AvyHD Podcast

A child who's shut down isn't being difficult. They've decided the room isn't safe to try in. Bright, capable neurodivergent kids quietly check out of school every day—and it almost never gets read as what it really is. In this episode, I sit down with educator and author Victoria Bagnall to unpack why trust erodes, how to spot it before a kid disappears entirely, and what it actua...

The tools didn't stop working. They were never built for your brain in the first place. You've tried every planner, every app, every system — and they all work beautifully for about two weeks. In this episode, I sit down with neurodivergent coach Ania Hulsman to explain why that happens, why it was never a discipline problem, and the difference between a strategy that demands you show up t...

You’re not white-knuckling it because you’re not good enough. You’re running a neurotypical operating system on a neurodivergent brain. In this episode, I sit down with Steve August — ADHD business coach and founder of the ADHD Entrepreneur Accelerator — who built a multimillion-dollar software company and took it to exit before he ever knew he had ADHD.We get into the hidden energetic tax of ADHD...

What if the burnout you’re carrying right now didn't start last year, or even five years ago? What if it started when you were four years old? In this episode of AvyHD, I connect with Kassandra Clemens, Founder and Executive Director of Heal Your Confidence . Kassandra shares her profound personal and professional insights on late-identified neurodivergence (ADHD, autism, dyspraxia, and dyslexia)...

When a child constantly walks on their toes, standard medicine forces their heels down with restrictive splints or expensive surgery. But for a huge cohort of neurodivergent and non-verbal children, this restriction fails. In this episode, pediatric physiotherapist Nicki Allen turns the traditional approach on its head. Instead of treating the body like it’s broken, she asked a better question: Wh...

"Someone told you a story about yourself. The mold was broken. Not you." — Avy Stephanie Watterson is an editor, author, sensitivity reader, biracial adoptee, and writer with dyslexia. If those things sound like contradictions, that's exactly why she's on the show. In this conversation, we get into the orange in a row of apples, what disability actually means when you stop using it as a synonym fo...

“The term of being too much or being a lot — that framework is dangerous.”You’ve been handed that story your whole life. Too much. Too intense. Too scattered. And somewhere along the way, you started to believe it. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Dante Assad Williams — founder of NeuroBaddie™ — to pull apart the specific ways neurodivergent women get told to shrink, why they keep ending up in...

Ever find yourself rested on Monday but "wiped out by Wednesday" anyway? If that sounds familiar, you don't have a time management problem—you have a boundary infrastructure problem. In this episode, Avy explains why "unstructured access" to your time and energy is the silent killer of founder creativity. Learn how neurodivergent leaders can stop fighting their natural wiring and start designing a...

What if your 'ADHD symptoms' are actually your brain struggling to process white light or background noise? In this episode, I sit down with Jacki Edry to discuss the neurological processing issues that mimic or complicate ADHD and Autism. Jacki shares her harrowing and enlightening journey of recovering from brain surgery, which gave her a firsthand look at sensory overload—not as a professional,...

“I tried delegating, and it didn't work.” If you’ve said this, you’ve likely concluded that you’re just too controlling or that no one can do the job as well as you can. Today, I’m calling "squirrel" on that. Your delegation didn't fail because of trust; it failed because three specific structural conditions were never in place before the handoff happened. For ADHD founders, building infrastructur...

"I don't even work that many hours, so why am I exhausted all the time?" If you’ve said this, you aren't lazy or failing—you’re likely experiencing boundary leaks. For the ADHD founder, burnout isn't usually caused by the volume of work, but by the constant, low-grade demands on your attention and emotional energy. Join me as I break down the 5 quiet leaks—from unlimited access to emotional labor—...

Are you tired of being told you "just need to be more consistent"? 🙄 In this episode of AVHD, Avy sits down with Diann Wingert to deconstruct the shame surrounding the "other C-word": Consistency. Diann explains that ADHD entrepreneurs aren't broken; we just often lack the right conditions to sustain our brilliance. We discuss:• Why "it depends" is the answer to every ADHD question.• The "Soulmat...

Ever feel like you’re working twice as hard just to look "normal"? This week, Ginny Evans Pollard joins me to talk about the high cost of masking and the reality of leading as a queer, neurodivergent professional. We discuss why "boring" systems can actually be a form of self-care, how to handle the "shame spiral" of negative feedback, and the 4-step framework for successful workplace adjustments....

“If you don't see yourself, you internalize a quiet message that your experience doesn’t matter.”Dalisse Sequeiros joins me to talk about her book series, Loving Pieces Books, which serves as a mirror for autistic kids and a window for everyone else. We get real about the "hidden disability" of low-support needs, the exhaustion of masking, and how to use stories as tools for connection rather than...

"The sooner you can stop giving a f*ck, the better off you'll be." I sit down with Gareth Humphreys (NHS Blood and Transplant) to map out the reality of navigating a professional career with dyslexia. Gareth shares raw stories from his time as a teacher and police analyst, including the moment he decided to stop hiding his diagnosis and start advocating for systemic change. We explore why "systems...

We’ve been taught that resilience means bouncing back quickly. Reset. Push harder. Get your momentum back. But what if that mindset is the exact reason burnout keeps repeating? In this episode of the AvyHD Podcast, we talk about what burnout actually is — not just exhaustion, but a nervous system response to prolonged demand without protection. When your system collapses, trying to restart at full...

If you have ADHD, you’re not “bad with money.”You may be paying what Natasha Barber calls the ADHD Tax — an average of $583 per month in late fees, overdrafts, duplicate subscriptions, impulsive spending, and avoidance cycles. But this episode goes deeper than budgeting. We talk about:• Why 73% of neurodivergent adults avoid their finances• Why people with ADHD are more likely to default by age 40...

You did the thing. And instead of relief… you feel exhausted. This episode is about post-growth recovery — the burnout that shows up after expansion. When responsibility increases, visibility increases, expectations increase… but support doesn’t. Burnout after success isn’t weakness, rather a systems imbalance. We’re talking about:• Why your nervous system registers growth as threat• Why self-blam...

Winning doesn’t always feel like winning. Sometimes it feels like exhaustion. Like grief. Like rebuilding from nothing. In this episode of AvyHD, I sit down with Aleksandra Lowicka — epilepsy self-advocate and psychology graduate — to talk about what resilience actually is when your nervous system and the systems around you aren’t built for you. We explore:– Growth vs. resilience– Welfare systems...

Is entrepreneurship stressing you… or dysregulating you? In this episode of AvyHD, I sit down with Judith Richey, founder of A Force for Transformation, who works with entrepreneurs that are successful on paper but dysregulated in their bodies. Judith integrates nervous-system-informed work, embodiment, and family-systems insight to help high-achieving individuals move out of stress-driven achieve...

What does it mean to "see the invisible" when you live with ADHD? In this episode, I sit down with Kyra Keenan Westcott, aka The Vibe with Ky, to explore what’s often misunderstood about ADHD—especially in creatives, entrepreneurs, and late-diagnosed adults. We talk about masking, emotional labor, motivation myths, and why knowing your brain isn’t an excuse—it’s information. We get real about reje...

If you've ever thought "I should be able to handle this," you're not alone. This episode unpacks the emotional, cultural, and systemic reasons why asking for help feels unsafe — especially for high-capacity, neurodivergent adults who learned early to equate self-sufficiency with safety. We explore:• Why delegation triggers shame• The difference between random help and trained support• What quality...

If you’re overwhelmed, overloaded, and over it—you’re not alone. This episode introduces the S.E.L.F. Framework (Stabilize, Externalize, Leverage, Follow Through), a system designed to help you stop carrying everything alone—without burning out, fixing your whole life, or relying on hustle culture. Inside, I unpack:• Why vague advice like “just delegate” doesn’t work• How to build structure around...

Motivation isn’t a strategy. It’s a feeling .So what happens when you’re exhausted, overstimulated, or simply can’t ?This episode unpacks why motivation-based self-care fails so many of us—especially if you're neurodivergent—and what to do instead. I break down the difference between systems and shame, how to use external memory as nervous system support, and introduces the Not Your Wife philosoph...

You’re not lazy. You’re not too much. And you’re definitely not broken. You’re just running on memory and your brain was never meant to hold this much. In this episode of AvyHD, I break down how mental load, executive function, and sensory input quietly overload our systems — especially for neurodivergent brains. Using a powerful RAM vs ROM metaphor, I’ll show you why your overwhelm isn’t weakness...