Therapy for Late-Diagnosed Autistic Women in Baton Rouge
Recovering from emotional abuse, relational trauma, and autistic burnout — with a therapist who actually gets it
Licensed Clinical Social Worker | AuDHD Therapist | 25 years of experience
You Belong Here.
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WHO I WORK WITH
Autistic women (ages 21+)
AuDHD & ADHD women
Neurodivergent women
Sensory processing issues
Diagnosed, self-diagnosed or just starting to wonder
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WHAT WE WORK ON
Emotional and narcissistic abuse recovery
Relational trauma
Autistic burnout
Masking Exhaustion
Late-diagnosis integration
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HOW WE MEET
In person in Baton Rouge, LA
Telehealth across LA, FL and VA
Individual therapy
Group therapy
Intensives (coming soon)
Free 20-min. consultation
You’ve Spent Your Whole Life Trying to Make Sense of Yourself
You've probably spent decades being told you're "too sensitive," "too much," or "overreacting." Maybe by your family growing up. Maybe by teachers, friends, partners, bosses. You learned early that something about how you experience the world doesn't match what's expected — so you got very good at performing the version of yourself that other people could handle.
And then, somewhere along the way, you ended up in a relationship where your partner used those exact same words to make you doubt yourself.
Now you're trying to sort it all out: what was abuse, what was masking, and what was always just you.
You're in the right place.
I'm Amanda Morris, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 25 years of experience — and an AuDHD therapist with specialized training in neurodiversity-affirming care. I work with autistic, AuDHD, and neurodivergent women recovering from emotional abuse, relational trauma, and autistic burnout. You don't need a diagnosis to belong here.
If This Sounds Familiar
Many of the women I work with have lived a particular kind of confusing life:
You've spent decades feeling like you don't quite "fit," even when nobody could tell you why
You've been called "too much," "too sensitive," "intense," or "dramatic" — by family, partners, bosses, teachers, friends
You've built an exhausting set of routines, scripts, and performances to make yourself acceptable to other people
You ended up in a relationship (or several) where your partner weaponized those same labels to make you doubt yourself
You've been diagnosed and re-diagnosed — anxiety, depression, OCD, complex PTSD, "high-functioning" something — and none of it ever quite fit
You're starting to suspect that the through-line all along has been autism, ADHD, or AuDHD
You're tired in a way that sleep doesn't touch
You don't need a label to recognize yourself in this. A lot of the women I work with are still figuring it out.
How Emotional Abuse Hits Differently When You're Autistic
This is the heart of the work I do — and the piece most therapists miss.
If you're autistic and you've been in an emotionally abusive, narcissistic, or controlling relationship, the damage often runs along specific lines:
Masking made you the perfect target. A lifetime of overriding your own needs and accommodating other people doesn't disappear when you fall in love. It walked you straight into a dynamic where putting your partner first felt familiar — and where speaking up felt impossible.
Gaslighting hits a nervous system already trained to distrust itself. Most women in abusive relationships come to doubt their perceptions. For autistic women — who've spent decades being told they read social situations "wrong" — gaslighting lands on already-weakened ground. It can be hard to tell what's manipulation and what's an actual difficulty with social subtext. We sort that out.
Rejection sensitivity made leaving feel catastrophic. Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) isn't a moral failing or "co-dependency" — it's a feature of how some neurodivergent nervous systems are wired. Combined with a manipulative partner's withdrawal cycles, it can keep you stuck in ways that feel inexplicable from the outside.
Your special interests and routines became weapons. Controlling partners often attack the things that regulate you most — your hobbies, your friendships, your routines, your sensory environment. Losing those isn't a side effect; it's a tactic.
Your late diagnosis (or suspicion) is reframing everything. Things you used to blame yourself for are starting to make sense in a new light. That's huge — and it can also be overwhelming. Recovery includes integrating that new understanding without throwing yourself away in the process.
If you’re recognizing yourself in any of this,
What Autistic Burnout Looks Like
For many of the women I work with, autistic burnout shows up alongside or after the relational trauma — sometimes long after they've left the relationship.
Autistic burnout isn't just "being tired." It's a particular kind of nervous-system collapse that happens after years — often decades — of masking, accommodating, and pushing through. It can look like:
Exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix
Sudden loss of skills you used to manage easily — driving, conversations, basic decisions
Sensory sensitivities that have ramped up to the point of being unbearable
A flat, numb, "can't access myself" feeling
Increased anxiety, depression, or shutdown
A growing inability to mask, even when you want to
It often gets misdiagnosed as depression, chronic fatigue, or "just stress." It isn't. It's what happens when a nervous system has been running someone else's program for too long.
The work isn't to "push through." It's to put down what's been costing you, and rebuild your life around what your nervous system actually needs.
I treat autistic burnout as a recognized pattern that emerges from long-term masking, relational trauma, and nervous-system overload. My approach is trauma-informed and somatic — focused on regulation, recovery, and learning to live in your body again.
What Therapy for Autistic Women Looks Like Here
This isn't a place where you have to keep masking. You don't have to make eye contact. You don't have to perform "attentive and engaged" if you're still processing. You don't have to come with an “acceptable” story about what's wrong. Stimming is welcome. So is bluntness. So is silence. So is needing extra time to find the words.
What we work on:
Untangling abuse, masking, and authenticity. What was actually happening to you, what you did to survive it, and what's just you — finally separated out.
Nervous-system recovery from burnout. Coming down from years of overload. Learning what regulation actually feels like, sometimes for the first time.
Sensory and routine reclamation. Putting back what was taken, mocked, or pruned away. Building a life around your wiring, not against it.
RSD and emotional regulation, without shame. Recognizing rejection sensitivity for what it is and developing skills that respect your nervous system, instead of demanding it act like someone else's.
Rebuilding self-trust. When you've been told your perceptions are wrong for decades — by family, by partners, by the world — coming back to your own understanding is the work. We go at your pace.
Identity integration after late diagnosis (or suspected diagnosis). The grief, the relief, the anger, the "what if I'd known sooner." All of it gets room.
Some clients also benefit from Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), a structured, step-by-step approach to processing painful memories. Many of my neurodivergent clients like that it's predictable, doesn't require retelling everything, and keeps you in control the whole time.
Ready to see if we’re a fit?
Who I Work With
I work with autistic, AuDHD, and neurodivergent adult women (ages 21+) in Louisiana, Florida, and Virginia — in-person in Baton Rouge and via telehealth across all three states.
This is likely a good fit if you:
Are autistic, AuDHD, ADHD, or suspect you might be — formal diagnosis not required
Are recovering from an emotionally abusive, narcissistic, or controlling relationship
Are experiencing autistic burnout, masking exhaustion, or nervous-system collapse
Are sorting out what's abuse, what's masking, and what's always just been you
Want a therapist who won't treat your autism as a problem to fix
This may not be the right fit if you:
Are in immediate crisis or danger (call 911 or 988)
Are currently in a physically abusive relationship — that requires a level of safety planning beyond what I provide
Are looking for autism or ADHD evaluation — I don't do formal testing/evaluations for autism or ADHD. I work with women who are diagnosed, self-diagnosed, or exploring, and I can refer you to neuropsychologists who do formal testing
Want short-term, symptom-only, or skills-only work
Hi, I’m Amanda
I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 25 years of experience, an AuDHD woman myself, and a neurodiversity-affirming therapist. I do this work because I've lived it — and because the women I see deserve a therapist who doesn't need things explained from scratch.
My approach is trauma-informed, relational, and neurodiversity-affirming. We move at the pace your nervous system can handle. There's no pressure to have any of it figured out before you walk in.
Common Questions About Therapy for Autistic Women
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No. Many of the women I see are self-diagnosed, exploring, or just starting to wonder if they might be autistic or AuDHD. You're welcome here either way.
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No. As an LCSW, that's outside my scope. I work with women who are already diagnosed, self-diagnosed, or exploring — and I can refer you to neuropsychologists in your state who do testing if you want a formal evaluation.
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Yes. The not-knowing is often where we start. Many of my clients haven't named what happened to them yet. Therapy helps you see your experience clearly without anyone — including me — telling you what it has to mean.
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Both can be true at the same time, and often are. A lot of what gets labeled "trauma" in autistic women is decades of the world misreading them, plus the actual relational damage that often follows. We sort it out together.
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In person: I don’t use the overhead light and can adjust the blinds to your comfort level. I have fidgets available, or you can bring your own.
In telehealth you're welcome to: dim your lights, turn off video if you need to, have a fidget, sit on the floor, skip eye contact, take silences, ask me to repeat things, ask me to speak more directly, or tell me when something isn't working. Telehealth is often a better sensory fit than office sessions, but either works.
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I am currently in-network with Cigna, Optum, and United Healthcare as I transition toward a fully private-pay practice this year. Private pay sessions are $250 per 55-minute session. Superbills are available for out-of-network reimbursement.
I have a few sliding scale spots available.
Ready to Get Started?
The next step is a free 20-minute consultation. It's just a chance to talk briefly, see if we're a good fit, and answer any questions.
You don’t have to keep masking your way through life.