Meet Shannon |
Meet Shannon |
Hi! I am Shannon
Neurodivergent Doctor of Occupational Therapy
I received my doctorate degree in Occupational Therapy in 2015 and have been running my own business since 2018 (that’s right you calculated it right only 3 years as an OT before the signs of burnout were creeping in and I needed to make my own way).
I love to develop programs and multi-sensory systems of learning to support as many ways of knowing as possible. I take the complex neurobiological systems that are at the heart of being human and make them approachable, applicable, and tangible for the neurodivergent brain. We have so much amazing knowledge that remains locked away in books stacked on our bedside tables.
I spend my time extracting the wisdom that lives in them and making them accessible and relevant for the purpose of making our lives easier and more fun to navigate this society we live in. It has to be more fun to be an adult that it feels now.
I am a champion for the unseen disabilities, for those falling through the cracks, for those who feel they should be able to do things but can’t. For those stuck in shame and guilt and judgment. For those who know they want a better life but can’t get there right now.
When I am not working, I spend my days playing with my 6 year old daughter and our dog, talking to my houseplants, learning more about OT, Trauma, Polyvagal Theory, Interpersonal neurobiology, hanging out in woods with big trees on hammocks, and waking up early to enjoy the sacred silence that 4am holds.
Neurodivergence Affirming Occupational Therapy Programs
Shannon is a Doctor of Occupational Therapy who specializes in working with and creating programs for adults with mostly invisible disabilities like Autism, ADHD, Developmental, Relational, Attachment and Complex Trauma. Particularly those who are late, under, or undiagnosed AFAB (Assigned Female At Birth). AFAB individuals are often not diagnosed when they are young due to not having the same presentation and to being more likely to be able to mask and get by in life.
This creates a lifetime of not fully understating why things are hard and usually internalizing all of the difficulties that you experience from being neurodivergent as fundamental problems with who you are. Shannon’s programs, consulting, and facilitation makes space for all of that as well as learning how to navigate your neurodivergence in a way that feels empowered and puts you in the drivers seat of you experience.
Since connection is a biological imperative, chronic disconnection is traumatic
— Deb Dana
making space for trauma in
all the ways it shows up
Not just trauma informed, or saying it because it’s a buzz word. Having an invisible disability in modern society is traumatic. While we don’t go digging around and looking for trauma. We make space for it when it is part of what’s stopping us.
Shannon Wagner, OTD has completed comprehensive continuing education on the underlying influences of trauma, ADHD, and Autism on the nervous system. Shannon completed a 125 hour 7 month program of continuing education in interpersonal neurobiology and is currently working on obtaining a certificate in traumatic stress studies as well. What science is now showing is that when we experience trauma of any form it stores in our sensory experiences, which live below the level of conscious awareness. So often these stuck experiences come back to inform our choices in the present moment and can make interpersonal relationships, employment, parenting, and basically everything feel like you are walking through mud. I understand this because I have lived it. While this is not the only focus of our work together it should always be given the attention needed.
My Lived Experience Informs Our Work
Alongside my education and training I also have the lived experience of developmental trauma and ADHD.
I understand how hard it is to move through life with a dysregulated system that can’t tell an emergency apart from a phone call.
I am not sitting on high studying this stuff and knowing it through academic pursuits. I am in this work with you, I am doing it too. But also, I love studying this stuff and all the academics. I essentially give you my notes that I made for myself so I could understand why my clients and I were getting our butts kicked by the ‘simple’ things in life.
I have dedicated my career to understanding the nervous system and how neurodivergence impacts our regulation, relationships, and trajectories in this society. I do this by creating environments, resources, and programs that allow you to navigating your own neurodivergence with confidence.
