Neuroaffirming Relational Therapy
in California
I offer virtual relational, neuro-affirming therapy across California.
I work with adults, couples, and parents navigating relational issues, ADHD, autism, AuDHD, OCD, and suspected, self-identified, or late-identified neurodivergence better understand themselves, strengthen their relationships, and build more workable ways to communicate, repair, and connect.
Cassandra Massey, JD, MA
Therapy is offered as a California Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT #143043) through her employment at the Center for Mindful Psychotherapy, supervised by Scott Balderson, LMFT. Coaching services are offered independently.
My Approach & Philosophy
I help individuals, couples, and parents who feel stuck in painful, repeating patterns — conflict, shutdown, overwhelm, resentment, disconnection, parenting stress, or feeling misunderstood.
Many of my clients are navigating ADHD, autism, AuDHD, OCD, anxiety, trauma histories, sensory needs, executive-function challenges, masking, late-identified neurodivergence, or differences in how they process, communicate, regulate, and connect. Some come with a diagnosis. Others are self-identified, suspected, or still trying to understand what fits.
Therapy with me is relational, neuroaffirming, trauma-informed, and nervous-system informed. We look beyond blame and ask: What is this pattern trying to manage? What does each person’s system need? Where are there competing access needs? What would make communication, repair, boundaries, parenting, and connection more workable?
The goal is not to make you or your relationship look more “normal.” The goal is to better understand your actual needs and build ways of relating that are more honest, sustainable, accountable, and connected.
My approach is warm, structured, direct, and practical. Together, we slow down the cycles that keep taking over and practice new ways to respond — so daily life and relationships can feel clearer, more compassionate, and less stuck.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM RELATIONAL THERAPY
Relational therapy can begin in different places. You may come on your own, with your partner, or as a parent. In each format, the work is focused on understanding the patterns that keep repeating and building more workable ways to respond.
Individual Therapy
Individual therapy is for adults who want to better understand themselves, their nervous system, and the relational patterns that keep showing up in daily life. You may be navigating ADHD, autism, AuDHD, OCD, self-identified, suspected, or late-identified neurodivergence, emotional overwhelm, shutdown, masking, people-pleasing, intrusive-thought loops, relationship anxiety, a trauma history, conflict avoidance, burnout, or feeling misunderstood.
Together, we look at what happens inside you and between you and others. The goal is to help you build more clarity, regulation, self-trust, boundaries, and intentional ways of relating — without treating your neurodivergence as something that needs to be fixed.
Couples Therapy
Couples therapy is for partners who feel stuck in cycles of conflict, shutdown, resentment, disconnection, unequal load, missed bids for connection, or repair that does not quite land. Many couples I work with are mixed-neurotype or neurodivergent, including partners navigating ADHD, autism, AuDHD, OCD, sensory needs, executive-function differences, anxiety, or different ways of processing and communicating.
In couples therapy, we focus on the pattern between you. We slow down the cycle, make sense of each partner’s nervous-system responses and access needs, and identify where misunderstandings, old wounds, or competing needs keep taking over.
Neuroaffirming couples therapy does not mean avoiding accountability. It means understanding each person more accurately so you can build clearer communication, stronger repair, more realistic agreements, and more connected ways of moving forward
Parent Therapy
Parent therapy is for parents who feel overwhelmed by daily conflict, emotional intensity, meltdowns, shutdowns, refusal, school stress, parenting stress, or repeated misunderstandings with their child or teen.
I often support parents whose children or teens are navigating ADHD, autism, AuDHD, OCD, self-identified or suspected neurodivergence, sensory needs, executive-function challenges, anxiety, or differences in regulation and communication.
The focus is helping you understand what may be happening underneath behavior — sensory overload, transitions, demand, anxiety, trauma, shame, executive-function strain, or unmet connection needs — while also regulating your own responses, reducing reactivity, and parenting with more confidence, flexibility, and connection.
Whether you are coming on your own, with your partner, or as a parent, you do not have to keep trying to figure it out alone. Therapy can help you begin building more workable ways to regulate, communicate, repair, parent, and reconnect.
Let’s Talk
Contact Me for a Free 15-Minute Consultation
You can email [email protected] or complete the form below.
All Sessions Are Provided Virtually.
Cassandra Massey, JD, MA, AMFT #143043
Cassandra Massey, JD, MA, AMFT #143043Schedule a consultation to gain clarity on what’s happening in yourself, your relationship, or your family.
During our consultation, we’ll explore what feels stuck, what you’re hoping will change, and what kind of support may help.
Together, we’ll begin identifying the pattern, what needs to shift, and whether relational, neuro-affirming therapy is the right next step.