Before training as a counsellor, I spent years in schools — as a resource teacher, running a Learning Assistance Centre, managing IEPs, and substitute teaching across three districts, plus a stretch in special education in Australia. I know how school systems work from the inside, and how to talk with a teacher or write something for a file that actually gets read.

Kids don't need fixing. What actually helps is feeling seen, having some real autonomy in what happens to them, and knowing they belong and are cared for. That's what I'm trying to build in the room, whatever the session ends up looking like that day — through play, through talking, or just being alongside them.

I'm neurodiversity-affirming: your kid doesn't need to mask or perform "normal" here.