You’ve been trying to solve a complex equation with the wrong formulas, and it has left you feeling exhausted, ashamed, and broken. But what if the problem isn’t you? What if the problem is the math itself?
You might be in the right place if:
You’ve ever paid the “ADHD tax” on a forgotten bill or spoiled groceries.
You need to watch TV with subtitles on to actually process what’s happening.
A surprise change in plans can send your entire day into a spiral.
You rehearse a phone call five times in your head before you can make it.
You feel a soul-crushing exhaustion after social events, even ones you enjoyed.
You can deep-dive on the history of ancient naval warfare for 12 hours but can’t start a 10-minute task you have to do.
You’ve been called “too sensitive” for having a strong emotional reaction to a minor criticism.
You feel like you’re constantly translating yourself for a world that refuses to learn your language.
If any of this hits home, you’re not alone. And you’re not broken. You’re neurodivergent in a world that wasn’t built for you.
Living with ADHD and autistic traits isn’t just about being “distracted” or “awkward.” It’s a constant, draining, internal battle fought on multiple fronts every single day. The world only sees the surface-level struggles, but we know the reality is deeper and far more exhausting.
In Your Daily Life, It’s the Invisible Labor. It’s the paralysis you feel when faced with a multi-step task like doing laundry. It’s not about the work; it’s about the sheer cognitive load of sequencing every single step—gathering, sorting, washing, drying, folding, putting away. Your brain gets stuck on step one because it’s already calculating the energy cost of all twenty-seven steps that follow. It’s the constant, low-grade hum of anxiety that comes from “waiting mode”—the inability to do anything for hours before an appointment because your brain is dedicating all its resources to simply not forgetting it.
In Your Career, It’s the Mask That’s Welded On. It’s the burnout that has nothing to do with your actual job responsibilities. It’s the exhaustion from the second, unpaid, full-time job you’re forced to do every day: performing “normalcy.” It’s manually animating your facial expressions in meetings, scripting your small talk by the coffee machine, and constantly suppressing your natural way of being just to be seen as “professional.” You feel like you have to work twice as hard just to be seen as half as competent, all because the corporate world mistakes your different processing style for a lack of capability.
In Your Relationships, It’s the Pain of Misunderstanding. It’s the gut-wrenching, physical pain of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), where a simple, misinterpreted text from a friend can send you into a spiral of shame that lasts for days. It’s the constant friction that comes from your partner not understanding that your blunt, direct communication is a need for clarity, not an act of aggression. It’s the loneliness of feeling like you have to constantly translate your own needs, wants, and emotions, and they still get lost in translation due to the Double Empathy Problem.
You’ve been handed a rulebook for a game you’re not playing. It’s time to throw it out.
To stop blaming yourself, you need to understand the science. The reason generic advice has never worked is because it’s written for a completely different kind of neurobiology. No confusing jargon. This is what’s really going on in your head.
ADHD is not a “deficit” of attention. It is a dysregulation of it, rooted in neurochemistry.
The Chemistry of Motivation (Dopamine): Your brain’s entire system of motivation, reward, and executive function is driven by the neurotransmitter dopamine. An ADHD brain has a different dopamine system that requires a higher level of stimulation, interest, or urgency to get engaged. This is the science behind why you can hyper-focus for hours on a new passion but can’t bring yourself to start a boring task. It’s not a failure of willpower; it’s a verifiable difference in your brain chemistry.
Executive Functions: The “air traffic control” center of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, manages tasks like planning, prioritizing, emotional regulation, and working memory. In the ADHD brain, this system is often under-stimulated, making it difficult to initiate non-urgent tasks and regulate focus without a compelling “why.”
Autism is not a lack of empathy or a social deficit. It’s a brain that processes the world with more depth, detail, and intensity.
Sensory Processing: Your brain takes in more raw sensory data. The lights in the grocery store are objectively brighter to you, the hum of the refrigerator is louder, and the tag on your shirt feels like sandpaper. This is a superpower for noticing details others miss, but it’s also why you can experience total sensory overload in environments that others find manageable. A meltdown is not a tantrum; it’s the neurological equivalent of a system crash from too much input.
Systematic Thinking: Your brain is wired to see the underlying systems, patterns, and logic in the world. This is why you thrive with clear, direct communication and predictable routines—they create a stable framework for your powerful processor to work within. It’s also why navigating the unwritten, often illogical rules of social interaction can be so incredibly taxing.
When these two systems coexist (AuDHD), it creates a constant internal conflict: the ADHD brain craves novelty and spontaneity, while the autistic brain craves predictability and order. This is the source of so much internal friction and exhaustion.
What if you stopped trying to force your brain to be something it’s not? What if, instead, you had a detailed, personalized guide that explained how your specific systems work together, and how to leverage their incredible strengths?
That is the entire purpose of Enlitens. We are a rebellion against the pathologizing bulls*hit of the traditional system. Our job is not to “treat” your ADHD or autism. Our job is to work with you to translate your brain’s unique operating system. We help you build a life that accommodates your needs and celebrates your strengths—like your deep capacity for focus, your intense sense of justice, and your unique way of seeing the world.
This isn’t a vague, mysterious process. It’s a straightforward, collaborative plan to get you the answers and tools you need to take back control of your life.
1. The Clarity Assessment: Get The Answers. This is for when you are done guessing and need to understand the “why” behind your experience. It is not a cold, robotic interrogation. It’s a strengths-based clinical interview where we have a real conversation about your life, guided by affirming, evidence-based tools. The result isn’t a clinical report full of jargon; it’s a comprehensive, personalized roadmap for your brain, written in plain English, that gives you a toolkit of strategies you can use immediately.
2. Therapy & Coaching: Build The Skills. This is where we put your roadmap into practice and focus on the “how.” This is the workshop. We stop just talking about the problems and start actively building solutions. We develop practical, real-world strategies for your specific executive function challenges. We find tools to manage anxiety and sensory overwhelm. We work on unmasking and navigating relationships without burning yourself out. It’s active, it’s goal-oriented, and it is definitely not passive.
At Enlitens, we are guided by a few non-negotiable principles. We are fiercely anti-pathology; we don’t treat disorders, we help people understand their unique operating systems. We are radically collaborative; you are the expert on your own life, and we are your co-producer, not your director. And we are rigorously strengths-based; our entire process is designed to identify what works for your brain and build from there, not to fixate on your challenges. This philosophy is the guide for everything we do.
Part of: The Therapy Hub
That’s a question thousands of parents ask, and it’s a valid one. The difference isn’t in the behavior itself, but in the frequency, intensity, and impact. A kid might be distracted the week before summer break. A kid with ADHD-related executive function challenges lives with that distraction constantly. Our collaborative Clarity Assessment process is a real, conversational exploration with you and your child to understand the why behind the challenge. Read our deep dive on this: Your Kid Isn’t “Bad.” Their Brain is Just Bored.
Your worry is completely justified, because most traditional testing is stressful and pathologizing. That’s why we’ve thrown that model out. A Clarity Assessment for a teen at Enlitens is not a cold, intimidating battery of tests. It’s a conversation. The goal is to produce a “User Manual” for their brain that they can actually use to advocate for themselves in school and in life. Here’s what a genuinely affirming assessment actually looks like.
Yes. What you’re describing is the profound exhaustion that comes from masking. It’s the second, unpaid, full-time job you have to do every day. The burnout isn’t from your workload; it’s from the immense cognitive and emotional energy it takes to operate in an environment not built for you. Therapy is where we work on strategies to reduce that mask and build a life that aligns with your strengths. Read our guide to masking and burnout here.
Absolutely not. In fact, many people have traits of both—it’s often referred to as AuDHD. This is where so much internal conflict comes from: the ADHD brain craves novelty and change, while the autistic brain craves routine and predictability. You don’t have to pick a side. Our work is about understanding how these two systems interact in your brain and finding “Both/And” solutions. Explore the AuDHD experience in our deep dive.
RSD is a real and intensely painful nervous system response, not a character flaw. For years, you’ve likely been told you’re “too sensitive.” Understanding that your brain is processing that emotional pain with the same intensity as physical pain is revolutionary. In therapy, we work on practical, body-based strategies to help regulate your nervous system when it gets triggered. Read our guide: It’s Not an Overreaction. It’s a Nervous System Injury.
This feeling—the imposter syndrome—is one of the most common and painful impacts of living with undiagnosed neurodivergence. For your entire life, the world has told you that your challenges were your fault. A Clarity Assessment is often the first time that narrative gets challenged with real, brain-based evidence. The goal isn’t to give you an excuse; it’s to give you an explanation. Read our manifesto: If You’re Worried You’re “Faking It,” You’re Almost Certainly Not.
The goal here is simple: to help you stop blaming yourself and start working with your brain. The ultimate outcome is clarity—the profound relief of understanding that you are not a collection of flaws, but a person with a specific, understandable, and powerful type of mind. You will walk away with the language to advocate for yourself and the tools to stop fighting a battle you were never meant to win.
If you are done with the bulls*hit and ready for a real, honest approach to understanding your brain, let’s see if we’re a good fit.
Take one second. That’s all I’m asking.
Do not try to “calm down.” Do not try to “fix it.” Do not listen to the voice screaming that you need to do something right now.
Just be here, with me, for one single breath.
My name is Liz. I’ve spent years working overnight in the ER, sitting with people on what was often the worst night of their entire lives. I have sat in the eye of the hurricane, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that the chaos you feel right now is not the truth.
It is a storm in your nervous system. And a storm is just a weather pattern. It is not you. It is not permanent. And you do not have to navigate it alone.
Right now, your brain’s alarm system is screaming. The logical part of your brain has been taken offline. That is a normal, brilliant, biological survival response. But you and I are going to bring it back online, together.
We are going to do one, simple, physical thing. This is not a bulls*hit mindfulness exercise. This is a direct, manual override for your nervous system.
Place your hand on your chest.
Can you feel that? The rise and fall. The rhythm. That is the anchor. That is the proof that you are here, in this moment, and you are alive.
Keep your hand there.
Now, we are going to make one choice. The storm is telling you there are a million overwhelming things you have to do. That is a lie. There are only three choices right now, and you only need to pick one.
This is the button you push when you need the paramedics or the police to show up. This is the “bring the fire truck” button.
This is the national, 24/7 lifeline. It is free, it is confidential, and it is staffed by trained counselors who are ready to listen without judgment. This is the “I need a lifeline” button.
Behavioral Health Response (BHR) is our community’s lifeline. They provide free, confidential telephone counseling and can connect you with local resources. This is the “I need a local guide” button.