I’ve been toying with the idea of providing neurodiverse-friendly support services and want to gauge community interest if such a service is audience-viable at this point in time. As a speech-language pathologist, I have extensive training in executive functioning and social communication skills that many ADHD/Autistic/AuDHD and other individuals could benefit from, and part of my purpose for building this site is to help support the community in any way I feel I can. This does lead to some ethical dilemmas I would like to address, and hopefully garner feedback from others regarding how to move forward.
First and foremost, while my job title is “speech and language therapist” I recognize completely that I am not a trained psychotherapist and that I should not/would not address mental health disorders. However, from my research so far, there appears to be a 50/50 split of opinion on coaching vs therapy; many people feel ‘coaching’ focuses on practical results and future-forward thinking compared to ‘therapy’ which continuously dredges past trauma and can feel aimless and repetitive at times; other people worry (and rightly so) that coaching is unregulated with any shmuck from the street being a coach and causing more harm than good, while therapists are trained, licensed, certified, accredited professionals with legal and ethical responsibilities to maintain patient safety. Additionally, questions regarding financial liability arise as most insurances do not cover coaching and have limited supports for official therapy. Finally, many feel that therapy can be time-consuming as it requires more intensive treatments over time to address the root of problematic behaviors, while coaching is supposedly designed to be effective over a much shorter course of sessions with specific goals to achieve in the end.
I do not quite feel comfortable advertising myself a neurodiversity coach, and I most certainly do not claim to be a licensed mental health therapist. I also understand that money makes things complicated and can impact access for low-income/resource-poor individuals. At best, what I am envisioning is some combination of group-based and/or individualized talk sessions on a singular basis that focus on a specific theme or topic, like a seminar. It would be free of charge and entirely online, and could be synchronous or asynchronous as warranted, as I want people to be able to access it as needed. Nothing is concrete at this time, but I would love to manifest this passion project as a personal goal/resolution for the next new year. Like I said, I want to use my knowledge and expertise to support people in their life journeys while still abiding by legal and ethical guidelines. Maybe down the line this project could be retooled as needed to become a proper coaching service or business model, but for now I want it to be casual and accessible to anyone interested. If it becomes super popular, there will obviously be attendance limits as I still have my own life and responsibilities to attend, but anyway I can help others, I would love to do so 🙂
Let me know your thoughts! Any and all feedback, honest and critical but with genuine constructive intent, is appreciated.
For my personal reflections, click here
For my unhinged neurodiverse life hacks, click here
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