I can’t wait to hear your story
From the outside, you may look like you have it all together.
On the inside, you’re exhausted from overthinking, masking, managing intense emotions, and trying to meet expectations that never seemed this difficult for everyone else. Your mind rarely feels quiet. You replay conversations, second guess your decisions, and mentally track everything you need to do so nothing gets forgotten or falls apart.
You may spend so much energy appearing okay that other people do not realize how overwhelmed you actually feel. You push through sensory overload, hide how deeply things affect you, and try to keep functioning even when your mind and body are telling you that you have reached your limit.
And when you cannot keep up with everything, you blame yourself. You wonder why you cannot just be more consistent, more organized, less sensitive, or better at handling life. You have tried harder for years, but trying harder has only left you more exhausted.
Maybe the ways you have always managed life are no longer working. You may be completely burnt out, newly diagnosed with ADHD, wondering whether you could be neurodivergent, or noticing that perimenopause has suddenly made everything much harder to hold together.
If that sounds familiar, I’m really glad you found your way here.
Welcome!
I’m Jessica Armitage, a Licensed Professional Counselor in Ooltewah, Tennessee, with 15 years of experience as a counselor. I specialize in supporting neurodivergent women, including women with ADHD, autism, AuDHD, OCD, and other forms of neurodivergence.
Many of the women I work with have spent years masking their struggles while trying to meet expectations to be organized, emotionally composed, dependable, accommodating, and able to take care of everyone else. They often come to therapy during burnout, after receiving a diagnosis later in life, while beginning to question whether they may be neurodivergent, or when hormonal changes such as perimenopause make their usual ways of coping much harder to maintain.
My work helps women understand how neurodivergence, anxiety, trauma, burnout, relationship patterns, and years of masking may all be connected rather than treating each struggle as a separate issue.
As a neurodivergent woman and therapist, I understand how much can be happening behind the scenes even when others do not see it. My approach brings together lived experience, professional training, and an ongoing curiosity about the ways neurodivergence can shape a woman’s emotions, relationships, identity, and experience of the world.
Whether you have an established diagnosis or are newly recognizing your own neurodivergence, you do not need to have everything figured out before reaching out. You do not need the right words, a formal diagnosis, or a perfectly organized explanation of what has been happening.
We can begin wherever you are and start making sense of the whole picture together.
My Therapy Style
You deserve therapy that feels human
You may have spent years feeling misunderstood, dismissed, or told that you were too sensitive, too emotional, too scattered or simply not trying hard enough. You may even worry that a therapist will misunderstand you, too.
In our sessions, you will not have to convince me that something is difficult just because it looks easy to someone else.
Therapy with me is warm, conversational, and collaborative. I want our sessions to feel like a place where you can settle in, take a breath, and slowly untangle everything that has been circling in your mind.
I’m relatable and straightforward, and I’m not a blank slate therapist. I’ll be present with you, ask thoughtful questions, share what I’m noticing, and sometimes use humor because therapy can be meaningful without feeling formal or heavy every minute.
As a neurodivergent woman myself, I understand many of the experiences that other people may not see: the constant mental noise, emotional intensity, masking, sensory overwhelm, time blindness, relationship confusion, and enormous amount of effort it can take to appear like everything is fine.
Your experience will still be uniquely yours. My role is not to assume that I already know your story. It is to listen, stay curious, and help you understand what your experiences mean for you.
You deserve the space to understand yourself more deeply, reconnect with what you need, and create a life that feels more like your own.
What we can work on together
Together, we’ll slow things down and begin making sense of how your neurodivergence, emotions, relationships, past experiences, and current stressors may all be connected. Our work will be shaped around what matters most to you, whether that means understanding your brain, moving out of chronic survival mode, developing healthier relationships, communicating your needs, working through past experiences, or rediscovering who you are after years of masking and adapting to everyone around you.
Clinical Experience
-
Master of Arts, Professional Counseling, Liberty University (2011)
Bachelor of Science, Psychology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2009)
-
My post-graduate journey included more than 3,000 hours of clinical work, complemented by 150 hours of supervision. This rigorous training equipped me with the skills and knowledge to effectively support my clients and I have continued my dedication to actively learn and research to better serve my clients.
-
I began my counseling career in 2011 and have worked with children, adolescents, and adults in community mental health, in home, outpatient, and school based settings.
In 2017, I opened my private practice with a focus on women experiencing anxiety, perfectionism, difficult relationships, and trauma. Over time, I began noticing how often these experiences overlapped with unrecognized ADHD, masking, emotional dysregulation, and years of believing they were somehow failing at life.
That recognition led me to specialize more deeply in ADHD and other forms of neurodivergence in women. Today, my work focuses on helping neurodivergent women understand how their brains, emotions, relationships, past experiences, and environments connect.
-
Specialized Training and Continued Learning
Continuing education is an important part of how I support my clients. My training has focused on the intersection of neurodivergence, anxiety, trauma, emotional regulation, relationships, and the nervous system.
My learning extends beyond formal trainings. I continually read books, review current research, and learn from neurodivergent clinicians, researchers, and lived experience. As our understanding of ADHD, autism, AuDHD, OCD, trauma, and the nervous system continues to evolve, I want my work to evolve with it.
Areas of specialized training include:
24 hours of specialized training toward an ADHD specialist certification
Adult ADHD assessment and treatment
ADHD and emotional regulation
Autism and AuDHD in women
Anxiety and obsessive compulsive patterns
Autonomic nervous system regulation and somatic techniques
Attachment focused and trauma informed treatment
Ongoing training in OCD assessment and evidence informed treatment
Anxiety treatment, including panic disorder and primarily obsessional OCD presentations
Extensive training in trauma treatment, including trauma foundations, ethics, stabilization, attachment, and somatic approaches
Somatic and Attachment Focused Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (SAFE EMDR)
Autonomic Nervous System with Somatic Techniques
Relationship patterns, communication, and boundaries
The Three Instincts through the Enneagram Institute
-
Licensed Professional Counselor, Mental Health Service Provider in the State of Tennessee (License #4104)
Areas of Expertise
Support is here when you’re ready.
let’s work together
