Can't attend live? Register anyway for 3 days of free access to the training!
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You see it every day: women carrying years of misdiagnosis, internalized shame, masking fatigue, and the weight of trying to fit into expectations built around male-normed research.
You're also seeing the fallout—identity confusion, self-criticism, disordered eating, relationship patterns rooted in survival, and burnout from decades of camouflaging.
To truly help these women, you need more than slightly adapted traditional models—you need a neurodiversity-affirming framework that sharpens your clinical insight, deepens your compassion, and expands what's possible in the room.
In this powerful (and possibly once-in-a-lifetime free) training with psychotherapist and neurodiversity specialist Jennifer Gerlach, LCSW, you'll gain tools to transform your work with autistic and ADHD women, including:
- Diagnostic insight grounded in current research on female neurodiversity
- ACT- and CFT-informed strategies for self-compassion and identity strengthening
- Guidance for unmasking safely and fostering authenticity in relationships, work, school, and community settings
- Trauma-informed approaches for self-harm, eating dysregulation, chronic shame, and identity wounds
- Sensory, executive-function, and communication supports tailored to the needs of neurodivergent women
This may be your only chance to access a training of this caliber for free.
Register now to become the clinician these women have long needed.
Neurodiversity in Women
Strategies for Empowering Women with Autism or ADHD
*CE credit available for an additional cost. Register for more information.
Autism and ADHD in Women
Subtle traits, masking patterns, and high-risk challenges
- The female phenotype of autism
- Three common traits in the female presentations of autism and ADHD
- Challenges neurodivergent women face: Self-harm, eating disorders, sexual assault, suicide
- Common special interests in autistic females
- Camouflage and other compensatory behaviors
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Overlooked, Undiagnosed, Misdiagnosed, and Diagnosed Late
Gender Differences in Diagnostic Patterns
- Common misdiagnoses and effects
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Bipolar disorder
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- ”Just” depression or anxiety
- Achieve accuracy in assessment and diagnostics
- Assessment instruments: Disproportionately normed on men
- Quantitative instruments: Accurate diagnosis in females
- Qualitative aspects of assessment: Look beyond diagnostic tools toward lived experience
- Grief, relief, and other common reactions to late diagnosis
FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING: STRENGTHS-BASED INTERVENTIONS
Masking and Unmasking
- Pros and cons of ‘masking'
- Masking and the sense of self
- ACT-based strategies
- Creation of ‘masks' used in different scenarios
- Map out masking behaviors and practice unmasking in safe spaces
- CFT approaches:
- Honor the function masking has played
- A kind letter to self
- Serenity box: Embrace strategies that may have been discouraged in the past
Build Self-Worth
- Psychoeducation: The impact of neurodivergence on self-worth
- ACT intervention: A self-valuing declaration
- Trauma-informed interventions:
- Create a timeline of critical life experiences
- A letter to one's younger self
- ”What has changed” art experiential
- Special considerations for the use of EDMR in neurodivergent women
Create Comfort
- Build understanding of neurodivergent-specific needs
- Assertiveness strategies for self-advocacy
- Identify and meet sensory needs
- Executive functioning and helpful interventions
- Strategies for managing rejection-sensitive dysphoria
Special Considerations for Neurodivergent Girls and Young Women
- Development of self-worth and interests
- Social connection, exclusion, and bullying
- School-based interventions
- Community interventions
- Role of social connection groups
Neurodiversity in Women
Strategies for Empowering Women with Autism or ADHD
*CE credit available for an additional cost. Register for more information.

Jennifer Gerlach, LCSW, is a psychotherapist in private practice in southern Illinois specializing in the crossroads of mental health, trauma and neurodiversity utilizing interventions informed by compassion-focused therapy, acceptance commitment therapy, EMDR and other traditions. Jennifer is the author of The Psychosis and Mental Health Recovery Workbook: Tools for Young Adults from ACT, DBT and Recovery-Oriented CBT and writes a blog for Psychology Today entitled ‘Beyond Mental Health: Defying Stereotypes and False Limitations.'
Jennifer has provided training to hundreds of clinicians nationwide on topics related to neurodiversity, mental health and healing trauma. She offers a unique perspective infused with her lived experience as an individual who has walked her own journey toward mental health and self-acceptance as an autistic person herself.
Neurodiversity in Women
Strategies for Empowering Women with Autism or ADHD
*CE credit available for an additional cost. Register for more information.
Our goal at PESI, Inc. is simple – connect knowledge with need. And over the last few years, thanks to the generosity of our expert speakers, authors, and the support of therapists like you, we’ve had the amazing opportunity to provide professional training to more therapists than ever FOR FREE.
Join Jennifer Gerlach, LCSW at this completely free event today and take the knowledge and insight you learn into your next session. This event is our way of supporting you and your clients.
No catch. Over the last few years, thanks to the generosity of our expert speakers and the support of therapists like you, we've had the amazing opportunity to provide professional training to more therapists than ever.
Because neurodiversity is something all therapists need to know about, we wanted to ensure this training is accessible to all therapists. It helps the field and in turn, helps us fulfill our mission.
How do I get CE credits for attending LIVE?
Just register today above with your name and email, then click the "LIVE CE" button on the next page to purchase your credit package for just $79.99 (discounted from $199.99) — only available for those who register here and purchase before the end of the training.
If I can't attend LIVE, can I still get CE credits?
Yes! Just register above and then click the "Self Study" CE button on the next page and purchase the recording package. You'll get unlimited access to the training and will be able to earn self-study CE.
Is there a way to keep the recordings from the training?
Yes! The full recording package (that includes up to 4 self-study CE hours) is just $79.99, offered ONLY for those who register here until the end of the training. Just register today above with your name and email, then click the "Self-Study" CE button that includes unlimited access to all the recordings, plus self-study CE credits.
Will I be able to ask the presenter questions?
YES! You'll be able to engage with the presenter and chat with colleagues throughout the presentation.
When will the replays be available and for how long? Do I get them for free?
Yes! You get unlimited replay access for 3 days after the training. Replays will be available within the week after the training ends and will be in the same place where the live sessions took place in your account portal.
Neurodiversity in Women
Strategies for Empowering Women with Autism or ADHD
*CE credit available for an additional cost. Register for more information.

