AuDHD Flourishing

Parenting as an AuDHDer is challenging and misunderstood. Many parents I speak to are near or in burnout at any given time, especially if they had kids before discovering their neurotype (which is common). This episode is based not on my experience as a parent, but my experience having spoken and heard from many AuDHD parents, and what I see working for them. This is in part a follow up to last we...

Julie M. Green is the author of  Motherness : A Memoir of Generational Autism, Parenthood, and Radical Acceptance. She shares about how difficult early parenthood was, how different her autism presents versus her kid's, and navigating school and regulation skills. The book is a vulnerable look at some of the challenging and lighthearted moments of raising an autistic kid. Connect with Julie:...

You deserve to survive this. Please stay. And if staying out of spite helps you, it has gotten me through some tough times. My Medium article, "Please Stay, We Need You" Repost of ep. 75 Crisis Resources: USA-based anonymous crisis chat International crisis lines Various types of crisis resources in about 10 countries Resources: Transcript Doc Email Newsletter Like Your Brain  community space...

Flow is pleasant and often productive. It may also require some guardrails to be healthy for AuDHDers, especially those of us on the very monotropic side. It's often easy for us to get into flow and hyperfocus, and to stay in them until they stop feeling pleasant. Adding in more rest and recovery, including preparatory rest as needed, can really help! It's also okay to avoid flow states for a peri...

Max Alexander is an artist and play worker who has mapped some common shapes of autistic play. He's passionate about neuro-affirming play for all ages. Play is both a healing tool, and can help prevent some of the effects of trauma (we touch on this lightly, a concept I learned from Linda Thai) One possible way to apply the play styles is noticing which ones speak to you, and which ones you're alr...

AuDHD leadership touches on last week's interview with Dr Megan Anna Neff . And it goes beyond the visible leadership of creating content, or being in the public eye. AuDHD leadership can include being your authentic self visibly meeting your sensory needs sharing what helps you (whether or not it's advice) Mentioned in episode: - Do Less program for 2026 (starts Jan 15, reach out by Jan 7) Email...

Dr Megan Anna Neff is a neurodivergent therapist and thought leader, who became popular in 2022 with their "Misdiagnosis Monday" series. Their thoughtful content has helped many thousands of AuDHDers and other neurodivergent folks feel seen and understood. Today we talk about having a small business as a neurodivergent person (including PDA at the end) the questions and concerns we have about crea...

Doing less of what's harming you opens up time and energy. You can enjoy that as rest, and if desired, eventually fill it in with what you do want. AuDHDers often need to move at a slower pace, in many ways. Sometimes we then have creative bursts that move fast... but the space comes FIRST! Mentioned in episode: Do Less program for 2026 (starts Jan 15) book, Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison (affiliat...

Pasha joins again to talk about what they've learned in the past two years since last being on the show! We talk about belonging, triggers in relationships, and much more. She also shares the ableism behind the scenes of an autism training from a large (unnamed) org. Mentioned in episode: Pasha's website & LinkedIn Instagram @neuroqueercoach TikTok @neuroqueercoach Pasha's YouTube AuDHD Flouri...

Decluttering, organizing, and cleaning my home in a more routine way is having some interesting effects on my perfectionist tendencies! (Plus, perfectionism comes up in the decision-making process; more on that in my interview on A Slob Comes Clean, which I'll link here when it's out.) Specifically, a cleaner space = less decision fatigue = lower cognitive load = more executive function resources...

Dana K White, like me, couldn't find advice that worked for her. So she made it up! And it turns out, it was helpful for many other people too. After writing an anonymous blog about cleaning her overwhelmingly cluttered home, Dana "came out" and started helping others too. Also, many of those people let her know she seems to have ADHD ;) Her explanations have already helped me a lot, and given me...

Transitions are one of THE things that support the way that productivity shows up for AuDHDers! Transitions don't have to be all about work: play and rest can be transitions too. And sometimes we need transition time into and out of work, play, AND rest! Today I talk in more detail about how long transitions can take for me (routinely 30-60 minutes). If that's true for you, a 20-minute chunk of wo...

PDA is the Persistent Drive for Autonomy (community term), or pathological demand avoidance (clinical & pathologizing term). What happens when PDA, ADHD, and autism all overlap? Well... stress and relationship challenges! Thankfully, everything that helped me feel more safe has also made my PDA more manageable. There are many approaches to build that safety. This episode is a follow-up to the...

It's been a running joke (that wasn't initially a joke) that I'm totally going to do a PDA episode very soon ... since the very first episode of AuDHD Flourishing. Now we have one, thanks to Chris Wells and Marni Kammersell for interviewing me on PDA: Resistance and Resilience , and letting me cross-post the episode here! Mentioned in episode: Full show notes AuDHD Flourishing Episode 87: Giftedne...

About two years ago, I started ADHD stimulant medication as a regular (most days) thing. I've mentioned it here and there on the podcast. This is my most concentrated "review" of the main things I've noticed over the past two years. To be clear, when I mention a factor that might make stimulant meds more of a burnout risk, I'm not saying those folks shouldn't try it! Just to be very careful not to...

One reason most advice doesn't work for us is that it's backwards. It's telling us to do/have the end result, rather than showing us how to get there. In the case of safety or shame, it's pretty clear that we can't just leap to the end of the process (if there even is one with a traumatized body). Mentioned in episode: Toxic Shame: What it is and How to Heal From it (YouTube, Heidi Priebe. Her tak...

TQ (they/them) is a queer, trans, physically disabled, AuDHD Chinese-Singaporean artist, author/host of the upcoming book/podcast Queer! AuDHD! BIPOC! , and community facilitator for other queer neurodivergent BIPOC. In true ND fashion, we range over many topics, including the importance of community and hearing your own stories as a person with multiple intersecting identities. You can pre-order...

Also on YouTube for some visuals My urge for minimalism is partly to provide myself with the visual cues I desperately need, without overwhelming myself with visual clutter. And, there has been a specifically classist push for minimalism that sometimes causes me to get rid of too much. Here's an excellent thread about minimalism , class, and why you're probably not a hoarder I especially loved the...

Thanks to Hyperfocus with Rae Jacobson for letting me cross-post this important discussion about one of the first longitudinal studies of ADHD in women and girls! Full show notes, timestamps, and Transcript available on Hyperfocus' site (Ep 5, The “devastating” findings of a decades-long ADHD study, Dec 5, 2024 has the full version; it was reposted Aug 28 2025 with more brief notes) Show notes: Dr...

Chronic shame makes us feel all kinds of terrible things that often are the triggers that send people to therapy. It's caused in part by relational rupture without repair, especially as an infant and child. While there's no quick fix, recognizing the signs and beginning to gently work with it does help over time. This is episode 10 of a series of 10 that started with 102 AuDHD Therapy That Works w...

Darren Glencross was diagnosed near the beginning of 2025, and since then has written multiple books and come up with a new framework for people to explore outside of the medical model. It includes: Pattern Language, Inner Orbit with 12 satellites (and Their Orbit), and the Carry Kit It's exciting to explore community-led models! Connect with Darren: Darren's writings & Inner Orbit book Messag...

AuDHD brains face many challenges when it comes to projects. It's something I've put a great deal of time and learning into, both personally and professionally. This episode covers many ideas and approaches that tend to work for us. Key Takeaways: We usually learn to use what I call the Adrenaline-Anxiety Approach. While effective short-term, it can lead to burnout and other issues. A monotropic a...

This ep also available on YouTube "use more lube:" do what you need to do to make life easier, more comfortable, and more pleasurable for you in the moment. This goes beyond sensory needs, though that's often where we start. You may not be sure what you want on the grand scale (or it feels impossible to get there). But being kind to yourself, and meeting your needs moment-to-moment, helps create a...

Intuition has been a way to interface with my body, even when the relationship with my body was contentious. While I won't share the trauma stories that led to the subtitle (Intuition Saved My Life), I have a variety of examples of how unconscious information can surface in a useful way. ep. 7 in an interconnected 10-episode series Mentioned in episode: Free Workshops registration link Love Your B...

It often feels easiest to do what's right in front of us. And that's lovely, a lot of the time, and uses our strengths! And... it starts to feel bad if we're in whack-a-mole mode almost all of the time, and don't have spacious time to comprehend the whole of our experience. This ties into our sensory needs and leans more into the psychological side of these needs. Mentioned in episode: Free Worksh...