Meet Donelle: Occupational Therapist

In this Q&A, we speak with Beehyve Occupational Therapist, Donelle, about what led her to specialise in ADHD and neurodiversity, how her lived experience informs her work, and the practical, neuro-affirming strategies she shares to help clients thrive.

Can you tell us about your journey and what led you to become an occupational therapist, eventually specialising in ADHD and neurodiversity?

I became an occupational therapist because I loved how holistic the profession is—it looks at the whole person. That includes your physical, mental, cognitive, and neurological aspects, as well as the environment and the activities you're doing in that environment. We all have activities that we want and need to be able to do in our lives, and occupational therapy is all about using those in a therapeutic way. It's very rewarding, and I always say that OT is the doing therapy, not the talking therapy.

I worked in lots of different areas, and then one day I found myself in a room full of people with ADHD, and I felt like I'd just met my tribe. I felt suddenly understood and seen, and all of a sudden the penny dropped, and I thought, "Oh my gosh, I feel like I belong here. What is this saying about me?" That's when I went down the rabbit hole and did a lot of research into ADHD and looked back over my life through an ADHD lens. Suddenly, so many things made sense—things just slotted into place. That's a really common experience that so many people describe.

From that point on, I just knew that this was the niche I wanted to work in, and I wanted to help other people, especially those who were diagnosed later in life.

For those who might not know, how does occupational therapy support people with ADHD?

A big part of occupational therapy is coaching, so it fits in really well with being an ADHD coach. It's about teaching life skills, education, and relationship skills. There's a lot of psychology we learn as OTs, including models such as DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). We also work on advocacy, return to work plans, and mental health management.

There are a lot of co-occurring conditions that accompany ADHD, so understanding all of that holistic approach I talked about earlier is essential. One of the things that OTs do really well is consider the person and the activity in the context of the environment. The environment is a huge consideration in anything that we do with a person and any plans that we come up with for them.

What's the difference between a coach and a counsellor or therapist?

A counsellor talks about emotions and working through real stuck points, dealing with the emotional side of things. Whereas an occupational therapist or a coach, we are more about moving forward, solutions, creating a plan, and goal setting.

An occupational therapist might refer to a counsellor if there's a deeper issue that is a challenge for the person to work through that's going beyond what the occupational therapy is about. So part of an OT's plan might be to have some counselling or to see a psychologist at the same time.

They're very complementary because a lot of people will go to a counsellor and learn a lot about themselves and get some really great insights. But then once the session's finished, they lose momentum—they need some assistance to put things into place. An OT kind of does the next bit: "Well, now what? What do we do with it? How do we put this into a structure or a routine? How do we implement it?" It's the doing therapy—it's all about how we make sure that you actually get the full benefit of this and don't just learn it and then forget it.

What advice do you have when the "doing" becomes just another overwhelming thing on the to-do list?

You have to make it something that you want to do, so it's got to have an interest factor. There's got to be something about it—some sort of novelty. Make it fun, make it competitive, make it somehow tied in with something that you want to do. Whatever it is that gets your brain and your motivation going, do that to make it attractive to yourself.

This ties into occupational therapy being all about meaningful activity and purposeful activity. It's using activities that are important to the person or meaningful in some way, in a therapeutic way. It's always connected to the person's interests, their hopes and dreams, and what appeals to them at their core.

That also ties in really well with the ADHD interest-based brain. We tend to be like a light switch—we're either completely interested and hyper-focusing on something, or we've got zero interest at all.

You take a neuro-affirming approach. What does that mean in practice, and why is it important?

A neuro-affirming approach essentially means that we recognise ADHD and all neurodivergence as just a natural way of being—a difference in the brain from birth. It's not seen as a deficit or something that we need to fix. It's just who we are, and we work with that.

Similar to the way that we have lots of different plants in the garden and they all need different soil and different amounts of sunlight, water, and fertiliser, our brains are the same. We don't all respond the same way to the same conditions, and that's okay. It's actually our differences that make the garden really diverse and interesting to look at. A cactus and a fern have very different requirements, but we don't consider one to be better than the other.

How has your own ADHD experience influenced your work?

It's given me a lot of empathy and deep insight into what people are really going through when they share their experiences. It's also made me change the way that I present my own work because I know that my clients are going to have a lot of the same struggles that I have and still do—in terms of following up on things, remembering to do things, and being overwhelmed. So I structure things a little bit differently than I might have previously.

What are some practical strategies you recommend to help with things like overwhelm, focus, or nervous system regulation?

I think the most important thing before jumping to tips and tricks is having a really good foundation. First of all, just accept that your brain is the way it is and that it's okay to use strategies in the first place. So often people beat themselves up and say things like, "Oh, but I can't do it without a timer", or "I have to write it down, I have to have a list," and they see that as a bad thing. Whereas actually having a list and using a timer are very sensible strategies. We don't berate people with diabetes for taking insulin or people with an injury for using a wheelchair or crutches, so why should it be a problem that we're using a timer or a list to help ourselves through the day? That's smart, not a weakness.

Also, let go of perfection. Neurotypical strategies do not work for ADHD brains. There's so much advice out there about productivity, and a lot of it feels quite judgmental as well—things like meal planning and efficiency in shopping. With ADHD, those things are just not simple with the executive functioning challenges. Recognise that a lot of advice out there is not for your brain. If you can't keep up with those so-called aspirational standards, it's probably a problem with the strategy, not a problem with you.

Finally, remember that action comes before motivation, not the other way around. Motivation and getting started on things are huge problems for a lot of people. People ask, "How can I become more motivated?" but actually, the motivation comes once you take the action. If you can just get yourself to move in the direction of doing the thing, the motivation will often kick in at that point.

How do hormones impact women with ADHD?

It's massive! ADHD is all about neurotransmitters and biochemistry, and so are our hormonal changes. Often, women diagnosed later in life will discover that they have ADHD when they go through one of those big changes, like pregnancy or menopause, because their usual coping strategies all of a sudden don't work now that their life has changed or their coping capacity has changed because of what their body is going through.

That was actually my experience. After the birth of my first daughter, I felt like a completely different person, and I didn't know at the time that it was ADHD. Looking back, I can see how my life was completely different—I had a lot more demands on me, and all the strategies that I had been using without even realising it in the past suddenly went out the window.

What advice would you give to women going through post-pregnancy with ADHD?

Find some support, find other people going through the same thing—not only other mums, but particularly other neurodivergent mums or ADHD mums who are experiencing similar things and don't look at you like, "Well, why can't you just get it together?" There's no such thing as "just" doing anything when you've got a baby or when you've got ADHD. If you've got a baby and ADHD, you're not "just" doing anything—everything's a mission.

Being heard and understood is so important. There are so many people you can follow these days on social media who talk about it; there are books and resources, and you can get a coach. It takes a village to raise a child, and I think a lot of people nowadays forget that. You think that you're expected to do this stuff on your own, but we just don't have those villages around us anymore.

Everything's harder when you're not sleeping, and your whole routine has changed. It's quite a vulnerable time with the ups and downs of hormones and emotions, and everyone's role has suddenly changed.

What's one piece of advice for someone just starting to understand their own neurodivergence?

Embrace the brain that you've got and stop trying to work against it. Stop trying to fit into a mould. It's far easier, and you'll be way happier if you just accept the brain that you've got and work with it.

Also, remember that you never arrive at this magical point of having everything sorted. It's a constant process of making decisions daily and taking action to manage your symptoms. We are living in a world that wasn't designed for us, so that friction never goes away—it's about managing it.

Whenever possible, try to work with people who have or who understand neurodivergence and ADHD. Surround yourself with people who get it. Talk to people who get it and recognise that some people are just never going to get it. They've not experienced it, they're never going to get it, and that doesn't mean it's not real. Don't listen to the naysayers.

About Donelle:

Donelle is an Occupational Therapist who brings 25 years of clinical, corporate and community practice experience to Beehyve. She specialises in helping people with ADHD and other forms of neurodivergence thrive. Her expertise extends to sensory processing differences, autism and dyslexia.

"I take a neuro-affirming approach, which means that individual differences in the way our brains work are respected and incorporated into the plan - not seen as a deficit or 'disorder' that needs to be 'fixed'," she explains.

Donelle uses evidence-based approaches, drawing on various occupational therapy models and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

She prioritises practical solutions, especially in study and work settings.

"Occupational therapy looks at you as a whole person and also considers your environment," says Donelle.

Her personal journey with ADHD informs her practice: "I remember the exact moment when the penny dropped - that I related to these people so exceptionally well because I experienced all the same challenges they did."

Donelle is passionate about challenging the neurotypical status quo. She also supports women returning to work after maternity leave or during menopause, and takes a physiological approach to anxiety management, focusing on nervous system regulation and gut health.