Meet The Clinician
Elizabeth "Zabe" Pietzsch, MA, LCMHC
Zabe (she/they) is a licensed clinical mental health counselor in North Carolina who has been working in the mental health field for over a decade and providing counseling services for over 5 years. Their lived and extensive experience as an Autistic and ADHD individual enables them to meet the clients where they are and provide effective outpatient, individualized, therapeutic care. She can treat a number of mental health disorders but specializes in working with neurodivergent individuals, specifically those who are later-in-life diagnosed, self-realized, or suspected to be Autistic and / or ADHD & are exploring identity acceptance and development. Zabe also enjoys working with young adults going through transitions such as school/college, relationships/breakups, jobs, relocating, etc.
Outside of their profession, they enjoy spending time with their family outdoors, cruising on the Blue Ridge Parkway, photographing the Milky Way, wading in the nearby waterways, thrift shopping for vintage trinkets and oddities, researching Autism and neurodivergence, completing visual puzzles, reading non-fiction and YA fiction novels, and learning new creative outlets.
"Why do you work with this population?"
My origin story.
"I grew up in a small town in middle Tennessee. I have one sister (3 years older) who was diagnosed early as being Autistic, ADHD, Dyslexic, Epileptic, and having an intellectual disability.
I learned about resources within the community at an early age. I also learned about the challenges that someone like my sister experiences on a daily basis. Her verbal communication was minimal during our childhood so I often translated her needs and wants to my parents. I often observed that she would get mistreated by peers and was commonly misunderstood. I also witnessed several peers, family, and professionals attempt to intervene and/or support my sister in very questioning ways, some even traumatic.
After a series of unfortunate events in early college, I decided to change my major from Biology to Psychology and pursue my desire to learn more about human behavior and the psyche.
I've worked various administrative roles within the mental health field. I've worked as a residential counselor for a group home supporting individuals with severe mental illnesses. I have co-led a psychosocial educational group for a community mental health organization. I've had the privilege to be a personal assistant to an Autistic individual needing support with their independent daily living skills. I've worked on a team of IDD/MH experts and provided consultation, crisis support, and neurodivergent affirming training to individuals and their family members / supports.
Working with this population has always come natural to me. It also energies me.
In addition to my work and life experience of being a sibling to a neurodivergent individual, the biggest contribution to my work would be my lived experience.
After several years of working as a licensed therapist, I found myself not only very understanding of my high masking clients, but I found myself relating to them and their challenges and experiences. Despite my knowledge of how hereditary diverging neurotypes can be, I never thought to question my own experience; although, I always felt 'different' from my peers.
In 2023, I received my formal diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Level 1, Requiring Support, Without accompanying language impairment, Without accompanying intellectual Impairment.
This diagnosis is based on the DSM 5 TR, the medical / pathological model, and not the neurodiversity paradigm which acknowledges Autism simply as a neurotype that deviates from the neurotypical or neuronormative mind."
I am Autistic, not less than.
I am not inherently disabled because I am Autistic. The environment in which I live in disables me.
