Abby Jones

I'm a psychotherapist and counsellor specialising in people who have or suspect they may have Autism. 

Being an Autist in a world designed for Non-Autists brings unique challenges. 

So on top of whatever standard life struggles and events might bring a person to therapy, there's often a history of traumatic social exclusion/rejection. 

This can logically result in a baseline of anxiety, depression, exhaustion, often isolation and low self-esteem. 

These are all issues which studies show can improve with the right support.

We can learn to manage challenges more successfully, care for ourselves in ways that suit us and get the most out of life. 

I aim to find out about your particular struggles and strengths, together we work out the difference between the things we need to work around and the things we might be able to change.

Then see you thriving in the world and loving your uniqueness.

I call how I work Talk, Feel, Grow, as that's literally what happens. It's rooted in the belief that Autism is not a disorder, it's just a natural difference. 

Everything in the world naturally flourishes in the right conditions and the wrong conditions can significantly impede growth.

As Autists, we're likely to have been trying to grow in conditions which are right for others, not necessarily right for us. 

This can be very painful, damaging to self-esteem and get in the way our us achieving our inherent potential.

We can work together to find out what your ideal conditions are and how to create more of them. 

Often the expectations of others or our expectations of ourselves can create blocks to our natural flourishing. We can work together to identify; and either remove or work around these barriers which come from inappropriate expectations. 

It looks different for everyone. You'll get a bespoke service tailored to your particular needs.

Optional tools available are: 

Traditional talking psychotherapy & counselling

Activities such as drawing, writing, plasticine modelling

Role playing and thought experiments

Practical tools for the body to independently self-sooth such as grounding/calming techniques, mindfulness and self acupressure 

If you're curious to find out more, just let me know and we can have an initial exploratory talk (by phone, video or email, whichever feels best for you)  

No masking required.

It's entirely normal for it to take a crisis causing us to feel overwhelmed in order to make this step into the unknown. 

So we usually begin by focusing on safety and stabilisation right now.

Depending on where you are and what's going on, this might be resolved quickly or might take a few weeks.

Then we can look at your past experience, where you'd like to be in future and how to get there.

You'll always be welcome to ask me anything and always be welcome to tell me directly what you want most out of each meeting.

It's not a case of me having a plan about where you should be going, it's me helping you work out where you want to go and supporting you in finding a way to get there.