If you're a woman navigating anxiety, burnout, or the pressures of everyday life — an adult who has recently been diagnosed with autism or ADHD, or who suspects they might be — or someone making sense of cultural identity and belonging, this page is for you.

These are the areas I have actively sought out specialist training in, because I believe it genuinely matters to work with someone who understands your specific experiences. Not a generic approach applied to everyone — something that actually fits.

Women's Mental Health Counselling in Canberra

Women's mental health is shaped by a unique set of experiences — biological, social, and relational — that don't always get the attention they deserve in general counselling. I hold a Women's Mental Health Specialist Certificate and have sought out training specifically in this area, because I wanted to be able to offer something more than a generic approach.

Counselling can be a genuinely helpful space for women navigating:

Anxiety & Overwhelm

Including anxiety that shows up as constant worry, people-pleasing, difficulty saying no, or a persistent sense that you're not doing enough.

Burnout & Exhaustion

When you've been holding too much for too long — at work, at home, or across both — and things have started to unravel.

Hormonal & Reproductive Health

Including perinatal wellbeing, the impact of hormonal changes on mood and identity, and the emotional side of reproductive health decisions.

Identity & Self-Worth

Feeling disconnected from yourself, unsure who you are outside of your roles, or struggling with self-criticism and low confidence.

Relationships & Patterns

Recurring dynamics in relationships, difficulty with boundaries, or making sense of past experiences that still affect you today.

Life Transitions

The moments when life shifts — becoming a parent, returning to work, changing roles, ageing, or renegotiating who you are.

Neurodivergent-Affirming Counselling for Adults in Canberra

I work with autistic adults, people with ADHD, and those who identify as neurodivergent — including people who received a late diagnosis and are still making sense of what that means for them.

My training includes specialist courses with Prof. Tony Attwood and Dr Michelle Garnett — two of the most widely recognised researchers and clinicians in autism and ADHD — as well as dedicated training in neuro-affirming practice, anxiety in autism, and the experiences of autistic women and girls.

Counselling with me won't try to make you more "neurotypical." The goal isn't to smooth away the parts of you that are different — it's to help you understand yourself better, build on your strengths, and find ways of living that actually work for how you're wired.

Things people often come to counselling for include:

Late Diagnosis

Making sense of a recent autism or ADHD diagnosis as an adult — including what it means for your past, your relationships, and how you see yourself.

Anxiety

Anxiety in autistic and ADHD adults can look quite different from how it's typically described. I have specific training in this and won't assume your experience fits the standard picture.

Autistic Burnout

The deep exhaustion that comes from years of masking, overextending, and not having your needs understood — including by yourself.

Executive Function & Daily Life

Difficulties with planning, starting tasks, time, organisation, or keeping up with the demands of everyday life — and finding strategies that actually fit your brain.

Relationships & Communication

Navigating relationships when you process the world differently — including social exhaustion, misunderstandings, and finding connection on your own terms.

Self-Understanding

Putting the pieces together — understanding your history, your patterns, and what you actually need — often for the first time.

Wide view of counselling room at Riverstone Counselling, Murrumbateman Specialist Centre NSW — Salihan Laugesen, ACA Registered Counsellor offering neurodivergent-affirming and women's mental health counselling — Murrumbateman counselling room

Sand tray for creative and non-verbal expression in the counselling room at Riverstone Counselling, Murrumbateman — neuro-affirming, flexible therapy for autistic adults and adults with ADHD — Sand tray — for when words are hard to find

Cultural Identity & Belonging

I also work with people navigating cultural identity, intergenerational expectations, migration, and the experience of belonging across cultures. This work matters because so many of the questions that bring people to counselling — about who you are, what you owe others, what you're allowed to want — sit inside a cultural context that often goes unspoken.

Sessions are available in English or Malay. The aim is to create a space where you don't need to translate or explain yourself to be understood.

People often come to this work for:

Intergenerational Expectations

Navigating the expectations of family and community alongside your own sense of what you want, especially when these don't align.

Migration & Belonging

The experience of being a migrant, the loss and complexity that comes with moving between countries, and finding belonging when you don't quite fit anywhere.

Third Culture Identity

Living between cultures — being from one place, raised in another, and feeling at home in neither. Making sense of an identity that doesn't map onto a single label.

Cultural & Family Roles

The pressure of being the bridge, the translator, the one who holds things together. Renegotiating roles when they no longer fit.

Language & Communication

Sessions available in English or Malay. Working in a way where you don't have to translate yourself, or explain why something carries the weight it does.

Identity & Self-Understanding

Making sense of who you are when your identity sits at the intersection of cultures, generations, or expectations that don't always agree.

Sessions are flexible, non-judgmental, and shaped around how you communicate and what works for you. There's no pressure to mask, perform, or explain yourself in a particular way. We'll start where you are.

What to Expect

Whether you're coming for women's mental health support, neurodivergent counselling, cultural identity work, or some combination, the way I work stays the same:

You set the pace

There's no agenda to push through. We move at a speed that feels manageable and safe for you.

Flexible communication

Sessions don't have to look a certain way. If talking directly feels hard, we can find other approaches that work better for you.

No diagnosis needed

You don't need a formal diagnosis to access neurodivergent-affirming counselling. If you identify as neurodivergent or suspect you might be, that's enough.

Trauma-informed

I understand that many women and neurodivergent adults carry experiences of not being believed, understood, or taken seriously. I take that seriously.

Strengths-based

The focus is on understanding yourself and building on what works — not on fixing what's "wrong" with you.

Crisis-aware

I'm trained in crisis support, suicide intervention, and domestic and family violence response, and work alongside your GP or wider care team when more acute support is needed.

Common Questions

Do I need a diagnosis to access neurodivergent-affirming counselling?
No. If you identify as neurodivergent, suspect you might be autistic or have ADHD, or have recently received a diagnosis, you're welcome to reach out. A formal diagnosis is not required.

I'm not sure if I'm neurodivergent — can I still come?
Yes. Many adults come to counselling in the middle of figuring this out. You don't need to have an answer before we begin — that process of making sense of things can be part of the work.

I'm a woman and I think I might be autistic. Is that something you work with?
Yes, and it's an area I've specifically sought training in. Autism in women and girls is frequently missed or misdiagnosed, and the experience of receiving a late diagnosis — or still waiting for one — brings its own challenges. I've completed dedicated training in autistic women and girls with Attwood & Garnett Events.

Do you work with cultural identity, migration, or being from a culturally diverse background?
Yes. I work with people navigating cultural identity, intergenerational expectations, and the experience of belonging across cultures — including migrants, third culture adults, and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Sessions are available in English or Malay.

Do you offer NDIS-funded counselling?
Yes, for self-managed and plan-managed participants. Funding may apply under Capacity Building – Improved Daily Living. If you're unsure what your plan covers, feel free to get in touch and we can talk it through.

Where are you located?
I offer in-person sessions in Canberra (Denman Prospect, Monday and Saturday) and Murrumbateman (Wednesday), as well as online sessions on all operating days.

Not sure if this is the right fit? Book a free 10-minute introductory chat — no commitment, just a chance to ask questions and see how it feels.

Book a Free 10-Min Chat

Women's Mental Health & Neurodivergent Counselling