We were lucky to catch up with Miranda Millican recently and have shared our conversation below.

Miranda, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My business started as a solo therapy practice. When I started, I did not have a specific niche. Since I was new to private practice, I was taking just about any referral I could find. I was part of several facebook groups for therapists where I would find referrals and network with other therapists. I noticed a theme, that neurodivergent clients (clients who were autistic or ADHD) were getting referred out from practices as therapists did not feel they had enough experience or expertise to work with these populations. Therapists would post that an autistic or ADHD client had reached out to them, but they needed another therapist to work with them as the original therapist did not have enough understanding to help them.

This struck me. As an ADHDer myself, I wondered why therapists seemed so fearful in working with these populations and so unwilling to train themselves in this area. I wondered if this was the case because therapists were not educated property or if there was stigma attached to these populations, or both?

I ended up taking on some of these clients. I felt comfortable working with ADHD, as I had personal experience. I knew nothing about working with autistic clients, but I sought out trainings led by autistic therapists to help guide my understanding. The disconnect seemed to be that therapists thought that they needed to have a “treatment” for ADHD or Autism, when really the work with these clients was addressing the trauma of being different, misunderstood and stigmatized. This understanding lit a fire within me. As a queer and neurodivergent person, I related deeply to these traumas.

At this point, I really started to realize that there were very few therapists comfortable to do this work. And many therapists doing this work were causing harm (often without knowing) due to instructing their clients to find more neurotypical ways of coping, despite their brain working in opposition to what was being recommended. Essentially, they were asking their clients to mask their identity, which was causing more distress.

It was then I decided to form Wander Psychotherapy, a group of therapists dedicated to understanding the full human behind the “diagnosis.” My wife, a psychologist, joined me on my team, helping to provide clinical supervision and provide therapy. I sought to hire open minded therapists, and train them to be affirming and knowledgable. I focused on hiring therapists with lived experience with neurodiversity, who could relate and understand their clients in an intimate way. I hired my first employee and I was shaking in my boots. It felt like a big step, and there was so much potential for failure. That being said, I took my swing. And now here we are with 6 of us on our team. We are now offering individual therapy, couples therapy, therapy for teens, psychological testing and support groups. We are helping serve our community and combatting ableism and stigma in the field of psychology and therapy.

In this midst of creating the business, I have learned so much more about my identity. I have discovered I have far more neurodivergent traits than I originally thought, perhaps beyond ADHD. I am still exploring my identity and doing the work to unpack my own internalized stigma. I have also come to understand that my daughter is “neuro-spicy”, and have become a better parent to her on this journey. My wife and I have a better marriage due to understanding the differences we have in our neurotypes and have grown closer than ever.

This is more than a business for me, it is my life’s passion. Back to the question, how did I come up with the idea? Well….as most things in life, it found me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Miranda Millican, I am a Marriage and Family Therapist and the owner of a group therapy practice called Wander Psychotherapy.  We offer individual therapy, couples therapy, teen therapy, psychological assessments, group support. We even provide walk and talk (mobile) therapy and provide in-home sessions.  

Our main goal is to be a safe space for queer and neurodivergent clients.  All of our therapists are queer or neurodivergent or both and this lived experience helps inform our therapy and services. We are also very humanistic and holistic in our approach. Meaning, are human beings in the therapy room, not robots. We are a safe and meaningful connection, which is the factor in therapy that facilitates the most growth and change. We practice in a beautiful Victorian house that has been converted into a therapy office. We want our clients to feel like they are stepping into a warm and cozy house rather than a medical clinic. This has been important to our practice, to create a safe space (emotionally and physically) for our clients.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Since all of our team members are neurodivergent, that comes with awesome benefits and also challenges. Neurodivergent people are far more likely to burn out and experience a different kind of burn out than neurotypical people. Understanding that our therapists are at a high risk of burn out is important to us. Being a therapist is a hard role, period. We have learned a few things along the way. The first is to talk about and address burn out from day 1. During training we have discussions about warning signs of burn out and ways to prevent burn out (boundaries with clients and work for example). Allowing our employees to make and manage their own schedule as well as working from home if desired has been important. My advice for maintaining moral is to hire employees that are invested in the mission of your business deeply. They will take care of the clients because of their passion, and your job is to take care of them. Taking care of employees means taking a compassionate stance, giving them the benefit of the doubt, and discerning when to draw boundaries and when to be flexible as a leader.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My wife and I have a saying “We don’t stop, we change directions.” And we have! So many times. In 2020, the therapy market really changed, sessions were on zoom and the entire industry had to adapt. Getting used to doing therapy on a screen was not easy, but this is now the norm for us with many of our clients. We have also pivoted around changes in our team, our location, and. our services. The first couple of years you are seeing what works and what does not and there is a lot of learning and movement. The ability to pivot and change direction is often what makes a business successful. Our ability to be flexible during times of crisis and think on our feet has been crucial in leading our team and having the practice be successful long term.

Contact Info:

• Website: LetsWanderPsychotherapy.com
• Instagram: @WanderPsychotherapy

Image Credits
Gaby Hendry Photography