Working Together

By the time most women come to me, they’ve already done a fair amount of living. Often, they’ve done a fair amount of inner work, too.

You may understand yourself quite well. You may have been in therapy before. You may have read the books, done the workshops, learned the language of trauma, worked hard on your relationships.

And still: Here you are.

Something has changed. Something hurts. Something no longer fits. Or something in you wants more room than you’ve been giving it.

We begin there. I’m interested in your life as a whole. What happened matters.

So does what is happening now. And so does what wants to happen next.

A divorce isn’t only a relationship problem. Retirement isn’t only practical. Illness can change your relationship with your body, your work, your faith, and time itself. A creative awakening can rearrange a life.

Sometimes we need to understand the past. Sometimes we need to grieve.

Sometimes we need to figure out what you’re going to do on Tuesday.

And sometimes the question is enormous: What does my life mean now?

We can work with all of it.

NOT fixing. NOT self improvement

Women are given an astonishing number of ways to believe we should be doing ourselves better: Better boundaries. Better bodies. Better relationships. Better habits. Better aging. Better healing.

I’m much more interested in what’s true for you.

What matters? What are you tired of?

What do you want?

What are you grieving or angry about? What have you accommodated for far too long?

What keeps calling you?

And what might become possible if you stopped organizing your life around who you thought you were supposed to be?

Working with Neurodivergent Women

I have a particular passion for working with neurodivergent women—especially those of us who have spent decades being told, explicitly or implicitly, that we are too much, too sensitive, too intense, too scattered, too strange, or simply doing life wrong.

I was diagnosed with ADHD more than 30 years ago, and my understanding of neurodivergence is grounded in postgraduate training as well as decades of professional and deeply lived personal experience.

I can help you navigate the sometimes very challenging process of unmasking—learning where and when it’s safe to let the adaptations fall away, what is genuinely you underneath them, and when masking may still serve you.

I’m not interested in helping you become better at passing for “normal.” I’m interested in helping you discover how your particular mind and nervous system actually work—and build a life that fits the woman you really are.

You don’t have to know what kind of help you need

You don’t need to decide whether what you’re dealing with calls for psychotherapy, coaching, spiritual mentoring, or some combination. We can figure that out together.

And you don’t need a beautifully articulated reason for coming.

“I don’t know what the hell is happening to me” is a perfectly legitimate place to begin.

So is:

“I know exactly what’s happening. I just don’t know what to do about it.”

We start with what’s happening now, what brought you here, and what you most want help with.

You don’t need to know where it will lead.

We follow the thread, together.

And if you are interesting in working together, I would love to hear from you. You can reach me at 206-427-1325 or via email at Melissa@MelissaGayleWest.com.