“The system often asks neurodivergent people to behave in a neurotypical way just to get diagnosed”

With Karen Ceccon, Director & Principal Counsellor at Ararat Wellness

Practitioner and business owner Karen Ceccon discusses the lived experience of neurodivergence in both personal life and professional practice.

Her late-life diagnosis has led to an in-depth understanding of masking and unmasking, rejection sensitivity, and clarity in understanding that the ways neurodivergent minds navigate systems, often does not fit with the world around them.

This conversation also touches on how practitioners can better support neurodivergent clients, the emotional journey of self-understanding, and the unique strengths that neurodivergence can bring to healing work and leadership.

As a therapeutic community we are learning so much about neuro-divergence, the symptoms of girls and women and this topic is a continually unfolding one.

In this episode

00:24 Why This Conversation Matters
05:11 Meet Karen and Her Diagnosis
10:07 Female ADHD Signs and Sensory Clues
21:21 Masking Unmasking and Business Strengths
35:31 Prescription Gatekeeping
36:13 Medication Logistics
36:50 Self Diagnosis Debate
38:05 Referral Bias Stories
39:17 Therapy After Diagnosis
41:39 Dopamine Dressing Joy
42:21 Small Talk and Masking
49:23 Triggers and Sensory Overload
55:33 Neurodivergent Business Burnout
01:02:48 Practitioner Reality Check
01:05:23 Closing Thoughts

About Karen

Karen Ceccon’s work supports people who have barriers in their lives that can prevent them from living their lives to the fullest potential.

Karen was diagnosed later in her adult life as a cis-female neurodivergent, and we discuss the process of this, the impacts, the benefits of a diagnosis and challenges related to being neurodivergent in both a professional and personal setting.

A few terms we use here that are ADHD terms that arose in our discussion:

Neurodivergence: A description of those whose minds work differently – we are in a time where this term is being defined in a new way, yet it is commonly used for those with ADHD and Autism (although it’s muuuuuccchhh broader than this!).

Masks/masking: The act of wearing a mask or making effort to fit in to fulfil other people’s ideas of what is normal or acceptable. Often over time, children with ADHD, diagnosed or undiagnosed, will develop a way of being where they hide their traits, uniqueness or natural tendencies. When they fail to hide these there may be large amounts of shame experienced.

Dump/doom piles: A system of organisation that helps people understand their mess, mind and way of finding things. These often don’t make sense to others – but make sense to the person involved.

Uncanny valley: If something is off, people get a gut feeling that something is not quite right.