Elizabeth Ponds (they/them)

elizabeth@healingartscollaborative.com

License & Training:
LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker), North Carolina

Registered Telehealth Provider, South Carolina

MSW (Masters in Social Work), Winthrop University

BA (Bachelor of Arts) in English - Creative Writing, Minor in International Studies, Winthrop University

Snapshot:
I am autistic, gifted, disabled, queer, and agender and enjoy working with clients looking to carve a joyful path outside of neuronormativity. Most of my clients are autistic (PDA) and LGBTQIA+, including ace/aro, bi/pan, and trans/nonbinary. <3 I see my clients as complex narrators of their unique stories, often wielding galactic inner landscapes that deserve to be celebrated and lugging burdens that no longer need to be shouldered.

I use an eclectic, relational, trauma-informed approach, leaning on lived experience while incorporating parts work, somatic exploration, creative writing, and acceptance and commitment techniques. I am a published creative nonfiction and poetry writer and have found personal healing and empowerment through written expression, so I love to facilitate this type of self-expression within my approach if desired by a client. I highly value the therapeutic relationship as a co-creative, actively engaged process where I walk alongside a client as they find their truth and power.

I practice cultural humility and competence. I actively listen to diverse voices in the community so that I can empathetically and sensitively help clients of all ethnicities, classes, abilities, beliefs, etc. It would be a privilege to be a part of your journey! 

I am a PATH provider for Transgender folks who are uninsured or underinsured in and around the Mecklenburg County, NC area. See here for more info: https://charlottetranshealth.org/providing-access-to-trans-healthcare-path/ 

I am licensed to offer telehealth therapy in South Carolina via the SC Board of Social Work Out-of-state telehealth provider registration. Registration #1176.  https://llr.sc.gov/TeleHealth/SocialWork.html

Identities that are important to me:

  • Agender and queer

  • Autistic and chronically ill/disabled

  • Abolitionist Southerner

  • Survivor of Christian fundamentalism

Healing Modalities:

  • Relational and holistic - informed by somatic psychotherapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and parts work 

  • Integration of creative writing for befriending inner child parts and building a greater sense of identity/direction (through creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, essays, journaling, etc.)

  • Grounded in a neuro-affirming, decolonizing framework

  • Trauma-informed perspectives

Therapy specialties:

  • Trans/queer clients (especially those who are nonbinary, bisexual, asexual, or aromantic)

  • Autistic clients (especially late-identified, young adults, and older adults)

  • Parents trying to understand and parent their autistic child in a neuro-affirming way (including how to parent a child with the PDA profile) 

  • Gifted (“Rainforest minded”) clients, skip-thinkers (like ADHDers) and those who are existential thinkers

  • Clients who are leaving or deconstructing oppressive paradigms (capitalism, patriarchy, cults, the medical industrial complex, etc.)

I work with clients ages:
16+ (individual therapy and couples/relationship therapy)

Therapy availability?:
Telehealth only.
Schedule is currently full; email to inquire about waitlist.

Supervision availability?
No

Training & Consultation Offered?
Yes! I offer individual consultations to fellow helping professionals and others around understanding the autistic neurotype, allistic-autistic communication differences, asexual/aromantic identities, and best practice for neuro-affirming care. Please feel free to contact me at elizabeth@neurokinconsulting.com with questions.