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Thank you for coming to this space!
I am a neurodivergent psychologist and I am eager to help you explore how your brain works using psychological science.
My experiences as a neuodivergent person help me create a sense of safety and inclusion within our work. I value authenticity, creativity, diversity, and co-creating knowledge together. Please view me as your guide.
I'd like to help you understand how you or your child's brain actually works, so that you can begin to find ways to make it work for you.
Striving to bring liberatory practices to this work, I seek to make this process empowering.
By engaging in a comprehensive psychological assessment, you'll gaim more knowledge about your personal "operating system"., We will talk through personalized recommendations aimed to balance needs with environments, and we'll talk through how to access public benefits and accommodations.
We will discuss what your rights are in school and at work, and we'll talk about how to advocate for yourself or your child at home, school, work, or within the community.
Professional Philosophy
Professional Philosophy
I am trained as a health psychologist and have a specialization in pediatric school psychology. I have a deep understanding of how the brain co-operates with the rest of the body, and how that cooperation impacts learning, loving, and living. I view psychology and the brain from a functional-evolutionary perspective, and believe that most behavior, emotion, and thought exists for a functional reason, which we are sometimes not even aware of. Further, I recognize that we may all experience a similar issue in different ways. Moreover, I understand that some people have differences that are only disabling when they aren't in a supportive environment. Thus, I don't view people, behaviors or thoughts as inherently "normal" or "abnormal," "good" or "bad" - we just are.
As a neurodivergent psychologist, I am guided by the philosophies of radical acceptance. I strive to bring cultural humility into all avenues of this work by combining the established approaches to assessment and therapy practices with cultural humility and recognition of each person's individuality, strengths, and experience. I think about each case from a bio-psycho-social model, strongly emphasizing the role that social factors outside of individual control play in disability or functioning.
My goal in working with you is to be your guide in the following ways:
To help you understand how your brain and body works within your world by using psychological and neuropsychological testing to explore functioning.
To help you identify strategies to help you understand and advocate for your needs across settings (for example, at school or work).
To help you build upon your strengths to address the most important areas in your life, and to help you feel confident living your life with your gifts and set of skills.
I am pro-autism and pro-neurodivergence!
I deeply enjoy working with autistic and neurodivergent individuals on their terms.
I recognize the unique gifts that autistic and neurodivergent people share with our world.
When you come here, you can expect to be treated with dignity and respect.
Educational Experiences
Educational Experiences
Prior to becoming a licensed psychologist, I supported individuals with disabilities through volunteer work in special education settings, like the Children's Institute, and though conducting state-sponsored disability evaluations for emerging adults.
I earned my PhD in 2014 in a field called Health Psychology and with a specialization in Pediatric School Psychology from East Carolina University. Pediatric health psychologists span school and medical settings, helping families, teachers, and doctors translate information to support children with medical challenges. I also earned a master's degree and certificate of specialization in School Psychology. Though the program was primarily focused on children and learning, I cross-trained in the Clinical Health Psychology program such that I could also work with adults. My training experiences included practica in university outpatient mental health clinics, school-based mental health clinics, primary care and specialty medical practices, and inpatient neuropsychology units (following patients with brain injuries). Pre-service training included foundational psychological, evaluation, health, biological, developmental, and educational coursework. In short, my training program taught me how medical issues impact brain functioning, and how that impact translates to school, work, and home. I learned to engage and support children using developmentally-appropriate approaches; I learned to consult with and support the adults who serve children, like teachers, doctors, and parents, too. This program heavily centered on psychological and neuropsychological evaluation.
Following training I went onto complete an internship with the Illinois School Psychology Internship Consortium in the Medical Track, which I helped to create. And then I completed a post-doctoral training experience in a rural primary care setting. I spent the majority of my clinical career working in similar settings in a consultation model known as Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH). This model allowed me to see twelve patients most days, and to consult on numerous others. After four years, I collaboratively supported close to 4000 patients! This experience exposed me to the vastness of the human experience and helped me gain a broad understanding of how to connect with people of various backgrounds and identities. It also helped me understand the role that systems play in wellness - many of my patients were not sick because they were born with mental illness, but were sick because they did not have access to medicine, food, work, or opportunities to exercise safely.
As one might imagine, seeing so many patients who were impacted by systems-level issues also caused a bit of burnout. So, I left clinical practice for a few years to rest and continued to work at the systems level, providing implementation support to state agencies who were implementing community-based programming and federal education law (i.e. IDEA) . This consulting and research role helped me see how hard it can be, and how long it really takes, to see the impact of even small systems changes. At the same time, I had a private practice that allowed me to use the skill set I had been developing since graduate school around gender-supportive care. I enjoyed a small case load of people who were exploring their gender identity.
Now, returning to my hometown of Pittsburgh, I am delighted to be able to roll all of the skills and esim
xpertise I have gained into this evaluation clinic, where I can practice what my many patients have taught me over the years using neurodivergent-affirming approaches.
Austen Psychological Services is located on the ancestral lands of the Adena, Hopewell, Monongahela, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Shawnee, Seneca, Iroquois, Wyandotte, Delaware, Mingo, Osage, and other peoples. We humbly recognize these, and all other ancestors, whose names have been purposefully erased or forgotten by time.
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