Neurodivergent Faith

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Neurodivergent Faith , I sit down with author, speaker, ministry leader, and grandmother Kim Botto for a deeply compassionate conversation about creating church spaces where every child truly belongs. Together, we explore what it means for churches to move beyond behavior management and toward curiosity, compassion, and connection—especially when supporting neur...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Neurodivergent Faith , I sit down with spiritual director and author Deb Gregory to explore the sacred connection between spirituality, embodiment, and neurodivergence. As members of neurodiverse families ourselves, Deb and I talk about the importance of curiosity—especially the kind of curiosity that helps us listen more deeply to what neurodivergent children a...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Neurodivergent Faith , I reflect on what’s working—and what’s not—in this current season of life and faith. From singing together as a family and discovering the quiet gift of object-focused connection, to the unexpected grace of a few steady days of routine after months of disruption, I trace the small rhythms that are helping me settle again. I also name what...

Send us Fan Mail What if one of the most important things you bring to your neurodivergent child (or your loved one)… isn’t your words, your strategies, or your plans—but your regulated presence ? In this episode, we explore the sacred, often overlooked work of parents learning to regulate themselves—especially when raising neurodivergent kids. We’ll name the honest truth: parenting can be oversti...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Neurodivergent Faith , I sit down with Amanda Diekman—known to many as “Low Demand Amanda”—to explore the tender intersection of parenting, trauma, and connection . We name the reality so many parents carry quietly: that some of our pain is happening inside the parenting journey itself. And we ask the honest question—how do we begin to heal while we are actively...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, “Child Sacrifice for the Sake of the Community,” we explore what happens when belonging, harmony, and reputation are prioritized over a child’s nervous system. Through personal reflection, we name the ways many of us learned to override our bodies—whether in overwhelming environments, unspoken expectations to “push through,” or even being required to give affectio...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Neurodivergent Faith , I sit down with Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Kramer McGinnis to explore some often unexamined assumptions that have shaped Christian parenting culture. Together, we name the pressure to produce “obedient and compliant” children—and how those expectations can harm families, especially those with neurodivergent kids. We talk about the dang...

Send us Fan Mail In Part 2 of my conversation with Alyssa Barringer, we explore what led to her AuDHD diagnosis and how that understanding began to bring clarity to years of lived experience. We talk about neurodivergence in the family, the connection between message and messenger, and some of the realities of high control religious spaces. Alyssa also shares glimpses of healing in her current chu...

Send us Fan Mail In this first part of my conversation with Alyssa Barringer, she shares stories that you may find very relatable—especially if you grew up in the rhythms of church and Christian school, trying to follow God with all sincerity, while simultaneously not fitting the mold.  Alyssa shares what it was like to navigate those spaces as an undiagnosed AuDHD girl—and the various approaches...

Send us Fan Mail In this opening episode of Season 4, we begin exploring the question: What do you wish your caregivers had known… or done differently? In this episode, Josh shares his answer to this question and together we explore: how invalidation shapes our relationship with our body and self the internalization of messages like “too sensitive” or “too much” and the slow, sacred work of learni...

Send us Fan Mail In this final episode of Season 3, we celebrate one year of the Neurodivergent Faith podcast—34 episodes of stories, courage, and connecting with God and with each other. I reflect on the themes and wisdom listeners have shared over the year, highlighting their vulnerability, bravery, and generosity in walking this journey of neurodivergence and faith. We hear from listener voices...

Send us Fan Mail In this final episode of the Masking and Spiritual Formation series, Josh is joined by Sunita Theiss for a thoughtful and deeply honest conversation about masking as performing belonging —especially within faith and community spaces. Together, they explore masking as a survival strategy shaped by culture, neurodivergence, and the longing to be safe and included. Sunita reflects on...

Send us Fan Mail In this second episode of the Masking and Spiritual Formation series, Josh is joined by Harrison Litzell for a thoughtful and honest conversation about masking and belonging in faith communities. Together, they explore how masking shows up in churches and spiritual spaces—and how unexamined expectations might unintentionally require performance, conformity, or self-erasure. And, h...

Send us Fan Mail What if we don't have to pretend to be something we aren't in order to be loved? In this opening episode of a short series on Masking and Spiritual Formation , Josh explores the practice of masking—what it is, why neurodivergent people develop it, and how it quietly shapes our inner lives. Drawing from lived experience, research on autistic masking, original music, and p...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, my friend Kristina Coombes joins me for an exploration of stimming across all our senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, interoception, proprioception, and the quiet wisdom of the vestibular system. Together we name stimming not as something to suppress, but as a faithful way of tending our nervous systems, a practice of stewarding our energy with compassion an...

Send us Fan Mail This is part three of a conversation on executive function with Neurodiverse Couples Coach, Robin Tate. We wade into the territory of organization—how systems help some of us stay grounded, and how easily life unravels when those systems are disrupted. Together we name the relational ache that surfaces when shared routines aren’t honored, and the grace that comes when we build in...

Send us Fan Mail In this first-ever live gathering of the Neurodivergent Faith community, listeners came together from different states and countries to practice something both simple and deeply brave: honest gratitude in all circumstances. Rooted in the invitation of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, we explored what it means to give thanks in our circumstances—not pretending everything is easy, but naming t...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is the second part of a conversation on executive function with Neurodiverse Couples Coach, Robin Tate. In it, we explore the tensions many of us know so well—wanting to begin, yet feeling unable to start…attention pulled in different directions… wanting to discern what matters most, yet sensing every task weighted with equal urgency. Robin offers language and compass...

Send us Fan Mail Josh continues the conversation with researcher and podcast host Jon Machnee ( Christianity On The Spectrum ) to explore the autistic experience of faith. With a recognition that autism is incredibly heterogeneous, they dialogue together about broad trends in characteristics autistic people tend to lean towards as well as away from in their expressions of Christianity.  Listen to...

Send us Fan Mail In this conversation, Josh sits down with researcher and podcast host Jon Machnee ( Christianity On The Spectrum ) to explore how the autistic experience can widen our understanding of life with God and one another. Together, they reflect on Jon’s personal story and the origins of his work, the gifts autistic people bring to the Body of Christ, and the challenges that arise when c...

Send us Fan Mail What does it mean to be a parent when the path looks different from what you imagined? In this conversation, special needs dad John Fela shares his journey of raising his autistic son, Christopher—and how fatherhood, in all its changing seasons, has deepened his faith and revealed the essential gift of community. John offers encouragement to parents who feel weary or unseen, remin...

Send us Fan Mail In this opening episode of Season 3, Josh returns to a simple but powerful spiritual practice first explored in Season 1, Episode 9: naming what’s working and what’s not. Through listener reflections and his own honest check-in, Josh invites you to pause, breathe, and notice where life and connection are flowing—and where they’re not. This is not a productivity exercise, but a con...

Send us Fan Mail In this season finale, Jordan Rios joins us to share her journey of late diagnosis, deep healing, and resilient faith. As a single mother of seven—navigating ADHD, CPTSD, and a lifetime of misdiagnosis—Jordan speaks with raw honesty about overstimulation, self-care, and the slow work of rewriting harmful messages. Together, we explore what it means to parent through trauma, to car...

Send us Fan Mail In this first episode of a series, we begin a sacred conversation at the intersection of Executive Function and Faith. Together with neurodiverse Christian couples coach Robin Tate, we gently explore three foundational executive function skills— Impulse Control, Working Memory, and Emotional Regulation —and how they might shape the ways we love God, others, and ourselves. What hap...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Neurodivergent Faith , I sit down with Ananda Bossois—a Brazilian, ADHD, third culture woman of deep faith—to explore the intersection of neurodivergence, multicultural identity, and life with God. Together, we reflect on the strengths and challenges of being both neurodivergent and third culture: the masking, the code-switching, and the holy moments of freedom...