Carolyn is a Coaching Psychologist, BABCP-accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, and Neurodiversity Specialist with a multidisciplinary background spanning psychology, education, healthcare, and the charitable sector.  Her integrative, evidence-based practice supports neurodivergent individuals across the lifespan, with a core focus on identity, psychological flexibility, and meaningful personal growth.

With over two decades of experience, she has worked across therapeutic, educational, and community settings.  Carolyn’s approach draws on a range of psychological models, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), Narrative Therapy, and Mindfulness-Based Self-Compassion (MBSC).

Carolyn specialises in supporting autistic and ADHD clients, particularly those navigating adult diagnosis, identity development, or systemic marginalisation. Her coaching is neurodiversity-affirmative and strengths-based, seeking not to “correct” difference but to contextualise and empower it. Carolyn also designs and delivers innovative programmes, including The Neurodiversity Signature — an identity-focused coaching journey for neurodivergent adults — and The Executive Function Factor, which explores how executive functioning works and how individuals can support themselves practically and compassionately.

Carolyn offers multidisciplinary assessments for autism and ADHD and she is a Clinical Supervisor for the University of Hertfordshire. She also trains and supports professionals across the UK, Europe, and the US.  Carolyn has co-developed systemic, psychologically informed interventions in partnership with organisations such as Hertfordshire County Council, ADD-vance, and Potential Kids.

Above all, Carolyn believes coaching is not about fixing, but about liberating — creating reflective, relational spaces where individuals can author their own transformation.

The Eight Tensions™

Carolyn is also a certified Eight Tensions™ Coach . On first learning about Dr Lancer’s 8 Tensions Framework™, she was struck by how deeply each tension resonated with the strengths and challenges of neurodiversity.

Carolyn uses the tensions flexibly, sometimes focusing on one tension that resonates with an individual client, other times exploring all eight over a longer Eight Tensions™ specific, one-to-one, coaching journey.  Clients may also work with the Eight Tensions™ cards to guide their own reflections.  Sometimes this alone is enough, or it can form the basis for a more focused piece of coaching work.  Carolyn has adapted the framework into an eight-week programme to address underlying aspects of neurodiversity and self-identity, such as shame, guilt, procrastination, masking, perfectionism, overwhelm, and rejection sensitivity.

In both individual and group settings, Carolyn connects the tensions to neurodiversity and integrate them with approaches such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

What Carolyn values most about being an Eight Tensions™ coach is how the tensions invite individuals to ‘step inside’ and experience themselves in new ways, to explore identity, uncover insights, and create their own roadmap for coaching. Unlike externally driven coaching models, The Eight Tensions™ foster intrinsic understanding and enable deeper, more transformative work.

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