Therapist, author, coach, teacher, working class academic, cat wrangler, poetry lover, optimist. Proud product of the London Borough of Brent.
Nobody’s perfect – the work is to do the best with what you’ve got, to have the best life you can.
I was born in Harlesden NW London and grew up in Willesden Green, where I have still have strong roots and ties. I came to Norwich for the first time in 1986, to study English at the University of East Anglia, where I returned to work in 2004. I left UEA in 2023 to concentrate on running my private practice and writing.
Teacher training at Cambridge was followed with an MA in twentieth century writing at Sussex university. I continued my adventures in literature, completing a PhD in 1970s New York School poetry at the university of Dundee. Then I did a series of teaching jobs, in London and elsewhere, while I found my feet in life.
I started my therapy journey in 2004 with an evening class in person-centred counselling skills, chosen fairly randomly, as something to do when I was working in Norwich for part of the week at a time when I was still living in London. I loved it and I qualified as an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor in 2010. I often say that therapy is a hobby that got out of hand⏤it started with an evening class and ended with a PhD. I completed my second doctorate, in poetry therapy, at UEA in 2020.
I began coaching as a result of doing my ‘day job’ as an academic at UEA and qualified there as an EMCC coach practitioner in 2019. I have found coaching to be a good complement to my therapy work. In 2022 I undertook training in person-centred creative arts therapy, and have now added this way of working into my practice, alongside more traditional talk-focussed counselling.
My passion is working with people to help them achieve better relationships with themselves and the world around them. I also have a strong commitment to social justice, fighting ableism and resisting discrimination in all its forms.
Expertise
My work focuses on the intersections between neurodivergence, identity, creativity and psychological wellbeing.
I work primarily with autistic and otherwise neurodivergent adults, and have particular experience with anxiety, self-esteem and imposter syndrome, navigating significant change, and the effects of masking, exclusion and structural discrimination.
I am particularly interested in how people develop a sense of who they are, especially when their experiences have been misunderstood, pathologised or shaped by expectations that do not fit. My therapeutic work is informed by neuro-affirming, non-pathologising and anti-oppressive approaches.
My areas of clinical and professional interest include:
- Psychotherapy and coaching with autistic and neurodivergent adults
- The experience of masking and unmasking
- Creative approaches to therapy and psychological wellbeing
- Poetry therapy and writing therapy
- Creative arts therapies in the context of neurodivergence
- Neurodivergence, identity and self-understanding
- Anti-oppressive practice in psychotherapy
- Understanding the psychological impact of exclusion and structural discrimination
Training and professional development
Alongside my clinical work, I design and deliver training, continuing professional development and consultancy for universities, professional organisations and other groups.
My areas of training expertise include:
- Poetry and creative writing in therapy
- Understanding and supporting neurodivergence
- Neurodiversity and neuroinclusion
- Coaching and mentoring
- Listening skills
- Emotional intelligence
- Poetry therapy and creative approaches to mental health
- Anti-oppressive practice
I have extensive experience in higher education and professional development, and my training draws on psychological research, lived experience and practical application.
For organisational neurodiversity training and consultancy, I also work through A-Typicats, the organisation I co-founded.
Research and writing
My research and writing explore the relationship between creative writing, language and psychological experience.
I am interested not only in the therapeutic benefits of expressive writing, but in the deeper ways that language shapes our experience of ourselves and the world around us. Words do not simply describe experience; they can influence how we understand, construct and communicate it.
In 2025, I published Poetry/Therapy: Why Words Help with PCCS Books, exploring poetry therapy and the relationship between poetic language and the psyche.
My current research and writing extends these interests into questions of creativity, identity and the development of a sense of self.
I am currently writing a follow-up book, working title Making a Self: Creativity, Autism and the Art of Becoming Real .
As part of this work I often run hands-on writing and expressive arts groups⏤you can contact me via the ‘contact tab’ to find out when these take place.
See my substack and blog for more on my publications and research activities.
Selected Qualifications & Training
PhD in Counselling Studies (UEA)
PhD American Literature (Dundee)
BSc in Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counselling (Middlesex)
Certificate in Person Centred Creative Arts Practice (APCCA)
Diploma in Integrative Clinical Supervision (The Awareness Centre)
Certificate in Trauma Informed Practice (Counselling Tutor)
EMCC Coach Practitioner Qualification
Primary Certificate in Coaching Supervision (British Psychological Society)
National Autistic Society CPD Certificates in:
- Autism and Communication
- Autism and Sensory Experiences
- Understanding Autism
- Autism, Stress and Anxiety
- Key Principles for Neuroinclusive Practice
Current Affiliation and Experience
(2023-Present) Co-founder A-typicats Neurodiversity Training, Coaching & Consultancy
(2021-2023) Lecturer and MA Course Director, School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, Norwich UK
(2004 -2021) Senior Staff Development Officer (Academic)
University of East Anglia, Norwich UK
I was the senior academic developer at UEA, based in the Centre for Staff and Educational Development; I am also an academic course director in the UEA School of Education and Lifelong Learning, responsible for the MA in Higher Education Practice programme. I have worked as a coach on the UEA Staff Coaching Network since 2005, and became a coaching supervisor on the scheme upon qualification (British Psychological Society, Primary Certificate in Coaching Supervision) in 2018. I am an accredited member of the National Counselling Society (NCS 521-01613). I am also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Dr Stephanie Aspin 