Therapy for Late-Diagnosed Neurodivergent Adults: Responsive Care, Practical Supports, & Ethical Considerations

A therapist’s guide to navigating care, identity, and ethics with late-diagnosed ADHD and autistic adults in an increasingly complex clinical and cultural climate.

As increasing numbers of adults are diagnosed with ADHD or autism later in life, therapists are being called to provide responsive, identity-affirming, and ethically grounded care. This seminar offers practical tools and deeper clinical insight to support late-diagnosed neurodivergent clients - many of whom have long faced masking, burnout, identity grief, and barriers to care.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this seminar, participants will be able to:

• Identify common clinical themes in late-diagnosed ADHD and autistic adults like masking, burnout, identity grief, and late-life diagnostic processing.

• Apply neurodivergent-affirming therapeutic strategies to support emotional regulation, communication, executive functioning, and sensory needs in adult clients.

• Evaluate ethical considerations related to formal diagnosis, self-diagnosis, and the therapist’s role in affirming neurodivergent identity while maintaining clinical responsibility.

• Demonstrate ethical decision-making in scenarios involving therapist self-disclosure of neurodivergence, client requests for accommodations, and therapeutic neutrality in a socially polarized climate.

• Distinguish between pathologizing frameworks and identity-affirming approaches to conceptualizing neurodivergence within an ethical and culturally responsive lens.

• Discuss the ethical implications of social bias and systemic barriers affecting access to diagnosis, support, and care for neurodivergent adults, particularly those from marginalized populations.

• Identify the potential benefits and limitations of therapists disclosing their own neurodivergence, including ethical considerations, its influence on the therapeutic relationship, and the impact on client experience.

• Integrate inclusive, ethics-informed practices that align with professional standards while honoring neurodivergent identity, autonomy, and diverse lived experiences.

  
  

This training will help you:

• Strengthen your ethical decision-making in complex situations

• Expand your cultural and clinical responsiveness

• Confidently support neurodivergent clients with practical, affirming strategies

Continuing Education Details:

Earn 3 Ethics and Cultural Competency hours, pre-approved by the MN Boards of Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Behavioral Health and Therapy for LPCs and LPCCs. Pending approval from the MN Board of Psychology.