Focus Forward: An Executive Function Podcast

Today’s episode is just for us parents during this back to school time. As you already know, supporting the people we love comes more easily when we feel good about ourselves. However, when things get busy and our energy drains, it’s easy to forget about taking care of ourselves. With the return to school providing plenty of chaos for us parents, now is the perfect time to prepare and make sure you’re ready to not only support your kids, but also yourself. So today, we’re exploring five key Executive Function areas that will really support you during this time and give you some tips and strategies in each area. Even if you can’t realistically do all of the things I cover, pick one - just one - that you’re going to commit to doing. Make observations over the next few weeks - what was hard? What was easy? Did it make a difference? Is there something else you can add? (This reflection is an Executive Function exercise in and of itself!)

Show Notes:

Register for our Back-to-School Webinar on August 14

https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/back-to-school-relief-2024

Watch Our Past Webinars

https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/workshops-and-events

Focus Forward Episodes Mentioned

Ep 44: Ask the Coaches: Answering Your Top Questions about Summer, Motivation, Transitions, and more!

https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=z1tfw9hl2a

Ep 11: Procrastination: Why We Wait & What to Do About It

https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=n2bmc91r6d

Ep 42: Insomnia, ADHD, and Sleep Hygiene: How to Transform Your Life Through Better Sleep (ft. Marlee Boyle)

https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=rpuckdh0f5

Other Resources

Covey Quadrants/Eisenhower Matrix (Hannah’s version)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bzg9nObT0HbK5EjK2s7bBW3deSRzstAVA_v_VEX71zY/edit?usp=sharing

ClutterBug

www.clutterbug.me

Today’s episode is a conversation I had with Dr. Deborah Korn, a licensed clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience treating trauma with EMDR therapy. If you haven’t heard of EMDR before, you’re in for a treat because this therapy technique is pretty mind-blowing. From our conversation, you’ll learn what EMDR therapy is, how it works, and who might be a good candidate for this innovative intervention for coping with trauma (spoiler alert: you don’t need to have had a big traumatic experience to benefit from EMDR!) Best of all, Dr. Korn shared some inspiring and heartwarming stories about people whose lives have been changed for the better (or maybe even saved) by EMDR therapy. I hope you enjoy the episode!

Show notes

Learn more about Dr. Korn

https://www.everymemorydeservesrespect.com/about-deborah-korn-psyd

Every Memory Deserves Respect Book

https://www.everymemorydeservesrespect.com/book

Learn More About EMDR

EMDR International Association

https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/

EMDR Institute

https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/

Today’s episode is all about obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD. I met up with Dr. Anthony Bram, a clinical psychologist in Lexington, Massachusetts to learn more about this fascinating brain-based condition. Dr. Bram works with adults and kids, providing support for a wide range of mental health challenges, including OCD, anxiety, depression, and learning differences. He explained to me that he became interested in helping people with OCD during his predoctoral internship. He realized that the traditional kinds of psychotherapy that he had been learning were not so effective in alleviating the distressing symptoms of his patients with OCD. This led him to discover a specialized form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) called exposure with response prevention (ERP). Dr. Bram continued to learn more during his postdoctoral work at the Menninger Clinic, which was in Topeka, KS at the time. There, while primarily pursuing advanced training in traditional modalities of treatment and assessment, he also sought the supervision of a cognitive behavioral therapist who specialized in OCD so he could begin learning and applying ERP and other CBT techniques. This experience taught him the importance of being flexible and expanding his therapeutic skills to better meet the diverse needs of his clients. I’m so happy to bring Dr. Bram on so we can all learn about OCD, its connection to executive functioning, and how to support people in our lives who may be struggling with it and its related challenges. Enjoy!

Show notes:

Learn more about Dr. Bram

http://www.dranthonybram.com/

Learn more about OCD

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd

https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/

OCD activity in the prefrontal cortex (image)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x6W41yZhcbsnf4ZJ9qCY1R8J4-_jv0sl/view?usp=sharing

Find a Provider

https://iocdf.org/find-help/?_provider_proximity=42.3600825%2C-71.0588801%2C50%2CBoston%252C%2520MA%252C%2520USA

Okay, so this week is a tasty episode! I invited Becca King, a registered dietitian and social media influencer with nearly 200k followers, to join me on Focus Forward to talk about food, ADHD, and Executive Function as the three are more interconnected than you might think. We talk about many aspects of food and cooking - how to lower or get rid of barriers that may prevent us from cooking or eating nourishing food, meal planning and how to make it work for you and how it may change as your life situation changes. We also talked about the importance of crunch (haha!), finding satisfaction in the food we eat, and how to remove the guilt or shame we might feel when we don’t cook or eat how we feel like we “should”. Becca follows an “all foods fit” approach to nutrition and really helps people get to a place where they can nourish themselves with nutrient-dense foods and eat the fun stuff, too. Thanks for listening and be sure to check out Becca’s instagram and resources in the show notes below!

Show Notes

Learn more about Becca King

Instagram: www.instagram.com/adhd.nutritionist

Becca’s Tips for Remembering to Eat: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Os3jH51Y-7BwNQdn7zSntTzj1b2FBswP/view?usp=drive_link

Becca’s Sensory Descriptors to help understand your sensory preferences with food: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gjbDnVhwDIvYbodCGtu7tGB0vbWS60aU/view?usp=drive_link

ADHD and Food

Executive Dysfunction 101: How to Treat ADHD's Most Difficult Symptom: https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/executive-functioning-strategies-blog/executive-dysfunction-101-how-to-treat-adhds-most-difficult-symptom#howtotreatED

ADHD Diet For Adults: Foods To Eat And Avoid:

https://add.org/adhd-diet/

Nutrition in the Management of ADHD: A Review of Recent Research:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10444659/

Nutrition and ADHD: https://chadd.org/about-adhd/nutrition-and-adhd/

As Executive Function coaches, we often talk about how working on Executive Function skills is really an act of building self-confidence. Learning to be confident in yourself and believing you can get through the hard stuff is the key to trying new things, reaching your goals, and truly making a lasting difference in all areas of life. We work hard to build this confidence in our clients, just as my guest today does with his college students. James Sanders the third is a professor of public speaking and interpersonal communication at Fayetteville Technical Community College in North Carolina. He joined me to share how teaching public speaking has shown him how students can truly blossom when they step outside of their comfort zone. I’ll let him tell you more about the work he does, but this man is making positive change happen wherever he goes. We talked about the importance of community, of trusting yourself, and saying yes to the scary things that are a stepping stone towards reaching your goals. In addition to being interesting to talk to and an inspiring ray of sunshine,

Hi everyone! Today we’re having another Q&A with some of our amazing Executive Function coaches. Together, we answer your top questions pertaining to summer support, motivation, transitions, and so much more! Our last coach Q&A episode was in December and became our second most listened to episode of all time - so we figured why not do it again? The three Beyond BookSmart coaches I met with this time are Vin Kachurik, Cass Estey, and Maria Ares. If you’ve attended any of our free webinars, you may recognize a few of their voices. Although many of the questions we answered were about high school and college life, the tools and strategies we discuss can be used by anyone at any age. So tune in and get some support for the inevitable transitions and challenges that we all face at this time of year! And when you’re done listening, be sure to check out the show notes for some links to more resources and deeper dives into some of the tools we talked about today.

Webinar: Finishing Strong: Executive Function Solutions for End-of-Year Success

https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/finishing-strong-executive-function-solutions-for-end-of-school-year-success

James Clear (Atomic Habits) Resources

https://jamesclear.com/eisenhower-box

https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits

Covey Quadrants Explained

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/covey-time-management-matrix

How to Increase Motivation With ADHD: 10 Tips From Treatment Experts

https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/executive-functioning-strategies-blog/how-to-increase-motivation-with-adhd-10-tips-from-experts

Spoon Theory Explained

https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/

80/20 College Split

https://drive.google.com/file/d/198Yao_AjXR8KwBxUoRu8IGGIQIgg0wAa/view?usp=drive_link

College Readiness Skills List

https://drive.google.com/file/d/125bkdoLNuBA-3qagORblx7ICSBBVGm74/view?usp=sharing

A Day in the Life of a Sumo Wrestler

https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/sumo/sumo04.html

Today we’re talking all about creativity. You may have already known that Executive Function skills benefit our creativity, but what you might know is that creative hobbies can actually have huge benefits for the development of our Executive Functioning. In this episode, we explore this symbiotic relationship so you can learn how to enjoy the brain benefits of both creativity and Executive Function. The full episode is now available to stream on all your favorite podcast platforms (linked above!)

As always, thank you for being part of the Focus Forward community! If you enjoy this episode, be sure to leave us a 5-star rating on the platform you're listening on ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Here are the show notes from today’s episode:

Benefits of Creative Hobbies

Association of Enjoyable Leisure Activities With Psychological and Physical Well-Being: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2863117/

Crafts as serious hobbies: Impact and benefits in later life: https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/crre.9.1.93_1

Window of Tolerance

What Is the Window of Tolerance, and Why Is It So Important: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/making-the-whole-beautiful/202205/what-is-the-window-tolerance-and-why-is-it-so-important

How to Help Your Clients Understand Their Window of Tolerance: https://www.nicabm.com/trauma-how-to-help-your-clients-understand-their-window-of-tolerance/

Managing Perfectionism

Conquering Failure: Expert Tips for Building a More Resilient Life: https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/overcoming-procrastination-webinar-on-demand-registration-0

Focus Forward Ep 11: Procrastination: Why We Wait & What to Do About It: https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=n2bmc91r6d

The Perils of Handmade Perfectionism: https://luvliness.net/2024/02/the-perils-of-handmade-perfectionism/

5 Teachings From The Japanese Wabi Sabi Philosophy That Can Drastically Improve Your Life: https://www.omaritani.com/blog/wabi-sabi-philosophy-teachings

Creative Hobbies and Executive Function

Directions Practice: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zIOa53QyoJkx98mhLCluX2NGNgZ4iXN-ag2hW-gHUL0/edit

Sewing with Threads Podcast - Sewing and Neurodiversity: https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2024/04/03/sewing-and-neurodiversity-with-hannah-choi-episode-76

Learn more about Hannah and Bonnie (Bonnah Co Fiber Arts):

https://www.bonnahco.com and https://www.instagram.com/bonnahcofiberarts

Hi everyone! Today we’re talking about sleep. I met with Marlee Boyle, a respiratory therapist and sleep specialist in Nova Scotia, Canada. Marlee co-owns a sleep clinic and specializes in helping people with ADHD improve their sleep. This episode is one that you’ll want to listen to because we all should, as Marlee says, “start with sleep”. You’ll also learn about sleep apnea and how important it is to address this, differences in circadian rhythms and what to do about them, how cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) can help, and how to support kids who have difficulty sleeping.

As always, thank you for listening! Here are the show notes from today’s episode:

Learn More about Marlee Boyle

https://www.sleep-works.com/

Sleep Works’ Favorite Sleep Tools

https://www.sleep-works.com/amazon-store

Marlee’s Venn diagram of Sleep and ADHD symptoms

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P9Q9KHzCNe7_ej0J9EwbwWPYa9SWykTb/view?usp=sharing

Sleep Resources

CDC Sleep Resources

https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/resources.html

Sleep Resources from MIT

https://health.mit.edu/community/sleep

ADHD and Sleep

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/mental-health/adhd-and-sleep

Ep. 41 of Focus Forward - Dr. Olivardia shares some information about sleep apnea and his own experience with ADHD and sleep

https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=mfbk3q8d60

ADHD and Sleep Problems: This is Why You’re Always Tired

https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-sleep-disturbances-symptoms/

Today’s conversation explores a really important topic - the occurrence of ADHD with other diagnoses, also known as comorbidities. If you aren’t sure if this topic applies to you, I encourage you to listen anyway because you might end up learning something that could truly, truly help yourself or someone you love in ways you never expected. I learned so much from my guest, Dr. Roberto Olivardia, who is a clinical psychologist and lecturer at Harvard Medical School. I met Roberto at the ADHD conference in Baltimore last year and was excited to get him on Focus Forward. He’s just a wealth of knowledge and super interesting to talk to. Roberto and I started out exploring the comorbidities that can occur with ADHD, such as OCD, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. Our conversation led us to sleep and sleep apnea and eating disorders in boys and men and the connection to ADHD here, too. This important connection is not talked about or studied as much as it needs to be. Thank you for listening and I hope our conversation resonates with you or someone you love.

Show Notes

Learn More About Dr. Roberto Olivardia

Roberto Olivardia’s profile: https://www.mcleanhospital.org/profile/roberto-olivardia

McLean Hospital’s Free Mental Health Webinars: https://www.mcleanhospital.org/video-series/mental-health-webinars

Facing Insecurities With Body Dysmorphic Disorder - webinar hosted by Roberto: https://www.mcleanhospital.org/video/facing-insecurities-body-dysmorphic-disorder

The Adonis Complex: How to Identify, Treat and Prevent Body Obsession in Men and Boys: https://www.amazon.com/Adonis-Complex-Identify-Prevent-Obsession/dp/068486911X/

Roberto Olivardia on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=roberto+olivardia

Learn More about the Connection between ADHD and Other Diagnoses

What Is Complex ADHD? Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment by Theresa Cerulli, MD:

https://www.additudemag.com/complex-adhd-symptoms-diagnosis-treatment/

Not Just ADHD? Helping Children with Multiple Concerns: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/features/not-just-adhd.html

Are Eating Disorders Related to Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4777329/

Is obstructive sleep apnea associated with ADHD? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21808754/

Hi everyone! It’s a special day for us here at Focus Forward. Today marks our 40th episode, just days ahead of our two-year podcast anniversary. I want to thank our amazing team at Beyond BookSmart and of course, you, our listeners. It means so much to us to know that so many are finding the work that we are doing here at Focus Forward helpful.

Today’s episode is also really special because I had the ultimate privilege and joy of getting to sit down with Ellen Galinsky. Ellen is the OG of researching and writing about Executive Function skills, parenthood, and child development. In addition to being the author of many books, she also founded the Families and Work Institute along with many other life accomplishments you can read about in her bio. You may have heard of or read her book “Mind in the Making” which explores seven life skills young kids need to thrive - and these life skills are Executive Function skills! In her books, she takes the brilliant work done by researchers all over the world and writes about it in a way that we non-researchers can understand and use in our lives. She’s done the same in her new book, The Breakthrough Years, which comes out in a couple of weeks on March 26. The Breakthrough Years teaches us more than just how to help our teenagers thrive, it helps us understand them. As you’ll hear Ellen explain, she asked teenagers what they want people to know about them and the messages that teens want us adults to hear make up the five chapters of the book. So tune in and learn how to help raise thriving teens through a deep knowledge of what drives them and through the application of Executive Function strategies.

Learn More About Ellen Galinsky

Ellen Galinsky’s Website

https://www.ellengalinsky.com

The Breakthrough Years

https://ellengalinsky.com/the-breakthrough-years/

Mind in the Making

https://www.mindinthemaking.org/

Families and Work Institute

https://www.familiesandwork.org/

Other Parenting Resources I’ve Been Loving Lately

Lisa Damour’s books and "Ask Lisa" podcast

Aliza Pressman’s book and "Raising Good Humans" podcast

Never Enough by Jennifer Breheny Wallace

Adam Grant’s books and “Rethinking” podcast (not parenting-focused, but still very much applicable!)

Kenneth Ginsburg’s book, Congrats - You’re Having a Teen!

Contact Us!

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