Kitchen Table Conversations with Angela Geddes

In this episode, Angela shares a few tips and strategies that may be helpful when supporting our children with ADHD, and she also discusses some overlapping characteristics for other mental health and learning difficulties that should be considered and talked about around our Kitchen tables. Resources to Learn More: PsychCentral | Parenting Kids with ADHD: 12 Tips to Tackle Common Challenges DOWNL...

A chance to reflect and evaluate. In this episode, Angela talks about different needs and approaches to special days like Valentine’s Day and acknowledges that for some this can be a very difficult day, and there are no rules; no 'right' or 'wrong' way of doing things. She discusses the power of music and messaging that can help to inspire us and highlights a couple of good son...

In this episode, we are chatting about prioritizing our efforts, keeping busy and meeting our kids and the people we love and support where they are at and without so many assumptions and blame. We will discuss how important prevention efforts are, but also, how important it is to just be helpful no matter what the diagnosis is or what caused it. If parents and providers can do a better job identi...

Let's all see what we can do to bring these conversations home to our kitchen tables so we can all do our part to reduce the stigma and deepen our understanding of how we can support mental wellness beyond just a superficial level. In this episode, Angela touches on how Bell media is doing wonderful things to keep the conversation going, but also, reportedly blindsided one of their major news...

What are we really looking for? In this episode, Angela chats about how we define and understand happiness, and how sometimes the quest for happiness can be counterproductive. It can leave us feeling like our efforts are not working and that we must be doing something wrong. Angela also points out that these elements are in line with ACT and highlights how pleased and proud she is to be presenting...

In this episode, Angela chats about why there continues to be such resistance in communities and within systems to learn more and share more of this important messaging that could really be game changing in terms of the health and wellbeing of future generations. Angela encourages you to check out training opportunities from FASD ONE and CanFASD to learn more, including her Social Work Training ai...

A new year is a time to reflect and often involves the opportunity to look ahead and set some new intentions/resolutions. It's also o.k. to not and to just keep plugging away and working towards living our best life. There are no 'rules' here but we all can do little things that can increase our overall wellness. This episode has some tips to support emotional intelligence and to bu...

Our final podcast for the year!! Hoping it finds you well and looking forward to some quiet time with family and friends. We're also mindful of those who do not celebrate or find this time of year as peaceful as they would like for a number of reasons. Our thoughts are with you.  In today's episode, we are reminded of the importance of community and connections, and we offer some ideas i...

In this episode, we’re going to take some time to talk about happiness and the thing we can be doing to experience more of it. Please take a time some time to read the article I mention by Psychology Today that shares 23 ways to be happier. Take time to reflect on what’s most important to you. While happiness all day every day is not a realistic goal, find moments in everyday life and appreciate t...

This episode reminds us all of where the most meaningful learning takes place and there are times when we need to challenge historical understandings, and approaches particularly when it comes to relationships and parenting strategies.  Research is evolving, and this means that there are things for us to learn and bring home.  My focus continues to be around the misinformation about prenatal alcoh...

This episode originally aired as EPISODE #17 on December 21, 2022. In this repeat episode, today's conversation will centre around the holiday season as we explore all the 'feels' and consider the needs of people who may find the season particularly stressful. These tips and considerations will be helpful  to all of us, but in particular for people with complicated mental  health, l...

This episode addresses the urgent need for us to do things differently; to consider things like the impact of financial stress, housing issues, and overall mental wellness of the family when considering ways to improve children's mental health. We also need to consider one concrete way that we all can mitigate the risk of children's mental illness, and that is by talking about the risks...

I am excited to be presenting at the Canadian Mental Health Ontario Conference. My goal is to broaden the audience and invite more people to explore training opportunities to become more competent and confident in their ability to screen and identify when what people are presenting with is more than Mental Health, trauma and parenting issues and may be directly related to prenatal trauma including...

In this episode, we’ll look at some surprising statistics and what people do not know about some of our most complicated and beautiful brains. Listen in to hear of some of Angela’s recent and upcoming efforts to increase awareness and build system capacity.  A shout out to MPP Rob Flack for giving us so much of his valuable time to listen to the needs and opportunities. Many many thanks. RESOURCES...

In this episode we will look at the passing of a ‘friend’ and have further discussion about complicated mental health and addictions from the real experts.  Check out the links below for Rebecca Tillou's work and we recommend Matthew Perry's book, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing . We feel that hearing from people with lived experience is so important and we encourage all to t...

Today's episode centres once again around the role of prenatal exposure to alcohol and how so few of us understand the impact on individuals and families every day. Angela speaks of what she learned while attending and presenting at the London Region FASD Conference (Learn more by following #LFASD and @FASDLondon). Our goal here is to broaden the audience and increase understanding.  It takes...

In this episode we look at the importance of checking our biases once again, and realizing that when typical parenting, or mental health supports are not working as expected, we need to be open to trying things differently. There is resistance to change, and families feel the blame and shame everyday. So do some of the service providers who are trying to help build new understanding and capacity....

Join us for a short mindfulness practice.  This episode explores acceptance commitment therapy and ways that we can both settle and evaluate our thoughts in order to learn and move forward in ways that bring us closer to the things and people that are important to us.  Check out the Programs section on our website to learn more about individual and group opportunities aimed at helping people recon...

This podcast discusses the importance of being able to identify when we have a problem and how best to get diagnostic clarification. We also discuss how, in our efforts to build more inclusive supports and services, we sometimes become more exclusionary by requiring prenatal exposures to be confirmed before getting a full assessment. We discuss the importance of this in terms of prevention and res...

In this episode, we’ll look at the responsibility to provide accurate information around alcohol use and pregnancy. I remain passionate about reducing both the incidents and the impact of prenatal exposures. We can do better and we have a responsibility to provide people with evidence based information.  Listen in to this episode and please feel free to share. It's up to all of us to support...

In the spirit of FASD awareness month, let's keep these important conversations going! Did you know that so many people with FASD have been misdiagnosed with ASD and ADHD? Listen in to find out more facts about FASD and head to the website to learn more.

We've known about FASD since the 1600's - What???? Why are we still so confused about this largely preventable condition? Listen in to hear why we continue to get so many mixed messages and how we can contribute directly to healthier pregnancies, people and communities by bringing this conversation home to our own kitchen tables. Head to the website to learn more.

This episode of Kitchen Table Conversations focuses on our ongoing efforts to reduce the stigma surrounding complicated mental health and learning difficulties that are often associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and FASD. We will also discuss ongoing opportunities to reduce both the impact and incidents of prenatal alcohol exposure and how we all can support healthy pregnancies, people,...

September, which is FASD awareness month, is fast approaching. Let's get a head start!! Listen to this episode where we discuss opportunities to learn more about the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), and hear more about some surprising statistics. We will also learn more about what we all can do to improve our prevention efforts and to support people who are currently living with the...

Today's episode will touch on how we can make the transition back to school as good as it can be. We have to be mindful and creative when addressing resistance about going back to school.  We will discuss how important it is for us as parents and caregivers to be mindful of our mood and messaging, and how we can support and validate feelings while expressing confidence in our kids ability to...