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Athena Drewes
About
Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you! I am Dr. Athena Drewes, and I am a clinical psychologist licensed in New York. I have over 45 years of experience working with children, teens, young adults and adults in outpatient, residential, inpatient, and foster care settings. My extensive clinical background includes providing individuals with assessments, clinical support and insight into moving beyond current situations into a thriving future. I have always taken a client-centered strength-based approach whereby you feel validated and heard as we explore and build upon personal assets, supporting growth. I work collaboratively, and am very transparent, authentic and congruent in my interactions and support. My goal through an assessment is to be able to give insight into your strengths, areas that may need support, resources available and strategies that you might be helpful, so that you come away with a deeper understanding of yourself and feel, hopeful, more resilient and empowered moving forward.
Throughout my professional career and in my personal family life I have supported and advocated for neurodivergent individuals, and family members, as they have struggled to seek answers and understand and overcome their difficulties in school and the community due to the lack of support and resources and being made to feel marginalized. It is my hope to be able to offer answers, support, and validation to those seeking answers in a safe space through a caring, personalized process. I continue to work to help further and advocate for awareness, support, resources and advancement of knowledge in order to lessen misconceptions about autism and neurodivergence.
I have always worked clinically and personally to be able to view the world through the eyes and soul of the individual I am with. I do not profess to know what is best for you or about your needs and neurodiverse experiences. I want to learn from you, and understand things through your eyes. I firmly believe in a strengths-based, validating and supportive clinical approach to helping individuals grow, thrive and obtain the answers and support needed to build on their resilience. Our work together is collaborative, from the first moment of contact, whereby I seek to learn about your needs, concerns, goals, and strengths. Together we work on formulating the best assessment strategy to get you the answers you seek and be able to understand the results of the assessment and how to go forward and utilize the information. All information being sought and given is done in a clear and easy to understand exchange without jargon or confusing language, in a safe and validating environment. I want you to be able to fully understand what we will be doing, how we will be working together, what the results are, what they mean for you personally, and where to go next. By the end of our working together, I want to be sure through your questions, sharing of information and history, and assessment measures that you understand all that is going on and how you can best use the results to thrive and grow.
