Hope+Wellness
Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder
Therapy and assessment to empower people with ASD
You’ve always felt out of place
but you’ve never really known why you feel this way and it’s been really lonely. You might not have many to open up to about this or even have the words to express why it is you feel so different. Things can be kind of overwhelming at time. Or other times it feels that everyone else understands something that you don’t. You might have developed coping skills to mask your differences from other people in social situations, but it is exhausting. All you want is to be able to be yourself and feel understood for who you are, but it feels that there is no place for that.
In the past, you’ve been diagnosed with anxiety or depression, but it doesn’t feel like that fully captures your experience. You’ve started researching Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and neurodiversity and the traits you read about resonated with you. There’s a feeling of relief of finally having the words to express how you’ve been feeling. This recognition has been healing — because now you realize you are uniquely you and you are amazing.
“I have unique gifts because of my autism that I would not have without it.”
Autism therapy and assessment for children and adults
autism therapy + assessment in Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC
At Hope + Wellness, we work with many kids, teens, and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to provide a safe and supportive space to navigate your journey with autism. We provide both therapy and testing services for people on the autism spectrum.
Testing and assessment services are pivotal to providing you with a greater understanding of yourself — your gifts and strengths as well as helping you find words for challenges that you experience in life so that you can feel more supported in navigating academics, relationships, family, work, and life. To learn more about testing services, click here.
Though neurodiversity can come with some challenges while navigating in a neurotypical society, our goal in therapy is to provide you with the highest quality of evidence based care to help you with your mental health and well being. In therapy, you will feel genuinely seen, explore your identity relationship, and develop skills and tools to help you thrive in the face of adversity.
We passionately believe that neurodiversity is not a problem or impairment — it is an indication that you are uniquely you and adding more vibrancy to the world.
stressors experienced by people WITH autism include
Difficulty initiating or maintaining social interactions
Sensory processing concerns
Communication difficulties
Challenges with understanding another person’s point of view
Getting stuck, trouble with sudden changes & a preference for routines and schedules
Repetitive behaviors
Anxiety
Depression
Stress
Microaggressions
Loneliness & Isolation
Loss of self-esteem
Identity concerns
Guilt & confusion
Potential benefits of therapy for autism
There are no guaranteed results in therapy for people on the autism spectrum, but when you seek therapy with Hope + Wellness, some of the benefits can include the following:
build a skillset to better connect with others in your community
feel less alone
gain skills to be able to express yourself and communicate your needs in a way that feels comfortable and authentic for you
relief from depression, anxiety, stress, guilt, shame, and more
develop strategies to manage feelings of sensory overwhelm
increased ability to self-regulate during times of stress
improved self esteem and a sense of feeling more comfortable in your own skin
develop greater self-insight and awareness into your symptoms to better manage them
clarity into your personal values
a deeper appreciation and joy for life as well as connection with others
develop greater social support and an ability to communicate your needs
“No matter how hard I try to learn from other people or copy what others are doing, I can’t quite get it right. It’s like living in a foreign country and not knowing the language.”
Comprehensive autism assessment
+ expert diagnostics
At Hope + Wellness, we provide comprehensive, gold-standard assessment services for kids, teens, and adults seeking testing for autism spectrum disorder. We are passionate about providing assessment services that answer questions you have but also questions you didn’t even know you have — so that you can walk away from the evaluation with definitive answers you are seeking, along with a personalized roadmap ahead.
autism testing for kids and teens
We are passionate about providing assessment services to help kids and teens reach their highest potential in life, school, work, and relationships. We use science-based and cutting-edge tests to develop a roadmap so your child can think and feel better. Our comprehensive approach will leave no stone unturned to help you deeply understand why your child learns, thinks, and acts the way they do. Our approach helps identify your child’s unique strengths and areas of growth. Our evaluations offer specific techniques that you can use to help your child address immediate real-world challenges, build upon their strengths, and prevent future problems.
autism testing for adults
Many adults seeking autism testing discover that a majority of mental health care providers tailor autism testing services towards young children and teens. We are pleased to provide adult autism testing services. Many of the adults seeking testing with us have spent years living with symptoms that went unrecognized and undiagnosed. Testing can be a huge relief as you find words for these feelings and learn about yourself and your needs in great depth.
autism testing for girls and women
We specialize in evaluating women and adults seeking testing for autism. We are one of the few practices in the Washington DC area that offers testing and assessment services specifically focused on evaluating autism in girls and women. Many girls and women with autism feel as if they have been overlooked, or misdiagnosed — leading to years of grief, invalidation, and frustration. Many of our clients feel a sense of empowerment and relief after completing testing services with us — to finally understand and have words for what they have spent many years experiencing — now recognized and seen.
testing can help rule out other potential diagnoses
Intellectual Ability/IQ
Academic functioning
Memory and learning
Language
Visuo-Spatial functioning
Brief and sustained attention and concentration
Executive functioning
Emotional and behavioral functioning
Social Cognition
Autism Spectrum
We believe that a diagnosis can be remarkably helpful in understanding how you perceive your world and in turn significantly affect how you adjust your lifestyle to accommodate certain challenges that might occur as you navigate the world. If you or your child are experiencing challenges that seem consistent with ASD, we encourage you to reach out to us to learn more about our assessment process, or to read more about our testing services.
Potential benefits of Asd testing
Some benefits of seeking ASD assessment services with Hope + Wellness can include:
provide insight about intellectual or academic strengths and weaknesses, speech and language skills, and patterns of behavior
support families in accessing appropriate services and reducing stress
relief from depression, anxiety, stress, guilt, shame, and more
improved self esteem and a sense of feeling more comfortable in your own skin
develop greater self-insight and awareness into your symptoms to better manage them
a deeper appreciation and joy for life as well as connection with others
develop greater social support and an ability to communicate your needs
“My autism makes things shine. Sometimes I think it is amazing but sometimes it is sad when I want to be the same and talk the same and I fail. Playing the piano makes me very happy. Playing Beethoven is like your feelings – all of them – exploding.”
You are not alone. We are here to help.
Hope+Wellness provides individual therapy for autism and co-occuring concerns including depression, anxiety, stress, life adjustment, grief & loss, chronic illness and more. We serve Falls Church, McLean, and Arlington, as well as Tysons Corner, Vienna, Reston, Great Falls, Fairfax, Merrifield, and Alexandria, as well as Washington DC and Maryland. Telehealth is available across 20+ other states.
We provide exceptional psychotherapy services to empower people to live happier, healthier lives. Our services are grounded in evidence-based treatments that suggest an important interconnectedness between mind, body, life experience, and wellness, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based therapies. We will work together to help you heal and develop the skills to live fully aware, fully resilient, fully peaceful, mindful, and alive.