationships that keep going sideways. Same surface, different cause, which is why so many people don’t find out until their thirties or later.
Two things that help tell them apart:
Your triggers. Trauma responses usually attach to themes. Criticism, conflict, abandonment, being yelled at. Neurodivergent responses stay put no matter the context. Noise is noise. Switching tasks is hard on a good day.
What actually helps. This one’s the clearest. Trauma tends to respond to grounding, relational safety, and processing what happened. Neurodivergence tends to respond to structure, sensory accommodations, executive function tools, and knowing what’s coming. If your life gets dramatically easier with a routine and some noise-canceling headphones, that’s information.
If you’re neurodivergent and LGBTIA2S+
A lot of our clients are both, and the research is not subtle about it. Studies put autism prevalence among trans people somewhere between 6 and 26 percent, against roughly 2 percent in the general population. Gender-diverse people are about five times more likely than cis people to suspect they’re autistic and undiagnosed. One large study of children referred for gender-related care found autism at 5.4 percent and ADHD at 4.8 percent, against 1.7 percent in the comparison group.
Here’s the part nobody says out loud. There’s a systematic review of everything published on trans and ADHD experience. Seventeen papers since 2014. Not one avoided deficit framing. Not one had a trans or ADHD author. That’s the state of the field you’ve been getting care from.
What it means day to day is that the services are split and you’re the one in the middle. The gender clinic doesn’t know what to do with the autism. The autism people don’t know what to do with the gender. You translate between them, every appointment, for free.
Not here.
Is this you?
Neurodivergent and queer, and looking for someone who gets both without a translation step
Autistic, ADHD, or both
Diagnosed late, or working it out as an adult
Self-identified, and tired of being asked to prove it
Burnt out from years of masking
Told you’re lazy, too sensitive, too much, or not living up to your potential
Done with therapy that treats your brain as the thing to fix
How we work with this
There’s no single right way through what you are coming in for and no script we run everyone through. We start where you are and go at your pace. Our therapists bring anti-oppressive, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive training, and we work with you to find approaches that fit your life and your goals.
Some of the treatment approaches our therapists use are Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Informed DBT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), EMDR, and Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT).
Meet the team
Finding the right therapist matters A LOT.
Our team brings different specialties, styles, and lived experiences. Browse our team and use the filters to find your match.
Research shows the single biggest predictor of whether therapy helps isn’t the specific method your therapist uses. It’s the relationship between the two of you. When you trust your therapist, feel safe with them, and agree on what you’re working toward together, therapy works better. That bond, what researchers call the therapeutic alliance, matters more than whether someone uses CBT, EMDR, or any other approach.
People who feel genuinely connected to their therapist tend to feel better faster, stick with therapy longer, and feel better sooner. The opposite is true too: when the fit isn’t right, it’s harder to open up and easier to give up.
This is exactly why we care so much about matching you with the right person, not just any available therapist. Feeling heard, safe, and understood, including in your identity and culture, is what makes the hard work of therapy possible. We do our best to find you a great match and your input matters.
Insurance and fees
We work hard to make therapy as accessible as possible. We accept several insurance plans, including several Medicaid plans, and offer a grant to cover therapy, as well.
Crisis Lines
If you’re in crisis or need support right now, you don’t have to wait for an appointment.
- Blackline 1-800-604-5841
- Suicide and Crisis lifeline Call or text 988
- Trans Lifeline 1-877-565-8860
- Trevor Project Call 1-866-488-7386 or text Start to 678-678
If you’re in immediate danger, call 911.
Sources
The facts on this page come from the organizations and research below. This page is for information only, and it isn’t a substitute for care from a licensed professional.
- Neurodivergent, Cleveland Clinic (my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/23154-neurodivergent)
- Autistic burnout, National Autistic Society (autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/autistic-burnout)
- Having all of your internal resources exhausted beyond measure and being left with no clean-up crew: Defining autistic burnout. Raymaker, D. M., et al. (2020). Autism in Adulthood, 2(2), 132-143.
- Increased gender variance in autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Strang, J. F., et al. (2014). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43(8), 1525-1533.
- Elevated rates of autism, other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diagnoses, and autistic traits in transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Warrier, V., et al. (2020). Nature Communications, 11, 3959.
- Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder amongst individuals with gender dysphoria: A systematic review. Thrower, E., et al. (2020). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(3), 695-706.
- Impacts of adverse childhood experiences on individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Takeda, T., et al. (2024). Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 89, 102932.