Compassionate guidance for parents of neurodivergent children and teens navigating autistic burnout
What Nobody Tells You About Advocating for Your Neurodivergent Child During the Holidays There’s a reason saying “We won’t be coming to Christmas lunch this year” makes your entire body tense…Or why asking to leave early feels like you’ve done something wrong…Or why protecting your child’s capacity feels like you’re breaking a sacred family rule. […] Read more…
The wayfinder’s guide for parents going off-grid from behaviourism, control, and inherited narratives I have always enjoyed creating. Art, crafts, poetry and gardening have always been the way that I have enjoyed expressing myself and experiencing joy in the world. The process is always the same, and if you’re an artist or a creative soul, […] Read more…
What the Pikler Approach Taught Me About Connection, Sovereignty, and Burnout Recovery I began my career serving families as a teacher more than 25 years ago.Like many teachers of that time, I was trained in the behaviourist approach, a model inspired more by dog training than by human development. As a young teacher in my […] Read more…
It’s been a bittersweet week for me. My daughter, the one who started our family’s burnout journey, just finished her first year of university. And you know what the very first thought was that crossed my mind?“I’d better not tell anyone… what if it all goes wrong?” Something tells me you might understand this if […] Read more…
A Collaboration Between Tanya Valentin and Laura Hellfeld Has your neurodivergent child ever said things like, “I hate you,” “I hate myself,” “I wish you would die,” or “I want to die” during a meltdown? Or perhaps they make unintelligible sounds, repeat the same words, cry, laugh, or say things that seem ‘inappropriate’ when they’re […] Read more…
Why Parenting a Neurodivergent Child in Burnout Can Feel So Hopeless I’m having one of those weeks where nothing I do seems to work, and my mind has turned into a relentless critic—loud, mean, and exhausting. As this happens, hopelessness rolls in like a heavy black cloud. It presses down until all I want to […] Read more…
Parenting is an apprenticeship with grief. This post explores how acceptance, self-compassion, and belonging help us break cycles and heal alongside our children. Read more…
Breaking Generational Cycles of Shame, Grief, and Emotional Illiteracy in Parenting When I was a young parent, I came across a Facebook meme that said: I remember reading it late at night, peering down at my sleeping baby and toddler. I made a quiet promise to them right then: This will be our family’s story. […] Read more…
And how they became the foundation of everything I now teach. There was a moment, and maybe you’ve had one like this, where everything in me said, “I can’t keep doing this.“ My child was in deep burnout.I was in burnout.And nothing I tried was working anymore. The strategies that were meant to help only […] Read more…
This quote found me during a season of parenting when everything felt like it was falling apart. When the child I once knew seemed to vanish.When meltdowns, shutdowns, emergency room visits, hospital stays, and struggling to keep a teen alive who didn’t want to be here, and complete withdrawal became the norm. This was a […] Read more…