In this episode I speak with clinical psychologist and Divergent Life founder, Dr. Emma Offord. We both come from the medical “deficit” based model in the neurodivergent community but through our own lived experiences have focused on a strengths and somatic based approach to this work.

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The work I've been doing has been getting really curious about: What's really going on at the root? Like, what's causing this?

And that's what's led me to the nervous system…

Which I hear you speaking to a lot. So I would love to hear, how your work is connecting people with understanding their nervous systems?

I feel like the nervous system holds a lot of wisdom for people and a lot of explanation for these things that we call traits or these symptoms that we attribute to, what other people might refer to as disorders.

My understanding, very much like you Melissa, has been focused on putting the pieces of the jigsaw together and in that I found that the nervous system organizes:

* The mind and the body

* The choices you might make

* Your sensory world

* Your relationships

Actually trying to understand why the nervous system is shifting and changing is really crucial, more so than looking at the list of traits associated with the labels. Because looking at the traits is looking at the outcome whereas looking at the nervous system is looking at the cause.

Understanding what's at the root, ultimately breeds more compassion for everybody and then supports us in truly helping this next generation.

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