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Shana Grady
About
Hello! Please allow me to start by sharing I struggle to write these, lol! Attempting to summarize an introduction to give you a sense of who I am and what motivates me to be here in just a few words is a challenge as I often have a lot to say and/or then feel it's insufficient. I like to get to the point and keep things straight-forward as sometimes reading too many words on a page can lose a message. So, with that I'll aim to be brief (and may well not succeed, lol). I’ve worn a number of hats over the years in my personal and professional career, including being a licensed clinical psychologist in Virginia and the UK, a behavioral health program manager and director of integrated care services, clinical supervisor, therapist, dancer/singer/pretend drummer/DJ, daughter, spouse, sister, friend and mother of four! My 20+ year background in this field has allowed me to collect many experiences and insights from those I've been fortunate to work with and learn from across cultures. I thrive in connecting dots, people, stories and resources, such that I believe that bringing some of my experiences and insights together with yours can result in a helpful collaboration that helps form an understanding and plan to elevate you to the next step of your progress and empowerment in this thing called life.
I began my post-doctoral career specializing in autism and developmental assessments in early childhood and have been encouraged to see how recognition of neurodiversity has expanded and grown to include increased access to adult assessment. Exploring the diversity and range in which we develop and express our needs and interests as unique individual human beings, while comparing these along a “set of developmental criteria”, AND challenging where some of these criteria came from, has always inspired much thought and intrigue in the human experience. Having my own children and family members represent different displays of neurodiversity expounded my curiosity and furthered my passion to understand how we can best function. My education across diverse disciplines from the neurosciences to social/cultural understandings of diagnoses and behavior set the foundation for my time spent across a number of years work in varied clinical settings, always with the same philosophical lens in minds – understanding individual behaviors within the unique moment of time and context of the individual in front of me. I am therefore very much rooted in honoring and understanding your unique experiences, appreciating the values and strengths that you bring to "this thing called life". Recognizing, supporting and uplifting those who have felt so often misunderstood has been my life’s work. I’m glad to be part of this current social climate that is more actively supportive of this mission!
I find it challenging to articulate how I bring an affirming and strengths-based approach to my work because I simply do not how to work in any other way. I essentially start from a place of compassionate and respectful curiosity, seeking to understand what you are seeking, taking care to listen, check out what I think I've heard, while finding the similarities. uniqueness and strengths in your story. I think I have an interesting relationship to classifications, labels and boxes in that I value what they can offer while recognizing the shortcomings when used in a way that may be considered inconsistent with an empowering strength-based person-centered perspective.
