The Special Needs Mom Podcast

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, we’re back with the second half of my conversation with Beth Thorp. If you’re just joining us, go back and listen to part 1. Beth shares about her enlightenment and the road to healing which lead her husband and herself to start the Mitchell Thorp Foundation.  What started as naming a local ball field an...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners.  This week’s guest is extra special for our family and I can’t wait for you to hear Beth Thorp’s story! Beth has walked a difficult road in her time as a special needs mom. Her son and namesake for their foundation, Mitchell, died after 5 long years with no diagnosis.  Beth and her husband started the Mi...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners, Today I want to talk about the weird thing that happens after after an intense event, new diagnosis, long hospital stay etc… This is the time when we’re home from the hospital stay, we’re adjusting to a new normal, we’re winding down from all the intensity.  And it feels like people start to lose interes...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello Listeners, in this episode I have guest Dana Johnson. She is a stay at home mother to 5 children, including a set of twins, one of which has cerebral palsy. They also do homeschool.  Dana has great perspective on being positive in difficult circumstances as well as her input on being told "You're so stron...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello and welcome back to the podcast. This week is a totally different type of episode, but I wanted to share it, regardless.  I am reading a piece I wrote about the struggles I have been facing. We are in a time of treatment being over, the recent hospital stays behind us, but also in a time of unknown and uncertainty...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners. Cara Lewis is our guest with week. Cara has a son with a rare genetic condition, most common to boys, ATR-X syndrome.  She speaks about the rocky road they've had with her sons many diagnoses and symptoms, steps she's coined in the special needs mom journey, and the importance of being connecte...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners and welcome back.  This week on the podcast I’m talking about being proactive to create a summer that works for your children and YOU! 1) it’s about offense, not defense. Take some time now to build and create what you want. Pull back and look at the bigger picture of your summer and what would work for y...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners and  welcome back to the podcast. This week, I have Rachel Alves as a guest. Rachel is mom to a daughter, Audrey, who has a rare gene mutation called CASK.  Rachel is involved in her daughter’s diagnosis and that community, she’s fond of therapy and is working on who she can become now.  Her daughters dia...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners and welcome back to the podcast. This week I’m talking about what happens when our story gets disrupted.  Likely, we all feel this way about diagnosis, a relationship ending or some other trauma in our lives.  What narrative do you tell yourself in this special needs mom life when story you thought you we...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Welcome back listeners. This week, I am here with guest Courtnay Schadtle who is a mom of one. Courtnay is still new in the special needs mom journey, but she has a great way of taking things as they come and staying positive. Courtnay shares about her early days after her daughters birth and how she still carries some g...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week I am taking a step back to deal with what life is throwing at us. I am bringing back an episode from the early weeks of the podcast. It’s the episode with Kaitlyn McCarty. Her daughter has challenges because of severe ADHD and learning disabilities.  Kaitlyn and I discuss the need to expand and grow ourselves a...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners! This week’s episode, I am introducing a project I am so excited about.  I had an epiphany last year on Mother’s Day, when one of my children gave me an empty card. I feel like I give so much for this child and it can be so challenging. I wanted some acknowledgment and I’m not afraid to say that aloud.  S...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello and welcome back to the podcast. This week, I am joined by Jennifer Deis. She is mom to three, one of her sons has educational disabilities. Jennifer and I are old friends who have rekindled over the last year, so this episode is extra fun and special for both of us. Jennifer explains her story about becoming a spe...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This weeks episode is all about tapping into the way your brain thinks about new things.  New is inherently scary and let’s face it, it may seem easier to stay in the comfort zone.   However, that is our brains way of tricking us! Our brains are using the technique of prediction, what it knows to force us into feeling ce...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners! This week I have guest, Angela Todd in the show. Angela describes herself as a person who’s done at all, but not in a good way.  She’s been through fertility treatments, a spousal separation, two pre-term births and child loss; just to list a few.  During this conversation, Angela and I talk about how we...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners, this week I have guest Crystal Anderson. She is a mom of 3, one of her sons has Down Syndrome.  Crystal shares her story from the beginning, when they found out from genetic testing, that their in-utero baby was a son and had down syndrome. She also shares how the news wasn’t as tough because she had wor...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello Listeners! Welcome back to the podcast. This week, I want to share some of my favorite books with you. I’ve split these books into categories: -Hospital Reads -Personal Growth -Trauma +Recovery - Processing Emotions I also have created a beautiful document with the complete lists and I’d love to send it to you! Cli...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This weeks episode is shedding some light on toxic positivity. I think we all have experienced this in one way or another although we may not realize it. It looks like someone saying, “Everything will be okay” or “You need to focus on the positive!” While I will never underestimate the power of hope and positive thinking...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) 077: Welcome back to the Special Needs Mom podcast. Today I have guest, Bonnie O’Neil. Bonnie is a mom to 3, one if her children having type 1 diabetes. She also has an intense background with her own childhood and the disease. Bonnie is also an author and a spiritual director.  Bonnie was born into a family that had pre...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) 076:  Welcome back, listeners. Today i want to talk about all those taboo thoughts we just ignore or push to the back of our mind. Have you ever thought or said things you'd consider impermissible about your special needs child? Chances are you have and so have many other moms. The first thing I want to explain is,...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) 075: Welcome back to the Special Needs Mom podcast. Today I’m doing something totally different and I have a dad on the show with us.  Daniel comes to us with the unique circumstances of losing his special needs son 18 months ago. Daniel is very involved in the film industry and has started a channel (to download on stre...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners and welcome to part three of the series I have been doing about our experience with Levi’s recent surgery and the recovery process.  This week I am focusing on my personal recovery process. I want to emphasize that I feel like I was in survival mode and I reference the Polyvagal theory which talks about f...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) 073: Hello moms and listeners! I’m back this week with part 2 in the series where I reflect on our recent experiences with Levi’s surgery and recovery. This episode, I’m focusing on what worked, what didn’t work and what I would do differently. Check back next week for part 3 of this series. Sign up link for The Special...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) 072:  Hey there, listeners! His week's episode is part one in a series all about preparing for, living in, and moving last Levi’s most recent surgery. I wanted to give some real and relatable content for moms out there who may be going through similar circumstances. I want to start by sharing how we felt like everyo...

Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Hello listeners and welcome back to the podcast. This week, I have special guest Courtney Hightower. She is a mom to 6 ranging in ages 4-16.  Courtney and I started talking in the comments on one of my posts and just knew this could be a conversation to benefit all special needs moms. Is it okay if being together isn’t a...