Somatic Therapy for Neurodivergent Minds: Why Talk Alone Isn’t Enough

Will you understand my neurodivergence?

“How do you work differently with neurodivergent clients?” This is a typical question I get on a discovery call with new clients. Maybe you’ve read “The Body Keeps the Score” or you’ve done talk therapy to death, but you STILL feel that vice-like pressure in your chest and you brain is doing laps at 3am. It sounds like you might need a somatic therapist that has knowledge of anxiety, trauma and neurodiversity.

A somatic psychotherapist that is going to understand your inner world, help you regulate your emotions and nervous system state, and have a therapeutic approach that is flexible enough to work with neurodiversity.

If that’s you — especially if you’re neurodivergent (ADHD, autistic traits, or just a fast-processing, sensitive brain) — you’re not broken. You just need therapy that goes deeper than words.

Here’s how I work with neurodiversity in somatic psychotherapy, and the questions clients usually ask.

FAQs

1 Why hasn’t therapy worked for me yet?

Cognitive insight doesn’t automatically rewire the body and create change. You can understand your attachment style, your triggers, and how your childhood impacts you in the present time — but your nervous system and body hasn’t quite caught up. That’s likely because you’ve had a cognitive, or ‘top-down’ approach so far, working with your marvellous mammalian brain, and we need to add in work with your body and nervous system. Learning how to regulate your nervous system and processing emotions and other information at a deeper, ‘felt’ level.

This is especially important if you are someone who ‘intellectualises’ everything. You live in your brain and feel a bit disconnected from your body.

Somatic therapy works “bottom-up”: teaching your body that it’s safe, not just your brain.

2. How are you different from every other therapist I’ve seen?

I’m a somatic psychotherapist which means I work with nervous system regulation, body posture, sensations, movement, and breathing.  Yes we talk in sessions, because that’s 20% of how humans communicate. But I also track your body language while you talk. Those unconscious movements of the body that actually mean so much.

I’ll be inviting you to track sensations you feel in your body, emotions (if you are able to identify them), memories and images that pop into your mind as we work.

We may do movements: either ones I suggest or following an instinctual movement of your body (e.g. clenching your fist in anger)

We may do breathing exercises or polyvagal nervous system regulation exercises.

We will always be going ‘with’ the body not against it. I will always seek your consent to do a particular experiential.

Everything is an invitation. You can say no.

3. I’m neurodivergent. Will you actually get me?

“You think differently” This was possibly one of the best compliments I’ve received from a client. Fed up with being misunderstood and not heard by the medical world, she was telling me that somehow I asked the right questions. That she felt that I “got” her and that I thought differently to other therapists she had experienced.

Honestly, I still don’t entirely know what she meant. I only know how to be me. So if you’re after a slightly irreverent, eccentric, English-born, somatic psychotherapist then I’m your girl.

Mostly, I’ve learned from asking my neurodivergent clients what they need. But I’ve also completed the Autism and Neurodiversity Mastermind Course to increase my awareness.

4. How do you alter a somatic therapy session for neurodivergent client?

I alter my sessions for every single client, neurodivergent or neurotypical. I work with what comes in my door that day. What you’ve just experienced or what’s been on your mind. Some people like the ‘manualised’ structure of CBT for example, but that’s not my bag. I like to have flexibility to tailor the session to whatever you need that day.

But here is how I specifically alter somatic therapy sessions for neurodiverse clients:

• You don’t need to sit perfectly still like a good girl/boy. Quite the opposite. I’ll invite you to kick off your shoes, put your feet up on the sofa and keep searching for comfort in your body. So if that means constantly repositioning your body, go for it. I’ve got a billion cushions and things to cuddle.

• I’ve got things you can fidget with or bring your own. Feel free to stim away.

• I’ll invite you to drop the mask, if that’s what you want (it may not feel safe at first). You don’t have to make eye contact if that’s something that drains your energy. You can also ask me to look away so it doesn’t feel like you’re in the spotlight.

• I’ll also be conscious of other sensory needs – lighting, temperature, textures you touch – and ask you to ask for what YOU need. Therapy is all about you, not a rigid idea of “how therapy should look.”

• If you are someone who has difficulty remembering appointments, we might discuss ways I can support you to remember your session and get here on time. E.g. additional cheeky SMS reminders

5. Why do I get more anxious when I slow down or try mindfulness?

I often hear people say “I was told to do meditation and it just isn’t my thing” – I totally understand. Being forced to sit still and watch your thoughts going at a gazillion miles an hour is not great for someone with neurodivergence.

For many people “relaxation” feels unsafe. Lying on the floor with their eyes closed is the opposite of safe and slowing down can trigger panic. Instead, we go gently, finding ways to regulate your nervous system without forcing stillness. Think posture-change, following the instinctual movement of your body (shaking out the sensations or rocking), grounding, sensory awareness tools like orienting with the eyes — not just “close your eyes and breathe.”

6. How do the symptoms of ADHD in females and trauma overlap?

Often symptoms of trauma and those of ADHD overlap. I go gently with all my clients, assuming that there may be some trauma in your background.

In trauma therapy work we focus first on nervous system regulation. Making sure that you feel safe in your body and that you have some tools to self-regulate when you need it. Only when you feel safe do we go near any trauma.

The simplest way to show you the overlap in common symptoms is by this Venn diagram. If you want the full list of symptoms see the big list below.

This is the full list of symptoms and how they overlap

7. How long will this take? Am I signing up for years?

Not unless you want to. Some clients just want the somatic techniques and feel relief quickly.  But deeper change takes time — especially if your nervous system has been ‘wired’ for decades. We are working not just on your nervous system but on relational trauma you may have experienced. Read more about somatic relational therapy here.

Those clients who just want a few techniques usually say Sayonara after 2-3 sessions. The average long-term client stays around 50 sessions. But it is completely your choice how long you stay in therapy.

8. Will this finally stick?

That’s the big question. I don’t promise quick fixes — but I do promise that when your nervous system learns it’s safe, you’ll get more than coping tricks or ‘hacks’. You’ll get real shifts: calmer days, fewer and hopefully less-intense spirals, and the sense that your body and brain are working together.

If you’re neurodivergent, anxious, and exhausted from “doing all the right things” but still feeling stuck, somatic psychotherapy could be the missing piece.

Ready to try a different kind of therapy? Enquire here 🙂