Group Program · 10 Sessions
ND Affinity Group
A closed cohort for neurodivergent adults, allies, and people still figuring out the word for what they are
Ten people on a screen, each one already calculating how much of themselves to bring. The script most of you ran in the elevator, in the parking lot, in the seven minutes before the link went live, that script can power down for the next hour.
This is an affinity group, not a remediation program. We try to take a less pathologizing view. Less of a mindset that aspects of our experience need to be fixed or changed, more of one focused on understanding and adapting to life based on who we are. Our identities, cultures, ways of being, especially the ones that diverge from what people assume the norms are.
What this is
- A closed cohort, capped small enough that everyone has a turn without performing for the room.
- Sixty minutes a week for ten weeks. Same people. Same room.
- Pan-ND: autistic, ADHD, AuDHD, dyslexic, dyspraxic, OCD, Tourettic, plural, traumagenic, and identities the literature has not yet caught up to.
- Identity-first by default (autistic adult, ADHD adult). If you prefer person-first or some other framing for yourself, say so on day one and the room follows your lead.
- Self-admission accepted. No documentation required. No clinical gatekeeping.
What this is not
- Not a diagnostic clinic. We do not assess, screen, or label.
- Not a skills-training group. The work here is shared language, not behavioral modification.
- Not a crisis service. If you are in acute crisis, see the resources at the bottom of this page.
- Not a process-group in the analytic sense. We follow the arc, hold the structure, keep the time.
Evidence base
The frame is built on neurodiversity-paradigm scholarship, autistic and ADHD self-advocacy writing, and the materialist and theological critiques that keep the paradigm honest about disability, race, and labor.
Judy Singer
The sociologist whose 1998 honors thesis introduced "neurodiversity" as a political and ecological category, modeled on biodiversity, intended from the start as a paradigm for civil-rights organizing rather than a clinical descriptor.
Robert Chapman
The materialist philosopher whose work on the political economy of madness and neurodivergence presses against any reading of neurodiversity that reduces it to an individual trait, returning the conversation to disability, labor, and capital.
Devon Price
Unmasking Autism as a long-form argument for the cost of compulsory normality and the slow work of returning to one's own preferences and signal. Price's frame on masking is the closest the literature has to a phenomenology of the cost.
Sonya Renee Taylor
The Body Is Not an Apology as the ground for any liberation that does not collapse back into shame. Radical body sovereignty as the precondition for the rest of the work, especially for ND adults whose bodies have been narrated by clinicians their whole lives.
Tricia Hersey
The Nap Ministry's Rest Is Resistance, grounded in Black liberation theology and the womanist tradition. Rest as the refusal of grind culture, as Sabbath, as restoration of the divine right to be a body that is not producing. The theological grounding matters; this is not secular self-care repackaged.
Damian Milton
The double empathy problem, 2012. The communication breakdown between autistic and non-autistic people runs both directions. Years of feeling "too much" or "not enough" in groups is often a mismatch between parties, not a deficit in one of them.
Murray, Lesser, Lawson
Monotropism, 2005. Attention pools deeply into a narrow set of interests rather than distributing across many. The frame explains why interruption costs so much, why transitions are hard, why "just stop and come back later" does not translate cleanly across neurotypes.
Dora Raymaker
Autistic burnout as a distinct clinical phenomenon, named and described by autistic researchers from autistic adults' first-person accounts. Burnout reads like depression on the surface and lives in the nervous system underneath, and the recovery looks different from a depressive episode.
The somatic anchor for the work draws on predictive-processing accounts of nervous-system regulation and allostatic-load research, rather than on polyvagal theory.
The 10-session arc
Each session has its own page with the full session content. Read them in order or pick the one whose title speaks to where you are.
Who this is for
- Neurodivergent adults, however you arrived at the word: diagnosed, self-identified, exploring the question.
- Allies who are partnered with, parenting, or working alongside ND adults and want a structured room to listen in.
- People whose ND identification is recent and who want to be in a cohort working out what the frame means for them.
- People who have been in this conversation for years and want a closed cohort to work in rather than another open drop-in.
What we do not do here
The honest version: this group is built for adults who can attend a sixty-minute structured group on a screen, follow written materials between sessions, and consent to the cohort frame. The medium asks specific things of a participant.
If you are non-speaking, use AAC, work with supported decision-making, or otherwise need a setup the closed-cohort virtual frame does not provide, this is not the right room and saying so is not a brush-off. The Asperger / Autism Network (AANE) hosts groups designed for a range of communication styles, and other regional ND-led organizations run in-person, drop-in, and AAC-friendly cohorts. Reach out and we can talk through what fits.
Practical
- Length. Ten weeks, sixty minutes a session.
- Format. Virtual, closed cohort. Cameras optional. Chat is a full channel, not a backup.
- Cadence. Quarterly. Cohorts run roughly January, April, July, October.
- Cap. Small. Capped low enough that everyone gets a turn.
- Confidentiality. What's shared in the room stays in the room. The only exception is safety, and you will hear that named if it ever applies.
- Pass. You can pass on any prompt at any point, no explanation needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a diagnosis to join?
No. Self-admission is accepted. The group is open to neurodivergent adults regardless of formal diagnosis, plus allies and people still figuring out the word for what they are. We do not gatekeep at the door, we do not require documentation, we do not adjudicate whether your reading of yourself is correct.
What if I'm just exploring?
Exploring is a legitimate reason to be in the room. Many people arrive at neurodivergence as an explanatory frame in adulthood. The optional intake assessments on the assessments page can give you a starting structure if you want one; the group does not require any of them.
Are partners and allies welcome?
Yes. The group is pan-ND and ally-inclusive. If you are an ally without your own ND identification, please come ready to listen first and follow the room's lead on language and pace.
Do you take insurance?
Brian accepts Highmark, UPMC, and VCAP in Pennsylvania for individual therapy. Group coverage varies by plan; superbills are available where applicable. Email for current cohort fees and likely coverage.
What if I'm in crisis?
The ND Affinity Group is not a crisis service. If you are in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line. Brian also offers individual therapy and can refer to higher levels of care when appropriate.
How to enroll
Cohorts are small and fill from a waitlist. Email to ask about the next cohort, the current fee, and a brief intake conversation that helps us both decide whether the group is the right fit for you right now.