Why I’m an Identity-Based Therapist and Why It Matters For Clients Mental Health.
Vauna Beauvais, Psychotherapist and ADHD-er and autistic person
Neuroaffirming Therapy: Supporting Positive Autistic and ADHD Identity
The Shared Backbone of Lived Experience.
As an autistic psychotherapist, I operate an identity-based practice where the majority of my clients share my neurotype. Leveraging my lived experience allows me to connect deeply and authentically with my autistic and ADHD clients. I’ve been a therapist for 24 years (as of 2023) and have always used every day language and communicative noises, humour, problem-solving and thinking together. But, now, as a late-identifying autistic adult, I also include shared enthusiasm for (any) special interests, exchange of stories, and embodiment. In sessions there is more organic connection, experienced as a rapport of such depth and a coming away from each session with a feeling of increased meaning. There are ups and downs, as processing collective trauma can be demanding, but clients sharp minds can be very amusing or awesomely nourishing to be around.
Being ‘me’ enriches my work and I feel privileged to be involved and to contribute from a position of comfort and security of who I am. I know that in being myself, and in bringing myself, I help clients embrace themselves. My identity-based practice allows me to be alongside neurodivergent clients as they also grow to be affirming of their neurodiversity as they look through the neurodivergent lens to realign their self-acceptance.
Identity and Mental health
In terms of the theories, Social Identity Theory explains why autistic identity matters. Our self-concept involves both personal identity (unique traits) and social identities (group affiliations). Both are important for self-esteem and psychological well-being. Autism had always traditionally been viewed as a ‘diagnostic’ label. Thanks to the neurodiversity movement we now frame autism as an identity. There are now a huge amount of academic researchers who are autistic themselves, and so much research shows that developing a positive autistic identity enhances autistic peoples self-esteem, well-being, and mental health.
However, embracing an autistic identity can be challenging. Late identifying autistic adults can struggle more with identity adjustment compared to younger people.
My Own Struggle with ‘Being Autistic’
I struggled myself. Unlike some people who suspect that they were autistic for years, I didn’t know. When I did realise, after reading intensively to support a client who knew that they were autistic (they told me they ‘had Aspergers’ as that was the term used in those days) It took me about 3 years to even align that reality with my own self-concept. I was very challenged by this new information and did not know what to do with it. It felt like everything that I have ever known about myself was now unclear because there were so many things that I didn’t know, but that I did know were going to end up being relevant to ‘me’ as a concept.
It was about 2009 and society was very different then. Nobody was talking about autism, there was hardly anything on the internet about it, and social media hadn’t got off the ground like it has now. I had nobody to talk to about this, and there was no other person that I could see who was like me, so I had no reference points.
Gradually, I grew to feel more comfortable calling myself an autistic person. But the evolution of my identity did not happen overnight. It took time to embrace this aspect of myself. As I went on to align ‘autism’ + ‘me + ‘my life past and present’ my life started to get much better. I came to know myself in ways that are really important for me getting my own needs met when directing my own life and looking after myself.
Supporting Clients Autistic Identity as a Therapist.
My own personal path is relevant in that it leads me to recognise the critical importance of identity in mental health, and has hugely informed my therapeutic approach. Through my integration journey, I realised how crucial it is for therapists to appreciate the enormity of exploring and developing an autistic identity.
As a therapist, I see firsthand, in my everyday work with clients, both the struggles and strengths of developing an autistic identity. Clients have also told me (that, on reflection) they rejected the diagnosis at first, or viewed autism as separate from ‘the self’. And sometimes clients are in that confused, overwhelmed, or rejecting place at the time that they are in therapy with me.
Regardless of why you are coming to therapy, my role is to also join you in a journey toward self-understanding of being autistic, and any conflicts, or hesitancy or risks for you about this.
The Turbulent Adventure to ‘Being Autistic’
Being an adult and realising later in life that you are autistic is a challenge that varies in duration and intensity for each person. There are many areas of complexity.
Some are listed below:
Relief at having an explanation for lifelong interpersonal difficulties, including being misunderstood, being exploited, and the strategies that I employed to attempt to mitigate risks that I couldn’t even get clarity on (due to not knowing that I am autistic)
Grief over the impact of the outcomes in my life due to lost time, lack of consideration, and support, and missed opportunities.
Fear of discrimination or disadvantage if I disclosed this new identity
Confusion over how being autistic fits with my other intersecting identities
Identity-Based Therapy
Through my personal experience, I realised how vital it is for therapists to appreciate identity journeys. We undergo periods of struggle and growth when any core part of ourselves is revealed.
As a therapist, I aim to provide the space for clients to process at their own pace. Whether they feel pride, ambivalence, or rejection, I meet them where they are. Through our work together, many do find their way—as I did—to identity self-acceptance in ways and at a pace that is relevant for them. The rewards of this are to live in ways that meet your own genuine needs.