This episode is a rare treat as I chat with a current FOCUSED client of mine, Jason Rowlett, @JDouglasRowlett who shares his experience of identifying and leaving a toxic work environment. I decided to do an episode with Jason on this topic as I watched him navigate this situation in real-time and recognized this as something that likely happens to many adults with ADHD. While ADHD can certainly manifest in our work performance and social behavior, we shouldn’t have to walk on eggshells at all t...
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Minaa B. is a licensed social worker, writer, and author of Owning Our Struggles. She is also the founder of Minaa B. Consulting, a mental health consulting practice that helps organizations develop psychological safety and promote mental health inclusivity. In this heartfelt episode, Kristen and Minaa discuss: Psychological safety in the workplace Bullying Systematic traumas that we face daily The nuance of boundaries in relationships Recognizing when you ARE the problem Healing through communi...
Aug 03, 2023•1 hr 26 min
My regular listeners will know that I’ve been talking about my ADHD coaching certification program for the past couple of weeks. But this episode was so much fun because I had the pleasure of interviewing four of my trained coaches from the last term. The roll call includes: Jacoba Lilius - a professor of organizational psychology that plans to pair coaching with academia. Find Jacoba on LinkedIn . Laura Gaynon - a professional musician and teacher with strong intuition and a holistic approach t...
Aug 01, 2023•1 hr 14 min
Everything and everyone has a limited capacity. The world may try to tell us how much we should be able to handle and accomplish throughout the day. But, friend, no one can determine that except you. If you are more concerned about maintaining your phone’s battery charge than your own, it’s time to focus on accepting the limits of your capacity. If you want to avoid burnout and feel a sense of balanced accomplishment everyday, you won’t get there by pushing yourself to do more. In this week’s ep...
Jul 25, 2023•38 min
Kai, a first-generation Chinese-Canadian and visionary Healing Transformation Coach, is the innovative mind behind Boundaries to Freedom, dedicated to empowering codependent adults on their journey towards emotional maturity. In this warm and vulnerable conversation, Kai and I chat about the following topics: Growing up as a Chinese immigrant Boundaries, enmeshment, and codependency Taking time off to heal How to engage with old relationships in a new way When empowering clients becomes an ethic...
Jul 20, 2023•2 hr 57 min
Have you been considering a career change? Thinking about becoming an ADHD coach like me? Well, this episode is for you! What this is not: a perfect fantasy with puppies, rainbows and unicorns. What this is: my raw and honest truth about the pros and cons of the business. It seems like having ADHD and/or becoming a life coach is very “trendy” right now. While it’s exciting to see growth and societal acceptance in these areas, this can also bring in some shady characters who see an opportunity to...
Jul 18, 2023•26 min
Sleep makes the world go round. So why can’t we ever seem to get enough of it? This week, I’m re-releasing an older episode with a bit more introductory commentary on how ADHD interrupts regular sleep patterns. This is such an important topic to not only chat about but do research on. Did you know there is a surprisingly decent amount of research on Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS) in people with ADHD? In this episode, I share everything I’ve learned about DSPS, circadian rhythm, and what fee...
Jul 11, 2023•33 min
Whitney Goodman, LMFT, is the radically honest psychotherapist behind the hugely popular Instagram account @sitwithwhit , author, and the owner of The Collaborative Counseling Center, a virtual therapy practice in Florida. In this beautiful conversation, Whitney and I discuss the following topics: How to define "trauma" (spoiler, it's hard) Living in fantasy vs. reality Toxic positivity Healing across generations Why some people are more open to being held accountable than others ...
Jul 06, 2023•1 hr 22 min
Maybe I’m Not The Problem is a new series of the I Have ADHD Podcast where I interview therapists, trauma-informed coaches, and psychologists about how our past informs our present and how maybe WE (ADHDers) are not the problem. People with ADHD are ripe for the picking when it comes to abuse because we are programmed from birth to believe that there’s something wrong with us…that we are flawed…and we must fix ourselves to fit into society’s and our family’s box. On Maybe I’m Not the Problem, my...
Jul 05, 2023•5 min
Tackling big milestones like attending university, moving out on your own or writing a book can be both exhilarating and intimidating. For those of us with ADHD, we can feel frozen in indecision as to how to begin such an endeavor. In this week’s episode, I offer crucial steps to guide you through these ventures, and then you can listen in on one of my coaching sessions as I do this process with someone contemplating graduate school. As part of the process, I emphasize the importance of being ki...
Jul 04, 2023•40 min
Those of us with ADHD, and even those who don’t have it, can attest to times when we aren’t sure how to feel and we argue with ourselves in our heads. Problem-solving is an essential adult function, but it can be really hard at times and we can get frozen in our indecision. This week’s episode is a recorded coaching session from FOCUSED, including three women who are all doubting themselves and struggling to stay regulated emotionally and mentally. There are endless reasons why any of us can fee...
Jun 27, 2023•57 min
What do you do when you realize that you’ve overscheduled yourself? I love saying ‘yes’ to things, but I can often find myself overburdened with too much on my list. Not surprisingly, this just happened to me, so I decided to process through it and turn it into a podcast episode to help those of you with ADHD that do this too! There have been so many new and exciting things popping up in my schedule lately: the kids are now on summer break, we’re going on vacation, I’m completing another coachin...
Jun 20, 2023•34 min
Today I have a special episode looking at two potentially different life struggles - addiction and ADHD - and how the road to recovery and stability can look very similar. Joining me is Scott Kiloby, entrepreneur, addiction recovery author, and enlightenment coach. Together we discuss how trauma and emotional repression can create addictive tendencies and chaotic minds. Scott is an expert on mindfulness and the importance of drawing suppressed feelings forward into consciousness in order to proc...
Jun 13, 2023•53 min
Today’s episode is specifically for ADHD entrepreneurs trying to do everything on their own. I’ve got my bestie Hillary with me, from HandsOn OBM, to convince you why hiring an assistant could be the best thing for you and your business. Through our 16 years of friendship, we’ve come to understand why we work so well together. We list our differing personality traits that keep us balanced, and I enjoy bragging about what makes Hillary such an incredible support system for me. Not all assistants ...
Jun 06, 2023•57 min
Self-care may be a trending topic, but it can be hard as adults with ADHD to regularly take care of ourselves mentally and physically. In this episode, I’m diving into everything from the privilege of self-care that not everyone has available to them, forms of free and cost-associated self-care, and how to determine if your self-care is actually just avoidance. You may think you don’t have the capacity to consider self-care, but have you considered options like gratitude journaling, snuggling a ...
May 30, 2023•39 min
Do you feel like you received an ADHD diagnosis late in life? There is no clinical definition of “late.” Age plays no part in it. It is entirely based on your perception. If this is you, there can be a range of emotions and new stages of growth that you experience after gaining clarity in this area. You may have heard of the five stages of grief. Well, this episode covers the four stages, or emotions, of a late ADHD diagnosis. These include relief, confusion, grief, and restructuring. You could ...
May 23, 2023•33 min
I’m going back to ADHD basics today by addressing how to cut down on the chaos of our everyday lives. As adults with ADHD, we know this is a regular problem for us. We may have an epiphany and simplify for a while, but inevitably, things pile up again and again and again. Why do we find ourselves in this cycle? Shouldn’t we know the answer by now to avoid so much stress? In this podcast episode, I dive into the neurodivergent struggles that influence us to say ‘yes’ too often. Unsurprisingly, it...
May 16, 2023•42 min
Have you ever felt emotionally hungover? I think all of us adults experience this semi-regularly, especially if you have ADHD. When you have a full life of responsibilities, it can be challenging managing your energy and stewarding your capacity. In this week’s episode of the podcast, I am sharing a recording of my group coaching program FOCUSED , where I chat with three people who feel overwhelmed. Adult #1 is dealing with the grief of losing a loved one and feeling unable to move forward with ...
May 09, 2023•1 hr
It’s my birthday week! I love birthdays, getting older, and celebrating life and growth. So for this special birthday episode, I’m sharing a comprehensive list of the books that have changed my life and the reasons why. Books that have changed my life: ADHD-focused: Taking Charge of Adult ADHD, by Dr. Russell Barkley Rethinking Adult ADHD, by Dr. Russ Ramsay Delivered From Distraction, by Dr. Ned Hallowell Personal Growth: Essentialism, by Greg Mckeown Effortless, by Greg Mckeown Atomic Habits, ...
May 02, 2023•31 min
I believe I have the best Mother’s Day gift ever for adult women with ADHD! There is a new study revealing that there is no connection to children developing neurological conditions or physical impairments whose mothers took ADHD medication when pregnant. This is huge news! Please see below for links to this study and two additional supporting articles. This episode is all about prioritizing your needs for mental and physical wellness. You deserve nurturing as much as your baby. There are enough...
Apr 25, 2023•25 min
The last episode of the rejection series is a good one on how to respond to and soothe the pain from rejection. Like eating something super cold or hot with sensitive teeth, adults with ADHD tend to react more strongly to rejection than others. Due to repeated rejection, we’ve developed maladaptive coping mechanisms that do not benefit us in the long-run. Avoidance, people-pleasing and perfectionism are responses that many of us identify with as a way of limiting the amount of rejection in our l...
Apr 18, 2023•34 min
The Power of Therapy for Rejection Sensitivity Helen Villiers is here with me again in this week’s podcast! You might remember Helen from Episode #200: Maybe I’m Not the Problem: Understanding Emotional Abuse with Helen Villiers and Katie McKenna. Helen is a psychotherapist and co-host of the podcast, In Sight - Exposing Narcissism. In part 3 of the rejection series, we talk about rejection trauma from the beautiful perspective of a therapist with ADHD. This episode is so affirming of my feeling...
Apr 11, 2023•55 min
I get bold and honest in this episode as I challenge “expert” opinion on Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD). And honestly, I'm scared you're going to reject me for it. Most of us adults living with ADHD have many experiences from childhood onwards of being rejected due to our neurodivergence. We've grown up in families and systems that have indeed rejected us. OF COURSE this means that we're more sensitive to rejection. But I reject the idea that our ADHD itself is the genet...
Apr 04, 2023•32 min
A brand new series is here, and it’s on everyone's favorite topic: rejection. From childhood to adulthood, we experience rejection in a variety of ways and learn how to respond to it. Those of us with ADHD often experience this frequently and at an early age. As a result, we tend to have heightened sensitivity to feelings of exclusion or dismissal. We react extremely or suppress our own desires in order to please the people around us whose love and approval we most crave. The first episode ...
Mar 28, 2023•31 min
I’m so relieved to be wrapping up the last episode in the executive function series. This episode focuses on self-motivation, which is quite funny seeing as how I have felt very little of it to get this series done. The timing of this episode couldn’t be more perfect, however, because we are in the last few weeks before taxes are due! Many of you adults with ADHD may be especially struggling with the motivation to beat that deadline, and I’m here to explain why. It all comes down to our lack of ...
Mar 21, 2023•37 min
We are now five down with one to go in my executive function series. Part 5 is on self-awareness - the ability to reflect, evaluate and ponder your thinking patterns. This executive function, also known as metacognition, is closely influenced by emotional regulation and working memory. For ADHDers, self-awareness can be a very uncomfortable thing to do and it might bring up a lot of shame and guilt. That’s why I offer six super helpful tips to implement that will create a safer space for you to ...
Mar 14, 2023•26 min
My conversation with Dr. Lindsay Gibson generated pure gold in this week’s episode about emotionally immature parents. It’s important to note that this is in no way parent-shaming but instead illuminates how many people with ADHD were likely raised by emotionally immature adults (and perhaps perpetuating this behavior). We’re often led to believe that we ADHDers are always the problem. But maybe we were raised by adults that used manipulation and guilt to force us into people-pleasing and parent...
Mar 07, 2023•56 min
In this special episode, I’ve invited emotional abuse and relationship experts, Katie McKenna and Helen Villiers , to share their perspective on toxic relationships and how they affect ADHDers. You may know these incredible women from their podcast In Sight: Exposing Narcissism . With Helen being a fellow ADHDer and Katie deserving a gold medal for supporting neurodivergence, I’m in great company during this conversation as we learn definitions for emotional abuse, narcissism, gaslighting and ev...
Feb 28, 2023•49 min•Ep. 200
Part 4 in the Executive Function Series is here, and I’m focusing on problem solving. This includes “fun” elements like planning, organizing and prioritizing that many ADHDers struggle with. The truth is, while those of us with ADHD may be good at solving big, complex problems, facing the breakdown of smaller situations can be a real challenge. In Episode 199, I share info from articles, books, and direct feedback from people in my group coaching program to help you understand why problem solvin...
Feb 21, 2023•29 min•Ep. 199
You’ll want to save this episode to re-listen and share with your neurotypical friends because Episode 198 is solid GOLD. In part three of my six-part series on executive functions, I’m diving into emotional regulation and how it’s impacted with ADHD. But the truth is, we ALL can use help getting our emotions under control sometimes. Emotional regulation directly impacts how productive we’re able to be because how we feel drives our actions. While ADHD inhibits our ability to self-regulate, lead...
Feb 14, 2023•37 min•Ep. 198
