Kimberly Hawks | Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
My Approach: Supporting You While You Support Your Child
Parenting a neurodiverse child can be deeply rewarding, and also brings challenges that require specialized understanding and support.
Neurodiverse children have “superpowers” that, when recognized and supported, allow them to thrive and make a positive impact on their families and the world.
As a parent, this often involves navigating sensory needs, emotional escalations, communication challenges, sibling dynamics, school and/or medical systems, conflicting advice from “experts”, and the impacts of your own overwhelmed nervous system.
Therapy with me focuses on you as the parent and on the whole family system.
We’ll work together to:
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Understand your and your child’s nervous system, strengths, and support needs.
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Reduce daily chaos with realistic routines and clear communication.
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Strengthen your connection with your child, even on the hard days.
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Support siblings and co-parents so everyone feels seen.
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Navigate complicated school and medical systems.
You do not need to be perfect for your child to thrive.
You need support, tools that work for you, and a place where you can be honest about the impact on you—without judgment.
My Family: A Neurodiverse Home in Motion
I’m a wife and mom in a neurodiverse family.
Our three children each have different neurotypes, my husband has ADHD, and I’m a highly sensitive person.
This means realities to manage in daily life:
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Differing sensory needs, energies, and emotional rhythms.
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Parenting instincts that don’t always align.
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Unique ways of expressing and receiving love.
We’ve navigated life with neurodiverse children, serious medical challenges for one child, and the everyday chaos of three schools, soccer carpools, hospital stays, work schedules, and travel.
I know what it’s like when:
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You’re up all night with a sick or overwhelmed child and still expected to function.
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One child needs constant advocacy while you’re trying to protect normalcy for the others.
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Your relationship slips into logistics-only mode, and you miss each other.
What I’ve learned is that small, consistent efforts matter:
Self care, clear language, repeatable routines, consistency, and daily moments of connection.
Children do best when their parents feel resourced, connected, and supported.
I support you in building the tools and connections that allow your family to flourish.
Parenting Through Medical Complexity, Extreme Stress, and Burnout
I’ve managed long-term hospital stays for one of my children, coordinated insurance, collaborated with school and medical specialists through illness, and created multiple contingency plans.
From lived experience and clinical work, I focus on helping families:
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Regulate nervous systems at home (yours and your child’s) before layering in new skills.
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Create simple, repeatable routines, and back-up plans that survive chaos—not just work on calm days.
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Balance care for the child with higher needs without losing the others in the shuffle.
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Name and process the quiet grief, fear, resentment, and guilt that often sit underneath.
Families don’t need perfection.
They need regulation, alignment, and meaningful repair.
School, IEPs, and Advocacy: Turning Assessments Into Support
Before becoming a therapist, I helped launch two schools—a preschool and a K–8 school—working in administration and admissions.
That means I understand:
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How decisions get made in schools.
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What makes a school a good fit for a particular child.
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How to collaborate with teachers and administrators so you’re heard and your child is supported.
In my therapy and parent coaching work, I help you:
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Translate evaluations into concrete accommodations and supports.
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Show up to IEP/504 meetings with clarity and realistic goals.
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Communicate in ways that move things forward.
In 2025, I was honored with a California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) award for my work with neurodiverse children in schools, collaborating with their families, teachers, school administration, and other specialists.
I facilitate collaboration between parents, schools, and other specialists to make sure that each child is fully supported.
Parenting Neurodiverse Children
Parenting neurodiverse children often means:
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Walking the line between honoring strengths and supporting through struggles.
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Managing your child’s anxiety, sensory overload, or shutdowns while tracking your own.
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Facing systems (schools, medical providers, extended family) that may not fully understand.
I help parents and families:
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Stabilize home life with small, concrete changes instead of overwhelming overhauls.
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Support 2e (twice-exceptional) learners so giftedness doesn’t hide disability—or vice versa.
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Cope with chronic illness: pacing, advocacy, and tending to siblings who also need you.
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Build language and rituals that help siblings understand and stay connected across neurotypes.
And throughout, we keep one goal clear:
Parenting a neurodiverse child doesn’t mean losing sight of your identity or needs.
Adoption, Attachment, and Blended Families
I was adopted as an infant and raised with split custody after my adoptive parents divorced.
My family system included:
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A mom who raised me, and came out as a lesbian when I was in first grade and later built a large, loving blended family with her wife and my step-siblings.
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A dad who remarried, and with whom I spent every other weekend.
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Reuniting with my birth mother as an adult and doing the attachment work to discover a new relationship and family.
Living between different households taught me that belonging isn’t about titles; it’s about safety, consistency, and trust.
In therapy, I draw on this experience to help:
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Parents navigating adoption issues, stepfamilies, and complex constellations.
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Adults who were adopted and are now parenting, untangling how their own history affects how they show up as moms, dads, and partners.
We make space for the real feelings—loyalty pulls, grief, confusion, love—and build attachment patterns that are intentional, not just inherited.
Keeping the Couple Strong (Including Neurodiverse Partnerships)
While this website focuses on parenting, I also care deeply about your partnership.
I’ve been married for over 25 years.
When my husband was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, and I understood more about my own sensitivity, we were finally able to see our recurring arguments and shutdown patterns in a new light.
Couples counseling and intentional work helped us:
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Prioritize repair over being “right.”
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Use clear scripts during high-stress moments.
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Protect time for intimacy and connection during our most chaotic days.
If your relationship is also neurodiverse—ADHD, autism, HSP, or other differences—I can help you understand how your wiring affects parenting, communication, and conflict.
We’ll keep the focus on what matters most for this stage of life:
Raising your children well and staying connected as partners.
How I Work: An Integrative, Practical Approach
There is no one-size-fits-all model for neurodiverse families.
I take time to understand:
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Your child’s profile.
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Your family’s values and stressors.
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Your history as a parent and partner.
Then we tailor the work to match your goals, capacity, and season of life.
I draw from:
Foundational Approaches
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Humanistic/Person-Centered, Solution-Focused/Brief, Psychodynamic, Behavioral and Social Thinking interventions.
Mind–Body & Experiential
Mindfulness, somatic-informed work, and when appropriate, expressive arts, to help you and your child tune into internal experiences and find regulation tools that work for you.
Relationship & Systems
Family Systems Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and Relational Life Therapy (RLT) to strengthen connection within the family and between co-parents.
Trauma-Informed Lens
I work to create a safe, attuned, and empowering space where you can be honest about your story and build resilience without shame.
Collaboration
When helpful, I collaborate with medical teams, schools, specialists, and educational consultants to align support around your child and family.
Education & Credentials
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Bachelor of Arts, Psychology — Boston College
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Master of Science, Counseling Psychology — Dominican University of California
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Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, #156426
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Supervised by Dr. Harry Motro, LMFT #53452
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Employed by New Path Family of Therapy Centers (providing services through Parenting Autism Therapy Center)