Christine Doyle is an educator, speaker, and companion specialising in the late-identified Autistic, ADHD, and AuDHD experience in women and AFAB adults.
Following over a decade working as a therapist, Christine began to notice a recurring pattern: capable, thoughtful women describing burnout, relational strain, sensory overwhelm, and a persistent sense of being “too much” or “not enough” — without a framework that fully explained their experience.
Her own late identification as AuDHD brought a different lens to that work. What had often been understood as individual difficulty was, in many cases, unrecognised neurotype navigating environments that were not designed with neurodivergent nervous systems in mind.
That shift reshaped her professional focus.
Today, Christine works from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective, centring lived experience and identity integration rather than deficit or disorder-based narratives. Her work explores:
-
The psychological cost of being missed in childhood
-
Masking and burnout across the lifespan
-
Nervous system capacity and sensory honesty
-
AuDHD internal conflict and late recognition
-
Hormonal transitions and their impact on wellbeing
-
Workplace understanding and inclusion
Christine delivers structured 1:1 integration programmes, webinars, and organisational training that translate lived Autistic experience into language leaders, families, and individuals can understand and apply.
Her approach moves away from pathologising frameworks and toward coherence, self-trust, and sustainable alignment.
She is the host of the Unlearning Autism podcast and founder of the Wild Women Community.
Testimonials
What my clients Say
Don't just take my word for it! Here is what some of my previous clients have to say about their work with me:
1-2-1 Work with Christine
These 1:1 offerings provide structured, reflective spaces for exploring neurodivergent identity, considering assessment, integrating late identification, or deepening understanding as someone supporting a neurodivergent adult.
Purchase my book
HormoneFULL, Not Hormonal is a narrative-led handbook exploring the impact of hormonal transitions on Autistic AFAB people across the lifespan. Grounded in the lived experiences of 101 Autistic AFAB adults, this book brings together verbatim reflections on puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause — stages that are often poorly understood, minimised, or misattributed within both medical and mental health settings.
What I Offer
Find what you're searching for among my offerings. You can expect:
EMAIL: christine@christinedoyle.ie
PHONE: 087 687 1002
Blog
When something is “hard for everyone”…
it’s harder to be seen.
Hormonal changes are often spoken about as universally difficult.
So we hear things like:
“Everyone hates their period.”
“Everyone gets the baby blues.”
“I didn’t even notice menopause.”
And because of that, the depth of our experience can be missed — by others, and often by ourselves.
For me, it wasn’t just emotional shifts.
It was sensory changes that felt like they arrived overnight.
Furiously cutting off tags that never bothered me before
A feeling of constant overwhelm.
Friendships where I began to feel increasingly different and unable to mask the gap anymore.
Inability to keep my attention on conversation when there was background noise in a way I hadn’t known before.
I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know it was perimenopause. I was only 39. I was ‘too young’.
And a resurgence of histamine issues that brought me right back to puberty —
when I remember being so plagued by it that I carried a toilet roll with me everywhere.
This isn’t just perimenopause.
This is everything that comes with it for a neurodivergent person.
When something is already considered universally “hard,” it can be harder to recognise just how hard it is for you.
This is something I explore in HormoneFULL - a collection of lived experiences from over 100 Autistic women across the lifespan.
If this resonates, you can find it in the link in my bio.
I could have listened to Katie talk ALL DAY EVERYDAY
She is the epitome of neuro affirming and I was so honoured to record an episode with her for #unlearningautism
Katie is an occupational therapist and clinical director of @horizonstherapyservices in Dundalk. Katie is multiply neurodivergent (Autistic, ADHD and Dyspraxic) and is deeply passionate about supporting neurodivergent people to be their truest and most authentic selves.
Episode 12 is now live 🥳
When I hear someone say “I’m a bit OCD”, I wonder how often they are actually referring to an Autistic characteristic.
Historically we’ve been given very limited language for things like:
– needing order
– preserveration of thought
– things feeling “right”
– predictability
– routine
– sensory comfort
So a lot of it gets called “OCD.”
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is very real and impacts many. And it’s linked to intrusive thoughts or an anxiety that something bad will happen.
Terms like “a bit OCD” can be harmful and is incorrect and minimises a condition that, for many, is deeply distressing and confusing.
But that’s not what a lot of people are referring to when they say “I’m a bit OCD.”
Instead what they are saying is:
“I wash my hands a lot as I can’t stand the ick of any residue on them.”
“I need things to be where they should be to settle me.”
“I wish I could ‘let it go’ but my mind keeps going back to it.”
“I feel calmer when things are in order.”
“Why can’t everyone just do as they say?!”
“I get overwhelmed when there’s so much going on.”
That’s not about preventing something bad.
That’s regulation.
And very often… that’s much closer to Autistic experience than anything else.
We don’t talk about this distinction enough. So in the gap of information, people reach for the closest word they’ve been given.
And sometimes, even clinically, we’ve misunderstood what we’re looking at.
Not everything that looks like OCD… is OCD.
Sometimes it’s sensory.
Sometimes it’s nervous system regulation.
Sometimes it’s Autistic.
Have you ever described yourself as “a bit OCD”…and meant something else entirely?
An excerpt from my episode with Katie @horizonstherapyservices
This isn’t small.
It’s not “a nice to have.”
It’s the difference between constantly managing yourself…
and actually being able to settle.
I’ve been slowly doing this in my own life —
choosing people and places where I don’t have to explain, mask, or brace.
And it changes your baseline more than you realise.
A few weeks ago I asked for recommendations for neuro-affirming services and spaces —
GPs, hairdressers, therapists, gyms… anywhere that gets it.
Or for spaces that would like to be more neuro-sensitive, drop me a DM.
Because this shouldn’t be something we have to figure out alone.
If you have one, add it to that post.
Let’s make it easier for each other.
No one told us what puberty would feel like.
They didn’t know
Didn’t know how different it was for us
Didn’t know how to support us
Didn’t understand the overwhelm.
Didn’t understand the shift.
Didn’t understand the sense that something didn’t quite add up.
For many of us, this was the beginning of trying to understand ourselves in a world that didn’t quite meet us there.
This is where I’m starting in the webinar.
A quieter, more honest look at what was actually happening beneath the surface.
If this resonates, you’re very welcome to join me.
Link in bio.
This is one of the moments that pinged for me in my conversation with Katie Kerley @horizonstherapyservices
Katie is a fantastic advocate, professional, speaker, trainer, therapist and multiply neurodivergent late-identified woman.
Deeply curious about humans, anthropology, the deep joy of Autistic interests and connection … this conversation celebrates all that it is to be Autistic and challenges the struggle narrative that dominates our understanding of neurodivergence.
Episode 12 is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon music.
This morning I came downstairs and my coffee cup was sitting warming. Ready for me. He had left early so couldn’t make me my morning coffee. But he had thought of me. He had also called me at 7:30 to wake me.
This, for me, is love. Not big gestures. Not dramatic moments. Small, quiet, consistent acts.
He reminds me to pay my car tax
(I struggle with executive functioning and also have a HUGE fear of the post).
He reminds me when it’s someone’s birthday … more than once as he knows it needs to land when I have capacity … and he knows how painful it feels for me if I forget.
He sits with me while I talk things through at length because he knows I need to process out loud for my nervous system to settle.
Luke Beardon speaks about the equation: Autism + Environment = Outcome
For me, it’s this:
Autism + Love = Calm
As a late-identified woman, I can now see what he has been doing all along.
He sees me.
And he adjusts.
Not in a clinical way.
Not as a strategy.
But because he wants to.
When I’m overwhelmed, he might gently suggest a walk or a shower. Not to fix me. But because he knows I can’t always access what I need in that moment.
He offers space … without withdrawing.
Support … without pressure.
We talk a lot about “supports.”
But the one that matters most:
How one human meets another.
Without these small things, my day would be very different.
Harder. Heavier. More overwhelming.
This is what I want to say today on #worldautismawarenessday
Loving an Autistic person is different - and means understanding and supporting their needs.
And when that’s done with gentleness, with consistency, with care— It changes everything.
Small things are not small.
They are the difference between a life that is too much, and, one that allows me to be.
I didn’t know I was Autistic.
But I knew puberty wasn’t just “a bit hard.”
It was:
overwhelming
confusing
sensory
exhausting
and often… carried alone
But I was told it’s ’just hormones’ and I was expected to cope like everyone else.
But here’s what we now know:
Puberty does impact Autistic girls differently.
In my research:
70% said it impacted their Autistic experience
75% said it impacted their mental health
over 65% said it increased sensory difficulties
This isn’t rare.
This isn’t dramatic.
And it’s not “just hormones.”
It’s a nervous system navigating:
body changes
sensory intensity
increased social demand
and a complete lack of the right information
Autistic pubescents deserve:
clear information
proper support
understanding
and to not be expected to “just cope”
This is exactly what I’m unpacking in my upcoming webinar:
Puberty & the Autistic Experience
🔗Link in bio
This morning a client shared something so many of us carry daily .. She can’t find a hairdresser she feels comfortable in.
Not because there aren’t options.
But because they feel either:
too anonymous…
or too cliquey…
and she ends up feeling like the girl left out.
And it struck me again how many everyday spaces are not designed with the Autistic experience in mind.
Hairdressers.
Beauty.
Energy therapies.
Massage.
Gyms.
Makeup.
Wellness spaces.
Places that are meant to feel relaxing, good for us — can actually feel overwhelming, exposing, or socially unclear.
I would love to start gathering a list of neuro-affirming services.
Spaces where:
• communication is clear
• sensory needs are considered
• there’s no pressure to perform socially
• you can arrive as you are
If you know a service like this (or offer one yourself), please share it below 👇
My hope is to build this into something more— a space on my website where Autistic women can find services that feel safe, considered, and genuinely welcoming.
And if you are a service provider who wants to become more neuro-affirming in your approach, I offer consultancy in this area.
Because we are not “too sensitive”, often simply sensitively wired. And we deserve It’s spaces where we don’t have to brace ourselves just to walk through the door.
Because it shouldn’t be this hard to get your hair done.
