My daughter, Emily, aged 14 (nearly 15) with AuDHD transformed from a girl who would people please to the point of social anxiety, would have social panic attacks, compare herself to others, have low self esteem, mask and reach burnout from trying to fit in with others to a girl who is her authentic, confident, unmasked self.

How did we do it? Over 12 months with lots of small strategies in which I share in this podcast. Come along for the journey as we uncover masking, mistakes, people pleasing, boundaries, social groups, trusting intuitions, whether we feel clever and how to find ourselves in a mainstream society that values conformity and people pleasing.

In todays podcast we look at mainstream schools, local authorities, early help hub practitioners, social working agencies and NHS staff and the restrictions within theses systems that has the outcome of failing our neuro diverse children.

Policy, funding, time and training means that at every level our neuro diverse children go without the support and understanding required.

The whole system needs an overhaul because just changing one of these aspects won't cut it, we need an overhaul of staff training, policy, available time and funding.

With this understanding of the system (and its discriminatory restrictions) we can now empower ourselves in how we advocate for our children's needs to be met ensuring that we gain something a little more than only stress, burnout, anxiety and trauma from a broken mainstream system.

****Feature length Podcast! Protect yourself from mainstream trauma!

This feature length podcast uncovers the three routes to trauma that parents and carers of neurodiverse children can experience multiple times per day. It uncovers a second layer of trauma that we can experience in response to these three routes to trauma. We dive into how we can protect ourselves and our beautiful families from this trauma but how we can also empower ourselves moving forwards.

Services mentioned in this podcast can be found at www.send-parenting-balance.com and you can empower yourself today!

In today's podcast we brainstorm different ways forward, working towards, keeping our children safe online. If our children have Autism/ADHD/PDA this can prove extra challenging and so how can we approach the world of online safety?

In today's podcast we discuss whether an EHCP is really an answer to all of our children's support needs when in a mainstream school and how we should manage our own EHCP expectations. Along the way, as always, I will share some personal experiences to highlight areas in which EHCP's are great and areas in which EHCP's may not be so helpful.

Come and have some fun with me, what a fun topic.

I can't share with you all the right things to do but I can share all my own epic fails that highlight what our expectations should be when also parenting neuro-spicy children.

When should I tell my date about the children's needs?

What should my expectations be in blending, moving forward?

What should my boundaries be, after all they are MY children?

There's so much I cant do, I have little time!

We should be learning to dance in the rain, to live life amongst the chaos of neuro-spicy needs and stress. We shouldn't be waiting for phase after phase to pass us by in the hope things will get better, or somehow life will improve. We could be making memories today. Making small tweaks to our lives to lessen the stress and increase the happiness.

Hear my personal story of awaiting 4 plus years for each neuro-spicy stage to improve and get better. Waiting for the EHCP, waiting for the diagnosis, waiting for school interventions to improve attendance. However, realising that I could have released the trauma and stress much earlier if I had leant into a new way of living, rather than forcing us into a mainstream world that was not fit for purpose.

This podcast is dedicated to all the listeners and social media followers that have many questions the past two weeks.

When is the right time to pull your child out of school?

When is enough, enough?

`How is Harry's EHCP journey progressing?

What are the rules around reduced timetables and not doing non academic classes at school?

How is your relationship with Emily so good?

How do you get to a level of acceptance?

What to look for in a mainstream setting when your child is SEND?

Let's dive in!

Any more questions? Reach me at [email protected]

"I'm not really even in the world" Katie Walker, 2025

Life as a parent of a child with ASD/ADHD/PDA can be lonely and isolating. It can be rare we get the opportunity to speak or see other adults. Our social circles can be small or even all virtual. The way in which we communicate within these rare opportunities can effect how we feel, it can effect ruminating thoughts, anxiety and depression.

We can use these experiences to fill our own cups, even with no babysitter, no time for that spa weekend and little energy left. I will share with you how.

How are you?

What do you need?

These are frequent questions I found hard to answer because I was too busy caring for my three neuro-spicy children and far too detached from myself.

For positive mental health, a start point to achieving happiness and feeling grounded it is important to know who we are, who our authentic selves are.

This podcast will take you on a brief journey into finding out how to find your authentic self, even amongst the restrictions of caring responsibilities to a child/children with AUTISM/ADHD/PDA.