Michele Junges-Stainthorpe, BACP Therapist - Registered Member MBACP #176457

I am a neuro-atypical counsellor, and that deeply shapes the way I understand people, emotions, relationships and psychological distress. For many years, I experienced the world as intense, overwhelming and emotionally demanding, often feeling different from others without fully understanding why. Like many neuro-atypical adults, I spent a long time masking, adapting, overthinking, trying to “hold it together,” and wondering why things that seemed manageable for other people could feel so exhausting internally.
Discovering my own neuro-atypicality changed not only the way I understood myself, but also the way I work therapeutically. It helped me realise that many people are not “too sensitive,” “too emotional,” “too much,” “lazy,” “dramatic,” or “difficult.” Often, they are nervous systems that have spent years surviving overwhelm, misunderstanding, rejection, chronic stress, masking, emotional invalidation, or trying to fit into environments that were never designed for the way they naturally function.
Because of this, I work in a way that is compassionate, direct, authentic and deeply neuro-atypical-affirming. I understand what it is like to:
• feel emotionally overwhelmed by everyday life,
• overthink conversations for hours afterwards,
• struggle with rejection sensitivity,
• experience burnout,
• mask constantly around other people,
• feel different or misunderstood,
• live with chronic anxiety or emotional exhaustion,
• crave connection while simultaneously finding relationships difficult,
• feel stuck between perfectionism and overwhelm,
• carry shame for “not functioning” the way you think you should.
In therapy, I aim to create a space where you do not have to pretend, perform, mask or explain yourself constantly. I believe understanding how your brain and nervous system function can be life changing. So much suffering comes not only from our struggles themselves, but from years of believing those struggles mean something is wrong with us.
My approach combines emotional depth with practical understanding. I work with clients experiencing anxiety, trauma, emotional dysregulation, burnout, relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, attachment wounds, perfectionism, neurodivergence, masking, identity struggles and chronic overwhelm.
I do not believe healing means becoming less sensitive, less emotional or less neurodivergent. I believe healing means understanding yourself more deeply, reducing shame, building emotional safety, learning regulation skills, creating healthier relationships, and no longer seeing yourself as broken for functioning differently.
You are not a problem to be fixed. You are a person whose experiences, nervous system and adaptations deserve understanding.