1:1 Coaching | The PDA Safe Circle

Private Coaching

with The PDA Safe Circle™

If you are looking for 1:1 support, Rabbi Shoshana offers private coaching sessions to PDA adults and parents and loved ones of PDAers. She combines a warm, informal vibe with her mastery of The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach to support clients in understanding PDA and making specific changes that will decrease distress and increase thriving.

Book Now

***Availability is limited and her calendar opens up first to members of The PDA Safe Circle™ community.***

Equity-based 1:1 Coaching Fees with The PDA Safe Circle™

Neurodivergent-affirming support is often out of financial reach for those in need. To balance my family's financial needs with my commitment to equity and access for all, I offer the following fee scale.

Please choose the category that most resonates with you, even if you don't fit all the bullet points. If you have questions or concerns, just let me know. Thank you for your partnership in building a more just and accessible world.

Pen, notebook, and smartphone on the table

I am comfortably able to meet my basic needs (i.e. food, housing, transportation). • I may have some debt but it does not prohibit meeting basic needs. • I own my home OR I rent a higher-end property. • I own or lease a car. • I am employed OR do not need to work to meet my needs. • I have expendable income*. • I can afford new items. • I can afford to travel and can take vacations every year.
I may have some stress about meeting my basic needs (i.e. food, housing, transportation) but still generally meet them. • I may have some debt but it does not prohibit meeting basic needs. • I have a stable housing situation. • I own or lease a car. • I am employed. • I have some expendable income*. • I can afford to buy some new items or can buy second-hand what I need. • I can take a vacation annually or every few years without significant financial burden.
I frequently have stress about paying for my basic needs (i.e. food, housing, transportation) and don’t always meet them. • I have debt and it sometimes prohibits me from meeting my basic needs. • I rent lower-cost housing or have unstable housing. • I do not have a car, have limited access to a car, and/or am not always able to afford gas. • I am unemployed or underemployed. • I have no or very little expendable income*. • I rarely buy new items because I am unable to afford them. • I cannot take a vacation or have limited ability to take time off without financial burden.

*Expendable income refers to having spare money (after meeting basic needs) that could be used to buy coffee or tea at a shop, go to the movies or a concert, purchase new items, or for other recreational/fun activities, etc.

Sliding scale descriptions are based on the work of Alexis J. Cunningfolk, Peak Resilience, and the Califia Collective.

You are not alone.

As a rabbi

I show up to you with wholehearted compassion.

As a coach

I guide you through The PDA Safe Circle™ Approach to increase thriving in your/your PDAer's life.

As a PDAer & mom of a PDAer

I know how hard it can be and I know how much transformation is possible.

Rabbi Shoshana's Story

From age 10 to 40, I filled over a hundred journals trying to understand myself.

Why did I feel fundamentally different from other human beings, like I was sent here from another planet? Why did I have PTSD flashbacks to upsetting scenes in movies that didn't seem to bother anyone else? Why was I flooded with overwhelming empathy for the suffering of animals, plants, and the natural world that sent me into meltdowns and obsessive thinking? Why did I excel in school, and later every job I ever had, but struggle to feed myself lunch?

Therapists tried to help, but my underlying struggles remained the same.

Meanwhile, since early childhood I believed I was born to save the world from environmental destruction. Even though I knew the belief made no sense, it had a powerful hold on me. After decades of paralysis in the face of the enormity of the ecological crisis, I decided to ground myself in Judaism, my spiritual tradition, to make activism more sustainable.

I became a successful rabbi.

Thanks to the interfaith climate movement I found my stride as a climate activist at age 30. As a rabbi. I organized, sang, and led campaigns for climate justice alongside my congregational work. I imagined I had found my calling for the rest of my life.

Then I had a baby.

After my son was born, the facade I’d built around myself as a high-achieving student, activist, and rabbi fell apart. Taking care of my newborn on little sleep, my nervous system collapsed. Clinicians thought I was depressed, but I felt better whenever I could get enough sleep and spend the whole day with my baby. If I couldn't, I could barely function. I didn’t understand what had happened to me. Other parents chuckled about sleep deprivation, but when I was tired, I felt like I was dying.

Why was I struggling so much more than other new mothers?

When I learned my son was Autistic, I knew that Autistic people would help me understand my son more than neurotypical doctors.

So I dove into the neurodiversity movement.

What I learned changed my life.

I discovered the transformative power of a positive Autistic identity for my son.

I saw, firsthand, the healing power of special interests, stimming, sensory supports, Autistic community, rest and retreat, and other essential Autistic tools for wellbeing.

And I learned that many gifted, undiagnosed Autistic kids develop a deep belief that they are born to fulfill an important mission in order to make sense of their unexplained talents and pervasive sense of difference.

But it wasn't just that.

I clearly fit the diagnostic criteria for Autism. Like my son, I also fit criteria for PDA, a nervous system disability in which an intense drive for autonomy, social equality, and control can get in the way of meeting basic needs.

I wasn’t a misfit from another planet. I was a perfectly normal PDA Autistic human.

The neurodivergent-affirming strategies that I learned from my son's Occupational Therapist and other Autistic people did more for my mental health in a year than 22 years of psychotherapy ever did, combined.

They also helped my son through a year of acute PDA burnout.

I now bring the full power of my lived experience, rabbinic training, and deep study of Autism and PDA to my work as a coach, writer, and creator of The PDA Safe Circle™.

I envision a world where

everyone has access to knowledge about what their brains & bodies need to regulate, learn & thrive.
all neurotypes and bodies are recognized, respected, and supported with affirming care.
in which our social systems provide the financial, logistical, and communal support disabled people need.
where we relate to both our bodies and the Earth are in ways that increase health and thriving.

I believe misunderstood hidden disabilities are at the root of much of the systemic violence, mass incarceration, family strife, and personal suffering in our society.

I believe that, at its best, the neurodiversity movement is a human rights movement and a peace movement.

I look forward to journeying together.