Working therapeutically with masking and unmasking of autistic adults
Vauna Beauvais and Eoin Stephens
Vanguard Neurodiversity Training
In our therapy work, many of us are increasingly finding ourselves working with clients who have made the discovery, as an adult, that they are autistic. Most of these clients will have learnt to mask their real autistic selves to a large extent, and this is one of the issues that needs to be addressed when they come into therapy.
This talk will cover:
- What is masking?
- The Masking Matrix
- Reasons for masking
- The process of unmasking
- Therapist’s role in facilitating this process.
Vauna and Eoin will present a talk with slides for an hour.
Presenters Bios
Vauna Beauvais
MSc Psychotherapy, Certified Transactional Analyst, Certified Cybertherapist, PGCDip Counselling. UKCP registered Psychotherapist.
Vauna is a UKCP registered Psychotherapist specialising in working with neurodivergent adults. She has been seeing clients for over 20 years in private practice. She is also a clinical supervisor for counsellors and psychotherapists who are seeing neurodivergent clients and for therapists who are autistic themselves.
Discovering at over 40 years old, that she is Autistic with ADHD herself, she turned her interest toward understanding the autistic experience and what that means for therapists, trainers, supervisors and for autistic clients. She set up Vanguard Neurodiversity Training in January 2023 to provide training and CPD events for psychotherapists and counsellors.
Areas of interest over the years have included performance and executive functioning and she has developed a neuroaffirming approach to coaching for people with ADHD or ADD.
She is a qualified Coach and Trainer, a Certified Transactional Analyst, and a Certified Cybertherapist, and is currently serving on the board of directors for The Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Online (ACTO)
Eoin Stephens
BA Psychology, Dip Counselling, MA Cognitive-Behavioural Counselling, MIACP, MACI.
Eoin is a Counsellor/Psychotherapist and Trainer who has worked in the areas of Disability, Addiction Treatment, Lecturing/Training, and Counselling/Psychotherapy private practice for over 30 years, using a Humanistic, Pragmatic approach to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (integrating aspects of Person-Centred Therapy, Schema Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, & Compassion-Focused Therapy).
He specialised in the area of Sexual Addiction for a number of years (serving as chair of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity), and worked at a senior level in Counselling/Psychotherapy education, also serving as vice-chair of both the Irish Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy and Addiction Counsellors of Ireland.
His work is currently focused on understanding the problems faced by autistic adults, and their specific therapeutic needs. He is a trainer for Vanguard Neurodiversity Training.
He is autistic himself, having made the discovery in 2012.
This webinar is free for ACTO members and will be recorded. ACTO members will also have free access to the recording.