Kimberly Hawks | Neurodiverse Couples Specialist | Associate Marriage and Family Therapist

My Approach to Therapy

Welcome! 

I believe neurodiverse couples deserve understanding, practical tools, and compassionate support to navigate differences, repair ruptures, and strengthen their bond. 

Therapy with me centers on how you relate to yourself and how you connect with your partner, so we can co-create healthier patterns that respect your individual needs and the realities of your neurodiverse relationship.

Together, we will design a clear roadmap with actionable steps for communication, shared growth, healing, and resilience—helping you navigate conflict, feel heard, cultivate compassion, and deepen your connection.

My Journey: Neurodiversity in Parenting, Partnership, and Life

I’m a wife and mom in a neurodiverse family. Our three kids each have different neurotypes, my husband has ADHD, and I’m a highly sensitive person (HSP). 

As a couple, our different wiring impacts our parenting approaches, emotional needs, communication styles, and ways of showing and feeling love. 

Over the years, we’ve navigated the ups and downs of raising children, managing serious medical challenges for one of our children while keeping life “normal” for our other two, and juggling work and travel. In times of crisis and busy-ness, it’s easy to slip into survival mode and stop connecting—we’ve learned that relationships, especially between partners with different neurotypes, take intentional daily practice. 

Small, consistent efforts to stay attuned, adapt, and repair have strengthened our bond and our family rhythm.

Children thrive when their parents are connected and in love. 

This experience informs how I support couples: empathy, practical strategies, curiosity, and consistent practice can make real, lasting change in relationships.

Parenting Through Neurodiversity and Serious Medical Issues

I’ve done the hospital all-nighters, medication schedules, insurance calls, and constant “Plan B.” 

I’ve navigated children with different needs, and when HSP and ADHD come into conflict at the least opportune times—and learned that clear communication and small repeatable routines steady a household better than one-off heroics. 

Families don’t need perfection; they need nervous-system regulation, aligned expectations, clear boundaries, and repair that actually sticks. 

Adoption, Attachment, and Complex Family Systems

I was adopted as an infant and raised with split custody after my adoptive parents divorced. 

My mom came out as a lesbian when I was in first grade and built a large, loving blended family with her partner (now wife of 20+ years), her children, and my step-sister from a prior relationship. My dad remarried, and in that home I was an only child.

As an adult, I reunited with my birth mother. 

Living between different households—and then doing the attachment work of reunification—taught me that belonging is built through safety, consistency, and trust, not titles. 

I bring those attachment lessons into therapy: predictable care, listening, straight talk, and small promises kept.

Married 25 Years- Staying Connected

My husband and I met in college on the East Coast, and in 2025 we celebrated 25 years of marriage.

He was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult–learning about his neurotype, and understanding more about my sensitivity, enabled us to break old cycles of recurrent arguments, missed cues, and shutdown/flare patterns. 

Couples counseling has been key to our growth and staying connected, especially during medical crises and times of stress—prioritizing repair over being “right,” using clear scripts on hard days, and protecting time for intimacy and connection when everything else feels unstable.

This experience informs my work as a couples therapist, helping partners navigate differences, improve communication, and strengthen their connection.

Parent Coaching and School Support

Before becoming a therapist, I helped to launch two schools–a preschool and a K-8 school, where I was deeply involved in school administration and admissions. 

That experience matters. 

I understand how administrators make decisions, how to make sure a school is a good fit for a child, and how to advocate for the support that each child needs and deserves through collaboration and IEP/504 processes. 

As a therapist, I bring experience working in elementary school settings and was honored with a California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) award in 2025 for my collaborative approach to working with neurodiverse children, their families, schools, and other specialists. 

Mind–Body Wellness

Trail running with friends keeps me balanced—it’s nervous-system regulation in motion. 

Cooking with my family, whether we’re making homemade pasta or tackling creative kitchen challenges, brings joy and connection. Time with friends and family restores perspective, and reading keeps me curious. 

Playing with our golden retriever, going on dates with my husband, jumping on the trampoline with my son, and hanging out with my teen daughters make life deeply meaningful. 

These moments remind me that nurturing our closest relationships matters most, especially when life feels full and demanding.

Neurodiverse Couples: Repair That Works Under Real-Life Stress

Neurodiverse couples often love each other deeply but trip the same wires: intent vs. impact mismatches, processing-speed differences, sensory overload, executive-function gaps, and uneven social needs. 

When you add a child’s medical needs or school crisis, the bond can slide into logistics-only mode and resentment.

What we build together:

• Shared language for neurotype differences. Clear, non-pathologizing terms that reduce blame and make needs discussable.
  

• Repair first, then reasons. Ownership before context; repair scripts that fit your brains and your stress window.
  

• Executive-function scaffolds for the relationship. Time anchors, transition plans, decision trees, and externalized reminders so love isn’t held hostage by working memory.
  

• Sensory-aware intimacy. Pressure-free closeness, pacing, and predictable rituals that make connection safe again.
  

• Conflict that ends. Shorter fights, calmer recoveries, and agreements you can actually keep during busy weeks or medical flares.

  
  

Bottom line: we design routines and communication playbooks that hold under pressure—because that’s when you need them.

Parenting Neurodiverse Children (Including Chronic Illness and 2e)

Parenting neurodiverse kids is both beautiful and challenging. You’re balancing strengths with support needs, independence with safety, and your own burnout due to high demands.

I help you:

• Stabilize the nervous system at home (yours and your child’s) before layering new skills.

• Build routines that survive chaos, using smallest viable steps and visual anchors.

• Translate assessments into accommodations schools will actually implement.

• Support 2e learners so giftedness doesn’t mask disability—or vice versa.

• Cope with chronic illness: pacing, grief, medical advocacy, and sibling care that doesn’t disappear.

• Manage dynamics between siblings of different neurotypes, fostering understanding, fairness, and connection.

• Align as parents to reduce conflict and create consistency, helping children feel safe and supported.

• Keep the couple strong so the family system can thrive.

Blended Families (Informed by My Own Upbringing)

Growing up across two homes—with different rules, values, and cultures—taught me how identity and belonging form in motion. 

In session, we clarify roles, set respectful boundaries, and create rituals that include everyone without erasing anyone.

Small, predictable gestures build trust faster than good intentions.

Working With Adult Adoptees

Adults who were adopted in infancy or childhood often experience unique challenges around attachment, identity, and belonging. 

In my work with adult adoptees, I help clients understand how early adoption experiences can shape patterns of closeness and trust with partners and children, as well as how these dynamics may influence parenting. 

Together, we explore the impact of trauma, loss, and questions of identity while building tools for authentic connection and open conversations about adoption within relationships and families.

Treatment Modalities- An Integrative Approach

There’s no single approach that works for everyone. 

I take time to get to know you—both as individuals and as a couple—and tailor my work to meet your unique needs and goals. 

I draw from a range of therapeutic modalities and the latest evidence-based research to best support your growth and connection:

• Foundational Approaches: CBT, ACT, Humanistic/Person-Centered, Solution-Focused/Brief, Psychodynamic, Behavioral and Social Thinking interventions.
  

• Mind–Body & Experiential: Mindfulness, somatic-informed work, expressive arts to help clients connect with and regulate their internal experiences.
  

•  Relationship & Systems: Family Systems Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Relational Life Therapy (RLT) to support connection and relational growth.
  

• Trauma-Informed: I use a trauma-informed lens in all of my work, creating a safe, attuned, and empowering environment to help clients process experiences and build resilience.
  

• Collaboration: I coordinate with medical teams, schools, specialists, and educational consultants when it supports the work and the client’s goals.
  

Education

• Bachelor of Arts, Psychology — Boston College

• Master of Science, Counseling Psychology — Dominican University of California
  

License & Employment Information

• Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, #156426

•  Supervised by Dr. Harry Motro, LMFT #53452 

• Employed by New Path Family of Therapy Centers