Summer Stelter remembers being in "a rough place" in 2022. Diagnosed years earlier with borderline personality disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder, she was told throughout childhood that she was lazy, unmotivated, sometimes even frightening — traits that are inconsistent with her life today as a successful business owner. Yet when a conflict arose with her son's elementary school about his academic struggles, it triggered her PTSD, giving her flashbacks and rekindling past suicidal thoughts. "I was filled with shame and guilt for not living up to everyone's standards," Stelter said. "I was my biggest bully, telling myself I was stupid, that I can't get this, and what's the purpose of living?" Then a colleague suggested she look into All Brains Belong VT. The small, nonprofit medical practice in Montpelier specializes in neurodivergent patients, or the one in five people who think, learn, communicate and experience the world differently. In April 2023, the practice diagnosed the then-38-year-old Irasburg woman with autism. "From my very first medical appointment, I was blown away," she recalled. "I was in tears. I found hope. This is what I've been searching for my whole life." At All Brains Belong, Stelter found more than just clinicians who understood and respected her diagnoses. She also found a community of like-minded patients who meet regularly to share their experiences of being neurodivergent and the tools they use to manage it. Some patients travel from as far away as Brattleboro to participate. All Brains Belong also hosts community programs for neurodivergent children and teens, and it produces weekly webinars and educational materials for parents, caregivers, employers and health care practitioners to better serve the neurodivergent population and those with traumatic brain injuries. Nearly all are free and open to anyone regardless of where they live, even patients and medical professionals unaffiliated with the practice. Some of the online materials have been downloaded more than 20,000 times by people around the world. "People don't just join a medical practice. They are joining a community," said Dr. Melissa "Mel" Houser, 41, who founded All Brains Belong in November 2021. The Long Island native moved to Vermont in 2008 to attend the University of Vermont's Larner College of Medicine. Though she described her medical education as "excellent," it included almost nothing about neurodiversity beyond a one-hour lecture on autism. The lesson focused entirely on the red flags for recognizing autism,…