Karen Ceccon is the Director / Principal Counsellor at Ararat Wellness,
Karen oversees a team of counsellors and behavioural practitioners Australia wide
Her work supports people who have barriers in their lives that can prevent them from living their lives to the fullest potential.
Karen was diagnosed later in her adult life as a cis-female neurodivergent, and we discuss the process of this, the impacts, the benefits of a diagnosis and challenges related to being neurodivergent in both a professional and personal setting.
As a therapeutic community we are learning so much about neuro-divergence, the symptoms of girls and women.
A few terms we use here that are ADHD terms that arose in our discussion:
Neurodivergence: A description of those whose minds work differently – we are in a time where this term is being defined in a new way, yet it is commonly used for those with ADHD and Autism (although it’s muuuuuccchhh broader than this!).
Masks/masking: The act of wearing a mask or making effort to fit in to fulfil other people’s ideas of what is normal or acceptable. Often over time, children with ADHD, diagnosed or undiagnosed, will develop a way of being where they hide their traits, uniqueness or natural tendencies. When they fail to hide these there may be large amounts of shame experienced.
Dump/doom piles: A system of organisation that helps people understand their mess, mind and way of finding things. These often don’t make sense to others – but make sense to the person involved.
Uncanny valley: If something is off, people get a gut feeling that something is not quite right.
Connect with Karen & her service through:
Website: www.araratwellness.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/araratwellness
youtube.com/@AraratWellness
