Not Like the Others started off life as a blog, as a place to vent about my experiences (good and bad) as an autistic student counsellor. I received a lot of feedback along the lines of 'Me too!' and 'That's my experience too!', so I knew I was on the right track.
About 6 years ago, I was at a National Autistic Society conference, when someone asked me what I did for a living. I explained that I had ambitions to 'Get a job that doesn't exist'. When asked what that job was, I answered 'A specialist counsellor to neurodivergent people, especially fellow autistics'.
Well since then, there have been many changes, not least of the fact that there are many 'neurodivergent counsellors' groups, and a ton of CPD courses and talks to help counsellors be more autism-aware. In fact I run such courses myself! (on the grounds that if you want a job doing, do it yourself).
I qualified as a counsellor, despite my many struggles. Along the way, I read a lot of books, went to a lot of courses, and best of all, worked with many autistic clients. In fact, my training placement was with a small autism charity called Autism Hub, part of A.L.A.G (the All London Asperger Group).
So now I am excited to be going into Private Practice, and of course, I had to call it Not Like the Others Counselling & Training, because I'm... well, not like the others. Or as a great autistic friend likes to say, 'Unique, like everyone else'.
And that is the philosophy of my practice: that you, whether you are autistic, ADHD or even 'neurotypical', you are a unique person, and you deserve counselling that celebrates that fact.
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