Where Your Complexity Is the Blueprint

Specializing in complex trauma, ADHD, autism, giftedness, and queer identity — for people who've tried therapy before and needed something more.

You've done everything right. You've tried therapy. You're still exhausted. Something essential kept getting missed — and you've quietly started to wonder if this is just how it is.

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Telehealth done differently • Therapy for kid, teens, and adults available to Ohio residents • Consultations & subclinical services available nationwide

peace freedom belonging clarity rest home

This is not that therapy.

I'm Amy Hauer, LISW-S — and I'm probably not your first therapist.

I know that because the people who find me have usually already tried. They've done CBT. They've been told to practice mindfulness. They've sat across from someone well-meaning whose biggest priority was to help them function better within a life that was never quite built for them.

I'm not interested in helping you mask more effectively.

Amy Hauer, LISW-S (she/her). Queer therapist, writer, speaker, and parent to a gender diverse kid. I work with the people systems weren’t built for.— queer and neurodivergent folks, childhood trauma survivors, and those who are rewriting their lives on their own terms.

"Managing isn't the same as living. And some part of you knows that."

I work with neurodivergent and queer adults, people carrying complex trauma, and families of gender diverse kids who are trying to protect their children in a world that doesn't always make that easy.

What I offer isn't just symptom management. It's something people tell me, when they're on the other side of it, they couldn't have imagined when we started.

Peace. Freedom. A life that actually feels like yours.

Finally, a space to exhale.

Relief begins when you stop having to explain yourself just to be understood. In this work, your complexity isn't a problem we're solving. It's the blueprint we're building from.

You're not the problem. You're the revolution.

Who I Work With

Two distinct pathways, both rooted in the same conviction: you are not too much, and something genuinely different is possible.

FOR ADULTS

Neurodivergent and Queer Adults

You've spent your life being the smart one, the intense one, the one who holds everything together while secretly wondering why it costs you so much.

Standard therapy often makes this worse by giving you tools designed for a different kind of mind, but while leaving the deeper thing untouched. Anxiety, self-criticism, the chronic sense of not quite fitting, these aren't character flaws. They're the entirely predictable result of a lifetime of being misunderstood.

Whether you're navigating ADHD, autism, AuDHD, or the particular exhaustion of being twice exceptional, we go deeper than coping skills. We go after the thing underneath so you can finally move forward.

Learn more

FOR FAMILIES

For Kids and Families of 2E and LGBTQ+ Youth

You know your child. You know they're not a problem to be fixed. But you're navigating schools, healthcare systems, and a world that doesn't always see what you see — and it's exhausting, and sometimes frightening.

I work with families to build real advocacy, embodied safety, and the kind of resilience that comes from knowing exactly who you are and that it's worth protecting.

Learn more

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How We Work

Whatever you're carrying — the anxiety, the exhaustion, the patterns you can't break — the approach has to fit the person. Here's how I work, and why it's different.

Why You React the Way You Do

The anxiety, the self-criticism, the ADHD spiral, the exhaustion of masking, and the other patterns you can't seem to break — these aren't character flaws. They're responses that made sense once. Gestalt work gets underneath the surface to what's actually driving them. Trained at the Gestalt Institutes of Columbus, Cleveland, and Indianapolis.

For the Stuff That Goes Really Deep

Some histories don't respond to standard approaches — and if you've been through real trauma, you probably already know that. I stay present when things get heavy and go after the root rather than the symptoms. Nearly 20 years specializing in complex trauma.

When Thinking About It Isn't Enough

You can understand exactly why you feel the way you do and still feel it. Anxiety lives in the body, not just the mind, and insight alone doesn't always move it. Trained under Paul Linden, PhD, somatic healer and martial artist, to build safety that talk therapy alone can't reach.

When Talking Isn't the Only Way In

For some people, the most important things open up through play, movement, and story rather than conversation. TTRPGs, video games, virtual board games, and VR as genuine clinical tools. Currently in consultation with Daniel Hand, a leading voice in TTRPG therapy.

READY TO FIND OUT WHAT'S POSSIBLE?

I've also developed the WILD Framework — a clinical approach built around what you're capable of, not what's wrong with you. Your complexity is the starting point, not the problem.

LEARN ABOUT WILD

I developed the WILD Framework because I kept watching brilliant, complex people get handed a list of deficits instead of a roadmap. It's a clinical approach built around capacity — what you can do, not what you can't.

What people find on the other side

The results I see in this work are genuinely hard to describe without sounding like I'm overselling. People come in exhausted, skeptical, having already tried. And then something shifts — not all at once, but unmistakably.

What they describe on the other side isn't just feeling better. It's something closer to freedom. I can't promise you a timeline, but I've seen it happen consistently for people who were certain it wasn't really an option available to them.

Peace with their own mind — including the parts that felt like the enemy

Relationships that actually work, because they finally feel safe enough to be in them

Freedom from the self-criticism that's been their constant companion

A life that genuinely feels like theirs — not performed, not managed. But simply lived.

HI, I'M AMY HAUER, LISW-S

I'm Not a 'Blank Slate' Therapist

Amy Hauer, LISW-S | Gender affirming therapist and coach

I spent years watching the mental health system fail brilliant, neuro-expansive adults, LGBTQ+ folks, and families of gender-diverse kids. Standard therapy was too busy trying to "fix" behaviors or "manage" symptoms to see the actual person underneath.

I am not a passive observer. I'm an active, present clinical partner and advocate. You don't have to perform okay here.

I built this practice to be a sanctuary for those who have been told they are "too much" or "too complex." You are not the problem. You never were.

Fees & What's Included

$185 per session

This is not a 50-minute conversation that ends when the session ends. You have access to secure messaging between sessions, a library of specialized resources, and a clinical partner who is thinking about your specific wiring — not a standardized protocol.

I don't take insurance. That's a deliberate choice, because insurance-driven care shapes what therapy looks like in ways that don't serve you. This is care built entirely around what you actually need.

From your home, your car, your lunch break. Therapy available to Ohio residents — consultations and subclinical services available nationwide.

FAQ

ABOUT THE WORK

I've tried therapy before and it didn't work. Why would this be different?

Most people who find me have already tried therapy — usually, more than once. What they describe is typically the same thing: an approach that was too generic, too focused on managing symptoms, or too busy trying to fit them into a standard protocol to actually see them. I work differently. The approach I use is built around your specific wiring, not a treatment manual. And I'm not interested in helping you function better within a life that doesn't fit — I'm interested in helping you build one that does. That said, I can't promise this will be different until we talk. The consultation exists precisely so you can find out.

I'm not sure I'm "bad enough" to need therapy. Is that okay?

I'm neurodivergent and have had bad experiences with therapists who didn't get it. How is this different?

I'm an ADHD, genderqueer therapist — I'm part of the community I serve, which means I get it from the inside, not just from training. I don't pathologize the way your mind works. I don't give you tools designed for a neurotypical brain and wonder why they're not landing. And I've spent nearly 20 years working at the intersection of neurodivergence and trauma, so I'm not learning on you. If you've been burned before, that makes sense. The consultation is a low-stakes way to see if this feels different.

What is TTRPG therapy and do I have to be a gamer?

TTRPG therapy uses tabletop role-playing games, video games, virtual board games, and other forms of play as genuine clinical tools — not as a gimmick or an icebreaker. For some people, the most important things open up through story, character, and play in ways that straight conversation doesn't reach.

You don't have to be a gamer. I'm not one either — I'm drawn to cozy video games and narrative TTRPGs like Iron Valley and Women are Werewolves rather than anything combat-heavy. What matters isn't gaming identity, it's whether play opens something up for you. If it does, we'll use it. If it doesn't, we won't.

I'm currently in consultation with Daniel Hand, one of the leading voices in TTRPG therapy, to deepen this practice.

What does a typical session look like?

How long does therapy typically take?

It depends on what you're carrying and what you're working toward — but most people start to feel a meaningful shift within the first three to four months. Part of how I work is giving you concrete practices early on that you can use between sessions, so you're not just waiting for change to happen during sessions.

Some people work with me for a focused period around a specific thing. Others are in it for the longer work of untangling complex trauma or deeply rooted patterns. I don't believe in keeping people in therapy longer than they need, and I don't believe in rushing toward the

practicalities

How do I get started?

Do you take insurance?

I don't — and that's a deliberate choice. Insurance-based care comes with real constraints: it requires a diagnosis, it shapes how often we meet and for how long, and it creates a paper trail that stays in your medical record. For LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent clients especially, that record can have real consequences. Going private pay means our work is entirely between us — no third party deciding what you need or how long you get to need it. My fee is $185 per session.

Do you offer a sliding scale?

I'm not in Ohio — can I still work with you?

for families

How do you support parents?

Parenting a 2E, gender diverse, or LGBTQ+ kid is genuinely hard — and most of that weight lands on you. I work with parents who are trying to protect and advocate for their children in systems that don't always make that easy: schools, healthcare, extended family, the world in general.

For parents of 2E kids, that often means fighting to be believed about what your child actually needs, navigating evaluations and accommodations that don't quite capture who your child is, and holding your child's sense of self together while the systems around them try to wear them down.

For parents of gender diverse and LGBTQ+ kids, it means doing all of that in a political climate that is actively hostile — and finding ways to be a safe harbor when the world outside isn't.

The work might focus on advocacy skills, processing your own feelings about your child's journey and what it means for you, building safety and resilience as a family, or navigating specific challenges.

Because this is an all-telehealth practice, I've built in specific supports to keep you connected and in the loop. You'll have access to secure between-session messaging so you're never stuck waiting until the next appointment when something comes up. And after each of your child's sessions, I share a portion of the session notes with you — so you always have a sense of what we're working on and how your child is doing, without having to guess.

I don't work from a compliance model. Your child's identity and complexity are not the problems we're solving — your capacity to protect and support them is what we're building.

Do you work with kids directly or just the parents?

Both. I work directly with kids ages 6–17 in individual sessions, and I meet with parents separately as needed — to debrief, strategize, or do their own support work. Sometimes we meet all together. The structure depends on what's most useful for your family at any given point.

For parents of children under 6, I don't work directly with the child but I'm happy to work with you — supporting your capacity to advocate for and respond to your very young child is often where the most important work happens anyway.

YOU FOUND THIS PAGE FOR A REASON

Ready to find out what's possible?

If something on this page made you feel recognized — that's worth paying attention to. The consultation is free. The conversation is confidential. And you don't have to have it all figured out before you reach out.

SCHEDULE YOUR FREE 30-MINUTE CONSULTATION

Telehealth done differently • Therapy available to Ohio residents • Consultations & subclinical services available nationwide