If school always felt harder for you... | Georgia Telehealth Therapy

Welcome to the deep dive. Um, today we are jumping into something that, you know, for millions of professionals, it's just this completely invisible everyday struggle. Yeah, it really is. It's um, it's hidden right in plain sight. Exactly. So, we're unpacking this really fascinating briefing from Coping and Healing Counseling or uh, CHC for short. They're a specialized telealth practice out in Georgia, right? And our mission for you today is to we'll sort of pull back the curtain on adult specific learning disorders or SLDs. We're going to explore the emotional toll of carrying this undiagnosed uh look at the evidence-based supports that are out there and see how the geographical and financial barriers to therapy are just

they're being dismantled. It's such a crucial deep dive because I mean society holds on to this strange almost magical assumption about like high school graduation. Oh, absolutely. We tend to act like the moment you walk across that stage, hand out a diploma, your cognitive profile just poof resets to this perfect baseline of efficiency and a clean slate. Right. Exactly. We assume the trouble you had with math or, you know, the sheer exhaustion of getting through a textbook just stays behind in your locker. But the reality that the source points out is that the brain you had in 10th grade is the exact same brain you carry into your first corporate job or, you know, your

family life. And the toll that takes on an adult over say a decade or two is just immense. I mean that is actually where the CHC briefing opens and it's a statement that honestly made me stop and reread it. Yeah, it's a powerful hook. It really is. They write and I'm quoting here. You are not lazy. You never were. I just want to linger on that for a second because it speaks so directly to the uh the internal emotional experience of the adult. Oh, for sure. because you spend years in the workforce before a clinical diagnosis even like enters the picture, right? You're just living with this quiet yearslong belief that you well just not

smart enough. It's a completely devastating narrative to internalize what we're talking about here and what the source is so careful to emphasize is a brainbased difference. It is not a character flaw. It's just a physiological reality of how your neurological pathways um process certain types of information, but because it goes undiagnosed into adulthood, society frames it as a character flaw. And so you just absorb that. To make this tangible, I was thinking about it like um imagine you're running a marathon, but you're wearing an invisible weighted vest. Oh, that's a really good way to put it. Yeah. like to the outside world, to your boss, your colleagues, maybe your spouse, you just look like you

aren't trying hard enough. You're lagging behind. They might think, you know, oh, they're just not dedicated because they can't see the vest. Exactly. They can't see the structural disadvantage you've been carrying for years. You aren't lazy. You literally have extra weight pulling you down on every single step. And framing that struggle as a moral failing is exactly what causes the damage. The CH briefing moves from that internal feeling to how this actually, you know, manifests in the mundane parts of adult life. Right. Because we aren't talking about feeling a pop quiz anymore. We're talking about just getting through a Tuesday at a corporate office. Yeah. The source details how reading, writing, or math stays relentlessly

effortful no matter how hard you try. And it leads to this very specific behavior of deliberately dodging tasks that involve like dense reading or numbers. Okay. Wait, hold on. Let me give a little push back here. Sorry. Go ahead. Because I mean I hate spreadsheets. I will absolutely reorganize my entire desk or you know answer a 100 emails just to avoid looking at a dense Excel file. We all been there, right? So couldn't someone just say they prefer creative tasks? How does the source actually differentiate between normal procrastination or just a preference and an actual learning disorder? That is the big question and it's why the phrasing and the source material is so vital. It's

not just a preference. The defining factor is that these tasks remain effortful no matter how hard you try. Oh, okay. So, it's about the exhaustion factor. Exactly. It's a systemic avoidance born out of deep exhaustion. If you just prefer creative work, a spreadsheet might be boring. You'd rather not do it. But for someone with an undiagnosed SLD, that spreadsheet isn't just boring, it is neurologically draining because of that weighted vest, right? So you dodge those tasks because engaging with them is going to just drain your battery to zero. Acknowledging that brain-based reality is so crucial for adults because it's the only way to break that cycle. So once we understand that these behaviors are a

brainbased difference rather than, you know, laziness, what is the action plan? How does someone listening to this actually rewrite their story? Well, according to the briefing, the absolute turning point is getting a licensed clinician to make the diagnosis. That's step one. And the source literally says that diagnosis can reframe your whole story, which is just it's huge. It really is. And from there, they lay out specific evidence-based supports. They talk about skills coaching and workplace accommodations, which we definitely need to touch on. Yeah, for sure. But they also highlight cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT. Yeah, that part really caught my eye. Using CBT in this context, it kind of makes me think of an overgrown

garden. Okay, I like where this is going. So, think of your brainbased learning difference as the soil, right? It's just the raw material. But over 20 years of adulthood, cuz you've been masking this, the soil has been completely covered by invasive weeds. The anxiety, the self-doubt. Exactly. The imposttor syndrome. The briefing says all of this piles on top over the years. You can't even see the soil anymore. So, you use CBT to carefully pull out all those invasive weeds before you can actually tend to the soil underneath and figure out how you learn best. That visual is perfect and I really want to dwell on that phrase from the source, pile on top. It really

gets to the core of the adult experience. How so? Well, the primary issue is the SLD, right? But the secondary issue, the anxiety and the self-doubt that pile on top, that is usually what CBT is directly targeting. It's clearing the weeds so you can finally see what you're working with. That makes a lot of sense. And once you clear those weeds, the source is very clear about the empowerment that comes next. They use this fantastic phrase regarding workplace accommodations. They note that you are quote entitled to them. Entitled to. I mean, that is strong language. You aren't just asking your boss for a favor. Not at all. It shifts the burden from you suffering in

silence to the environment actually needing to adapt to your documented reality. But you know, knowing that a licensed clinician and CBT are the answer naturally brings up a huge logistical reality, the healthare system. Exactly. How do people in Georgia actually access this? Because tellaalth sounds incredibly convenient, but doesn't this level of specialized help usually lock people out? You mean because of barriers like location or cost? Yeah. Like finding a specialist who actually understands adult SLDs, getting CBT, life coaching. Usually that comes with a massive price tag or a six-month weight list. Well, this is where the infrastructure of coping and healing counseling, CHC, really completely flips the script. The briefing outlines how they are a

100% teleaalth higha compliant practice. Wow. 100%. Yep. And they serve all 159 counties in Georgia via secure video. Let's just pause on that. All 159 counties. That is a massive footprint. So, if you're in downtown Atlanta or out in a rural county, you have the exact same access. The exact same access. And they have a really diverse, culturally competent team to back it up. We're talking about 15 plus licensed therapists. It's a solid roster. It is licensed clinical social workers, LPC's, LMFTs, and their services aren't just limited to individual therapy. They do couples, family, teen therapy for ages 13 and up, and life coaching. So they're treating the whole ecosystem of a person. Exactly. Because

if you have an undiagnosed SLD, it's going to cause friction in your relationships. It's going to cause severe stress. They specialize in anxiety, depression, trauma, and PTSD, grief, all those weeds we were talking about. Okay. But I have to push back on the cost again because a diverse team of 15 plus licensed therapists doing specialized CBT via a secure platform, that sounds like $200 an hour out of pocket. That's the traditional model. Yeah. Yeah. But the briefing breaks down their specific financial facts and it really shows how CHC is democratizing access. Okay, hit me with the numbers. So for Medicaid patients, they have a $0 co-pay. Wait, really? A Z co-ay? 0. It completely removes

the financial barrier for a huge portion of the state. That is incredible. What about commercial insurance? For most major plans, they list Etna, Sigma, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare. Humanana range from only $10 to $40. 10 to $40 a session. Yeah. I mean, you spend more than that on a decent takeout dinner. Exactly. By combining those affordable insurance co-pays with a 100% teleaalth model, they are completely dismantling the geographical and financial barriers. You don't have to take half a day off work, drive an hour, and pay out of pocket. You just open your laptop, right? The source even gives their contact info, which is super straightforward. You can call them at area code 448320.

So that's 404832102. Yep. Or visit gchotherapy.com or email support at chichchi theapy.com. They really make it as frictionless as possible to just reach out and start pulling those weeds. So to sort of wrap up the journey for you listening today, we've really covered a lot of ground. We moved from the heavy burden of that lazy myth, right? carrying that invisible weighted vest. And we looked at the daily dodging of tasks, not out of preference, but out of sheer neurological exhaustion. Then we moved to the really empowering reality of getting a brain-based diagnosis. Reframing the whole story, reframing the story, getting that CBT. And finally, we looked at how accessible teleahalth solutions provided by CHC across

all of Georgia are making this actual tangible reality for people. That's a huge shift in how we handle adult learning differences. But, you know, before we sign off, I want to leave the listener with a final thought to kind of mle over. Oh, I love a good takeaway. What is it? Well, we talked about the source mentioning those workplace accommodations you're entitled to. And we usually think of accommodations as these like special exceptions to the rule for a small minority of workers. But I want you to consider this. How would our modern workplace culture radically shift if we stopped viewing an employees effortful struggle with a task as a lack of dedication? Oh wow. What

if instead we viewed it as a sign that our work environments just need better structural design from the ground up? That is such a profound way to look at it. If everyone is tripping over the same hurdle, maybe we shouldn't just offer a few people a hand up. Maybe we should just remove the hurdle. Exactly. That is definitely something to explore on your own next time you're uh agonizing over a spreadsheet. Well, that does it for today's deep dive. Until next time, keep looking beneath the surface.