Michelle Sandoval, M.A., LMFT   

Michelle Sandoval, M.A., LMFT (they/she) is an neuroqueer therapist, disability advocate, and mental health educator and presenter. With 17 years of professional experience in community mental health, public school systems, and private practice, they leverages their lived experience as a queer and Autistic person with a naturally born sense of justice to provide affirming therapy to neurodivergent clients. Michelle's unique neurotype has fostered a deep curiosity about the world, particularly in her special interest in mental health, making her endeavors in learning and teaching about this field deeply rewarding and enriching. 

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Dignity Over Compliance: Autism, Trauma and the Need for Safer Therapy Spaces          

Description:

Autistic people experience disproportionately high rates of trauma and suicidal risk, yet therapy spaces often replicate the very harms they seek to heal. This course approaches care through an Autistic and disability justice centered lens, focusing on highlighting the intersections of marginalization of populations that are more likely to face disability discrimination along with other forms of discrimination based on gender, race, sexuality or more.  Traditional psychotherapeutic approaches—especially those rooted in compliance, behavioral correction, or normative emotional expression—can unintentionally traumatize autistic clients and invalidate their neurodivergent coping mechanisms, including stimming, shutdowns and meltdowns, or  dissociative strategies. This presentation invites psychotherapists to critically examine the clinical assumptions, sensory environments, and power dynamics that shape their work with autistic clients. Drawing from disability justice, neurodiversity-affirming frameworks, and lived experience, we will explore how to support autistic individuals through trauma and crisis without reinforcing ableism or demanding neuronormativity.  

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:

• Identify at least three ways traditional psychotherapeutic approaches may unintentionally retraumatize autistic clients.   
• Describe neurodivergent coping mechanisms such as stimming, shutdowns, meltdowns, and dissociation, and explain their function in autistic self-regulation.    
• Analyze the impact of ableism, neuronormativity, and intersecting systems of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, transphobia) on the mental health and clinical treatment of autistic individuals.
• Apply principles of disability justice and neurodiversity-affirming care in clinical decision-making with autistic clients including decision making around suicidal care.
• Demonstrate strategies for providing suicide risk assessment and crisis intervention that are affirming of autistic communication styles and support needs.