When I discovered Stacy Scott while scrolling through Instagram, I immediately knew I had to get her on the podcast. Stacy is an internationally known decluttering expert, feng shui practitioner, and occupational therapist with three wildly successful decluttering workshops. Unlike a lot of other organization and decluttering coaches, Stacy focuses on recognizing how trauma impacts your ability to clean so you can make your space your own. As someone who grew up in an energetically chaotic envir...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr 1 min
We have a unique episode this week, covering a topic I’ve honestly never known how to approach here: cannabis use for adults with ADHD. First things first, you need to know that this episode will be only one perspective on a subject I’d never pretend to be an expert in. Joining me is a very special guest, Natalie Chien, @Natalie.C.ADHD who is not only a member of my group coaching program FOCUSED , but she’s also completed my ADHD coaching program! Natalie was formerly addicted to recreational m...
Oct 17, 2023•55 min
Tamara Rosier, Ph.D., has joined me for a discussion on my absolute favorite sections of her book, Your Brain’s Not Broken . Tamara is a fellow ADHD coach and the founder of the ADHD Center of West Michigan . We waste no time at all diving into her personal journey to an ADHD diagnosis at 40 years young and what living day-to-day with this neurodivergent disorder has looked like throughout her life. You’ll notice a common theme in being her authentic self while simultaneously working through how...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr 8 min
I’m going to be very honest. This episode is a dedicated “b**** fest” on how hard it is to get the medication prescribed for ADHD. If any of you adults out there have been through this, sometimes it’s therapeutic just to let out all the frustration and feel seen and heard and commiserated with, and that’s what this episode is for. You all should know by now that I take ADHD medication, but you may not know that I have two kiddos who take medication for ADHD as well. We each are unique and need d...
Oct 03, 2023•45 min
My colleague and friend, Annahid Dashtgard, really elevates the podcast this week with a specialized look at racialization within the mental health space. I love that we’re able to broach this topic together as Annahid is so well-versed in creating safe places for people to have hard conversations. Annahid is the CEO and Co-Founder of Anima Leadership , a consulting firm that helps organizations with everything EDI from diversity basics to advanced belonging. Annahid has a special and unique per...
Sep 26, 2023•56 min
Most of Ellen's life was spent feeling like a whirling dervish without direction. Everything was a struggle, from school to maintaining a job to arriving anywhere on time. She learned how to use her big, bold personality to fake it and make it through, even though she regularly battled feelings of inadequacy, shame, and judgment. Life, as it often does, hit Ellen hard with challenges through her young adulthood, and she found herself battling depression for decades. In hindsight, she now wonders...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Today's episode is all about how to be PROactive not REactive. ADHDers spend so much time putting out fires and reacting to everything happening around us. But if we're going to truly make forward progress on our own dreams and goals, we're going to need to put down the fire hose and start making some purposeful decisions. BUT HOW? Tune in how to find out: How to create a vision even if you can't picture things in your mind's eye How to make a plan, even if it's only for the next hour How to dro...
Sep 12, 2023•52 min
Danica @theempoweredtherapist specializes in healing from attachment wounds, sexual assault, emotional neglect, vicarious trauma, intergenerational and identity-based trauma, and work or academic trauma. In this DEEP convo, Kristen and Danica discuss the following topics: Complex Trauma Is it ADHD or CPTSD? Attunement Attachment Somatic Experiencing How to Identify a Trigger The Complexity of Healing Danica is a therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) in Dallas, TX. She co-owns Emp...
Sep 07, 2023•1 hr 48 min
I’m really enjoying these episodes with my FOCUSED community, and I hope you are too! Today, Sue Peters is with me, and we dive into the difficult world of chronic pain through an ADHD lens. When Sue was finally diagnosed with ADHD in her mid-twenties, she had already identified that there was something different about her and had even tried reaching out for help. But ignorant and insensitive “experts” failed to give her the guidance and support she needed, which left her with a lot of rejection...
Sep 05, 2023•55 min
Christine Hargrove is a a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Georgia whose primary focus is on exploring financial therapy and ADHD relationships - an important and rare combination! We very quickly realized one episode was not enough, so stay tuned for part two with practical tips. Before we dive into money talk, Christine shares her own story about how she came to receive her own ADHD diagnosis. It was missed for years because people told her she was “too smart” to have ADHD. I especially lo...
Aug 29, 2023•54 min
In this episode, I’m joined by my FOCUSED client Michael Johnson, who shares his ADHD journey that led him to being coached and now becoming a coach himself. I love our conversation because Michael is so open and honest about his weaknesses and the self-discovery that led to him evolving into a much more self-aware and balanced person today. If you've struggled with horrible self-talk, disordered eating, and difficult relationships, this episode is going to be right up your alley. In case you ha...
Aug 22, 2023•54 min
Maggie Patterson is a vocal advocate for humane business practices rooted in respect, empathy and trust. She’s the host of the BS-Free Service Business podcast, and the co-host of Duped: The Dark Side of Online Business. In this episode we are SPILLING ALL THE TEA. Maggie and I talk about: Self help, cults, and MLMS Scammy online business practices Mystery offers "If I can do it you can do it" Steven Hassan's BITE model of culty practices How to avoid getting scammed How to be ethical (what does...
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 46 min
I’m very pleased to be joined by Kimberley Quinlan in this episode. Kimberley is a licensed marriage and family therapist, specializing in anxiety, OCD and related disorders. Some of you with ADHD can identify with having additional neurodivergent diagnoses, such as OCD, and you may have experienced some confusion in differentiating between the two. As children, it was hard enough being diagnosed with ADHD and having a full understanding of what it meant for ourselves and for our parents. Now ad...
Aug 15, 2023•55 min
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 5 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 29 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 17 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•41 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•1 hr 59 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•28 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•36 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 Self trust Crea...
Jul 06, 2023•1 hr 24 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•8 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•43 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•59 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•36 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•55 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•59 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•41 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•36 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•45 min
