For our final episode of the season we welcome Sonny Jane Wise to the podcast, to share their wisdom on all things neurodivergence. This is a fabulous ep to start with if you’re new to the neurodiversity affirming model, and also if you’ve been here a while! Sonny Jane is a trans, multiply neurodivergent & disabled public speaker, advocate and auth…

We are thrilled to have Rosemary Richings on the podcast today, to chat with us about her experience of dyspraxia. Rosemary is a writer, editor, and public speaker specialising in disability and neurodiversity, and she is the author of Stumbling Through Space and Time: Living Life With Dyspraxia. Rosemary is on the board of trustees of Dyspraxic Me…

In this week's episode we chat about compassionate practice. We have both been super keen to do an episode on compassion for a while now, given compassion is a core tenant of our practice. In this ep we went through some of the core features of compassion, how this can be used therapeutically, and developing self-compassion. We loved putting this e…

Today on the show Monique interviews Rebecca Gannon. Rebecca is a Neurodivergent Psychologist with a Masters in Educational and Developmental Psychology. Their clinical work focuses on Autism and ADHD assessment for adults as well as supervising other Psychologists and allied health professionals in neuroaffirming practice skills. Rebecca is Aborig…

In this week’s episode we are thrilled to chat to Michelle Marques about her experience with depression and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, plus a million other things. Michelle is an Autistic and ADHD writer with a background in journalism and a Master’s in African American studies. Her writing and research focuses on gender, sexuality, race, n…

This week on the podcast Monique interviews the incredible Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro. Josie is a late identified Autistic ADHDer. She is a Principal Research Fellow and Psychologist at the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne. She is the Research Director of Identification and Diagnosis of Autism, and Cli…

A note to our listeners: In this episode we chat about self-harm. Some of our listeners may prefer to skip this one. Happy Monday! In today’s episode Monique interviews Joanne Seymon; AuDHDer Occupational Therapist, and co-founder of Kaiko Fidgets. Jo is passionate about developing appropriate sensory tools for teens and adults, with a focus on har…

On this week’s episode Monique interviews Marie Camin about stimming. Marie is a multiply neurodivergent clinical psychologist, researcher, and a neurodiversity advocate. Marie is currently completing her PhD on Autistic stimming at La Trobe University and she is a Founding Committee Member of the OTARC Autistic Advisory Group; she believes strongl…

This week on the podcast we interview ADHDer and physiotherapist Shan Morrison. Shan is a Specialist Women’s, Men’s & Pelvic Health Physiotherapist and fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists. She has practiced exclusively in pelvic health for 30 years, and is the director of Women’s & Men’s Health Physiotherapy: a private practice bas…

Today’s guest is ADHDer psychologist Dr. Celia Falchi. Celia works in private practice in Wellington, New Zealand. She works with predominantly neurodivergent clients across the lifespan, specialising in trauma work, and she engages in advocacy work within the profession, including being on the Education Committee for AADPA. Celia is also mum to tw…

A note to our listeners – this episode briefly mentions suicide, so some of our listeners may decide to skip this one. This week on the podcast Monique interviews Jodie Wilson, who is an AuDHDer veterinarian, researcher, author, and mum (not necessarily in that order!). Jodie advocates for diversity inclusion within the veterinary industry through …

Menopause! It happens to roughly half of the human race, but it continues to be shrouded in mystery for many people. In today’s episode we discuss this very important transition. We cover: Why are we doing an episode on menopause? The social aspect of the menopause transition. An overview of our sex hormones and how these change during the menopaus…

On our final episode for season 4 we welcome Claire Johnston to the podcast. Claire is a citizen of the Red River Métis Nation, who lives on the land of their ancestors in Treaty 1 Territory, also known as Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They are a Métis beadwork artist and are currently mentoring under Métis artist and Knowledge Keeper Jennine Krauchi…

This week we chat with Jennifer Kemp about perfectionism. Jennifer is a Clinical Psychologist based in Adelaide, Australia. She is the author of ‘The ACT Workbook for Perfectionism: Build Your Best (Imperfect) Life Using Powerful Acceptance & Commitment Therapy and Self-Compassion Skills’ as well as several e-books, which are linked below. Monique …

Happy Monday! This week we chat about Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). We cover what is an acquired brain injury and what can cause an ABI, how does ABI fit within the neurodivergence umbrella, and the prevalence of ABI in Australia. We explore what are some of the cognitive manifestations of ABI and what can impact how an ABI manifests, identity shift…

This week we welcome Chantell Marshall to the podcast, who some may know through the social media handle @shylittlepixie. Chantell is an autistic woman, who lives with selective mutism, severe social anxiety and c-PTSD. She spends most of her time at home with her plants and her foster kittens. Chantell shares her personal journey through autism an…

Today’s guest is Adina Levy. Adina is an AuDHDer, speech therapist, professional educator, and podcaster. She runs Play. Learn. Chat., and her podcast is called The Exploring Neurodiversity podcast. Adina loves intertwining her personal and clinical experiences with the lived experiences and perspectives of other neurodivergent people. She is dedic…

This week we chat friendships – this was a huuuuuge topic! We cover understanding your friendship needs and how these might change over time, different ways of connecting and forms of friendships, maintenance and management of friendships over time, and factors specific to neurodivergent women and afab folk in friendships. We also chat through the …

Content warning: In this episode we talk explicitly and directly about sex. Please be mindful of this if you usually listen with children around. This week we welcome Talisin Switch to the podcast. Talisin is a neurodivergent sex worker and educator, specialising in BDSM and queer exploration. They consider themself to be a person with one foot in …

This week’s episode is all about personality – what is personality, what factors impact the formation of personality, and how can we measure it? We also chat about personality disorders, unpacking what these are, how they are formed, and how personality disorders fit within the neurodiversity spectrum. We deep dive into Borderline Personality Disor…

This week’s guest is author and educational and developmental psychologist, Sandhya Menon. Sandhya is an autistic ADHDer. She was born in Singapore, is of Indian-Swiss heritage. She moved to Naarm/Melbourne in Australia after high school, where she lives and works today. Sandhya has written the book The Brain Forest to help children understand neur…

This week we welcome Genevieve Hall back to the pod to chat with us about her experiences with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). Genevieve is a writer, marketing consultant, and creator of the Demimonde Jewel Shop. Her special interests include gemstones, bees, and starting new hobbies (ideally a niche crafting skill). On any given day Genevi…

This week we talk to Cynthia Spleen, aka @plasticmessiah, about self expression. Cynthia is a neuroqueer Mauritian creative based in Naarm. They identify as an autistic and nonbinary person, and have been drawing obsessively since they first picked up a pencil. Cynthia paints, makes music and comics, tattoos, writes, and performs. We chat with Cynt…

Season 4 is here! We kick off the season with a very chunky episode on Autistic Burnout. In this episode we cover what is burnout in general, the difference between optimal and peak performance, what is Autistic Burnout and what are the signs, what causes and what exacerbates Autistic Burnout, preventative and recovery strategies, and what burnout …

On our last episode for Season 3 we answer your questions! We cover: Questions around diagnosis, including the process of getting a diagnosis, grief and identity issues around late diagnosis, when to tell kids about their diagnosis, and the pros and cons of diagnosis Why is it that some neurodivergent people seem to ‘thrive in chaos’ and others nee…

This week we welcome Clem Bastow to the pod. Clem is an autistic author, cultural critic and screenwriting researcher from Naarm/Melbourne. Their work appears regularly in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper and The Big Issue, and their debut nonfiction book ‘Late Bloomer’ was published by Hardie Grant in 2021. They are currently completing a PhD in s…

This week we have Barb Cook on the pod. Barb is a neurodivergent author, speaker, and advocate, best known as founder of Spectrum Women Magazine and leading editor and co-author of the book, Spectrum Women, Walking to the Beat of Autism. Barb works in her own practice, the NeuroDiversity Hub in Gympie, as a Developmental Educator, Integrative Nutri…

On this week’s episode we discuss Pathological Demand Avoidance, or PDA. We explore what PDA is, including the history of this construct, and the positives and negatives of the PDA concept. We cover what factors can contribute to demand avoidance amongst neurodivergent people, including personal, neurobiological, cultural, and social factors, and c…

This week we explore repetitive behaviours. We cover repetitive behaviours in autism, OCD, tics and Tourette’s Syndrome, and hoarding behaviour, including what causes and drives repetitive behaviours across these neurodivergences. We discuss the overlap of different neurodivergences that include repetitive behaviours, in addition to what distinguis…

Trigger warning: This episode contains multiple references to sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised. It is a disturbing reality that neurodivergent women are more likely to experience sexual assault in their lifetime compared to neurotypical women. In this episode we define sexual assault and sexual consent, and chat through the statistics…

Dr Tanya Murray is an autistic woman and the principal project officer for the All Kinds of Minds team for the Department of Education in Queensland. This week we chat with Tanya about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We cover what inclusion means in a workplace, ways that workplaces can work toward inclusion, make change, and embrace a di…

This week we welcome Dr Sarah Bernard on the podcast. Dr Bernard is a disabled autistic ADHDer doctor based in Perth. She is a research team member at Autistic Doctors International and is passionate about disability advocacy and neurodiversity in healthcare. We cover a lot in this episode, including Sarah’s experiences as a neurodivergent woman in…

In this episode Michelle and Monique explore two of the most common mental health conditions: depression and anxiety. We unpack what separates normal sadness and worry from clinical levels of depression and anxiety and what the ‘purpose’ of these emotional states are. We discuss the overlap of depression and anxiety in neurodivergence, including ho…

This week Michelle and Monique discuss unusual and exceptional abilities in neurodivergence. We explore savant abilities, ‘splinter skills’, hyperlexia, and giftedness, as well as ‘twice exceptionality’. Contact us at ndwomanpod@gmail.com, or visit our website: www.ndwomanpod.com Email us your questions for our Q&A episode by November 7th! Visit ou…

This week Michelle and Monique talk with Anastasia McLean about Bipolar Disorder. Anastasia is the host of The Bipolar Diaries podcast. In this episode we cover what actually is Bipolar and Anastasia shares her experiences through adolescence, getting a diagnosis, and into adulthood. We talk about the difficulty teasing apart personality and neurod…

Welcome to Season 3 of the pod! In this episode Michelle and Monique discuss the overlap and the differences between Autism and ADHD. We cover the differences in presentation of the two, and what it looks like to have both an Autistic and ADHD brain, across executive functioning, special interest, social processing, and sensory processing domains. …

TW: This episode discusses disordered eating, weight loss, and diet culture, and Annie describes her experiences during periods of an active eating disorder. Some listeners may find this content triggering, particularly those currently experiencing an active eating disorder, and those in recovery from an eating disorder. Please consume with caution…

This week Monique and Michelle chat about interoception and alexithymia. We unpack what these concepts mean, and the difference between the two, including understanding our embodied experiences and emotional awareness. We describe some activities to build interoceptive awareness. A handout detailing the interoceptive activity described on the podca…

Our guest this week is Paige Krystal Wilcox. Paige is an award-winning activist and author, and she uses the Intentional Storytelling method to create compelling stories that counter unhealthy or unhelpful bias, tropes, and stereotypes in mainstream media. Paige is a neurodivergent woman who was assigned male at birth, and she does not use the labe…

Monique and Michelle discuss some of the strengths and challenges in parenting neurodivergent kids, whilst being neurodivergent yourself. We talk through the heritability of neurodivergence, intergenerational impacts of this, and the importance of knowing yourself to best know and support your child. We address boundary setting, managing conflictin…

In this week’s episode Monique and Michelle interview clinical psychologist, Amanda Donnet. Amanda works at the intersection of infant feeding, mental health, and early parenting, and she works from a Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) framework. She champions finding solutions that honour the needs of both parents and baby, bringing fierce compassio…

This week is part 2 of our two-part series on sleep. In this episode we discuss issues around chronic disordered sleep. We chat about the impact of sleep on emotional regulation and the feedback loops between other disorders or health conditions and sleep, including trauma, anxiety, depression, and pain conditions. Monique takes us through how slee…

This week Monique and Michelle interview neurodivergent woman, epidemiologist, and mental health researcher, Dr Holly Erskine. Holly’s PhD research focussed on the global epidemiology of ADHD and conduct disorder as well as the long-term outcomes associated with these. She now leads an international project looking at mental health in adolescents i…

In this episode Monique and Michelle discuss the overlap between neurodivergence, chronic pain, and autoimmune conditions. We review information on the prevalence of chronic pain and autoimmune conditions in neurodivergent women and discuss what can contribute to these conditions in neurodivergent women. Finally, we go through some strategies on ho…

This week is part 1 of a two-part sleep series. Monique and Michelle discuss sleep cycles, common sleep issues and sleep disorders in neurodivergent people, and what can contribute to or cause sleeping issues. We go through some strategies to support healthy sleep, and what to do if you’re worried about your sleep. In part 2 of the sleep series, to…

In this episode Monique and Michelle interview schizophrenia and psychosis researcher, Dr Ilvana Dzafic. We unpack how psychosis and schizophrenia fit into the neurodiversity framework, what is the psychosis continuum, and how psychosis and schizophrenia are experienced and perceived cross culturally. We also explore some underlying biological mech…

This week Monique and Michelle unpack executive functioning – our brain’s ‘admin team’. We talk about how neurodivergent brains manage and act on information, covering working memory, planning and organising, and getting started on tasks. We also discuss differences between executive functioning in ADHD and Autism, and strategies to support executi…

Kicking off our second season, Monique and Michelle explore the history of neurodivergence. In this episode we discuss the idea of a ‘normal’ brain, the adaptive functions of various neurodivergencies, how cultural narratives can impact how we see our effectiveness in society, and the historical evolution of Autism and ADHD. Contact us at ndwomanpo…

Welcome to Season 2 of The Neurodivergent Woman Podcast! Episode 1 coming February 7th! Join us, clinical psychologist Monique Mitchelson and clinical neuropsychologist Michelle Livock, for the second season of The Neurodivergent Woman Podcast – a podcast showcasing neurodivergent women from all walks of life. Covering Autism to ADHD and everything…

In our final episode for season 1, Monique and Michelle talk about relationships and communication. We discuss making friends as an adult, communication barriers in neurotypical-neurodivergent relationships and in neurodivergent-neurodivergent relationships, attachment theory, and navigating intimate relationships. In this episode we briefly discus…