About Erin McCarthy Shaw
A Whole-Person Approach to Understanding Neurodivergence
Many assessments feel like an impersonal checklist—focusing on deficits without offering a meaningful path forward.
That is not how I work.
​
I provide comprehensive assessments and personalized treatment strategies for individuals seeking a deeper understanding of how their brain works. Whether you are navigating sensory or social challenges, inattention, impulsivity, problems regulating emotions, or academic struggles, I take a rigorous, holistic, and strengths-based approach to each evaluation, providing diagnostic clarity and a clear, actionable plan forward.
What Makes My Approach Different?
-
My practice is unique in that I have the education and training to integrate medical, biopsychosocial, psychiatric, and neuropsychological perspectives into my assessment process. This may include ordering and interpreting lab work to rule out medical conditions that can mimic psychiatric or neurodevelopmental concerns, as well as gene-drug testing (pharmacogenetic testing) to assess how genetic factors may influence your response to psychiatric medications.
​
-
I provide medication consultations and, when appropriate, offer ongoing medication management to ensure treatment is personalized, streamlined, and effective.
​
-
I offer working memory enhancement training through Cogmed.
​
-
My evaluations are neuroaffirming—they don’t reinforce the idea that something is missing or broken. Instead, they highlight strengths and provide practical recommendations to help you or your child thrive. This is about understanding and celebrating how your brain works, not pathologizing it.
​
-
Finding the right professionals to support you can be overwhelming. I remove that burden by connecting you with trusted specialists, including therapists, executive function coaches, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, tutors, private school admissions specialists, and college counselors.
My Background and Training
​
Graduate Education: Yale University School of Nursing
​
Clinical Training: Yale Behavioral Health Services, Yale Child Study Center, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and the Clinical Neurosciences Division of the National Center for PTSD
​
Advanced Assessment Training: Post-master’s certifications in neurodevelopmental testing methods through MindfulU
​
Academic Contributions: Guest lecturer at Yale School of Nursing (2024, 2025), teaching neurodevelopmental assessment and integrative, neuroaffirming psychiatric care