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Michael Azarani
About
Hello and welcome to Prosper! My name is Dr. Michael Azarani, and I’m a Licensed Psychologist in Texas. I identify as Indigenous Mexican and Iranian, queer, non-binary, and neurodivergent, and have sought specialized training in working with individuals at the intersection of race and ethnic identity, gender and sexual identity, and neurodivergent identity, before joining Prosper. I believe that people need more than an explanation to heal; they need an experience, and that means building a strong and trusting relationship, whether that's in therapy or assessment.
Growing up as an Indigenous-Mexican and Iranian child in a working-class family of immigrants, my family didn’t have access to the resources and education to understand neurodivergent experiences. Although it’s clear to me now, as a trained psychologist, that autism, dyslexia, and ADHD run in my family, this wasn’t knowledge we had when I was growing up, and that meant that my neurodevelopmental needs remained unacknowledged until my adulthood after starting my psychological training.Trying to navigate school and social relationships as someone with undiagnosed ADHD, learning difficulties, and broader autistic phenotypical characteristics without support was difficult. It contributed to painful internalizations that made life even more challenging. It wasn’t until I understood my experience with ADHD and Autism that I could begin to re-story my experience from a place of empowerment. Since that time, I’ve become passionate about supporting others in re-storying their experiences and challenging the ableist assumptions our culture imposes on us about what it means to “function normally.” There is more than one way to be a human, and they are all valid!
Each of us has a unique cultural and developmental experience, and these experiences and cultural values profoundly shape who we are and how we take in and interact with the world. However, we operate in a system that often prescribes one way of being in the world and convinces us that this way of being is “normal.” At the same time, anything that deviates from the norm is considered “dysfunctional.” This systemically reinforced assumption of normality excludes and harms many people, and teaches us to view ourselves through a lens of shame. My approach values your cultural and developmental experiences, recognizing that there is more than one way to exist in the world. I believe my job is to help my clients deconstruct the taken-for-granted assumptions of normality that we’ve internalized and explore ways to access their unique strengths, which means valuing and drawing from their unique cultural values and developmental experiences. My unique way of thinking and being has enabled me to be a better friend, psychologist, and community member, and I believe it's essential to help others discover the beauty of their authenticity.
