Service categories: Counselling and therapies, Support groups, social programs and branches

Service URL: https://aspireautismconsultancy.co.uk/maria-kayumi/

Hi, I’m Maria. I offer a kind of counselling called psychosynthesis.

That might sound like a mouthful, but what it really means is working together in a way that sees your whole self – not just the parts that are struggling, but the creative, sensitive, curious, and capable parts too.

It’s not about “fixing” you; it’s about helping you understand and support yourself more fully, in a world that often doesn’t.

As a late-diagnosed mum (I was diagnosed during my training!), my focus is on helping neurodivergent parents get to know and love themselves better. Whether you’ve been officially diagnosed or suspect you may be neurodivergent, it’s completely normal to experience a bit of an identity crisis somewhere along the way. (Or at least an identity wobble.)

Who am I really? What does this change, if anything? How do I start to “unmask” – and do I even want to? (And all of this, while keeping small humans alive.)

Parenting is hard enough. Taking time to focus on ourselves, who we are, and what we want and need can stir up more than a bit of guilt and shame. (Especially if we’re comparing ourselves to other parents!)

But what if it doesn’t have to be that way?

That’s just some of what we can explore in our work together.

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ISSUES I SUPPORT NEURODIVERGENT CLIENTS WITH

Themes I work with – either specific to your role as a parent, or more generally, within the context of your life as a neurodivergent adult, who is also a parent.

(It would be impossible for me to list everything, so please do get in touch if you don’t see what you’re looking for.)

• Anxiety and Depression – Whether linked to parenting, the postnatal period, or part of your day-to-day life.
• Boundaries and Self-Advocacy – Learning to recognise your own needs, set healthy boundaries, and speak up for yourself more easily.
• Burnout and Overwhelm – Helping you understand and recover from emotional, physical, or sensory exhaustion.
• Change and Loss – Support with transitions, identity shifts or grief – even the quiet, invisible kinds.
• Emotional Awareness and Regulation – Understanding your emotions (even when they’re hard to name) and finding ways to respond to them that feel more manageable.
• Executive Function – Exploring how your brain works best when it comes to time, tasks, motivation and daily demands.
• Identity and Unmasking – Asking big questions like: Who am I really? Who am I beyond being a parent? What do I want and need?
• Isolation – That feeling of not belonging, of being unseen or unlovable – and finding new ways to connect.
• Menstrual Cycle Challenges – Support with PMS, PMDD, perimenopause, and the emotional and sensory changes that can come with hormonal shifts.
• Parenting – Supporting you through the intensity of parenting as a neurodivergent adult, especially when old wounds or triggers show up.
• Postnatal Trauma – Making sense of difficult or frightening experiences during birth or postpartum, and finding ways to feel more empowered again.
• Pre and Post-Diagnostic Support – Exploring your suspicions of being autistic or ADHD, or processing what it means for you after a formal diagnosis.
• Psychoeducation – Learning more about how your neurodivergent brain works — and how that can be a source of insight and strength.
• Purpose – Feeling unsure about what really matters to you or where you’re headed — and finding more meaning or direction.
• Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) – Feeling painfully hurt or rejected by small things — perhaps even from your own child — and learning how to navigate those intense emotional reactions.
• Self-Care – Not just the “nice extras”, but building sustainable, real-world ways to tend to your needs.
• Sense of Safety – Exploring how to feel safer in your body, your relationships, and the world around you.
• Sensory Overload – Coping with strong reactions to sounds, lights, textures, smells, and more.
• Shame and Low Self Esteem – That painful feeling of not being “good enough” — as a parent, or as a person — and slowly uncovering the possibility that you are worthy.
• Spirituality – Space to explore spiritual shifts, questions or crises – and how these might be part of your healing.
• Trauma – Working through specific traumatic events or the long-term effects of ongoing stress, invalidation, or not being supported.

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QUALIFICATIONS

Registered Member (MBACP) – British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

Postgraduate Diploma in Psychosynthesis Counselling – The Psychosynthesis Trust

Certificate in Psychosynthesis Foundations – The Psychosynthesis Trust

Essentials of Psychosynthesis – The Psychosynthesis Trust

Level 2 Peer Mentoring – Adult Learning Wales

ADDITIONAL CPD SPECIFIC TO NEURODIVERSITY

A Neuro-Affirming Approach to Working with Autistic Clients – Aspire Autism Consultancy

ADHD in The Therapy Room – A Neuro-Affirming Approach – Aspire Autism Consultancy

Autistic Experiences of Pregnancy, Childbirth & Early Parenting – SWAN (Scotland-based neurodiversity network)

Understanding and Developing Neuro-inclusive Events and Activities – SWAN (Scotland-based neurodiversity network)

Aimed at: Adult , Anyone with an Association to Autism, Parent or carer of under 18, Parent/carer of a child, Parent/carer of a young person, Parent/carer of an adult, Parents or carers, families, adults

Referral Sources: Yourself

Covers: Cambridgeshire, East Midlands, East of England, North East, North West, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and The Humber, Guernsey Health Authority, Isle of Man, Jersey Health Authority, Sark Health Authority, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Ards and North Down, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Belfast, Causeway Coast and Glens, Derry City and Strabane, Fermanagh and Omagh, Lisburn and Castlereagh, Mid and East Antrim, Mid Ulster, Newry, Mourne and Down, South Belfast area, Ayrshire and Arran, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Forth Valley, Grampian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Highland, Lanarkshire, Lothian, Orkney, Shetland, Tayside, Western Isles, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, City of Edinburgh, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow City, Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, Na h-Eileanan Siar, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, Shetland Islands, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian

Specialisms: Autism, Autism and Neurodivergent , Has autism-specific elements, Has autism-specific elements

Other specialisms: A Neuro-Affirming Approach to Working with Autistic Clients – Aspire Autism Consultancy ADHD in The Therapy Room – A Neuro-Affirming Approach – Aspire Autism Consultancy Autistic Experiences of Pregnancy, Childbirth & Early Parenting – SWAN (Scotland-based neurodiversity network) Understanding and Developing Neuro-inclusive Events and Activities – SWAN (Scotland-based neurodiversity network)