An Introduction to our Founder, Dr Emma Offord

Emma is a trained clinical psychologist, sensory practitioner, trauma therapist and giftedness profiler. She advocates for the neurodivergent community and founded Divergent Life three years ago.

“I used to work in the NHS in physical health and later mental health. More recently I’ve dedicated my work to all things neurodivergent. My aim is to reach a broad spectrum of neurodivergent experiences and to understand them on a deeper level.

I want to honour the neurodivergent experience. Guidinging individuals to understand their neurobiology and the unique connection between their bodies and minds. I set up Divergent Life to support people to design a life that suits their individual needs. To help them thrive.

My interest in neurodivergence was a slow burn. I don’t remember the term being mentioned on any course. And what we did discuss and were taught was a very stereotyped view of what neurodivergence was. I intensely disliked the module, and couldn’t see myself ever wanting to work in those services.

Looking back, it was because it didn’t speak to what I now know about my own neurodivergence. I was just put off by the whole subject. That early training blinded me to my own neurodivergence.

It's become clear to me that many people have been blinded by stereotypes. A goal of Divergent Life is to reconstruct an entirely new narrative about what it really means to be neurodivergent.

The change came when I left the mental health services I was a part of and started working for myself. I could be more creative and free with what I was doing and how I was doing it. I was able to honour the way I wanted to work.

It was listening to peoples’ stories and their relationship to the help they were receiving that really hit me hard. They told me they were traumatised by therapy, humiliated and patronised. They were told they were treatment resistant.

This implied they were a failure for not meeting the standards they’d been set by others. But really it was about a total lack of true understanding of neurodivergence.

We still don’t talk about this aspect so much. The system has let down so many people.

The traits of a neurodivergent individual just weren’t part of the conversation and the therapy they were receiving. The dots weren’t being connected.

So ensued a period of hyperfocus for me. Deconstructing the models we had in place and reconstructing them through a lens of neurodivergence and trauma. It took a long  while for it to feel safe. All the known and familiar was taken away. But I knew I had no choice: I couldn’t go back.

Now, Divergent Life practices in a neuroaffirming way, through a neurodivergent and trauma lens. I'm specifically interested in the neurodiversity movement, and driving systemic change where the neurodivergent experience is honoured.

We look to share the experiences of the Divergent Life community, giving them a voice, helping them feel listened to and validated. We are creating more compassion, a space of being included instead of othered.

We are no longer looking at people being framed as disordered human beings who need fixing by an expert. Their own stories are just as valid a perspective.

Ultimately, Divergent Life is about creating a safe world. A safe experience. We are creating something with the potential to reduce trauma. Reduce mental health difficulties.

And that is something very special to me."

If you are a neurodivergent individual looking for validating assessment, or an organisation looking to become more neuroinclusive, and would like to find out more about the work that DL does, drop us an email: hello@divergentlife.co.uk