Neuroaffirming
Health Coaching
Health coaching that meets you and your unique way of processing exactly where you are while teaching you how to carve a non-typical path to health.
Health coaching from the bottom up
If you’re neurodivergent, focusing on health can feel like an absolute sh*t show. It can trigger perfectionism, burn out and complete loss of motivation. And typical health coaching doesn’t take into account how your brain processes rules and recommendations.
Good news, my divergent brethren: I’m here with a wealth of experience coaching neurodiverse humans to get healthy and balanced inside and out.
My coaching is for you if:
You have–or suspect you have–one or more mental health disorders or are neurodivergent (Autism, ADHD, AuDHD, PTSD, trauma history, OCD, BPD, anxiety, depression, bipolar, eating disorders/disordered eating, body dysmorphia, etc) - DIAGNOSIS NOT REQUIRED
You tend to think pretty extremely; you’re kinda all-or-nothing.
You’ve had “success” before, but it crashed and burned or you just lost interest.
You WANT to get healthy, but you feel blocked, overwhelmed or stuck when it comes to starting.
You struggle with shame and often beat yourself up.
…and if they ALL apply, let me just say you’re not alone. That’s actually pretty common for the kinds of people I coach. You’re not stuck here. Let me show you the way through.
What we work toward
I work with clients to achieve integrated emotional and physical health to increase quality of life.
That looks like a life where you can:
My Inside-Out Approach
Typical health coaching focuses on behaviors, but looking only at behaviors without ever looking at the root of why you opt for them doesn’t make sense and often leads to relapse.
That’s why my coaching works on thoughts, feelings and behaviors all at once.
With my in-depth understanding of how neurodivergent brains work and how masking affects our efforts toward health, I’m able to tune into the areas that drive you to make the choices you do. From there, we work on finding harmony within so that you can start building it without and structure an approach to health that feels right for you.
I use a combination of somatics, mindfulness techniques and autonomy-based behavioral modification to guide you on the path to individualized Mind-Body health.
How I’m especially equipped for neurodivergent coaching
I didn’t realize that I coached primarily neurodivergent people until I realized just how neurodiverse I am. So many adults like me don’t even know why they’ve felt so othered their whole lives; why fitting in and socializing was so dang hard; why they got exhausted way more than anyone else.
Realizing you’re different and need a different approach can be hard, but realizing there’s a way forward that FITS and feels RIGHT is even more rewarding and freeing when you find it.
My particular kind of coaching is geared toward helping you find acceptance and balance in a world that wasn’t made for you.
Our brains are different. The way we process information is different. You can’t expect to find your way to wellness the way neurotypicals do; not without hopping on the ol’ struggle bus.
It is my deepest joy and mission in life to help you realize that you are not broken and that there is a way forward that makes sense for how you process the world. True self-love, regulation and balance is possible for you once we clear away the lies that you are wrong.
How we work
Knowing how it all works can be anxiety-relieving so here it is all broken down:
Determining your plan
We’ll start by hopping on a consultation call so we can feel each other out and I can get an idea of the level of support that would benefit you best without burning you out. I will of course take into account any budget you’re working from as well. From there, I’ll either recommend weekly or bi-weekly Zoom coaching sessions.
Very rarely I’ll recommend monthly sessions, but it can be tough to work through this stuff seeing you so infrequently. I find that neurodivergent individuals do best with biweekly sessions at minimum.
How sessions go
Our sessions are 45 minutes long and will be held on Zoom as a video call.
Sessions are tailored to the client and often look different every time. Sometimes a session will include body-based work (somatics) or parts work. Other times, we’ll work through an Intuitive Eating principle and structure out what movement might look like that week. And sometimes we’ll just talk through what’s going on for you.
I meet you where you are and never push you faster than you’re ready to go. Your autonomy and safety are my priorities always.
Here are all the tools I pull from:
Intuitive Eating
Body Acceptance/Neutrality
Somatics
Parts Work
Intuitive Eating
Body Neutral Movement
Emotional Freedom Technique (tapping)
Neuro Linguistic Programming
Motivational Interviewing
We’ll set clear expectations of work you’ll do in between sessions and make sure it’s a manageable amount to avoid overwhelm. I’ll email you a summary of your homework so it’s extra clear, too.
In Between Sessions
Your homework is all yours, baby. This is the time to process and integrate we we visited in our session. Much of the progress you’ll see will be due to the work you put in between sessions.
I don’t offer email support in between sessions unless you choose the Email Support option. That means that I’m here if you need to reschedule or have quick questions about your summary email, but you’ll have to save the rest for your next session.
If you’re craving extra support, there’s an option to add on email support between sessions. This includes access to me every weekday if you need it, with two dedicated check in days per week. If you struggle with motivation, self-doubt, staying on task or remembering what you’re doing between sessions, this is an excellent option. I find it especially helpful at the beginning of our work together.
Things you should know about my coaching:
I’m not your typical health coach. For max transparency, here are some things you should know before working with me (click on the plus next to each for more info):
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As a member of ASDAH (Association for Size Diversity and Health) and a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, I’ve pledged not to recommend intentional weight loss. I took those pledges knowing that dieting for weight loss has been proven to be ineffective and harmful for health and that focusing on health-promoting behaviors and mindsets is what creates true, long-lasting health. I believe that health is not a size and that all body sizes deserve dignity in the quest for individual health.
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You can grab a food and workout plan on a bajillion sites across the internet. If you want to stop yo-yoing between dieting and overeating or not moving at all and burning yourself out on workouts, you’ve gotta focus on your relationship with health and wellness instead of just plastering programs on top.
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We’re anti-forcing and -pushing and pro-body partnership here. For neurodivergent individuals, it’s so important to build trust within your body–for the process and with me–before taking steps beyond the window of tolerance, otherwise your body and brain will shut you down. It’s why neurotypical coaching works until it doesn’t; we need to make the choice for ourselves and do it in a safe environment (physically and emotionally) at a rate that’s sustainable for us (which is sometimes slower than the neurotypical pace and that’s ok).
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Recovering from an eating disorder? I’ve got you. In fact, I work with Equip health, an eating disorder treatment platform, to help people who graduate from eating disorder recovery transition into our diet culture-happy world. To be safe, I always recommend getting your recovery team in touch with me so we can work together (I also love collaborating care with therapists!).
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This is a LGBTQ+ friendly space in which all races and walks of life are welcome. As a neurodivergent, mixed race person who hasn’t felt like she belonged in most spaces, I pride myself in now offering one where all identities can feel welcomed and wanted.
On that note, I’m actively unlearning gender biases, internalized racism, fatphobia and ableism. I will do my darnedest not to harm and if I do, I will do my absolute best to own it and make it right.
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I’m not a licensed therapist (though I am a big fan of them). I have certifications that allow me to work with individuals who have experienced trauma, but due to my scope as a health coach, I do not aim to directly heal trauma. I do, however, work very well alongside clients’ therapists.
Rates and Packages
It’s important to me to be accessible to as many people as possible. I’m also aware that too often neurodiverse people have trouble finding employment or keeping it. It’s for these reasons that I offer tiered rates.
Below, you’ll find 3 different rates for my 45-minute coaching sessions. Please choose the rate that best reflects your current financial situation.
45-Minute Session Rates:
$250
Supportive access
For those who have more than enough resources and feel a calling to support access for those who usually would not have it.
$200
fair access
For those who have enough resources to contribute fair value for coaching sessions.
$150
supported Access*
For those who currently don’t have the resources for the other two pricing options, but due to the generosity of the community will have access.
*I have space for a limited number of Supported Access clients every month. If Supported Access is full, there will be a button to join the waitlist for it above.
Monthly Email Support Add On:
$600/month ($150/week)
For those craving extra support in between sessions, this option includes email access to me every weekday with two dedicated check in days per week. If you struggle with motivation, self-doubt, staying on task or remembering what you’re doing between sessions, this is an excellent option (I find it especially helpful at the beginning of our work together). You’ll also get access to discounted somatics sessions which can be helpful if you’re having trouble regulating your nervous system between sessions. I recommend waiting to purchase this until after our consultation call.
First step: book your consultation call
To get started, fill out this form. I’ll reach out to set up your free 20-minute consultation call over Zoom.
During our call, we'll discuss your unique needs and goals, and I'll guide you through the enrollment process. I accept payments via Stripe and offer flexible payment plans to make coaching more accessible.
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Testimonials
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If you are looking for a coach that gets it, that has done and is doing the "work", and will shower you with exactly what you need, work with Amy.
When I first met Amy, I was steeped in diet culture, internalized fatphobia, engaging in multiple disordered eating behaviors, depressed, anxious, and on and on. I hated that I couldn't just stop "emotional eating."
She helped me recognize the ways that fatphobia was affecting me and that I was weaponizing fatphobia against myself. She did something revolutionary to me, and connected me with people with lived experience in a larger body, body liberation resources and friends. And she stuck with me through the process.
She just kept listening and centering my experience. And that was so healing on a level that I didn't know I needed. I'm so grateful.
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I used to be consumed with counting calories, restricting, binging and hating my body. Amy really saw me.
From the moment we had our first call I felt seen, heard and so supported. Every call and every check in was a bright light in my journey of tears, dark moments and positive breakthroughs. She was able to deeply empathize with how I felt, help me understand it and direct me in processing through it. I felt her presence on every call, as if she were holding me when I was in tears and hugging me when I had a happy day.
I’m forever grateful for her support and love in helping me overcome my relationship with food, start the process of releasing trauma and open myself to body acceptance and self love.
Amy is a special human soul and the work she is doing is life changing. It was life changing for me. Thank you for being you.
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I am grateful for the coaching work I have done with Amy. She is a great listener and holds a beautiful, clear, non-judgmental container.
She stays very present with your process and offers a seemingly endless amount of tools to get through the challenges that life offers.
Last night, I drank and ate food I would have previously judged as *bad*. In the past I would have woken up tired, more than lethargic actually. Beating up on myself and making promises that today would be better. Instead, I woke up open hearted, happy, proud and went skinny dipping in my pool and went on a gorgeous hike in nature. Self love had me choose nourishing foods today. It made me realize, I'm tired and I needed extra self care.
This new way of being is from Amy's coaching. I hadn't even realized how mean I was to myself for what I was eating. Amy spotted it and gently taught me a new way. I'm so grateful!
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Before I started working with Amy, my body was a constant source of anxiety for me. I was convinced that someday, if I were only thin enough, everything in my life would fall into place - but no matter the extremes I went to, it was never, ever enough.
Amy changed everything for me. She gave me the tools and support to start believing that I’m enough just as I am, and the accountability to act on that belief by living my very best life.
Thanks to Amy, I’ve learned how to be my own hero.
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About Amy
Besides being OBSESSED with certifications and ongoing training in this space I’ve worked in for over 15 years, I have lived experience with neurodivergence, eating disorders and other mental health struggles that allow me to relate with clients in a unique way.
Divergent from the womb
I was diagnosed with OCD, anxiety, eating disorders, trauma and major depression early in life, but only realized in the last couple years of healing that there’s more to my neurodivergence than what’s in my medical record.
Since 2020, neurodivergence has been my special interest. The more I researched, the more everything in my life clicked into place: my lifelong social awkwardness, the feeling of being broken, the exhaustion and sensory issues no doctor could ever fully explain, and everything else. It just made everything make sense.
I realized that I’d been healing my comorbidities without ever knowing that the root was neurodivergence. I healed so well from the outside in that when I realized what was inside, it was more a relief than a shock.
Let me take you back a bit further to better explain…
Taking off the mask
I got into fitness and health back in 2008. Over the next few years, I owned a thriving personal training business in Los Angeles, did a 30-city fitness tour for suicide prevention charity, fitness modeled and was an elite trainer for a huge European gym brand.
And the whole time I had all this success, I still felt like I was majorly lacking; like there was something I just wasn’t getting that everyone else did.
I thought I could find it through my eating disorder behaviors, hustling and overgiving. I blasted through my comfort zone and majorly put myself out there only to crash HARD for weeks afterwards (which I thought was just depression).
It wasn’t until I went back into eating disorder recovery in 2015 that my eyes opened. I realized there was an enormous barrier keeping me from being my full self. I called it people pleasing back then, but have since learned the more neurodivergent-specific term for it: masking.
I had been trying to perform as the human I thought would make me lovable and “right” when inside I was just hoping no one would ever see who I really was underneath.
I didn’t even know who I really was; I’d just become whoever the people I was with wanted me to be.
I started addressing my deep people pleasing and masking through shame-healing parts work and somatics (which I now use in coaching others), and I faced the fear of not fitting in with our neurotypical world…and realized I didn’t want to.
Neurodiversity is not something to be ashamed of; it’s a different perception of the world and a unique way of operating within it. This disability does not make you broken or flawed. It just means you need a different approach.
Embracing my differences
I’ve been stable in my recovery for 8 years and have a wild child I adore. I eat intuitively, move regularly in ways that feel good and can honestly say that I love and appreciate my body–something I never would have fathomed 9 years ago.
I’m living and breathing what I teach to others every. freaking. DAY.
It can be so confusing and triggering being a neurodiverse person in the world of health and wellness. My hope is that you don’t have to go through the pain and struggle I did. Being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world is hard enough.
It took years of trying and failing to find what worked for me, but it all came down to exactly what I hope to teach you: how to build an individual version of mind-body health that feels sustainable and connected.
Let’s do this
If you've made it this far, I'm guessing you're feeling pretty seen and understood right about now. And if you're thinking, "Holy sh*t, this Amy chick gets me," then I've got good news: this is just the beginning.
Working with me means finally having someone in your corner who truly understands the unique challenges you face as a neurodiverse person navigating the wild world of health and wellness.
No more trying to force yourself into a neurotypical box or beating yourself up for not fitting in. We'll work together to create a totally customized approach to mind-body health that honors your unique needs, preferences, and superpowers.
I know firsthand how transformative this work can be because I've lived it myself. Through my own journey of recovery and self-discovery, I've learned how to thrive as a proud neurodiverse person in a world that wasn't built for us. And now, I'm on a mission to help you do the same.
So if you're ready to ditch the shame, reclaim your power, and build a relationship with food and movement that feels truly nourishing and sustainable, then let's do this.
Let's create a version of health that's as unique as that beautiful brain of yours.
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