About me
New client spaces will be opening from early September. If you’d like to explore whether we’re a good fit, I’d be happy to hear from you.
Hi, I’m Maria. I offer a kind of counselling called psychosynthesis.
That might sound like a mouthful, but what it really means is working together in a way that sees your whole self – not just the parts that are struggling, but the creative, sensitive, curious, and capable parts too.
It’s not about “fixing” you; it’s about helping you understand and support yourself more fully, in a world that often doesn’t.
As a late-diagnosed mum (I was diagnosed during my training!), my focus is on helping neurodivergent parents get to know and love themselves better. Whether you’ve been officially diagnosed or suspect you may be neurodivergent, it’s completely normal to experience a bit of an identity crisis somewhere along the way. (Or at least an identity wobble.)
Who am I really? What does this change, if anything? How do I start to “unmask” – and do I even want to? (And all of this, while keeping small humans alive.)
Parenting is hard enough. Taking time to focus on ourselves, who we are, and what we want and need can stir up more than a bit of guilt and shame. (Especially if we’re comparing ourselves to other parents!)
But what if it doesn’t have to be that way?
That’s just some of what we can explore in our work together.
Ways of Working
In short: I tailor my approach to you.
You might describe our sessions as an anchor point.
A support for feeling more grounded in your body and in your life.
Slowly and gently easing into the possibility: “Maybe it is okay to be me.”
So much of this is about feeling safe and not judged.
My aim through this work is to help you get to know and love yourself better…
…even if the idea of “loving yourself” currently feels like a dot on the horizon.
The Types of Issues I Support Neurodivergent Clients With
Themes I work with – either specific to your role as a parent, or more generally, within the context of your life as a neurodivergent adult, who is also a parent.
(It would be impossible for me to list everything, so please do get in touch if you don’t see what you’re looking for.)
- Anxiety and Depression – Whether linked to parenting, the postnatal period, or part of your day-to-day life.
- Boundaries and Self-Advocacy – Learning to recognise your own needs, set healthy boundaries, and speak up for yourself more easily.
- Burnout and Overwhelm – Helping you understand and recover from emotional, physical, or sensory exhaustion.
- Change and Loss – Support with transitions, identity shifts or grief – even the quiet, invisible kinds.
- Emotional Awareness and Regulation – Understanding your emotions (even when they’re hard to name) and finding ways to respond to them that feel more manageable.
- Executive Function – Exploring how your brain works best when it comes to time, tasks, motivation and daily demands.
- Identity and Unmasking – Asking big questions like: Who am I really? Who am I beyond being a parent? What do I want and need?
- Isolation – That feeling of not belonging, of being unseen or unlovable – and finding new ways to connect.
- Menstrual Cycle Challenges – Support with PMS, PMDD, perimenopause, and the emotional and sensory changes that can come with hormonal shifts.
- Parenting – Supporting you through the intensity of parenting as a neurodivergent adult, especially when old wounds or triggers show up.
- Postnatal Trauma – Making sense of difficult or frightening experiences during birth or postpartum, and finding ways to feel more empowered again.
- Pre and Post-Diagnostic Support – Exploring your suspicions of being autistic or ADHD, or processing what it means for you after a formal diagnosis.
- Psychoeducation – Learning more about how your neurodivergent brain works — and how that can be a source of insight and strength.
- Purpose – Feeling unsure about what really matters to you or where you’re headed — and finding more meaning or direction.
- Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) – Feeling painfully hurt or rejected by small things — perhaps even from your own child — and learning how to navigate those intense emotional reactions.
- Self-Care – Not just the “nice extras”, but building sustainable, real-world ways to tend to your needs.
- Sense of Safety – Exploring how to feel safer in your body, your relationships, and the world around you.
- Sensory Overload – Coping with strong reactions to sounds, lights, textures, smells, and more.
- Shame and Low Self Esteem – That painful feeling of not being “good enough” — as a parent, or as a person — and slowly uncovering the possibility that you are worthy.
- Spirituality – Space to explore spiritual shifts, questions or crises – and how these might be part of your healing.
- Trauma – Working through specific traumatic events or the long-term effects of ongoing stress, invalidation, or not being supported.
Qualifications
Registered Member (MBACP) – British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
Postgraduate Diploma in Psychosynthesis Counselling – The Psychosynthesis Trust
Certificate in Psychosynthesis Foundations – The Psychosynthesis Trust
Essentials of Psychosynthesis – The Psychosynthesis Trust
Level 2 Peer Mentoring – Adult Learning Wales
Additional CPD Specific to Neurodiversity
A Neuro-Affirming Approach to Working with Autistic Clients – Aspire Autism Consultancy
ADHD in The Therapy Room – A Neuro-Affirming Approach – Aspire Autism Consultancy
Autistic Experiences of Pregnancy, Childbirth & Early Parenting – SWAN (Scotland-based neurodiversity network)