The Professional You: Navigating Neuro-divergency and Authenticity in the Professional World

NeurodivergenceChildren & TeensCollege StudentsHighly-Sensitive PersonResourcesAnxiety

Jun 5

two individuals sitting outside holding phones and fidget toys — *By Sophie Koch, LGPC*

If you spend time on the mental health side of the internet or talk with people who do, you may be familiar with the term neurodivergent. However, if you are not and want to know more about it, you have come to the right place!

What is Neurodivergence?

Neurodivergent refers to brains that work or develop differently from the average development or thinking pattern of the neurotypical brain. Neurodivergence occurs due to a variety of reasons, such as mental or medical disorders, and can be found in the brains of those diagnosed with:

Autism
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Down Syndrome
Learning disabilities, such as dyscalculia, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyspraxia
Mental illnesses, such as personality disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Bipolar Disorder, and Social Anxiety
Sensory processing disorders
Syndromes, such as Prader-Willi Syndrome, Tourettes, and Williams Syndrome

It is important to note that neurodivergence does not mean that the way a neurodivergent mind works is incorrect or less effective than a neurotypical mind.

This difference may look like an alternative way of thinking, perceiving, feeling, expressing, and functioning. It can appear in how we interact with others, our internal experiences, our engagement with sensory stimuli, and how we understand and move within the world.

Neurodivergent minds offer many valuable strengths and a new way of thinking that provides a wealth of knowledge, perspective, and diversity. Therefore, as the name suggests, the only difference between neurotypical and neurodivergent brains is that they are different!

As a Neurodivergent Clinician

I have had my fair share of times where neurodivergence felt less like a strength and more like a barrier to fitting into the world or functioning “normally.” In fact, there were many times throughout my education and training to be a mental health therapist when I felt deep frustration at how I functioned differently than my peers.

In my Professional Clinical Counseling program, I struggled to feel the textbook definition of “professional.” I often struggled to absorb the material as quickly as other students. I also found myself struggling to respond in session the way the authors of my counseling textbooks told me to. I had become so frustrated at how wrong I felt in a profession I felt so right about that I almost gave up.

I almost gave up until I realized I was being a hypocrite.

I had the audacity to sit through sessions, work with clients who felt their minds were “wrong,” and ask them to consider how a mind cannot be wrong but just different—all while I was struggling with the same thing! That was when I found my authenticity and acknowledged the difficult self-truth.

Different does not define quality. It describes it.

The difference in how my mind works does not define the quality of my ideas, work, or skills. The difference solely describes how the way I think, work, and demonstrate my knowledge manifests differently. And that is okay.

It is more than okay. It is valuable, and because of this, I will repeat it.

The difference in how your mind works does not define the quality of your ideas, work, or skills. The difference solely describes how the way you think, work, and demonstrate your knowledge manifests differently. And that is valuable.

Professionalism at a Glance

Neurodivergence does not require normalization. It requires recognition and appreciation. So, if you are a neurodivergent professional struggling to have your authenticity coexist with the definition of “professionalism,” just know that you are not alone and belong.

By definition, “professionalism” refers to the business, social, intellectual, and ethical qualities one demonstrates in a standard work environment. We, as a society, have defined what these qualities resemble based on a privileged idea that promotes sexist, ableist, ageist, and racist phenomena just by association.

That is why, to redefine professionalism, we must rewrite the narrative to state that neurodivergence does not challenge professionalism; it expands upon it.

Expanding Upon Professionalism

To honor my authenticity as a female clinician with ADHD, I learned that openness, communication, and acceptance were most beneficial in navigating “professionalism” on my terms.

Openness

Use openness in your self-exploration of what neurodivergence looks like for you and how it enriches your life.

Be open about your strengths and where challenges may occur. Being open with yourself allows you to learn more about your mind and what it can do. Learn what your mind tries to tell you. Ask it more about what it does for you and how it challenges you rather than focusing on how it isolates or limits you in a neurotypical world.

Communication

In this openness, communication with those around you is key.

Starting a dialogue with those around you can help you identify your strengths and challenges so that others can know where you will succeed and where you need support. In this communication, you can set boundaries, expectations, and limitations to what others expect of you.

Acceptance

Lastly, remember acceptance as you navigate the strengthening of your authenticity.

In identifying your strengths, challenges, and ways of functioning, you are not apologizing for them. We do not apologize because we are not incorrect for no longer re-shaping, molding, or conforming ourselves to fit a privileged image. Instead, we can find freedom in our authenticity by accepting that our minds work differently, the gifts that difference brings, and the challenges we might face.