Rethinking Group Healing For Neurodivergent Humans

In the wellness and retreat space, group healing has become the dominant model. Large circles. Shared ceremonies. Group processing. Open vulnerability. For many, this is powerful.

For many neurodivergent people, like our found and clients, it is not. This matters. Because you cannot design safety for a nervous system you do not understand. Instead of asking our clients to adapt to a model, we adapt the model to the client.

Autistic, ADHD, highly sensitive, and otherwise neurodivergent individuals often experience the world — and healing — through a fundamentally different nervous system lens. Sensory processing differences, social fatigue, trauma histories, masking, hypervigilance, and a lifetime of being misunderstood by others shape how safety is built and maintained.

At Invocation Healing Arts, we don’t treat this as a limitation. We treat it as essential design information.

Our Approach: Designed for Neurodivergent adults

Invocation Healing Arts was built by and for people who understand this from the inside.

Our team includes practitioners with who've learned to thrive with experiences of:

• Neurodivergence

• Complex trauma

• Chronic pain and illness

• High sensitivity

• Medical trauma

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

1. Small Group or 1:1 Options

We intentionally limit group sizes and offer private or semi-private experiences. This allows clients to:

• regulate without social pressure

• move at their own pace

• rest when needed without explanation

• Read More About Our 1:1 or 2:1 Retreats: Private Multi-Day + Single Day Retreats

• Read More About Our Very Exciting Neurospicy Women's Retreat

  
  

2. Sensory-Conscious Environments

We curate spaces where everything is carefully chosen to support regulation including:

• soft lighting

• minimal auditory stimulation

• grounding textures

• clear spatial boundaries

3. Consent-Based Everything

No forced sharing. No mandatory eye contact. No pressure to participate.

You are always allowed to opt out, observe, or step away. Autonomy is safety.

4. Predictable Structure with Flexible Flow

Neurodivergent nervous systems often thrive with clarity + choice. We provide:

• clear outlines of what to expect

• transitions that are verbally signposted

• flexibility for spontaneous needs

5. Trauma-Informed, Neuro-Affirming Language

We never frame difference as dysfunction. We never pathologize your coping.

We never rush your process.

We honor the intelligence of your adaptations.

A Word From One of Our Clients

“I recently worked with a brilliant facilitator, Patricia to prepare for an experience I knew would be difficult for me as an autistic person. She did some things that really stood out to me. She specifically and non-judgmentally asked me about sensory concerns--lights, smells, touch, foods, whatever...we talked through it all, and I was never made to feel weird for having a preference. She gave me the opportunity to respond in writing when I was overwhelmed or overstimulated instead of forcing a conversation. These small things represent something bigger--an attitude of openness and proactively thinking about accessibility. As we build medical programs / regulated programs and work towards a future of even broader access, thinking this way helps us ensure a definition of "accessible" that includes people with different challenges than the ones we face. I know we can do it!" Victoria

Why This Matters

Neurodivergent people are often told — directly or indirectly — that we are “too much,” “too sensitive,” “too slow,” or “too different” for mainstream healing spaces.

At Invocation Retreats we reject that narrative and believe you deserve better care.

Healing environments should not Overwhelm

At Invocation Healing Arts, we are committed to building spaces where neurodivergent, highly sensitive people, and all of our clients don’t have to shrink, mask, or perform in order to belong. You don’t need to become someone else to heal. You get to heal as you are.

Each of our private retreats allow for the space for folks whether neurodivergent, burnt out or just socially uncomfortable. We are hosting a neurodivergent retreat for women in August to gather in community, share our secrets to thriving in current times, have fun, and learn new skills to help us continue to love ourselves, advocated for ourselves and other and build better relationships.

We invite you if this resonates.

Women's Neurospicy Retreats:

https://www.invocationhealingarts.com/group-retreats

Integration Support:

We also offer pre-journey or post journey integration work whether you've worked with us or other healing spaces. Get in touch to learn more.

Neurodivergent Voices Have Been Saying This for Years

Neurodivergent-led publications and platforms have long challenged the idea that “one-size-fits-all” healing spaces are inclusive. Outlets such as NeuroClastic, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network (AWN), The Neurodivergent Therapist Directory, and other writers consistently highlight that:

• Many neurodivergent people experience group settings as overwhelming, unsafe, or dysregulating

• Forced social engagement can trigger shutdown, dissociation, or masking

• Healers need to be flexible about how they create and adapt safety, comfort, container, setting and retreat design to provide the greatest opportunity for healing.

• Safety is built through predictability, consent, and relational attunement — not exposure

Leaders and educators like Devon Price, PhD, Dr. Megan Neff, K.C. Davis, and Ellie Middleton have also spoken openly about how traditional therapeutic and wellness spaces often fail neurodivergent nervous systems — even when the intention is good.

The message is consistent:We do not heal by being pushed into environments that overwhelm us. We heal by being met.

Why Large Group Healing Can Be Especially Difficult

From both lived experience and client feedback, here are some of the most common reasons neurodivergent people struggle in large healing spaces:

• Sensory overload (noise, lights, smells, movement, unpredictable touch)

• Social performance pressure (being expected to share, connect, or “open up”)

• Hyperawareness of others’ emotions leading to emotional flooding

• Difficulty tracking multiple stimuli while also doing deep internal work

• Fear of being perceived, misunderstood, or judged

• Trauma histories that make proximity to strangers unsafe

• Proximity to others through sleep arrangements, and space within the venue to accommodate alone and separate space while also have shared space for people to engage together.

For many neurodivergent individuals, large groups require masking. And masking is the opposite of healing.

If your nervous system is in survival mode, your body cannot integrate.

Book Your Discovery Call To Learn More Today