For a few years now, I’ve been making a podcast about autism research and autistic adult life. In that time, I’ve heard from so many of you — about being missed for decades, about figuring yourselves out late, about the strange and tender work of building a life that actually fits the brain you have, rather than the one the world kept insisting you should have.

And over and over, I’ve wished I could offer something more than an episode. Something direct. Something one-to-one.

So here it is. I’m now offering life coaching for autistic adults, and I’d love to tell you what that looks like.

What this is

Coaching is not therapy. I want to be clear about that from the start. Therapy tends to look backward, to heal old wounds. Coaching looks at where you are now and where you want to go, and helps you get there. It’s present and future focused. It’s practical. And it’s built entirely around you — because you are the expert on your own life. My job is to ask good questions, hold space, and help you find your own way forward.

I’m a certified life coach, with a certificate in life coaching from the International Association of Professions Career College, and I hold a Master of Health Studies degree with a focus in health research. Just as importantly, I’m a late-diagnosed autistic person myself. I know what it’s like to mask through a meeting and then need to lie down in a dark room afterward. I know what burnout feels like from the inside. I know the particular exhaustion of navigating a world that wasn’t built for the way your nervous system works. You won’t have to explain the basics to me. We can start from a place of being understood.

What we can work on

People come to coaching feeling stuck. Sometimes it’s a specific thing — a career decision, a life transition, a relationship, a boundary you can’t seem to hold. Sometimes it’s harder to name: a sense of being out of step with your own life, or of not quite knowing who you are underneath all the masking.

We can work on any of it. Identity and late diagnosis. Work and meaningful occupation. Communication and self-advocacy. Burnout and overwhelm. Confidence and self-worth. Or whatever you need that day. There’s no script. We start where you are.

You do not need a formal diagnosis

I want to say this clearly, because I know it matters to a lot of you: you do not need a formal autism diagnosis to work with me.

Self-identification is valid here. Many autistic adults — especially women, late-diagnosed folks, and people from communities that have historically been overlooked — never had access to assessment, or are still on a waitlist, or have decided that a formal diagnosis isn’t the right path for them. None of that disqualifies you. If you’ve found your way to autistic self-understanding, you’re welcome here.

How it works

Sessions are 50 minutes, held over Zoom, so we can meet wherever you are. Sessions are $100 CAD each. I will send links to payment options before your session.

You can book a session here:

Once you book, I’ll also email you an intake form. This form needs to be completed and returned to me at least one week before your scheduled appointment. I ask for this for a reason: it lets me prepare properly, understand what you’re bringing, and tailor our time together to you. It also gives you space to think and write before we get on a call — which a lot of autistic people find far easier than being put on the spot in real time.

The intake form also asks about your communication and access needs, so I can make our sessions as comfortable as possible for you.

If you’re curious

If any of this resonates, I’d love to work with you. You can book a session anytime, or email me at otherautism@gmail.com with any questions.

I’ve spent years talking about autistic adult life from behind a microphone, and the chance to sit with you directly — to help you get unstuck, to think alongside you, to be one autistic person helping another build a life that fits — is genuinely the part I’ve been most looking forward to.

I hope to talk with you soon.

— Kristen