Meet Katherine
Hi, I’m Katherine. I’m a neurodivergent therapist, longtime RPG gamer, lifelong artist, and collector of more hobbies and unfinished sidequests than one person reasonably needs. I love stories and characters deeply, can happily disappear into a fandom rabbit hole, and have strong feelings about Avatar: The Last Airbender, Supernatural, and whatever game currently has my full attention.
​
I also know what it is like to look capable while quietly working much harder than anyone realizes. I was the perfectionistic teenager getting amazing grades and still feeling like I was failing. I can accomplish enormous things and then need an entire motivational strategy to fold laundry that has been clean for three days. I do not expect anyone to arrive polished or ready with the right words. What I offer is honesty, curiosity, humor, and a willingness to keep looking when the usual answers do not fit.
✦ ☾ ✦
Why This Work Matters to Me
For a long time, therapy felt like another place where I was supposed to perform correctly. Sitting still, talking about myself, taking up space, and admitting that I needed help felt strange. People saw the grades and accomplishments. They did not always see the anxiety, emotional intensity, executive dysfunction, or effort underneath the mask.
​
A lot of my own healing came from understanding why things were hard, reducing the shame, and finding systems that worked for my brain. I learned that accountability and compassion can exist together. Sometimes the skill needs adjusting. Sometimes the environment needs to change. Usually, it is a little of both.
​
I created Sidequests & Sketchbooks to make room for the whole person, including the messy parts, intense feelings, unfinished laundry, fandom obsessions, humor, and joy. If you have been playing on a different difficulty setting without anyone acknowledging it, it makes sense that you are tired. You should not have to figure out the entire game alone.
Credentials & Experience
-
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Maryland
-
National Certified Counselor
-
ADHD-Certified Clinical Services Provider
-
M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Expressive Arts Therapy, Lesley University
-
Experience working with neurodivergent teens and young adults
Areas of Focus
-
ADHD, autism, and AuDHD
-
Executive functioning, overwhelm, and burnout
-
Masking, identity, and self-trust
-
Anxiety, OCD, overthinking, and perfectionism
-
School, college, work, and early-adulthood transitions
-
Creative blocks, motivation, and feeling stuck or behind
