Wren Zhu

I offer a supportive space for neurodivergent folks, including late-or-self-diagnosed as ADHD or autistic, highly sensitive people, and other marginalized experiences, including complex trauma and third-culture kids. I am for people who, after years of isolation and struggle of not being seen or understood, feel like their lives aren’t working out the way it should. I help to get to know your authentic self, make space for new and freer ways of being, and practice new and meaningful ways of relating to yourself and others.

Even though there’s a plethora of facts about ADHD, autism, and complex trauma out on the internet, connecting with specific and personally relevant information can be an exhausting process. Many late-diagnosed adults (including myself) arrive for counselling after years of difficult experiences, including:
    •struggles with persistent shame, trauma, perfectionism, depression, and anxiety
    •chronic experiences of emotional and sensory overwhelm
    •knowing how to change in theory but being unable to put it into practice

Moving forward is difficult without proper support in place. Many conventional therapies were developed without considering differences in information processing and sensory perception through neurodivergence, chronic traumatic experiences, or different cultural expectations. Neurodivergent and other marginalized clients can be labeled as “difficult” or “resistant to change” while finding it hard to communicate their needs during the therapeutic process.

I hope to provide you with a place of comfort and a starting point to nourish a deeper and stronger connection with your inner experiences. I recognize and respect the unique ways your brain functions. This includes not only knowing what you’re feeling, but also understanding how you feel your feelings, and why you feel them the way you do. My approach is grounded in Emotionally Focused Therapy and Internal Family Systems, informed neuroscience research, and more importantly by my own lived experiences as a late-diagnosed neurodivergent person and grown-up third-culture kid.

Experiential and somatic therapies help with cultivating emotional regulation, a skill neurodivergent folks often struggle with. Experiential and somatic therapies are gentle ways of making sense of your emotional experiences and responses, and how you relate to yourself and others around you. Emotions guide our lives, and by gaining clarity of your experiences, you can foster a deeper sense of self-awareness and self-acceptance, process difficult experiences, and tap into your natural tendency for growth. 

You deserve a space where your unique lived experiences are validated, your feelings seen, felt, and understood. I hope to provide you with my combination of experience, education and training, an experience where you are fully in charge of the process of creating the kind of change you want.