We all know social skills are important. I mean...lets be honest, even many ADHD adults struggle to navigate the social world. So I invited Caroline Maguire to talk with me about coaching neurodivergent children on social skills.

We drop a lot of great examples in this episode, as well as some very useful techniques for coaching your own child. 

I cannot overstate how impactful Caroline's work has been for my son and I. And how wonderful she is to talk to. 

You will hear us discuss:

• Everyone focuses on academics, when they should be focused on social skills
• A simple definition of executive function
• Metacognition explained
• What it means to be mentally flexible
• How to take a, "coach approach" to talking to your kids
• Why low self-awareness is a problem for children and adults
• Teaching children to recognize reactive behavior and anger in themselves
• Showing our children that friendships are active

Link to Caroline's Website
Amazon link to Why Will No One Play With Me?
Meet other ADHD moms in the ADHD Enclave!

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I'm sooo excited to bring this episode to you featuring Rick Webster of Rena-Fi.

Instead of typing a 1500 work post in here, I'll just put the bullet points:

• Aim for financial stability, before wealth
• Income isn't the problem, it's how you manage what you have
• Emotional dysregulation ---> panic, reactive thinking
• A budget is just the surface, you have to go deeper to figure out what's going on
• Why auto payments are your friend
• Getting real with yourself + embracing personal responsibility = feeling more in control of your money
• There is no linear or one-size-fits-all solution
• Behavioral change takes time to learn, so does financial literacy
• Creating mindfulness around your spending
• Rick's thoughts on ADHDers using cash
• The need for ADHD brains to feel rewarded
• Considering your future-self when making decisions
• The missing self-trust that all ADHDers seem to struggle with
• Scarcity mindset, feeling stuck, and dwelling on past mistakes

Rick's overarching message is that money problems cannot be solved by creating a new budget or making more money.

You have to get to the emotional root of the problem to create more financial security for yourself. And Rena-fi provides accessible, affordable options to do that. 

Find Rick Webster @ https://rena-fi.com

Full written post can be found here.

Join the Enclave -  I bring together brilliant women to manage our emotions, tell our stories, and create the changes that lead to calmer, more satisfying lives with ADHD!

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I've met a ton of really cool people while working in and around the ADHD community and it's leaders. But there are very few people whom I can talk to for hours. (4 hours!)

Dominic Velando is an artist and a creative thinker. 
Much like myself, he doesn't just think about managing symptoms all day. 

One of my goals with this podcast is to talk to the most** interesting people. Dominic is definitely one of those people.

Listen as we talk:

• Growing up with your dad as a special ed teacher
• Being an outsider in a small town Iowa high school
• A new way of looking at creativity
• The unique ADHD ability to connect the dots
• Success and failure in college
• Finding a, "flow state"
• Getting comfortable with metaphysics and woo woo
• Following your intuition
• The ADHD impact on relationships and career
• Releasing control and getting comfortable with uncertainty

Follow Dominic as Hyperfocus Dopamine on Instagram to see more of his work.

Like having high-level conversations in a private environment? Join the Enclave!
I bring together brilliant ADHD women to manage our emotions, tell our stories, and create the changes that lead to a calmer more satisfying life with ADHD.

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In this episode you will hear:

• Anna's personal history with ADHD
• How ADHD shows up in her life
• What led her to become a holistic health coach
• The underrated, but VERY important, impact of diet on your functioning with or without ADHD
• Why we need to lose the guilt about pleasing everyone in our house
• Keeping it simple when meal planning for both you and your family

https://intunewithannak.com

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They say that ignorance is bliss. And sometimes, “knowing”  you have ADHD doesn’t make things easier, it makes things more complicated.

Listen in as Rick Green and I discuss the emotional landscape of life after the adhd diagnosis.

In this episode you will hear:

• 
  After you’ve struggled for so long, the profound to realization that you are NOT alone
• 
  The “death” of the old you, or who you were before the diagnosis
• 
  Challenges and barriers to diagnosis
• 
  The Evolution of Totally ADD
• 
  The big issue of how ADHD shows up in your life, and your sense of self
• 
  The stages of dealing with the diagnosis
• 
  Anger, depression, and feeling things sooooo deeply
• 
  Staying open to therapy and other support, even when you want to resist
• 
  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – that you can apply yourself!
• 
  Living the ADHD reactive life – and learning the power of the PAUSE
• 
  Learning to externalize and manage self-talk

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ADHD Women and Self-Compassion do not just go together.

At least not in a conversation.

You know what I mean. ADHD women don't talk about self-compassion the same way we talk about our struggles.

But I'd argue this is a conversation we should be having.

The Negative Thought Vortex of ADHD, combined with the Executive Function difficulties inherent to the condition, make it difficult to manage emotions, plan ahead, and maintain meaningful relationships.

You will certainly have days that feel like a struggle. You will always have to manage your self-talk.

But you will also have progress. And days where you feel like anything is possible.

What I love about the practice of self-compassion is that you can do it on your own at any time. It’s another tool in your ADHD toolbox.

Listen to my thoughts on ADHD Women and Self-Compassion below.

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This is the audio version of the posts on my website.

Tech issues aside, you will notice that I'm experimenting a bit with the format.

The Radical Guide for ADHD women, written by Sari Solden and Dr. Michelle Frank, is the single biggest influence in how I run my peer coaching and support group. The principles and exercises shared in the book are perspective changing for women with ADHD.

You'll hear me discuss:

• ADHD as an identity issue
• Zooming out to get some perspective
• Diagnosis and treatment
• The humanistic, whole person view of ADHD
• Hiding in your life v being SEEN
• Limiting beliefs
• How we address these topics in The Enclave

Link to A Radical Guide for ADHD Women

Check out the Enclave - I bring together ADHD women to peer coach each other, so that we can manage our emotions, tell our stories, and create the changes that lead to calmer, more satisfying lives.

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**Repost of my conversation with Dr. Michelle Frank ***

In this thoughtful conversation about life for ADHD women you will hear:

• Dr. Frank’s feelings about ADHD as a gift or a curse
• The importance of acknowledging ADHD and other invisible conditions
• The concept of realistic hope
• The belief that we are not enough, or we are too much
• My meltdown after giving birth
• The role of gender in our expectations for ourselves
• Realizing you are not a burden, and it’s ok to take up space in the world
• Misunderstandings about therapy and other support
• Common relationship issues in, “mixed” couples

Link to original written post

Link to Dr. Frank - private practice

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This is the audio version of the Instagram Live I did earlier in the week.

And...the article I updated from three years ago.

We are in the middle of a pandemic and we're pretty much forced to multitask in order to survive.

I have to parent, teach, make a home, make a living etc. And I have to do all of these things every single day. 

You too?

ADHD people are at a breaking point. Many of us hit a wall last week.

Some of us have given up and just started numbing out on Netflix and food. We are in no position to work on our personal growth right now. And that’s totally ok. 

Whether you have ADHD or not, multitasking does not work. The research is solid on this.

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I first met Samantha on Instagram, and I immediately liked her quiet but informed vibe. In social media land often the loudest mouth wins. So I was really excited when I noticed she would be presenting at the 2019 Annual ADHD Conference in Philadelphia.

While coaching clients Samantha utilizes her ADDCA coach training, positive psychology, and her background in public health and epidemiology. And yes, Samantha also has ADHD.

She calls her business Unconventional Minds Coaching – because everything about her background and her style is unconventional. In the best possible way!

Samantha is the only coach I’ve met who takes an interest in social justice and improving wellness inequities. She is open to, and has worked with clients who have (or have had) unconventional, non-normative, and/or marginalized experiences and identities, including:

• blended families (e.g. divorce, separation, adoption, multiple co-parents, chosen family, etc)
• family estrangement
• transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming
• LGBT, LGBTQIA — lesbian, gay bisexual, queer, asexual, pansexual, intersex
• polyamorous, polyamory, open relationships
• BDSM / kink
• unconventional occupations (e.g. activists, artists, performers, sex educators, sexuality coaches/surrogates)

During this conversation I got soooo much education and it got me thinking that insectionality needs to be discussed much more in the coaching and ADHD community.

Listen in as we discuss:

• Samantha’s ADHD story
• The difference between therapy and coaching, and the road to becoming a coach
• The definition of Intersectionality
• The connection between the LGBTQ+ community and neurodiversity
• The emotional process of developing and implementing boundaries
• How your identity changes when you stop being a people pleaser
• How we are both verbal processors, and how it can get us in trouble

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