Meet your Therapist - Kylie Stokes

Kylie considers it an honour to work alongside people on the journey to empowered wellbeing, usually in their most vulnerable state. Working hard to provide a haven from the outside world, she is intentional about helping to unload clients’ worries and problems in a safe, confidential manner, leading to freedom and healing.

Kylie’s late diagnosis of ADHD, with a self-diagnosis of Autism, led to a journey of identity shift, unmasking and finding herself again. This self-discovery journey began during her university years, igniting a passion to assist late-diagnosed women in finding themselves again. Navigating associated issues of raising neurodivergent children, parental burnout, emotional dysregulation, financial distress, and relationship problems is the basis of Kylie’s toolkit.

Educated at Edith Cowan University in Counselling and Psychology, she applies an integrated approach that draws on Relational Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Internal Family Systems, Narrative Therapy, Attachment Therapy, Person-Centred Therapy, and Existential Therapy.

If you are wondering if this is the right fit for you, contact me for a free non-therapy 20-minute chat.

How I integrate various approaches for empowered living

An integrated approach combining Relational Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Narrative Therapy, Attachment Therapy, Person-Centred Therapy, and Existential Therapy can be deeply powerful and affirming for neurodivergent persons, particularly those who are late-diagnosed (autistic, ADHD, or AuDHD) and navigating identity, masking, trauma, or burnout.

Here's how these approaches interweave to provide holistic, trauma-informed, and neurodivergent-affirming care:

1. Person-Centred Therapy – Foundation of Safety and Acceptance

• Emphasises unconditional positive regard, empathy, and authenticity

• Builds a non-pathologising, affirming space where neurodivergent people can feel seen and valued as they are

• Allows for self-directed exploration and pacing, crucial for sensory and emotional safety

2. Relational Therapy – Healing through Connection

• Focuses on the therapeutic relationship as a vehicle for healing

• Addresses relational trauma, masking in social dynamics, and deep loneliness common in neurodivergent women

• Models a safe, reciprocal, and validating connection—a corrective emotional experience

3. Psychodynamic Therapy – Exploring the Roots

• Investigates unconscious beliefs, developmental history, and internalised social roles (e.g., "good girl," "peacekeeper")

• Helping people make meaning of early attachment wounds, complex trauma, and the lifelong pressure to conform

• Supports insight into why certain patterns (masking, fawning, self-silencing) developed

4. Internal Family Systems (IFS) – Understanding Inner Parts

• Identifies protective parts (e.g., the Masker, the Overachiever) and exiled parts (e.g., the Shamed Child, the Isolated Teen)

• Encourages compassionate internal dialogue whereby we journey to heal trauma without shame

• Builds Self-leadership: a calm, confident internal guide to care for all parts

5. Narrative Therapy – Rewriting the Story

• Challenges dominant cultural narratives (e.g., "you're too sensitive," "you need to be productive to matter")

• Helping women re-author their identity from a strength-based, neurodivergent-affirming perspective

• Empowers reclamation of voice, values, and lived experience

6. Attachment-Based Therapy – Repairing Core Wounds

• Focuses on how early caregiving and attachment disruptions shape relationships, self-worth, and emotional regulation

• Supports healing of insecure attachment patterns (anxious, avoidant, disorganized)

• Builds secure attachment internally (via IFS) and externally (via therapy and safe relationships)

7. Existential Therapy – Making Meaning as a Neurodivergent Woman

• Helps navigate big questions: “Who am I outside the mask?” “What does authenticity mean for me?”

• Explores freedom, identity, belonging, choice, isolation, and meaning-making

• Supports clients in embracing their unique path and constructing a life aligned with their values—not societal norms

How This Integration Supports Neurodivergent Women:

✔ Creates safety through validation and emotional presence
✔ Deepens insight into internalised trauma and social roles
✔ Repairs relationships with self and others through secure therapeutic attachment
✔ Rebuilds identity beyond diagnostic labels
✔ Encourages connection to body, intuition, and values
✔ Empowers voice, agency, and authentic expression
✔ Honours the full spectrum of neurodivergent experience—from sensory sensitivity to creative brilliance

Don’t do it alone, find your community

Send an enquiry to find out where and when the next session is.