Neuro-Affirming Support for Parents Navigating The Long Middle of Burnout Recovery
What parenting a child autistic burnout revealed in my marriage that nobody warned me about. I have been married to the same person for thirty years. And there was a season that lasted several years, right in the long middle of our teenager’s burnout, when I honestly did not know if we would make it. […] Read more…
Why Low-Demand Parenting Does Not Start With Lowering Demands. It Starts Here. Parenting a neurodivergent child, especially one in burnout, can be hard on so many fronts. But if I am being honest, in most parenting seasons, it is not my children I have found hardest about parenting them. What I find hard is the […] Read more…
What’s actually happening in the nervous system when we lower demands If you’re parenting a neurodivergent child in burnout, you’ve probably come across low demand parenting somewhere along the way. Maybe you’re trying it right now, or you’ve been doing it long enough to call yourself a veteran. Either way, most of us who’ve lived […] Read more…
Why it felt sudden, even though it wasn’t The Family Ecosystem Approach Series, Part 2 of 7 By the time most parents find me, they are already living inside the crash. Their child has stopped attending school, or is refusing to leave their room, or is having meltdowns so intense the whole family has reorganised […] Read more…
Unpacking the Family Ecosystem Approach to Burnout Recovery, and Why it Changes Everything About How we Support Neurodivergent Families I used to think burnout recovery was something that happened inside my child.That if I found the right support, the right adjustments, the right words, something in her would shift, and the rest of us would […] Read more…
Why Asking For Help Feels So Hard For Parents Of Neurodivergent Children Many parents raising neurodivergent children, teens, and young adults have moments where they ask themselves, “Why do I feel like a bad parent?” Which often means they then go on to struggle to ask for help. Not because they are unwilling, but because […] Read more…
When Safety is Present but the Mask Remains Many parents believe that once they lower demands, learn about burnout, and create a safer home environment, their child will naturally stop masking. Sometimes that happens. But often, it doesn’t, or at least not in the way parents expect. Autistic masking is rarely just a habit or […] Read more…
Parenting a Neurodivergent Child, Relational Safety, Autistic Burnout Recovery, and the Parts No One Talks About There is a phrase that comes up often in conversations about relational safety and autistic burnout recovery: “Children need relational safety to heal from autistic burnout.” And I deeply believe this is true. I have seen over and over […] Read more…
Understanding the “Long Middle” of Burnout Recovery and Why it Can Feel so Confusing, Inconsistent, and Painfully Slow There is a stage of burnout recovery that many parents find themselves living in, but very few people talk about clearly. It is the space after the initial crisis. The space where things may no longer feel […] Read more…
Why Mothers Feel Exhausted (and What Can Help) I was in my bedroom getting ready for a family day out. In the next room, my husband and son were in the middle of a conversation that soon escalated and became heated. It came to a head when I heard my son stomp down the hall […] Read more…