AuDHD Therapy with a Brisbane Psychologist.
Sometimes called AuDHD — the combination that pulls you in two directions at once: the mind wants novelty and routine.
I’m a Brisbane-based psychologist in Stafford working with adults and teens (12+) living with both Autism and ADHD. I don’t conduct assessments — therapy only.
Book OnlineAuDHD — pulled in opposite directions
Research suggests around a third of autistic folks also meet criteria for ADHD, with studies finding rates between 25% and 65%. When both apply, the experience is often one of internal contradiction — wanting routine and getting bored of it, craving novelty and being overwhelmed by it, hyperfocus and distractibility in the same afternoon, deep social warmth alongside an intense need to be alone, careful attention to detail in some domains and total invisibility of detail in others.
Structure helps — but usually only when you’ve chosen it. Most generic advice to neurodivergent people is some version of just have more structure. For AuDHD it’s more complicated: the nervous system tends to need structure that’s independently chosen, not imposed from outside. The same routine that feels protective when you set it can feel suffocating when someone else does — and the schedule that worked beautifully for two weeks can fall apart in the third for no reason that feels real.
This is why a lot of AuDHD folks have cycled through systems, apps, and planners and ended up quietly convinced they’re the problem. It’s usually less about willpower and more about the fit between the strategy and a nervous system that needs both ADHD-side and autism-side support at once. A lot of the early work is building structure the AuDHD nervous system is actually okay with — usually more flexible than the planners assume.
What others don’t see
High functioning gets used a lot in neurodivergent spaces. It’s usually more accurate to say high masking — the conscious or unconscious effort of holding a presentable version of yourself together.
For AuDHD the masking effort is often doubled: the ADHD-driven push to keep attention and energy looking neurotypical, layered over the autism-driven management of sensory load, social timing, and stim suppression. It takes an enormous amount of effort — and it usually shows up later as recovery weekends, the dishes, the medical appointment you keep meaning to book, the friend you keep meaning to text back, the careers left unfinished.
If you’re reading this on behalf of someone you live with — a partner, a child, a sibling — you may be recognising the pattern right now.
Does this sound like you?
AuDHD isn't autism and ADHD taking turns. It's both wirings running at once, often pulling in opposite directions — which is why so much of it feels contradictory, even to you. One foot on the accelerator, one on the brake, both pressed hard.
The two pictures on their own live on the ADHD and Autism pages. What's interesting here is the overlap — where the two sets of needs collide:
- Sensory — you seek it and can't stand it. Music up loud to focus, then a clothing tag or a humming fridge wrecks the whole afternoon.
- Structure — you need routine to function and rebel against it the moment it's imposed, including by yourself. You'll build the perfect system, then refuse to follow it.
- Impulse vs change — you'll make a snap decision on a whim, then be thrown when the day doesn't go to plan. The novelty-chasing and the change-aversion are both yours, at the same time.
- Connection — you crave people and they exhaust you. You may feel great talking for hours with the right person about the right thing, but then need two days hiding to recover.
- Pace — your mind races three steps ahead while your processing lags behind. Fast and slow at once, and tiring to live inside.
If you've spent your life feeling "too much and not enough" at the same time — too disorganised to be autistic, too rigid to be ADHD — that contradiction is the picture. If you said yes to any of these, it doesn't mean you definitely have AuDHD, but it is worth getting curious about.
Because AuDHD sits across both, there's no single screener for it. The two on the ADHD and Autism pages each capture one side — and plenty of people who land here see themselves in both.
Practical strategies first.
Most neurodivergent clients are already deeply insightful. They’ve spent years analysing themselves — read the books, listened to the podcasts, joined the communities, completed the online self-tests.
The early work tends to focus on stabilising the day-to-day: sensory accommodation — what your nervous system actually needs to feel less overwhelmed — and executive function and stimulation needs: how to start the thing, finish the thing, and find enough novelty inside a structure to stay in it at all. This is where I lean on DBT skills and somatic, nervous-system-based work, including bridging the interoception gap that often shows up in autism and gets missed when the ADHD mind moves too fast. Once those foundations are steadier, we tend to move into the deeper work — Schema Therapy for long-standing relational patterns and the inner critic, and EMDR (including ND-informed adaptations and EMDR 2.0 where appropriate) for the cumulative trauma of years of sensory overwhelm and relationship conflict.
EMDR
Neurodivergent-informed EMDR for the cumulative trauma of years of sensory overwhelm and rejection that functions like trauma even when it doesn't look like it.
Read more →Schema Therapy
For long-standing relational patterns and the inner critic that's been running at full volume since primary school.
Read more →DBT
Distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness — the practical foundations that come first.
Read more →If you’re not sure about both
Not everyone with one is recognising both. If you’ve been diagnosed with ADHD but suspect autism — or diagnosed with autism but suspect ADHD — these pages go into each on its own terms.
AuDHD assessments — where to go
I do not offer ADHD or autism assessments. A formal diagnosis in Australia is typically made by a psychiatrist (who can also prescribe medication where indicated), and in some cases by a psychologist who conducts adult ADHD or autism assessments. AuDHD is not formally diagnosed as a single category in Australia — it’s typically two separate diagnostic processes (ADHD and autism). You may speak to your GP, or, if appropriate, I can refer you to one of my colleagues experienced in this space.
I offer therapy only — for adults and teens who have one or both diagnoses, are in the process of being assessed, or are self-diagnosed (because formal assessments may be too cost prohibitive at this point).
Already have a psychiatrist or assessor? I work collaboratively alongside psychiatry, GP care, and the other clinicians involved in your treatment, with your consent.
Who this work suits
This work suits people who can attend consistently and are looking for ongoing therapy rather than a one-off session, an assessment, or short-term crisis support. I work with adults and teens (12+), in person at Stafford and via Telehealth across Australia.
I’m not currently the right fit for clients in active suicidal crisis or whose primary need is acute crisis stabilisation — those situations are better held by services with the resources to support them well. Your GP can guide you, and in Queensland: Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7), MH CALL 1300 642 255, or 000 in an emergency.
- You can attend consistently and want ongoing therapy rather than a one-off session.
- You’re looking for practical, neurodivergent-affirming therapy — not an assessment or crisis-only support.
- You’re an adult or a parent of a teen (12+), able to attend in person at the Stafford clinic or via Telehealth.
- You have one or both diagnoses, suspect AuDHD, or are in the process of being assessed.
Therapy for AuDHD teens 12+.
When both apply and the school week is the casualty.
I work with AuDHD teens from age 12. The combination is often particularly hard on adolescents because school asks the most of both sides at once: the sustained attention and self-organisation impacted by ADHD, and the sensory load, social timing, and group-work demands impacted by autism.
Many of the teens I see have one diagnosis and are starting to recognise the other. Many have the ADHD diagnosis and have been medicated for it, but are still struggling with executive function, procrastination, sensory overwhelm, social differences and school-related anxiety.
Sessions follow the same practical-first philosophy as the adult work, tailored to needs at school and home: sensory accommodation, self-chosen structure, executive function support, and anxiety management. Then we may work on gradually building self-knowledge, self-confidence and independent-living skills.
Parents are involved at the consent and intake level, and welcome in occasional sessions — but the therapy itself is the teen’s space.
AuDHD therapy in Brisbane — common questions.
Do you do AuDHD assessments or prescribe medication?
I haven’t been formally diagnosed yet — can I still book?
Can AuDHD therapy sessions be claimed under Medicare?
How long are sessions, and how often?
Do you offer Telehealth AuDHD therapy?
The clinic — a sensory-considered space
Organic Psychology
Soul Shine Collective
239 Stafford Rd
Stafford QLD 4053
Tel: (07) 3521 8590
The consulting room is sensory-considered by default: no overhead lighting, no smelly candles, no perfume. Sensory accommodations are something we talk about explicitly in the early weeks of therapy.
A short drive from Stafford Heights, Kedron, Everton Park, Gordon Park, Grange, Alderley, Chermside, Nundah, Clayfield. Street parking available.
Evening sessions: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Telehealth: Mondays.
Book your appointment.
Online booking through Zanda. Standard (50 minute) and longer (80 minute) sessions are available, including evening appointments Tuesday to Thursday. Longer sessions often suit EMDR work and clients who benefit from the extra regulation time.
