Gifted therapist
If you’re looking for a gifted therapist, you’re looking for one or more of three things:
- A therapist for gifted people
- A therapist who is a gifted person
- A therapist who has a real gift for therapy
What I offer falls definitely into the first two definitions – and it’s up to my clients to decide about the third one.
In fact, you might be looking for the magical unicorn who meets all three of these definitions in one excellently packaged bundle – AND who meets your criteria for availability, suitability for working with people in your country, and fees that match your budget.
Ready to start? Message me here.
What does a gifted therapist do?
My approach is a little unorthodox – as is the training I’ve gone through so far.
I help you understand your giftedness – your intellectual, emotional, and other intensities.
I help you understand how you fit – and don’t – in the world. Relationships, work, role in society.
I sit with you in the challenges of being gifted. The loneliness. The small – perhaps tiny – pool of people who get you. The way you fit – and don’t – in society, friendship circles, and workplaces (yes, the repeat is here for a reason). The tension of capability limited by capacity. Of seemingly vast potential limited by the physical realities of needing to eat, sleep, relax, and fulfil familial and relationship responsibilities. Of being brilliant in some aspects, and self-perplexed by your apparent dimness in others (yes, we’ve all been there).
I help you come to terms with yourself, your experiences in life so far, and your outlook for yourself in the future.
Sounds like what you need? Send your enquiry here, or read on to find out more.
How does it work?
You probably want to know about the how. Good, let’s do it:
Dialogue is the cornerstone. We meet on Zoom for an hour each time. We talk.
We hang out as two gifted people in the same space. The mask can drop as much as you’re comfortable. You don’t need to pretend to be slower than you are, less capable than you are, more ‘normal’ than you are. You bring your full self – no need to leave parts of you at the door. I bring my toolkit.
We explore. I ask questions, you ask questions, we discuss. We find the bits that niggle you, and I bring in some facts and (occasional) figures about giftedness, and Autism, ADHD and other aspects of twice-exceptionality when relevant. We compare and contrast non-giftedness. Things become clearer.
You probably have some feelings as we go through this process. I meet you in your intensity with my hand-crafted therapeutic collection of tools, to help you process and integrate. To get you unstuck from the feelings quagmire that’s tangled you up. This can go broader than your feelings about giftedness – we’ll probably process some trauma, discover some unmet needs, all that normal kind of therapy jazz. It’s up to you to decide what and when we work on.
You may be looking to work on your Known Traumas with someone who understands giftedness, who gets how a gifted person would a) experience b) cope with and c) process and integrate your Stuff. We can do that. I draw on regular person-centred counselling approaches, Internal Family Systems methodology, and Brainspotting, amongst other things.
We wrap up. At some point, it becomes clear that you’ve got what you came for. After that, you might like the odd session here and there to check in, or you might simply push your boat away from the harbour you found with me here, off to explore the great and vast ocean of experiences available to you.
How long does it take?
Clients fall into one of three broad categories:
- You suspect you’re gifted, and you want to check it out with someone who knows giftedness, to see if you’re right, and figure out what to do about it.
1-3 sessions might give you enough of a reality checkpoint and steer for now - You’re figuring out your giftedness, autism, and/or ADHD, and you want to get better at understanding and handling your magnificent, unruly mind.
8-12 sessions will take you through most of this, unless we stray into option 3 - You’re somewhere between suspecting and being confident you’re gifted/autistic/ADHD, AND you want to work with someone who knows their stuff about neurodivergence AND work through current and past challenges that you just can’t seem to get past.
A more open-ended trajectory, depending on how far you want to go with processing and integrating these issues.
If you see yourself in one (or more) of these and want to explore working with me, drop me a note.
What next?
1. Do Nothing
:-) You’re ready as and when you’re ready.
2. Do It Yourself
Auto-psychotherapy is an option. Bibliotherapy. Nature therapy. Watching all the videos and reading all the books. And… you might find you can go straight to the heart of it more easily by working with someone who’s walked this path with many people like yourself before, so read on just another sentence or two…
3. Do It With Someone
Hi, I’m Sue. I help gifted and twice-exceptional people understand themselves and process their past experiences, to have a happier, healthier future. To get started on this path with me, send me a message.