Dana (she/her) is a lived-experience neurodivergent counselor and narrative therapist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Dana is endlessly fascinated by the diversity of brains, bodies and beings in the world and committed to supporting neurodivergent folk to live meaningfully and sustainably. Many people who consult with Dana do not have a formal diagnosis and may present as high masking and experience barriers to self-identifying. The combination of steretyped ideas of neurodivergence and internalised ableism can make self-identifying a complex and confusing journey. With curiosity and interest, Dana walks alongside clients to dignify suffering, celebrate survival and resistance, identify and meet needs, and strengthen community and sense of belonging.

Dana has experience supporting client's explorating:

• gender expansiveness and neuro-queer identity
• childhood, familial and transgenerational trauma
• chronic illness, fatigue and/or pain
• meltdowns, shut downs, burn out and recovery
• substance use and suicidal thoughts (sometimes described as "singing your death song")

Narrative Therapy training grounds Dana's work in a First Nation's social justice framework. This allows the critique of oppressive societal structures and makes room to question claims about "success" and "normality". As someone with her own "spiky profile", Dana is quick with word meanings and associations, but is likely to bump into the doorframe as she greets you. This helps ground her work in humility and humour.

Jungian Coaching training supports symbolic work (e.g. dreamwork, art making, nature connections, mythology explorations) which Dana has found particularly helpful during times of major transition (e.g. parenthood, career change or break, grief and loss) and times where clients feel "stuck". She is the current host of The Jungian Coaching Room and previously hosted season 4 of the C.G. Jung Society of Melbourne podcast

Dana's background in speech pathology helps her connect with people through varied communication methods. She has specialised training in Persistant Drive for Autonomy (previously Pathological Demand Avoidance), Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, Situational Non-speaking (clinically labelled Selective Mutism), resistricted diet and mealtime difficulties, and trans and gender expansive voice identity coaching. Dana's experience working with children contributes to a nurturing approach to the "young parts" held in the stories of adults.

Dana is deeply connected to her Lithuanian ancestry and mythology. Her acrylic painting "Saule" have been featured in the Tending to Stories (Feminst Theologies Conference) and Self-identity (Fitzroy Art Collective) exhibitions. Her painting "Menuo" was featured in the Bundoor Homestead A1 Art Salon.