Compassionate guidance for parents of neurodivergent children and teens navigating autistic burnout
What Non-Conforming Expression has Taught Me about Neurodivergent Identity My autistic teenage daughter emerged from their room, bright blue hair tied into two pigtails, their face dotted with vividly coloured rainbow freckles. I felt my body brace before my mind could catch up, the familiar urge rising to say something like, “You’re not going out […] Read more…
Rewriting the Rules When Your Neurodivergent Child is Struggling When my children were little, I saw a Facebook meme that nearly broke me. It said: On the surface, it felt so positive. So aspirational.And to a mother who had already done significant healing from her own childhood, it felt like a dream come true. Without […] Read more…
Why Friendships Unravel When Your Neurodivergent Child is in Burnout I was recently reading a Substack post by The Autism Doctor about how many women are not diagnosed as autistic simply because they“have friends.” In the post, she explains that the outward presence of friendships does not necessarily mean those relationships foster genuine connection or […] Read more…
(And Why There Isn’t Anything Wrong With You) When my neurodivergent teen went into burnout, my world fell apart, and in its place, a smaller, more constricted reality emerged. It was like having a newborn in the family again, except this time, the stakes felt terrifyingly high. Her needs were loud, all-consuming, and urgent. I […] Read more…
How Self-Help Culture Can Harm Neurodivergent Parents and Cause Burnout There was a moment early in my career that fundamentally changed the direction of my life. At the time, I didn’t have language for it. I only knew that something had cracked open, and something else had quietly fractured. I was a centre manager in […] Read more…
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 Teaches Us 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…