About R.E.A.L.

Neurodiverse Resources and Education Across the Lifespan

R.E.A.L. Neurodiverse™, founded in 2017, provides services to individual clients and trains and credentials professionals who want to understand their clients through the lens of neurodiversity.

Our programs are founded in Anne MacMillan's Neurodiverse Family Systems Theory and her 10-step approach that supports neurodivergents and their families as they come to understand the role neurodiversity plays their lives. The model is neurodivergent affirming, educationally based, and supports neurodivergents and their families as they build skills and take action to improve relationships and find the happiness, peace and connection everyone deserves.

Please reach out for an appointment if you are interested!

Anne MacMillan, MLA

Founder of the R.E.A.L. Neurodiverse™ Family Systems Approach, Speaker, Researcher, Consultant, Coach, Educator and Expert Witness

About Anne MacMillan

I am the creator of the R.E.A.L. Neurodiverse™ Family Systems Approach — the first comprehensive, educational 10-step model designed to help autistics, non-autistics, and professionals understand the neurological foundations of relational conflict and connection. My work integrates developmental psychology, systems theory, and over five decades of lived experience inside profoundly neurodiverse family systems.

I originally developed the Neurodiverse Family Systems Theory based on my education, personal history, and the insights I gained in the private neurodiverse services practice I founded in 2017. Since then, the work has evolved into a clear, scalable framework that professionals can use to guide their clients through complex neurodiverse dynamics with structure, clarity, and compassion.

Today, I support professionals across disciplines — therapists, psychologists, coaches, social workers, clergy, and educators — who are discovering that neurodiversity is often the missing piece in the adult relationship challenges they see. Through the Neurodiverse Family Systems Educator Credential (NFS‑E), providers gain access to the full R.E.A.L. 10-Step system, including original quantitative assessments, dyadic tools, and evidence-informed support resources they can immediately apply with clients.

I hold a research-based master’s degree in psychology from Harvard University, where I received the Director’s Thesis Award for one of the world’s first quantitative studies on Level 1 autism in intimate life partnerships. My graduate and undergraduate studies focused on developmental psychology — work that continues to inform every aspect of the R.E.A.L. approach.

In total, I bring more than 50 years of lived experience in neurodiverse family systems (including my childhood in a profoundly neurodiverse family), over 20 years of experience in a neurodiverse intimate partnership, and nearly a decade of professional practice supporting individuals, couples, and families navigating the complexities of neurodiversity.

I self-identify as a high body empathetic and attention neurodivergent (ADHD). I’ve never pursued a formal ADHD diagnosis, as I trust self-identification over professional labeling. I am not autistic, but I have spent my life deeply connected to autism, attention-based neurodivergence, and high-body-empathy neurology — both personally and professionally. My work is dedicated to helping others gain the clarity, skills, and relational wellbeing they deserve.

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anne@REALneurodiverse.com

Text or Call: (617) 996-7239 (United States)