A Safe Place for Neurodivergent Adults to Heal, Grow, and Thrive
Multicultural, LGBTQIAP+, and Neurodiversity-Affirming Mental Health Counseling. Trauma-informed for all approaches.
Book a Free Initial Consultation
A Safe Place for Neurodivergent Adults to Heal, Grow, and Thrive
Specialized mental health therapy for neurodivergent adults, grounded in clinical expertise, extensive research, and affirming care.
Request a Free Initial Consultation
Spectrum for Life Counseling embraces Neurodiversity – the understanding that all human minds are unique and valuable.
Spectrum for Life prioritizes YOUR values and goals.
but not less valuable!
feel like they belong and are supported.
People with less common ways of being
can benefit from extra understanding and support.
Intersecting Spectrums
- Autism, ADHD, and other Neurodivergent Conditions,
- Gender and Sexuality Spectrums (LGBTQIAP+),
- Physical Health and Developmental Conditions
- Histories of Trauma/Complex Trauma, and More
I help clients:
- Identify and use their strengths to improve their lives
- Identify the challenges and conflicts that undermine thriving
Life is challenging. Let’s meet
this challenge together!
About Me
Hello and Welcome. I am Dr. T. A. (Tempest) Meridian McDonald, PhD, MS, LPC, Counselor and Director of Spectrum For Life Counseling. I am a multiply neurodivergent therapist and published researcher who is passionate about helping all clients, including those with neurodivergent conditions (diagnosed or self-identified), achieve personal growth.
As the founder of Spectrum for Life, I am here to support you as you navigate these challenges and transform yourself and your life on your terms.
Sometimes, when people find me, they feel so overwhelmed by their challenges that it can be hard to imagine that life can feel better. Life can feel like an unending struggle, or that life has no meaning.
Sometimes people are struggling with anxiety or depression- or cycling between the two. Sometimes people can feel like they are constantly masking or they may experience difficulty with understanding themselves and others or feeling understood.
↓
- imagine how to accept one’s self
- know how to manage conflicts
- get needs met
- have healthy, fulfilling relationships
- create a life that feels meaningful according to your own values
Practice Areas & Therapeutic Approaches
Support
- Trauma-related experiences, responses, and conditions
- Anxiety, depression, dissociation, and stress
- Dissociative disorders, including dissociative identity disorder (DID)
- Identity development and exploration, including neurodivergent, autistic, LGBTQIA+, cultural, and other intersecting identities
- Insomnia and other sleep concerns
- Relationship and interpersonal difficulties
- Experiences of exclusion, discrimination, and marginalization
- Neurodivergent experiences and needs, including autism, ADHD, & other neurodevelopmental differences
- Mental health impacts of chronic health conditions, chronic pain, and other co-occurring conditions
Skills
I support clients in gaining skills such as:
- Self-understanding (concept, preferences, needs, boundaries, world view)
- Compassion (for self and others)
- Self-regulation
- Self-determination
- Self-advocacy
- Conflict resolution
- Relationship skills
- Leadership skills
All approaches are simply tools. All approaches are modified to be trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming. I am WELL VERSED in the issues and benefits of each approach.
I work collaboratively with clients using approaches that are most meaningful and acceptable to them. I work with YOUR Choices.
- Person-Centered
- Strength-Based
- Solution-Focused
- Emotion Focused
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- Family Systems
- Gottman Method
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Radically Open and Traditional DBT
- Existential Approaches
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Modified Trauma Focused
- …and more
