Have you noticed your ADHD or autistic traits are harder to manage at certain points in your life?

🌸 Research is increasingly exploring how hormones may interact with ADHD, particularly changes in oestrogen during the menstrual cycle, puberty, perimenopause and menopause.

For some women with ADHD, fluctuating oestrogen during perimenopause may coincide with increased difficulties with attention, executive functioning and emotional regulation, alongside anxiety and disrupted sleep.

This doesn`t mean hormones explain everything. But if symptoms that were previously manageable suddenly become harder to manage in midlife, it may be worth considering what has changed, including hormones, sleep, stress, physical health or medication.

🌸 There is much less research into autism and menopause, but this is beginning to change. Some research suggests autistic people may experience more troublesome psychological and physical menopause symptoms, with hormonal changes interacting with sensory sensitivities, sleep, emotional regulation and executive functioning.

🍆 The male experience is different again. Testosterone tends to decline gradually with age, but the relationship between this and ADHD or autistic symptoms isn`t yet clear.

🏳️‍⚧️ There are also significant gaps in research around trans and gender-diverse people, including how gender-affirming hormones may interact with ADHD or autism.

We`re still learning about the relationship between neurodivergence and hormones.

✨ So maybe the most important thing to remember is - if something has become harder, it doesn`t necessarily mean you`ve become less capable.

Sometimes the conditions under which you`re trying to function have changed - including hormones, sleep, stress, health, medication, environment or life circumstances.

For counsellors, understanding these interactions can help us avoid assuming every change is purely psychological. And for us neurodivergent folk, noticing patterns can be a useful starting point for conversations with appropriate healthcare professionals.

Awareness comes before knowledge - so perhaps, for now, awareness is the key to better support. 💜

#ADHD #Autism #Hormones #Trans ...

I love the Māori ways of describing ADHD and autism.

I’ve come across the description of autism before - “living in their own space and time” - and I’ve always found this to be a beautiful way of looking at the autistic experience and way of being.

The ADHD description is new to me: “attention goes to many things” - and this feels so much more appropriate to me than the idea of an attention deficit.

A deficit suggests that something is missing, and this doesn`t sit true for my own lived experience or how I`ve observed others. Our attention just moves and lands differently, my own, perhaps akin to a butterfly: it flits from one thing to another, curious about everything… and then, when it finally lands somewhere with enough nectar, it stays as long as there is nectar.

I value how these Māori concepts invite us to look beyond labels and deficits, and instead consider different ways of experiencing and relating to the world.

🦋 What do you think?

[Photo of a butterfly that landed on my hand in Veli Lošinj, Croatia, early 2000s]

#ADHD #Autism #Neurodiversity #Neurodivergence #MāoriPerspectives #DifferentNotLess #ADHDStrengths #AutisticStrengths #ReframingNeurodiversity #Attention #NeurodivergentVoices ...

I’m very open about my ADHD, being of mixed culture, and my work as an LGBTQ+ affirming counsellor.

As to the latter, I`ve been thinking about what that means for me personally.

From the outside, my life looks fairly conventional. But the outside doesn’t tell us the whole story.

Someone can look neurotypical and be neurodivergent. Someone can appear culturally straightforward while carrying several cultural worlds within them. Someone can be in a conventional-looking relationship while having a much more expansive understanding of love and connection.

For some people, labels such as queer, pansexual or polyamorous feel deeply meaningful. For others, they don’t quite capture the whole experience.

For me, I keep coming back to something more like:

🌿 the freedom to love, connect, be curious about another person, and allow relationships to unfold without having to follow a predetermined template.

I’m not against labels at all. They can offer language, recognition, community and belonging.

But I also think it’s okay if the available labels don’t quite fit.

As a counsellor, I don’t think the goal of exploring identity is necessarily to find the `right` label. It`s to create enough safety and curiosity to discover what love, identity, relationships and connection mean to you.

So I`m curious:

Do labels help you, limit you, or a bit of both?

🌿 And if you’d like some space to explore these questions, counselling can be a place to do that.

#BeyondLabels #Identity #Neurodiversity #LGBTQAffirming #Relationships #SelfKnowledge #Counselling ...

I compare myself with the other people sitting in the dentist’s waiting room.

No-one else is jiggling their legs, stretching, shifting around, or constantly chatting and interrupting the person they’re with. No-one else is showing signs of restlessness.

I wonder how different life would feel if I didn`t always feel restless. I wonder how calm I`d be, and how much more capacity I`d have.

I also wonder if I`d have achieved all the things I did, all the travels I`ve had, all the courses I`ve taken, all the people I`ve met, said yes to all the adventures.

I know that while this restlessness can be exhausting, it is also what has gifted me deep joy in being alive, and to truly live my life with every part of my being.

The flip sides of ADHD. 💛

[Image of cloud art in the ceiling of the dentist waiting room]
#ADHD #ADHDWomen #ADHDAwareness #LifeWithADHD #ADHDLife #Neurodivergent #Neurodiversity #ADHDJourney #ADHDReflections #TheFlipSideOfADHD ...

One of the things I`ve become increasingly aware of over the past year is how people`s preferences for communication platforms are changing.

For many years, I connected with clients via WhatsApp, my custom domain email and ProtonMail, and also offered Google Meet and VSee for online sessions. While those options remain available, I`ve noticed that a growing number of people are choosing to move away from WhatsApp for reasons ranging from privacy concerns to simply preferring other platforms.

As someone who works almost entirely online, I think it`s important to adapt to those changes rather than expect clients to adapt to me.

🌿 Offering meaningful choices and making adaptations wherever possible is a key part of how I work, particularly with neurodivergent clients. My practice is grounded in a neuroaffirming approach, which means recognising that there is no one-size-fits-all way of communicating or engaging. If changing the platform helps someone feel more comfortable, more secure or simply better able to engage, that`s an adaptation worth making.

With that in mind, I`m pleased to now offer Signal, Telegram and Wire for both communication and online sessions, and Proton Meet for video calls, alongside my existing options.

Everyone has different priorities when it comes to convenience, security and privacy. My aim is to make it as easy as possible for people to work with me using a platform they already know and feel comfortable with.

✨ I`m also curious to hear what others are using these days. Have your preferences changed over the past few years? If so, what has influenced your choice of platform - privacy, security, ease of use, features or something else? Are there any platforms you think deserve more attention, or even, that I should consider using also?

#Neuroaffirming #Neurodiversity #DigitalCommunication #Privacy #OnlineTherapy #Telehealth #Accessibility ...