About Clare and At the Confluence

At the Confluence is a place where stories, creativity and humanity meet.

I’m Clare, a counsellor, coaching practitioner, researcher, writer and willow artist. At the Confluence brings these parts of my work together.

They share a curiosity about how we make sense of ourselves, our relationships and the lives we live.

Whether I’m alongside someone in therapy, researching autistic and ADHD identity, writing a Field Note or weaving willow, stories run through my work.

I’m interested in how creativity, reflection and connection can help us come home to ourselves.

My Philosophy of Practice

My philosophy of practice holds emphasis on the power of human connection, self-compassion and storytelling (for both the storyteller, and the listener / reader). Through the process of Kintsugi as a metaphor for life, I aim to support my clients to be curious about and embrace imperfection, find beauty and strength in vulnerability, and notice where challenges and adversity have thrown up opportunities for personal growth, resilience, and sometimes even transformation.

My approach

I’m interested in the whole person: your strengths, values, relationships, history and hopes for the future.

My background is in humanistic counselling and positive psychology coaching. These approaches make space for your experience, your choices and what matters to you.

I also draw on training and experience in movement, hypnotherapy and neuro-affirming practice. For me, being neuro-affirming means respecting different ways of thinking, feeling and experiencing the world. It means staying curious about your experience, being open to what works for you, and adapting how we work together to support your needs.

For more than seventeen years, I’ve supported people through grief, change, relationship difficulties and burnout. Many have also been exploring their identity and how to live in a way that feels true to them.

Much of my current work explores belonging, becoming and narrative identity - the stories we use to understand who we are.

I’m particularly interested in autism, ADHD and discovering these parts of ourselves later in life.

Lived experience

I was diagnosed Dyspraxic as a child, and as autistic and ADHD, later in life. This helped me understand my own identity more fully.

It has deepened my appreciation of how complex identity can be. It has also helped me understand the exhaustion of masking: hiding or adapting parts of ourselves to fit other people’s expectations.

Finding language for our experiences can bring a powerful sense of recognition. Sometimes, it might feel like we're finally coming home to ourselves.

My experience is my own. It reminds me to meet each person’s story with curiosity, humility and compassion.

Beyond the therapy room

At the Confluence has grown beyond a traditional therapy practice.

My work includes:

Counselling, coaching, and soon clinical supervision (currently in training).
Research into autistic wellbeing, identity and belonging.
Field Notes: a space for my writing and reflections.
Talks, workshops and educational projects.
The Crafty Dragonfly: seasonal willow creations and creative workshops inspired by nature, story and the changing seasons.

These projects share some familiar questions:

Where do I belong?
Who am I becoming?
How do the stories I carry shape my life today?

My background and professional interests

My qualifications and training include:

Humanistic therapeutic counselling.
Positive psychology coaching.
Cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy.

My wider practice and interests include:

Self-compassion.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Movement and wellbeing.
Exploring and developing neuro-affirming practice.
Helping individuals, groups and organisations understand psychological experiences.
Research into the wellbeing and identity of people who are both autistic and have ADHD, sometimes called AuDHD.

I continue to learn and develop my practice as our understanding of wellbeing and neurodivergence grows.

Writing, speaking and collaboration

I write and speak about identity, belonging, autism, ADHD, grief, creativity and the stories we tell ourselves.

If you’re interested in a talk, workshop, collaboration or educational event, I’d love to hear from you.

A note about personal experience

When I write or speak from lived experience, I’m sharing my own journey.

Autistic and ADHD people have many different experiences. I hope my contribution adds one thoughtful voice to a much wider conversation.