Neurodiversity-Affirming Care: How Michigan Wellbeing Supports ADHD & Autism Beyond Traditional Therapy
Rethinking Mental Health for Neurodivergent Individuals
Mental health care has historically been built around neurotypical expectations, leaving many neurodivergent individuals feeling unseen, misunderstood, or pressured to “fit in.” Traditional therapy models often focus on fixing symptoms rather than understanding the unique cognitive, sensory, and emotional experiences of ADHD and autistic individuals.
At Michigan Wellbeing, we do things differently. Our approach is neuro-affirmative, research-backed, and deeply personalized, offering therapy and coaching that works with neurodivergent minds, not against them. We help clients embrace their strengths, navigate challenges, and build a life that honors who they truly are.
This is more than just therapy—it’s a radical shift in how neurodivergence is understood, supported, and celebrated.
Understanding Neurodiversity: A Strengths-Based Approach
The neurodiversity movement challenges outdated views that treat autism, ADHD, and learning differences as disorders that need to be “fixed.” Instead, it recognizes that neurological differences are a natural and valuable part of human diversity—each with unique strengths and challenges.
What It Means to Be Neurodivergent
• ADHD: Characterized by differences in attention regulation, executive function, impulse control, and motivation, often leading to struggles with organization, time management, and emotional regulation—but also creativity, spontaneity, and out-of-the-box thinking.
• Autism: A neurotype that impacts sensory processing, social communication, and cognitive flexibility. While autistic individuals may experience sensory sensitivities and challenges with routine changes, they also often have deep focus, strong pattern recognition, and unique perspectives.
• AuDHD (ADHD + Autism): A blend of both neurotypes, requiring specialized, flexible support that recognizes the unique interplay between executive function challenges and sensory processing needs.
The reality is that neurodivergent individuals thrive best when their environment supports their way of thinking, learning, and processing the world—which is exactly what we do at Michigan Wellbeing.
How Michigan Wellbeing Provides Neurodiversity-Affirming Care
A. Therapy That Honors Neurodivergence
Many therapy models were designed with neurotypical clients in mind, assuming linear emotional processing, standardized communication styles, and typical sensory regulation. This often leaves neurodivergent individuals feeling frustrated or invalidated in traditional therapy spaces.
Our neuro-affirmative therapists specialize in approaches tailored to the neurodivergent experience, ensuring clients receive therapy that truly works for them, not just therapy that expects them to conform to neurotypical standards.
We incorporate:
🔹 Sensory-Informed Therapy
• Recognizing sensory overload and under-stimulation as key components of emotional regulation.
• Adjusting therapy spaces and interventions to accommodate stimming, fidgeting, movement needs, and sensory tools.
• Teaching body-based regulation techniques to manage overwhelm without suppressing natural responses.
🔹 Communication Flexibility
• Honoring differences in verbal processing speeds, scripting, nonverbal communication, and masking tendencies.
• Adjusting session structures to work with a client’s natural processing style (e.g., allowing extra time for response formation, visual aids, alternative communication methods).
• Helping clients unmask safely while navigating social expectations in a way that aligns with their needs.
🔹 Strength-Based Interventions
• Shifting away from deficit-focused models and instead amplifying creativity, pattern recognition, hyperfocus, and problem-solving skills.
• Helping clients reframe challenges as part of their neurodivergence, not personal failures.
• Encouraging self-advocacy to navigate systems that weren’t built for neurodivergent minds.
Additionally, psychoeducation plays a key role in therapy—helping clients understand how their brain works, why certain experiences feel difficult, and how to build strategies that work with their neurology. This knowledge fosters self-compassion and empowerment, making it easier to navigate challenges without shame.
B. ADHD & Executive Function Coaching: Beyond Emotional Support
ADHD is more than an attention issue—it’s a challenge of executive function, the brain’s ability to plan, organize, and regulate actions. Traditional therapy often focuses only on emotions, overlooking the practical, skills-based support that many ADHD individuals need.
At Michigan Wellbeing, we integrate specialized ADHD coaching that bridges mental health support with real-world executive function strategies.
🔹 What We Address in ADHD Coaching:
✅ Time Management & Task Initiation
• Teaching practical strategies to overcome procrastination, manage time blindness, and break tasks into manageable steps.
• Using visual planners, alarms, and body-doubling techniques to support focus and consistency.
✅ Customized Executive Function Systems
• Helping clients design productivity systems that actually work for their brains (not forcing generic productivity hacks that fail neurodivergent individuals).
• Incorporating dynamic scheduling, dopamine-driven motivation techniques, and energy-based task organization.
✅ Building Sustainable Routines
• Recognizing that rigid routines often fail for ADHD minds—we create flexible, adaptable systems that allow for variability while maintaining structure.
• Encouraging habit stacking, environmental cues, and sensory-friendly workspaces to make daily life easier.
✅ Emotional Regulation & Motivation Strategies
• Addressing rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD) and ADHD-related emotional intensity.
• Teaching body-based grounding techniques, nervous system regulation, and cognitive reframing.
Like therapy, ADHD coaching also includes psychoeducation—helping clients understand the dopamine-driven motivation system, why task paralysis happens, and how to work with their brain’s unique wiring rather than against it.
C. Somatic & Nervous System Regulation for Autism & ADHD
Neurodivergent individuals often experience nervous system dysregulation, leading to burnout, shutdowns, and sensory overload. Many have never been taught how to regulate their nervous system in a way that works for them.
At Michigan Wellbeing, we incorporate:
🔹 Polyvagal-Informed Therapy to help regulate the fight/flight/freeze system and improve emotional resilience.
🔹 Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) to support auditory processing, sensory sensitivity, and emotional balance.
🔹 Somatic work that allows clients to process stress, release stored tension, and develop self-regulation strategies beyond talk therapy.
D. Support for Parents & Families
Parents of neurodivergent children are often given outdated advice that doesn’t work—leading to frustration and exhaustion. We provide neuro-affirmative parent coaching to:
• Help parents understand their child’s unique neurotype without pathologizing them.
• Develop communication strategies that foster trust and reduce conflict.
• Provide sensory and emotional support tailored to their child’s needs.
Parent education is a crucial part of helping neurodivergent children thrive—and we empower families to create nurturing, validating environments that embrace neurodiversity.
Why Neurodiversity-Affirming Care Matters
Traditional therapy often asks neurodivergent individuals to adapt to a system that wasn’t built for them. At Michigan Wellbeing, we do the adapting.
We reject the idea that ADHD, autism, and other forms of neurodivergence are deficits to be corrected. Instead, we provide a radically different model of mental health care—one that is:
✔ Backed by the latest research on neurodivergence, mental health, and executive function.
✔ Customized to each individual—no forced, one-size-fits-all approaches.
✔ Committed to empowering clients with self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and long-term strategies.
Neurodivergence is not a disorder to be fixed—it’s a difference to be understood, supported, and celebrated.
At Michigan Wellbeing, we’re redefining what’s possible for neurodivergent care. If you’re ready for a mental health approach that truly honors who you are, we’re here for you. 💙
About Michigan Wellbeing
Michigan Wellbeing is a neuro-affirmative mental health practice that specializes in individualized therapy and coaching for neurodivergent individuals. Our unique, holistic approach recognizes the complexity of ADHD, autism, and other neurodivergent experiences, and we provide deeply personalized care that integrates sensory, emotional, and executive function support.
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📞 Call or Text: 248-916-6037
📧 Email: info@miwellbeing.com
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