AANE

"What experience tells me is this, just like neurotypical couples, neurodiverse couples have relationship issues that bring them into therapy. But with neurodiverse couples, although the issues may be similar — communication difficulties, intimacy issues, lack of emotional connection — the root cause is neurological. And the effective solution involves taking neurology into account in how you understand and treat these couples."

Grace Myhill, MSW, is a pioneer and leader in the field of neurodiverse couples therapy. Since 2004, she has worked with hundreds of neurodiverse couples together and separately in her private practice and through the AANE neurodiverse couples coaching program. She has developed numerous skill-building tools and lessons to enhance communication and emotional connection.

Grace oversees a variety of in-person and video support groups for the many facets of this unique population. Support is very important for these couples; it provides normalization and validation for both the neurotypical partners and the partners with an Asperger’s profile.

She has support groups for neurodiverse couples together and separately: groups for partners with an Asperger’s profile, groups for neurotypical partners who are currently in a neurodiverse relationship, and groups for neurotypical partners who are divorced from a person with an Asperger’s profile, to work on strategies for co-parenting. She also moderates an online discussion forum on AANE’s website for the neurotypical partners in a neurodiverse couple.

Together with psychodramatist Carol Feldman Bass, JD, Grace co-developed a relationship skill-building workshop specifically for neurodiverse couples that uses a variety of interactive action methods such as Psychodrama, Sociodrama, and Improvisation. In a small group, neurodiverse couples work in action to better understand perspective-taking, communication, and other aspects of their complex relationships. In a supportive environment with others who think and feel the way they do, they experience using new strategies which they can continue to use after the workshop ends.

Getting a formal diagnosis is an important component of being in a neurodiverse relationship for many couples. Grace diagnoses adults with Asperger’s/Autism Spectrum Disorder using a collaborative process together with their partner or someone who knows them well.

Grace trains professional clinicians about understanding and treating neurodiverse couples through individual and group consultations. Her webinars and podcasts include such topics as Courtship in Neurodiverse Relationships, Common Challenges and Realistic Strategies for Neurodiverse Couples, and Navigating Neurodiverse Relationships.

Together with AANE’s executive director Dania Jekel, Grace co-authored two articles for NASW Focus, Neurology Matters: Recognizing, Understanding, and Treating Neurodiverse Couples in Therapy, and Asperger Marriage: Viewing Partnerships through a Different Lens.

She currently holds the titles of Director of Couples and Partner's Services and Director of the Peter M. Friedman Neurodiverse Couples Institute at AANE.