The Experience
Work is not impossible.
But for many neurodivergent women, it is heavier than it appears.
Many neurodivergent women succeed professionally while simultaneously doing a second, largely invisible job. Constantly interpreting social cues, monitoring tone, adjusting communication, and managing the unspoken rules of the workplace.
The Terrain Programme™ is built from doctoral research into the lived experience of neurodivergent women in leadership and complex professional environments.
The Terrain Model
The Terrain Model is the multidimensional framework for understanding how workplace complexity, hidden labour and professional expectations interact for neurodivergent women in professional environments.
The Terrain Programme™ is built around this model and draws on doctoral research into the lived experience of neurodivergent women in leadership and complex professional environments.
Participants work with this model to develop a clearer understanding of how workplace complexity, hidden labour and professional expectations interact - and why work can feel heavier even for highly capable professionals.
Over six sessions we use this model to explore:
- How workplace complexity actually functions
- The hidden cognitive and relational labour neurodivergent women carry
- Why some environments are harder to navigate than others
- How to move through complex workplaces more deliberately and sustainably
This is not therapy or a support group.
It is a structured learning space combining research insight, reflective discussion, and practical sense-making with a small group of peers who share similar experiences.
The Terrain model continues to develop through ongoing doctoral research and practical application with professionals navigating complex workplaces.
How the programme works
Across six live sessions, participants gradually map and understand their own workplace terrain.
Each week builds on the previous one, developing a clearer picture of:
- The visible dynamics of work
- The hidden labour that sits beneath high performance
- The strategies that allow sustainable movement through complex environments
It is to provide language, structure and insight so that participants can understand the environments they are navigating and make more intentional choices within them.
It introduces a multidimensional model that explains why this weight accumulates, and what deliberate, sustainable movement can look like inside it.
It is a structured thinking space designed to help participants understand and navigate workplace terrain more deliberately.
Who this programme is designed for
The Terrain Programme™ is designed for neurodivergent women who are already operating in complex professional environments and want a deeper understanding of the dynamics they are navigating.
Participants do not need to arrive with answers, but they do need a willingness to think carefully about their experience, engage with the research and contribute to thoughtful discussion within the cohort.
This programme is not designed as therapy or crisis support, but as a structured learning space for reflection, insight and sustainable professional navigation.
About the programme lead
The Terrain Programme™ is led by Rachel Rowntree, a commercial leader and doctoral researcher in applied linguistics examining the lived experience of neurodivergent women in leadership and complex professional environments.
Her research explores how identity, communication and workplace dynamics intersect for neurodivergent women operating in high-responsibility roles.
The Terrain model introduced in this programme emerges directly from that research and provides a structured way to understand and navigate the complexities many women encounter at work.
Rachel has over 25 years of global commercial leadership experience across FMCG, health and medical sectors, including the past decade in board-level roles.
Format
Small confidential cohort
Maximum 8 participants
Six live sessions
No recordings
This allows for thoughtful conversation and trust within the group.
Investment
Founding cohort investment: £1,245
Future cohorts: £1,845
The founding cohort is offered at a reduced rate as the programme launches.
Participation is intentionally limited to eight participants to allow depth of discussion and careful development of the programme.