Therapy for HSP and Late Diagnosed ADHD and Autism
Support for Deep Feelers, Highly Sensitive & Neurodivergent Folks
Maybe you’ve been told, at some point, that you're too sensitive.
Too much. Too easily overwhelmed. Too affected by things other people seem to brush off without a second thought. That life is hard and you just have to get on with it.
Maybe you believed it. Maybe you've spent years trying to be less reactive, less emotional, less affected by the world. Trying to function in systems designed for people who are wired differently from you.
Here's what I want you to know: there is nothing wrong with how you're wired.
Sensitivity is not a disorder. Depth of processing is not a problem to fix. But they can be, in this world, genuinely exhausting. That’s what we work on together.
Are You a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)?
The term Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), developed by psychologist Dr. Elaine Aron, describes roughly 15-20% of the population who have a more sensitive nervous system — one that processes sensory and emotional information more deeply.
HSPs are not fragile. But they are more easily overstimulated, more deeply moved by beauty and art, more affected by other people's emotions, more attuned to subtlety, and often more exhausted by environments that other people find perfectly manageable.
Signs You Might Be Highly Sensitive
• You get overwhelmed by bright lights, loud noises, strong smells, or chaotic environments
• You feel your own – and other people's - emotions deeply
• You need way more recovery time after busy or stimulating days
• You notice subtlety in art, music, conversation, and relationships that others miss
• You have a rich inner life and feel things very intensely
• You've been told you're "too sensitive" or "too emotional" — and you've maybe internalized that
• You tend toward conscientiousness, depth, and a strong sense of justice
• Violent media, conflict, or cruelty affects you deeply and stays with you
Late-Diagnosed Neurodivergence and Therapy
Many of my clients are neurodivergent. They’ve found out later in life that they have ADHD, Autism, AuDHD, dyslexia, or are otherwise wired differently from the dominant neurotypical norm. They’ve spent years wondering why they’ve felt different from others.
ADHD, Autism and HSP are different but can often look like one another, or overlap. What they share is often a life spent trying to function in systems that weren't designed for your nervous system. A lot of masking. A lot of effort spent on things neurotypical people don't have to think about. Exhaustion that doesn't always make sense from the outside.
Maybe you’ve just gotten a diagnosis in adulthood, or maybe you’ve started questioning whether one of these neurotypes could explain why you’ve struggled throughout your life.
Therapy with me isn't about helping you blend in better or ‘fix’ your brain (we can’t and we don’t want to do that because there’s nothing wrong with you). It's about helping you understand and work with how you're actually wired, so you can build a life that has more ease, more authentic expression, and less of the grinding effort that comes from constant self-suppression.
Unmasking: What It Means and Why It Matters
Many neurodivergent and highly sensitive people develop a 'mask' — a carefully curated version of themselves that fits the social and professional contexts they're navigating. The mask is exhausting to maintain. It can lead to burnout, identity confusion, and a strange disconnection from who you actually are.
Therapy can be one of the first places you set the mask down. Where you don't have to translate yourself or manage how you're being perceived. Where your sensitivity is information, not a problem. Where your uniqueness is welcomed rather than managed.
I understand that unmasking in all settings isn’t always safe – some workplaces or social settings may require continued masking to survive. We can honour that, and recognize the toll it takes, while also creating spaces where you can be more yourself, safely and with compassion.
Why Somatic Therapy Can Be Helpful for HSPs and Neurodivergent Folks
Traditional talk therapy can sometimes be overwhelming for highly sensitive or neurodivergent people: too stimulating, too abstract, too reliant on verbal processing that doesn't always match how your mind and body work best.
Somatic Experiencing® and IFS are different. They're slower, more attuned and more interested in your inner experience than in fitting you into a framework. They work directly on supporting the nervous system, which is often at the heart of why being highly sensitive or neurodivergent can be so demanding.
They’re both trauma therapies, designed to work gently when the layers of distress and coping that trauma can create. And if you’re a highly sensitive person or neurodivergent person, there’s a pretty good chance that just trying to exist in the world has created imprints of trauma in your system.
That said, all brains are different. You might enjoy find joy and connection through info dumping and talking with me about your special interests, or you might find you process experience verbally. All of these are welcomed and encouraged!
Somatic Experiencing for Sensitive Nervous Systems
SE works at the pace of your nervous system, not against it. We slow down. We pay attention. We track what's happening in the body with genuine curiosity. We spend a lot of time focusing on what feels GOOD in your system. Where you find flow and ease, what feels safe in your body, when and where you get to feel most like yourself. We help you find a new baseline of safety so you know what works for you – what’s a yes, and where you’ve had to override. We also work slowly and gently to build the capacity to tolerate sensation, emotion, and connection without tipping into overwhelm.
For HSPs and neurodivergent clients, this can be genuinely transformative. Not because it makes you less sensitive, but because it builds a wider window of tolerance, and also helps your body learn how to find some ease again after stimulus.
IFS for Inner Complexity
Highly sensitive and neurodivergent folks often have incredibly rich inner worlds, and IFS is a framework that genuinely honours that complexity. We can meet the part that hides your intensity, the part that's exhausted from performing neurotypicality, the part that believes something is fundamentally wrong with you. There might also be parts carrying wounds around rejection and not fitting in.
With IFS, we approach all of these parts with curiosity and care, and help them find more ease. We also celebrate the parts of you that are fun, creative and unique.
What You Can Expect from Therapy
Working with me, highly sensitive and neurodivergent clients often find:
Some relief from the exhaustion of masking, and the beginnings of knowing who you are without it
More self-compassion, and less internalized shame about how you're wired
A wider capacity for emotion and sensation: not less sensitivity, but more space to hold it
Clarity about your own needs, limits, and the kind of life that genuinely suits you
What I don’t offer
Tools, modalities or behavioural therapies that ask you to be someone different or fit an external mold
Formal assessments or diagnosis for ADHD, Autism or any other learning or developmental disabilities
Whether you're a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), neurodivergent, or just deeply tuned in to the world, therapy can help you unmask, decompress, and finally feel like there's nothing wrong with how you're wired. (Because there isn't.)
Who I Work With
I work with adults 19+ in Squamish in-person and online across BC. I'm a Highly Sensitive Person myself. I know what it's like to feel deeply, to be overwhelmed by a world calibrated for different nervous systems, and how good it can feel to finally meet that with compassion rather than criticism.
Ready to Begin?
You don't need a formal diagnosis or to have all the labels perfectly figured out. If you resonated with what you read here and want to learn more, book a free 20-minute consultation and let's talk.
I'm Helen Beynon, MACP, RCC (#18811), and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), offering individual somatic trauma therapy in Squamish and online across British Columbia.