An exploration of neurodiversity-affirming emotion-focused therapy

Amongst other types of diversity relevant to inclusion and mental health, neurodiversity has only recently been considered. Neurodiversity refers to the natural variation in individual brain function, including conditions such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia and dyspraxia. It is estimated that 15-20% of the world's population exhibit some form of neurodivergence (Doyle, 2020). Findings indicate that autistic people experience high levels of trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Stewart et al., 2021) and suicidality (Conner et al., 2020), arising directly from being neurodivegent: such as feeling stigmatised, ignored, discounted, left out and/or misunderstood (Robinson, 2018). For some autistic adults, behaviourist interventions have resulted in harm and trauma (McGill & Robinson, 2021). As such, there is a need for more person-centred-experiential therapies, such as Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), to help clients work through painful experiences and trauma, emotion regulation and self-compassion. However, it is acknowledged that EFT may require practice adaptations. In this workshop we explore these issues.
Using case illustrations and research findings, this interactive workshop will:
- Help therapists recognise clients who may be ND and require practice adaptations/considerations
- Share findings from lived experience of ND clients, ND therapists and therapists working with ND clients on facilitators and barriers to using EFT with this client group in practice
- Provide examples of how traditional EFT tasks from individual therapy might need to be adapted for ND clients arriving in one’s practice and what that might look like in practice (Oldershaw et al., in press)
- Provide examples of how traditional EFT tasks can be adapted and new EFT tasks incorporated into EFT when working with groups of ND clients (Robinson et al., 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023).