A lot of people reach adulthood without ever having been asked the right question about themselves. Susan and Melissa talk about neurodivergence and why so many people, especially women, people of color, and anyone who learned early that being good was the safest thing to be, went undiagnosed for decades while quietly doing an enormous amount of work to look like everyone else. They get into what masking costs, why it tends to stop working somewhere in adulthood, and why the moment of recognition so often comes with tears that are not only relief. There is also an honest look at how hard formal evaluation actually is to get, and what you can start doing for yourself long before anyone hands you a piece of paper. Susan shares her own late ADHD diagnosis along the way.

Remember that listening to this podcast is not therapy. It might be therapeutic, but it isn't a replacement for good mental health treatment. We can help with getting you connected with a good therapist. Check out our website. Grove: A Healing Collective

Dr. Jason Clapton and Heidi Clapton have spent decades looking underneath the behavior that gets a child labeled. He is a developmental optometrist with a fellowship in pediatrics and brain injury; she is an occupational therapist, and between them they have built a practice around a single stubborn idea, which is that the thing you can see is rarely the thing causing it. They talk about why so much of what gets called ADHD or dyslexia turns out to be eyes that will not track, ears that will not keep pace, or a balance system that was never given what it needed. There is practical material here for any parent, including what movement actually does to a nervous system and why a child who cannot sit still is usually telling the truth. They also make the case for teaching first responders to recognize fear when it shows up looking like defiance.

The thoughts and opinions shared by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Grove: A Healing Collective. We bring people on because their perspective is worth hearing, not because we agree with every part of it.

Remember that listening to this podcast is not therapy. It might be therapeutic, but it isn't a replacement for good mental health treatment. We can help with getting you connected with a good therapist. Check out our website. Grove: A Healing Collective

Almost everyone has someone in their life they wish would get help. Susan and Melissa take on the hard version of that problem: what you can actually do when the person struggling is an adult who has not asked for anything. They talk through why people refuse support far more often than they admit, why fear of judgment and the cost to a job, a license, or a family is usually underneath it, and what separates an invitation someone can accept from pressure they have to defend against. There is also honest talk about what happens after, including the question most of us ask with the best intentions that lands as supervision instead of care, and what it looks like to hold a boundary with someone you love without closing the door on them.

Remember that listening to this podcast is not therapy. It might be therapeutic, but it isn't a replacement for good mental health treatment. We can help with getting you connected with a good therapist. Check out our website. Grove: A Healing Collective