Denver Neurodivergence Therapy
When your teen is anxious, withdrawn, overwhelmed, or constantly on edge, it can be hard to know how to help without pushing them further away. Rooted Rhythm offers compassionate teen therapy in Denver that helps adolescents feel safer, more understood, and better equipped to navigate big emotions, while giving parents meaningful support, too.
Meet your Denver teen therapists
Tara Sanders
Good fit for neurodivergent kids, adults, and parents looking for an affirming, creative space to manage emotional dysregulation and daily stress.
Drawing on my 12 year background as an educator alongside my clinical training, I combine evidence based tools like DBT, play therapy, and expressive art to help neurodivergent minds thrive.
My practice centers on a neuro-affirming, strengths based approach that uses your or your child's unique passions to navigate sensory overload, executive dysfunction, and emotional regulation.
By partnering closely with families and adults through a collaborative lens, I empower you to drop the exhaustion of masking and build practical strategies that foster authentic connection.
Gabrielle Price
Good fit for neurodivergent children, teens, and young adults with ADHD or Autism seeking a creative, body based space to build self advocacy and regulation skills.
My neuro-affirming practice integrates Synergetic Play Therapy, expressive arts, and movement to help young clients process sensory overstimulation and connect beyond words.
Grounded in a trauma informed, gender affirming lens, I assist clients in unlearning harmful masking habits while building practical coping strategies tailored to their unique brain wiring.
By offering hands-on caregiver psychoeducation alongside individual sessions, I help families turn everyday executive function and sensory challenges into opportunities for growth and connection.
Lauren Whiteside
Good fit for neurodiverse, gifted, and twice exceptional youth (and their parents) seeking a strength based, child led space to navigate emotional regulation and executive stress.
Informed by five years of teaching neurodiverse and gifted children through the Reggio Emilia approach, I view neurodivergent young people as naturally competent, curious, and capable.
I incorporate open ended play, art, and mindfulness to help clients make sense of their environments without forcing rigid conformity or harmful masking.
By combining this child led philosophy with parent coaching, I empower families to build supportive routines that honor their child's unique way of thinking and experiencing the world.
Shelly Murphy
Good fit for neurodivergent kids, teens, and parents looking to understand their nervous systems, reduce sensory burnout, and build family harmony.
Rooted in human development and an attachment focused lens, my practice helps neurodivergent youth and parents understand how their unique nervous systems process everyday sensory and emotional input.
By combining evidence based, person centered tools with my lived parenting experience, I assist clients in reframing neurodivergent traits into celebrated strengths rather than sources of frustration.
I work closely with caregivers to replace behavioral power struggles with mutual attunement, helping your entire household feel calmer, safer, and more connected.
Madeline Hulbert
Good fit for neurodivergent youth and their parents seeking a patient, play based approach to master emotional regulation and overcome everyday sensory hurdles.
Empathy, patience, and play form the foundation of how I help neurodivergent youth build genuine self compassion and body based emotional safety.
Integrating trauma informed CBT, mindfulness, and attachment theory allows us to address sensory dysregulation and executive challenges without ever making your child feel broken.
Through close collaboration with caregivers, I equip parents with practical, systems-informed tools that bridge the gap between sessions and create a truly supportive home environment.
Maggie Rosen
Good fit for neurodivergent children, teens, and families seeking an attachment focused, play infused space to navigate intense emotions and build secure connections.
Relationships heal, which is why my practice centers on creating a grounded, relational environment where neurodivergent youth feel completely secure being their authentic selves.
Blending synergetic play therapy and attachment based family therapy with creative, developmentally attuned strategies enables us to process sensory overload and deep emotions in ways that fit your child's unique brain wiring.
My extensive background leading adolescent programs allows me to offer parents clear communication, steady guidance, and practical tools that support the whole family's rhythm.
Morgan Friedman
Good fit for neurodivergent young children and their parents seeking a developmentally attuned, play centered approach to emotional regulation and early childhood challenges.
Nine years of early childhood education experience shape how I connect with neurodivergent children, allowing me to build a safe, play centered space where unique learning styles and brain wirings are genuinely celebrated.
Utilizing a strengths based, child centered lens grounded in human development, I meet young clients at their exact developmental stage to ease emotional dysregulation and sensory fatigue.
I partner closely with parents to translate these insights into daily life, equipping your family with realistic strategies that turn everyday routines into moments of connection.
Victoria Mancinelli
Good fit for neurodiverse youth and their parents seeking a relatable, somatic informed space to navigate emotional regulation and celebrate cognitive uniqueness.
Years of hands-on practice in school and non profit settings allow me to meet neurodivergent young people and parents right where they are, without judgment or pressure to mask.
Blending somatic practices, trauma focused CBT, and dialectical behavior techniques, I help clients soothe sensory stress while building practical tools to navigate cognitive diversity.
Bringing lived parenting experience alongside my clinical background, I partner with caregivers to create a supportive home dynamic where unique neurodivergent traits are authentically celebrated.
Alena Brocker
Good fit for neurodivergent children and their caregivers seeking a gentle, play based, and nervous system informed approach to foster inner resilience.
Grounded in non-directive and Synergetic Play Therapy, my approach treats play as a child's natural language to meet neurodivergent young minds precisely where they are.
Integrating creative arts, mindfulness, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) enables us to process big emotions and sensory overload without placing pressure on the child to conform.
By fostering a warm, collaborative connection with caregivers, I help families build an environment that honors each child's inner wisdom and natural emotional processing style.
Elana Cohen
Good fit for neurodivergent children, teens, adults, and families (especially those with ADHD) seeking an experiential, strengths based approach to build practical life skills and strengthen family systems.
I have a decade of diverse experience spanning from wilderness therapy, school settings, and outpatient clinics. This helps inform my holistic, experiential approach to supporting neurodivergent individuals and their families.
Integrating cognitive behavioral therapy, positive psychology, and trauma informed care allows me to help clients build practical executive functioning tools for ADHD while navigating anxiety and sensory fatigue.
By taking a strengths based, family systems perspective, I work with both youth and adults to transform everyday neurodivergent struggles into actionable, functional life skills.
Kate Schramm
Good fit for young neurodivergent children (ages 2–10) and their caregivers seeking an attuned, play based approach to support ADHD, executive stress, and emotional growth.
Honoring each child's pace and autonomy guides my relational approach, creating a safe foundation where neurodivergent young minds feel respected rather than forced to conform.
Drawing from child centered and synergetic play therapy alongside CBT, I help children ages 2 through 10 navigate ADHD, sensory overload, and emotional dysregulation through their natural language of play.
My extensive clinical background enables me to partner closely with parents, providing gentle, attuned guidance to strengthen the caregiver child relationship through every developmental leap.
What sets our practice apart from other Denver neurodivergence therapy providers
We provide neuro-affirming care that celebrates unique brain wiring. At Rooted Rhythm, autism, ADHD, and cognitive differences aren't conditions to be forced into masking or changing. We help neurodivergent children, teens, and adults understand how their brains work, embrace their natural strengths, and build self advocacy skills without shame.
A structured, goal focused 12 week framework. Rather than open ended therapy with unclear milestones, our core program for kids and teens follows a clear, 3-month model designed to build lasting sensory regulation, executive functioning tools, and emotional resilience. Learn more about our TUNED IN® program for kids or our TUNED IN® program for teens.
Parents are built into every single session. Sustainable progress happens when the home environment adapts alongside the child. Every youth session dedicates time specifically to coaching parents on nervous system regulation and neuro-affirming strategies to support their child between appointments.
Support that continues between sessions. Families receive lifetime access to the Tuned In Institute®, our exclusive education portal featuring digital tools, online parenting courses, the TUNED IN book series, and Remi™, our personal AI learning concierge.
Sensory informed, experiential modalities. Our Denver clinicians integrate synergetic play therapy, child centered play therapy, somatic practices, and expressive arts to address executive stress, overstimulation, and emotional meltdowns at the body level—far beyond traditional talk therapy.
Comprehensive support for all ages and family needs. Beyond child play therapy (ages 2–12), we provide specialized care for neurodivergent teens, adults navigating late identified ADHD or autism burnout, parent coaching, and formal psychoeducational and ADHD assessments.
Tailored, high touch clinician matching. We carefully match each individual or family with a therapist whose specific expertise, personality, and neuro-affirming approach align with your unique communication style and goals.
Why Waiting to Start Neurodivergence Therapy Keeps You or Your Child Stuck
When you, your teen, or your child navigate life with a neurodivergent brain, it is easy to hope that executive dysfunction, sensory meltdowns, or daily misunderstandings are "just a phase" or something you can manage on your own.
However, living in a world built for neurotypical expectations rarely gets easier without the right tools. Unsupported neurodivergence often leads to chronic exhaustion, burnout, and low self esteem.
The Nervous System Stays Locked in Overdrive
Neurodivergent brains process sensory information, executive tasks, and social cues differently. Without affirming coping mechanisms, routine demands from school, work, or environment keep the nervous system stuck in a persistent "fight, flight, or freeze" state, causing routine transitions to trigger major distress.Sensory Meltdowns, Shutdowns, and Autistic/ADHD Burnout Become the Norm
Without targeted sensory diet strategies and accommodation tools, neurodivergent children often externalize overstimulation through intense meltdowns or internalize it through complete withdrawal. For teens and adults, forcing performance through chronic sensory overload inevitably leads to severe, debilitating burnout and social exhaustion.Masking and Internalized Shame Deepen Over Time
When neurodivergent individuals are forced to hide their authentic traits to fit neurotypical standards, they internalize the belief that they are "lazy," "defective," or "broken." Delaying neuro-affirming care allows chronic masking and shame to build, severely damaging long term self esteem and identity.Parenting Stress Drains the Whole Household
For parents of neurodivergent youth, walking on eggshells around unpredictable dysregulation creates constant tension and uncertainty at home. Postponing specialized support keeps your family stuck in reactionary behavior management instead of building a harmonious, neuro-affirming household rhythm.Avoidance and Isolation Limit True Growth
To protect against sensory overstimulation and social judgment, neurodivergent kids and adults often isolate or avoid new opportunities altogether. While stepping back brings temporary relief, avoiding supportive environments prevents you or your child from building authentic confidence, community, and self advocacy skills.
What to expect from the therapy process
1. Start with a free consultation
Begin with a no pressure 15 minute call where you’ll share what has been happening for your teen and your family, and our intake team will thoughtfully match you with the therapist who feels like the best fit.
2. Build safety and trust
Early sessions focus on helping your teen feel respected, understood, and comfortable enough to open up at their own pace. Together, we’ll also identify meaningful goals with your input as a parent.
3. Grow together as a family or individually
As therapy continues, you or your child builds emotional awareness, regulation skills, and a stronger sense of self. You’ll receive support along the way so progress can take root beyond the therapy room.
FAQs about teen therapy
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Instead of trying to force neurotypical behaviors or train away natural traits, neuro-affirming therapy focuses on validating how your brain works, teaching sensory regulation, and helping you build authentic coping skills without masking.
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A formal diagnosis is never required to start therapy; we treat the actual person and their lived experience. This includes sensory overload, executive dysfunction, and emotional dysregulation. We meet you wherever you are on your journey. If you would like to receive a formal diagnosis, we can connect you with our local, go-to recommendations for assessments.
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Yes, by identifying underlying sensory triggers and executive function roadblocks, we help replace power struggles with proactive environmental shifts and nervous system regulation that restore peace for the whole family.