Hey team! This week I’m talking with Dr. Jessica Stern about ADHD, mental health, and trauma. Dr. Stern is a licensed clinical psychologist, consultant, and clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Health. Her areas of specialty are depression, anxiety, ADHD in adults, and trauma, as well as burnout, productivity, and corporate wellness.

In our conversation today we discuss the intersection of ADHD and trauma, the need for routine and structure while still maintaining our need for spontaneity. We also get into the importance of support networks and how we can also check in with ourselves.

Additionally, we also talked about Wondermind, a mental fitness company that Dr. Stern is serving as an advisor. Wondermind was co-founded by Selena Gomez and Mandy Teefey and just launched their own podcast Baggage Drop which features short 10-minute episodes to help with mental health and build habits. Be sure to check out my interview with Skye Rapson on her podcast The ADHD Skills Lab Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/147 This Episode's Top Tips

1. Fresh starts can help us let go of our past performance and embrace our new self.
2. We can effectively create motivation with financial incentives, but often that isn't enough for us to follow through on some of the things that we really do want to do. We also need to create reminders and a plan on how we want to accomplish our goals.
3. Don't try and do all the new things at once - pace yourself and create a plan on what you want to do first. Try and focus on doing the things that by doing them will make everything else easier.
4. We need to be flexible with our plans because we are going to hit speed bumps - while we can't plan for everything we can work on ways to help us get back up when we get knocked down.