Therapy for Parenting a Neurodivergent Teen or Child in Autistic Burnout

Support for when your child is really struggling

WORK WITH ME
WORK WITH ME

You may have seen this coming and been trying to stem the tide for years, or it feels like your kid’s burnout appeared out of nowhere.

Your kid isn’t who they used to be.

They can’t do the basic things they used to do. If they’re young behind, they might have backtracked on potty training, dressing, or feeding themselves. For a teen, their hygiene might be struggling in ways you’ve never seen. Or they need you to cook for them (even a pbnj is too much).

They used to have some independence, but now they won’t use those skills. When you push deeper, really, it’s that they can’t use those skills.

It’s too much. It’s overwhelming. There isn’t enough momentum or motivation.

Burnout.

It might be all they can do to make it to school, or they aren’t making it. They just can’t.

The school is on your back, and you are just trying to get by, get through the day every day.

For some kids, the feelings of overwhelm get to the point of suicidal ideation.

How do you move forward? How do you help them through or out of this? e they ever going to be the kid that they used to be?

Is My Burnt-Out Teen or Kid Going to Get Better?

Autistic Burnout Recovery in Kids

You are scared for them. Scared for their future. It seemed like they were doing well.

But then it all fell apart. You don’t want it to go back exactly to where it was, but you do want your kid back.

You want to help them get back to themselves. To see them smile and enjoy the things that they love again.

For them to be able to do the things they want to do. You want to help them feel like life isn’t passing them by.

But most of all, you want them to be happy. To go into adulthood knowing what they can manage and what is too much.

So they no longer live their life in overwhelm.

You want them to be true to themselves and their needs.

For them to wake up in the morning and know that they can face the day. To be able to get up and do the things they want to do, but also to be able to be themselves in the world so that it doesn’t take as strong a toll on them.

But how do you help them? How do you pull them out of this?

How Does Therapy for You Help Your Burnt-out Kid Recover

Getting them out of burnout is possible. But parenting a child in burnout requires a certain balance,

You are balancing the systems in the neurotypical world with what your child needs, and sometimes those things are not working together. 

When your child is in burnout, sometimes there are decisions that need to be made to allow your child the time they need to recover.

We start by identifying whether this is burnout or something else. Then we figure out how to navigate this burnout in a way that helps your child heal.

Last but not least, we help your child identify how this happened so that they can learn to meet their own needs better in the future.

This road takes a lot of patience, and together we’ll work to ensure we’re on the right path. Then make adjustments as they heal and appear ready.

We’ll work together to learn about your child’s needs and how to help them take care of themselves as they get older.

As a parent, it is important that you take care of yourself. That you are working through your fears and worries so that you aren’t bringing them into your interactions with your child.

We’ll also work through the very normal feelings of grief that your child is struggling with in this way so that you can continue to support them.

As a Neurodivergent Affirming Therapist, I Can Help

As a neurodivergent parent to neurodivergent kids, I’ve been there personally, and I’ve helped other parents support their kids through burnout.

I know how serious the decisions you are making right now feel. I know that this isn’t an easy place to be, and all you want is for your child to be okay.

Often, burnout happens when we have been forcing neurotypical behavior or pushing too far past our own abilities. Together, we will help you to identify the burnout causes and learn to help your child/teen be aware of them in the future.

Once you have processed your grief, you will be able to help them grieve their limitations and learn to balance their needs with their wants and the demands of the greater world in a way that puts themselves first.

If You Ready To Get Started Supporting Your Neurodivergent Child in Burnout Better

These are the steps to take to start therapy with me. I will help you better support your child or teen so that they can come back to themselves.

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Fill out the Contact Form

Once you fill out the form, I will reach out by email and schedule a time for a free 15-minute consultation.

Schedule a consult

During our consult we will discuss payment, appointment times, and make sure that we are a good fit. If all of that works, we will schedule our first appointment.

Get started on the path to feeling more confident as a parent.

I will send you some paperwork, and at our first appointment, I will get to know you and what is going on with your child better.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Autistic burnout happens when your child has been masking, inundated by sensory information, and forcing themselves to interact with the greater world in ways that are uncomfortable for them. This eventually results in a crash where they can’t force themselves to do the things that they used to, i.e., burnout.

  • Both autistic and adhder kids experience burnout, but just in different ways. I can help you if your child is experiencing burnout, whether they are autistic or an ADHDER.

  • It’s not necessarily that it gets worse with age, but often the older you are, the longer you have been forcing yourself to interact with the neurotypical world in ways that aren’t healthy for you. This makes autistic burnout more likely to happen the older you get if you aren’t working with yourself to interact in ways that feel less effortful than masking all the time.