Becoming a Neurodivergent-Affirming Clinician: Understanding ADHD and Autism through a Strengths-Based, Neurodivergent-Affirming Lens

Presented by: B Lourenco, MA, LMHC

When:  This course will be held over six consecutive Wednesday mornings.

• Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm, Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm, Eastern
• Wednesday, January 29th, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm, Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm, Eastern
• Wednesday, February 5th 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm, Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm, Eastern
• Wednesday, February 12th, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm, Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm, Eastern
• Wednesday, February 19th, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm, Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm, Eastern
• Wednesday, February 26th, 2025 | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm, Pacific / 1:00 pm – 1:15 pm, Eastern

Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.

Continuing Education Credit Hours: 18 CEs (12 CEs can be used for Cultural Competence or Health Equity CEs, and 6 can be used for Law & Ethics CEs) | $599.00 *** (see below for payment options)

As technology progresses and education on mental health becomes increasingly more available, the population has become more self-aware. The world is changing quickly, and with it, more and more people realize that their brain works differently than others. Due to the influence of social media and the shift to focusing on lived experience as a legitimate means of diagnosis, we are seeing a sudden increase in clients that identify as Autistic and/or an ADHDer. We find that clients are speaking up and finding validation of what they have always known: their brains operate differently than the brains of their peers, colleagues, friends, and families. As a result, we are seeing a sudden increase in the young adult and middle-aged population who identify as being Neurodivergent in a Neurotypical world.

This workshop series is designed to help clinicians build greater awareness and familiarity with ADHD and Autistic experiences. Participants will come away from this course with a deeper understanding of ADHD and Autism from the Neurodiversity-Affirming Paradigm that focuses on strengths and differences, not diagnoses, disorders, and deficits.

Especially following the Covid pandemic and its sometimes long-term impact on the brain and the immune system’s inflammatory processes, many clients report having different and often challenging sensory processing experiences. We are seeing more adults presenting in our offices with reports that they now have issues not only with taste and smell but with a range of visual, hearing, tactile, balance, and internal bodily sensations they never have before experienced, as well as difficulties with attention and memory. This begs the question: have these brain differences always been there but now have been sensitized or magnified by exposure to Covid and months-long isolation?

Many adults are now recognizing they are not alone and are demanding they not be dismissed or invalidated any longer, often having experienced the continued frustration of providers questioning their own lived experiences and, as a result, having been either undiagnosed or underdiagnosed due to outdated and debunked diagnostic criteria still used by mainstream psychiatrists and physicians. These individuals are finding validation for what they have suspected all along: their brains work differently than those of their peers, families, and friends.

With new research available and an increasingly empowered clientele, we see more than ever the need to remain current in our understanding of–and support for–those who have brain differences. Committed to blending cutting-edge scientific evidence with the lived experiences of our clients, Cascadia Training, is delighted to offer a new workshop series designed to help clinicians build greater awareness and familiarity with ADHD and Autistic experiences.

Upon completion of this series, participants will have a deeper understanding of ADHD and Autism from the Neurodiversity Affirming Paradigm that focuses on strengths and differences, not disorders, diagnoses, and deficits!

Woven throughout the series are the law and ethics of working with neurodivergent clients, including the danger of misdiagnoses, and the harm of using biased, outdated, debunked diagnostic criteria leading to the under-diagnosis of ADHD and Autism spectrum experiences. In addition, participants will learn about and identify pathologizing, stigmatizing, and harmful treatment protocols and clinical interventions still utilized by providers in educational, physical, and mental health professions.

This series uses a system developed explicitly by B Lourenco, an expert on ADHD and Autism. The course focuses to a large degree on the internal, lived experience of neurodiversity. Each of the six weekly sessions will include a didactic portion, an experiential section, and direct case consultation time. All modules will include lecture, video, and experiential segments.

Certificate Program Weekly Modules:

Week One:  Sensory Systems  – Getting in touch with the sensory system is the most critical step in supporting neurodivergent clients. Sensory information can regulate emotional and physical experiences. In addition, we will focus on using sensory profiles, menus, and diets to support day-to-day quality of life.

Week Two: Communication and Relationships – Understanding how those with Autism and ADHD communicate creates room for therapeutic connection. With this understanding, we will dive into tools for managing meltdowns and shutdowns in an affirming way.

Week Three:  Attending and Executive Function – This module will explain why those with Autism and ADHD face challenges attending to their environment by addressing social expectations on perceptions of “functioning.” You will also learn how to use the client’s natural rhythms to support positive functionality.

Week Four:  Social Systems and Disability – Understanding how society directly impacts the lives of people with disabilities. We will focus on how clinicians can incorporate advocacy into their practice and tools to unlearn neurotypical values by connecting clients to personal values.

Week Five: Differentials and Comorbidities – This module will teach participants how to rule out or “dial in” on other mental health concerns or diagnoses. We will present comorbidities that exist with your neurodivergent clients and how to effectively support them in a non-stigmatizing way. The role of trauma and grief in the lived experience of clients who identify as neurodivergent will be discussed, as well as the impact of these events on the developing brain. We will process how to best support the grief and disenfranchised losses felt by our autistic and ADHD clients and their families.

Week Six: The Use of Joy As a Tool Against Oppression. Creating celebrations of being neurodivergent and finding joy in everyday life as we partner with our neurodivergent clients. The Neurodivergent-affirming certificate program series will conclude with various celebrations we can share with our clients and the shift to viewing “joy itself as a tool against oppression.” As clinicians, it is important for us to first comprehend–and then share– the ways that society benefits from neurodiversity in general and ADHD and Autism, in particular. We will conclude by learning ways to help our clients celebrate their neurodiversity and see themselves through an affirming, strengths-based lens.

Other topics that will be covered in this practice- and life-altering certificate program series include, but are not limited to:

• Alexithymia and Dysthymia
• ARFID
• Misophonia
• Gender and sexuality in the ADHD and Autistic communities
• The role of menstruation on ADHD and Autistic brains
• Interdependence vs codependence and/or independence
• Myths and stigmas about neurodivergent people
• Experiences of abuse in neurodivergent people
• Pervasive Desire for Autonomy (PDA)

***Payment Options:

Cascadia Training values quality continuing education that is accessible, inclusive, and without barriers to all. We never want the cost of our workshops to be a barrier to attending one of our workshops, particularly our multi-session workshops.

We offer several options to make our workshops cost-inclusive: payment plans, a limited number of full and partial scholarships, discounts for students, and discounts for early professionals. Please email us at [email protected] for more information.

For payment plans, you can select paying 50% today and 50% due by February 28, 2025.