I've been really drawn to ADHD as a trauma response lately. That’s why I’m excited I got to pick Britt Piper’s brain about this idea of complex trauma as something that often coincides with neurodivergence.

So, how do we meet the needs of these wounded parts of ourselves, when as a culture, we've been taught: talk therapy is the answer?

As someone who's been in talk therapy for most of my life, I've found that there's parts of it that are so valuable in understanding myself. But then I have this tendency to get stuck overanalyzing my trauma. I know why all of this is happening, but there's this disconnect between my mind and my body.

That's how I landed on Britt's work. The somatic space feels like this bridge that we're not all receiving access to.

The body informs the mind, the mind informs the body, and it's just two different pieces of the exact same puzzle.

I think that we're finally at a moment in the healing space where people realize the mainstream is missing half the conversation, which has been so focused on mindset, cognition, and talk therapy.

So often there's this warring conversation of you're either body based or you're focusing on the mind. And what I really aim to do is to help people recognize that they need to work both.

So, that’s what we're trying to do. Is allow ourselves to be with the experience of the body rather than out of it.

This is what really made the difference for me, the combination of body based healing with therapy.

Healing is not a blanket approach. It's going to look so different for everyone, but I do think having a combination between bottom up and top down approaches can be most beneficial.

It changes your patterns, but it also creates greater resilience within your system.

Connect with Britt

Free Trauma Healing Mini-Course

The Body First Healing Program

Instagram

P.S. Craving a safe space to reparent yourself with other ADHD moms who get it? Check out my community here on Substack.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/subscribe

I just got back from a three-day retreat in Palm Springs, with Danny Morel. He does these events called Awaken.

And I will tell you, it opened up my heart and my capacity to be with a lot of things in a new way.

That amongst a lot of work I've been doing internally to: 

* befriend 

* heal 

* and better understand my nervous system. 

Now I'm finally at this place of:

* Let me be.

* Let me feel.

* Let me embody. 

And this is why I've been bringing you guys a lot of strategies with emotional regulation like my NEW toolkit freebie to help you keep track and stay organized with the different high payoff tools for your nervous system.

Having strategies that ground me into my body, connect my body to my mind.  

As people with ADHD, many of us have complex trauma. We struggle with emotional regulation and we're highly sensitive. We feel things really deeply and so no wonder we try to run away from our feelings…. Cause it hurts. It's intense. We've been told it’s too much.

So it makes so much sense why we’d be running from it, hiding from it, looking for ways to suppress. But I think that there comes a point in our life where we're desperately longing to feel.

I'm starting to create more space in my nervous system to be with myself. I'm starting to create more space around those moments where I’m dysregulated or triggered.

Tearing all of those things off to just be with yourself is very vulnerable. But I really want you to think of it as this entry point into creating enough space to be in your body. To be with whatever's there. To stop running from it. And to not judge it. 

Mothers are the root. So healing our own nervous systems as primary caregivers, as mothers, as women who, I'm just going to say it, the vast majority of us have complex trauma- especially if we're neurodivergent. 

Ultimately, allows us to hold space so we can co-regulate and support our kids.

That is empowerment. We are in control. We create our realities. We create our experiences. It always comes back to us. 

I would love to hear if you have any thoughts, feelings, or if you can relate over on Substack? 

The nervous system needs us to baby step into these things. So stay tuned for these episodes where we'll dive deeper into it all.

Watch or read the episode here.

Join our community for ADHD Moms here.

P.S. Looking for support in reparenting yourself? I’m here for you. Click here to learn more about my 1:1 packages.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I chat with Amanda Diekman, the author of Low Demand Parenting. If you've ever felt exhausted by the daily demands of parenting—especially if you're raising a neurodivergent child—this episode is for you!

What you'll learn in this episode:

• What Low Demand Parenting is and why it’s a game-changer for neurodivergent kids
• The connection between Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), ADHD, and high-masking autism
• Why traditional parenting strategies often fail kids with high demand sensitivity
• How dropping non-essential demands can actually help kids (and parents) thrive
• The difference between fake dropping demands vs. truly creating a supportive environment
• Why reparenting yourself as a neurodivergent mom is just as important as supporting your kids
• How to balance your own needs as a parent while meeting your child's needs without burnout

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Get the first chapter of Amanda's book: Low Demand Parenting here for free

Take the FREE quiz: What Self-Regulation Technique do you need right now?

Join the community: https://neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/about

Connect with Melissa:

Schedule a complimentary consultation call with me!

Instagram: @neurodiversity_advocate

In this episode, I share a big shift in my work—focusing on supporting moms of neurodivergent kids. While I started out wanting to help educators, I’ve realized that the biggest impact comes from empowering moms first. When we have the tools, support, and space to care for ourselves, it changes everything for our kids.

I’m also introducing my ADHD Mom Support Group on Substack, a space for moms to connect, feel seen, and get the support they deserve. If this speaks to you, I’d love for you to join me!

Take the FREE quiz: What Self-Regulation Technique do you need right now?

Join the community: https://neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/about

Connect with Melissa:

Schedule a complimentary consultation call with me!

Instagram: @neurodiversity_advocate

In this episode, I explore the connection between trauma, self-sabotage, and the limiting beliefs we carry from childhood. Drawing from the work of Dr. Gabor Maté and Susan Bohm, I discuss how trauma isn’t just about what happened to us, but what we made it mean about ourselves. I reflect on how these unhealed wounds shape our decisions and keep us stuck in patterns of self-doubt and people-pleasing. As cycle breakers, we have the opportunity to heal ourselves and future generations by recognizing these patterns, reparenting ourselves with compassion, and shifting into conscious living.

Read on Substack: https://neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/p/were-the-cycle-breakers

Take the FREE quiz: What Self-Regulation Technique do you need right now?

Join the community: https://neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/about

Connect with Melissa:

Schedule a complimentary consultation call with me!

Instagram: @neurodiversity_advocate

In this episode, I break down the connection between our nervous system, emotions, and daily actions as ADHDers. Understanding how to create safety in our bodies when we feel triggered or disregulated is essential for emotional regulation and overall well-being. Since no two nervous systems are the same, I share practical ways to identify high-payoff tools that work for you and how to build a personalized regulation toolkit.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• How do we apply nervous system regulation tools in daily life?
• Why do different strategies work for different people?
• How can we create a personalized toolkit for emotional regulation?

Read on Substack: https://neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/publish/post/145089819

Take the FREE quiz: What Self-Regulation Technique do you need right now?

Join the community: https://neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/about

Connect with Melissa:

Schedule a complimentary consultation call with me!

Instagram: @neurodiversity_advocate

If you've been following me for a bit, you may have noticed a transition in the work that I'm doing and how I’m supporting our neurodivergent community.

Through my work, masters education and personal experiences, my perspective has really been shifting from focusing on supporting the kids to supporting the mothers- because they are truly the root.

As mothers, when we can embody:

* Our higher selves

* Our imperfections

* Our differences in a way that we radically accept ourselves.

* It allows us to then radically accept our children. It allows us to create connection in a way that is deep and meaningful and present.

When we're in denial or we're ashamed or we're hiding or masking or conforming to feel approved and loved by people based on a version of us that isn't us. We're going to pass that inauthenticity down to our kids.

Unintentionally, we're going to then support them in doing the same because kids do what we do, right? What we're modeling is so much more powerful than our words. It's like we can say: “Be true to yourself” and if we're not true to ourselves- nothing will change.

This ADHD community holds a lot of shame, a lot of pain, a lot of grief, I feel from feeling:

* Misunderstood

* Alone

* Like we don't really fit in.

* And really feeling unseen in our experiences.

* And that's painful.

And so as adults, we carry these wounds, whether they came from our parents, society, our culture, our school settings, from our teachers or all of the above. We carry these things within ourselves on some level, whether we're fully aware of them or not, and it impacts us:

* It impacts the way we feel about ourselves.

* It impacts the way we show up in the world.

* It impacts our nervous system.

* How we respond to environments and situations and relationships.

* It really impacts everything.

And so this idea of reparenting ourselves as mothers, I feel, is the path of least resistance to truly heal ourselves and then inadvertently (without a whole lot of effort) heal our kids and our kids' kids.

Really shifting this generational experience that we're having within families and within our collective that's that's harmful.

If you haven't checked it out yet- I've been sharing my favorite go to’s for emotional regulation: Creating your ‘Self-Regulation Toolbox’

P.S. Want to create your own self-regulation toolbox and work on reparenting yourself together? I’d love to support you in my paid community for ADHD Moms. Click here to learn more

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s episode, Kelsea Newman, a sensory trauma occupational therapist and fellow ADHDer, shares her expertise on sensory-friendly lifestyles for neurodivergents and highly sensitive individuals. As someone who is both an ADHDer and highly sensitive, the intersection of neurodivergence, trauma, and sensory processing is a topic of deep curiosity. These concepts can often feel overwhelming or unclear, especially for those unfamiliar with the field. This conversation explores how sensory processing affects ADHDers, the role of sensitivity in daily life, and ways to create environments that better support the nervous system.

Connect with Kelsea:

• Website
• The Sensory Membership
• Let’s Get Sensory Podcast
• Instagram

Take the FREE quiz: What Self-Regulation Technique do you need right now?

Join the community: https://neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/about

Connect with Melissa:

Schedule a complimentary consultation call with me!

Instagram: @neurodiversity_advocate

In today’s episode, Dr. Emily King joins the conversation to explore anxiety in the classroom and how it follows many of us into adulthood. While Emily identifies as neurotypical and I identify as neurodivergent, we’ve both experienced the challenges of anxiety in learning environments. This discussion takes a comprehensive look at the topic from multiple perspectives—educational, parental, and personal—offering insight into how these early experiences shape us and how we can better support neurodivergent children in academic settings.

Connect with Dr. Emily:

• For Parents
• For Teachers
• Website

Take the FREE quiz: What Self-Regulation Technique do you need right now?

Join the community: https://neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/about

Connect with Melissa:

Schedule a complimentary consultation call with me!

Instagram: @neurodiversity_advocate

In today’s episode, Brooke Schnittman, founder of Coaching with Brooke, joins the conversation to share her expertise in executive function coaching for students and adults with ADHD. With years of experience helping people shift from chaos and frustration to confidence and focus, Brooke offers valuable insight into navigating ADHD in both personal and professional life. As a mom with ADHD raising children with ADHD, I’m especially curious to explore the challenges of balancing our own neurodivergence while supporting our kids. This discussion dives into the tools and strategies that help families thrive.

Connect with Brooke:

• Website
• Instagram - DM me “pod” and I'll send you a link to a free guide for ADHD

Take the FREE quiz: What Self-Regulation Technique do you need right now?

Join the community: https://neurodiversityadvocate.substack.com/about

Connect with Melissa:

Schedule a complimentary consultation call with me!

Instagram: @neurodiversity_advocate