Therapy for Neurodivergent Women Navigating Anxiety, People-Pleasing & Emotionally Painful Relationships

Therapy May Be A Good Fit If You:

• Often second-guess your thoughts or feelings

• Feel anxious or emotionally drained in close relationships

• Find yourself overthinking conversations after they’ve happened

• Struggle to trust your own perceptions

• Feel responsible for other people’s emotions

• Feel stuck between staying, leaving, or doing nothing at all

You don’t need to have the “right words” for what you’re experiencing to begin therapy.

I work best with women who want to understand themselves and their relationship experiences—not just cope with symptoms—and are open to deeper insight and change over time.

Why This Feels So Confusing

When relationships trigger anxiety and feel unclear or emotionally intense, it’s often not because you’re “overthinking”—it’s because the patterns involved are genuinely difficult to make sense of while you’re in them.

Over time, you may begin to:

• Question your own judgment after interactions

• Adapt by over-explaining, people-pleasing, or second-guessing yourself

• Feel emotionally drained without a clear reason why

• Wonder whether your reactions are “too much” or “not enough”

• Lose confidence in your ability to read situations accurately

These patterns often develop gradually in relationships where clarity, consistency, or emotional responsiveness from your partner has been uneven. Because of that, they can be hard to identify in real time.

Therapy can help slow things down so you can understand what’s been shaping your reactions and how to trust your own internal experience again.

Why Anxiety & People-Pleasing Makes You Vulnerable To Emotional Abuse

Why is it so hard to recognize what's happening?

Many people who end up in emotionally abusive relationships have a history of people-pleasing, high empathy, and anxiety. These aren't weaknesses—they're often survival strategies you developed earlier in life. But they can make you particularly vulnerable to manipulative partners. This does NOT mean it is your fault. Abusers are experts at identifying ways to control you. They will try to exploit your kindness, agreeableness, and tendency to avoid conflict.

People-pleasing shows up as:

• Difficulty setting boundaries or saying no

• Feeling responsible for other people's emotions and happiness

• Chronic self-doubt and second-guessing yourself

• Fear of conflict or disappointing others

• Perfectionism and never feeling "good enough"

• Putting everyone else's needs before your own

Anxiety often manifests as:

• Constant worry and rumination, especially about the relationship

• Difficulty trusting yourself or your perceptions

• Overthinking every interaction and conversation

• Physical symptoms like racing heart, shallow breathing, or feeling on edge

• Hypervigilance—always scanning for signs of danger or disapproval

• An inability to relax or feel safe, even in your own home

For more information about therapy for anxiety & people-pleasing, go here.

Neurodiversity-Affirming Care for AuDHD & Neurodivergent Women

Many of the women I work with are autistic, ADHD, or AuDHD — diagnosed, undiagnosed, or just starting to wonder. You don't need a diagnosis to belong in this work.

If you're a neurodivergent woman in an emotionally abusive or controlling relationship, you may recognize a particular kind of confusion:

• You've spent your life being told you're "too sensitive," "too much," or "overreacting" — and now those same words are coming from your partner

• You're not sure what's gaslighting and what's your actual difficulty reading social cues

• Masking has trained you to override your own needs and accommodate everyone else, even when it costs you

• A late or suspected diagnosis is reframing things you used to blame yourself for

• You're trying to sort out what was abuse, what was masking, and what was always just you

I'm an AuDHD therapist with specialized training in neurodiversity-affirming care. I bring both clinical training and lived understanding to this work — particularly the overlap between AuDHD traits, masking, and the dynamics that show up in emotionally abusive relationships.

How Therapy Helps

In our work together, we focus on understanding the patterns behind what you’re experiencing—not just managing how it feels in the moment.

This often includes:

• Slowing down recent relationship experiences so you can see them more clearly

• Identifying patterns that may have shaped how you interpret other people’s behavior

• Understanding where self-doubt or overthinking tends to show up

• Reconnecting with your internal signals—what you feel, notice, and need

• Building the ability to make decisions without second-guessing yourself as much

Over time, the goal is not to give you quick answers about specific relationships, but to help you develop a steadier way of understanding yourself in relationships overall.

I don’t pressure clients toward immediate decisions or interpretations. Instead, we work at a pace that allows clarity to develop in a grounded and sustainable way.

For more information about therapy for emotional & narcissistic abuse, go here.

A Note About Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)

For some clients, talking isn't the hard part — it's the specific memories that keep replaying. I'm trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), a brief, structured approach thatuses gentle eye movements to ease the grip of distressing memories — without having to describe them in detail. Many of my clients appreciate that it's predictable, step-by-step, and keeps you in control the whole time.

The Untangling Intensive: Focused Work In A Single Day

Weekly therapy is not the only way in. For some women, especially when the weekly rhythm itself feels like one more thing to manage, a focused half-day can move what months of one-hour sessions sometimes cannot. The Untangling Intensive is a private, one-on-one day built around your nervous system, with breaks built in and the pace set by you, to work through emotional abuse, masking, and burnout. You do not need a diagnosis, and I do not diagnose autism or ADHD. This is recovery and integration work.

→ Learn about The Untangling Intensive

Strong Match Indicators

I may be a strong fit for therapy if you:

• Find yourself caught in cycles of confusion, doubt, or overthinking in relationships

• Notice you often question your own perceptions after interactions with others

• Feel pulled between wanting clarity and not wanting to make the wrong decision

• Tend to prioritize other people’s emotions while losing touch with your own needs

• Are ready to understand your relational patterns, not just manage emotional distress

• Want more grounded decision-making, even when emotions feel uncertain

This work tends to go deeper than immediate reassurance or quick answers. It’s a good fit if you’re open to slowing things down and making sense of what’s been happening over time. This type of work is most helpful when you’re looking for clarity and insight into relational patterns rather than short-term problem-solving.

This Is Not A Good Fit If You Are:

• In immediate crisis or danger (call 911 or 988)

• Seeking couples therapy or family therapy

• Looking for advice or a quick fix

• Seeking medication management (I’m an LCSW, not a prescriber)

I focus on insight and clarity in relational patterns. I may not be the best fit for high-conflict situations involving ongoing safety concerns or where physical abuse is present. If you’re unsure, a free 20 min. consultation can help clarify fit.

Why Clients Choose Me

Clients often come to me when they:

• Feel overwhelmed but “should be able to handle it”

• Feel misunderstood or that others minimize their experiences

• Want a therapist who understands how they feel in relationships

• Need a non-judgmental space to think clearly

• Don’t want to be rushed into decisions

• Want a neurodiversity-affirming therapist who understands AuDHD and emotionally abusive relationships from more than one angle

Practice Details

Licensure: Licensed Clinical Social Worker-Board Approved Clinical Supervisor in Louisiana (#7223); telehealth LCSW in Florida (#TPSW2396) and LCSW in Virginia (#0904014789)

Experience: Master of Social Work degree; 25 years of experience supporting women with anxiety, relational trauma, and emotionally painful relationships. Formally trained in neurodiversity-affirming care and Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), with ongoing training in trauma, attachment, and nervous-system regulation.

Format: In-person in Baton Rouge + telehealth in LA, FL, and VA

Fee: $155 - 250 per 60-minute session (private pay). Many clients choose private pay for greater privacy, flexibility, and depth of work. A few sliding scale spots are available.

Insurance (Limited Availability): I am currently in-network with Cigna, Optum, and United Healthcare as I transition toward a fully private-pay practice in 2026.

Out-of-Network: Superbills available on request — and I partner with Thrizer to make using your out-of-network benefits easier. Many clients are reimbursed for a portion of each session.

Consultation: Free 20-minute consultation to assess fit

I help neurodivergent women who feel exhausted by anxiety and people-pleasing or are stuck in emotionally abusive relationships quiet the noise, understand their patterns, rebuild trust in their own perceptions, and make clearer, more grounded decisions in relationships over time.

Where To Go Next

If you're a late-diagnosed (or self-suspecting) autistic or AuDHD woman → Therapy for Late-Diagnosed Autistic Women

If you would rather do focused work in a single day → The Untangling Intensive

If your relationship feels confusing, controlling, or too intense → Emotional & Narcissistic Abuse Therapy‍ ‍

If you're exploring support for anxiety & people-pleasing → Anxiety & People-Pleasing Therapy

If specific painful memories keep replaying → Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)

If you want to heal alongside women who understand → Group Support

I help autistic, AuDHD, and neurodivergent women — and women exhausted by anxiety, people-pleasing, or emotionally abusive relationships — quiet the noise, understand their patterns, rebuild trust in their own perceptions, and make clearer, more grounded decisions over time.

Schedule a Consultation

If you’re wondering whether I’m the right therapist for you, you can start with a free consultation.