We chatted to Eoin Stephens who is an autistic psychotherapist who works with autistic adults

Episode Highlights

Today on SEND Tutoring’s Podcast we chatted to Eoin Stephens who is a psychotherapist who works with autistic adults.

Eoin Stephens BA Psychology, Dip Counselling, MA Cognitive-Behavioural Counselling, MIACP, MACI.

Eoin has been working for over 40 years in the areas of Intellectual Disability, Addiction Treatment, Counselling/Psychotherapy Private Practice, and counselling/Psychotherapy Education/Training. A lot of his work has been with issues such as Behavioural Addictions & Anxiety Disorders, but for the last 7 years or so he has been primarily focusing on the specific therapeutic needs of autistic adults. He is autistic himself, having made the discovery over 10 years ago.

• You offer psychotherapy to autistic adults, in your opinion are there specific differences between offering a therapeutic space to an autistic individual to someone who is not, can you provide an example/s?
•  What are some of the challenges that neurodiverse people face?
•  If you could change the world to be more accepting, which area would you focus your efforts on?
• What is your top tip?

His top tip was for people to drop their assumptions and be curious

Eoin talked about sensory sensitivity which is common for autistic adults. In a therapeutic setting, this might be the ticking of a clock that might drive an autistic person mad. Or eye contact that could be less or social anxiety; overthinking and overinterpreting social situations.

He also spoke about how much energy can be used up for processing social situations or being in social situations. In addition, sometimes it can be an indicator that a child might be autistic if they are constantly exhausted after a day at school.

Eoin spoke about how transitions can be hugely challenging, new environments like moving to secondary school have a huge impact on one’s processing skills. As a result, energy distortion and trying to be like everyone else can all cumulate in trauma and manifest in microaggression that can lead quickly to teasing and bullying.

Eoin talked about the dangers of masking and pretending to be someone you’re not. He mentioned Pete Wharmby’s book Untypical as a practical handbook for all of us to make the world a simpler, better place for autistic people to navigate, and a call to arms for anyone who believes in an inclusive society and wants to be part of the solution.

There needs to be more understanding and acceptance and change needs to happen in the early years of childhood in order to continue up to adulthood. Schools, teachers and institutions all need training in how to support autistic learners.

He spoke about the paradox of what works for autistic children tends to be the same for all children and potentially how easy it would be to make those early changes.

It was wonderful to have Eoin on the podcast and he promised that he’d come back in the future.

If you have any questions on the topics discussed in this podcast, or are looking for help finding a specialist one-to-one tutor for your child, book a free consultation with us today, we’ll be happy to help.