Send us a text We interview mother + artist Christie Russert about how motherhood and ADHD tendencies have impacted her art. We discuss the impact motherhood has on the ADHD woman's ability to focus on tasks with constant divided attention with children. Untangling the overwhelm: what is motherhood and what is ADHD? It can be difficult to separate out symptoms that are a result of neurodivergence instead of parenting. Christie talks about the challenges of being an artist with attention challeng...
Oct 22, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 128
Send us a text Join Stacey as she reveals the morning ritual that changed her ADHD. Here's the ADHD Cliff's Notes: She’s going to reveal everything she does in her morning ritual The prep the night before is crucial to a successful morning The 4 things that make up her morning ritual How she doesn’t let her kids walking in on her deter her from finishing the ritual The ripple effect of her morning ritual in other parts of her day Finally, Steph and Stace invite you to create your own morning rit...
Oct 15, 2024•31 min•Season 4Ep. 127
Send us a text Join Stacey as she explains the mysterious art of EFT. Her mission is to make it as easy and as accessible as possible to you, the ADHD mom. Because it's too good not to use. Anxiety? Overwhelm? Unclear on where to focus? Feel like you're in a constant state of emergency? EFT can help. Here's how this episode is going to go down: 1. Stacey will explain what EFT is, and why it works 2. She will give you the formula for how to lay out an EFT session (for yourself) 3. Make it easy. S...
Oct 09, 2024•27 min•Season 4Ep. 126
Send us a text This season, we've been been exploring the impact of rituals on the ADHD mom brain. In this Stace and Steph episode, Stace asks Steph to describe her evening ritual practice. "My evening ritual began as a survival technique." As Steph has been immersed in an intense, stressful season—divorce, ADHD diagnoses for the whole house, kid going to college—she explains the grounding impact her evening ritual has had on her nervous system. Steph describes her practice of "neurotic self-car...
Oct 02, 2024•31 min•Season 4Ep. 125
Send us a text We meet health and nutrition coach Lauren Carpenter, and she shares how her own childhood health issues—we discuss how powerful it is to make changes during adulthood that will also impact our own children and ripple outward. Food is medicine: We discuss the inextricable link between our physical health and our mental and emotional health, and the role food can play in how we feel. Lauren talks us through the gut-brain connection, and we discuss the role food plays in being the li...
Sep 24, 2024•45 min•Season 4Ep. 124
Send us a text Join Stacey in this mini solo episode as she reveals all the ways she shrinks herself as a people-pleasing, ADHD/RSD woman: With her husband In asking questions With her voice, and any noise she makes (anybody else familiar with accidental breath-holding?) With compliments With her kids She shares these, and then asks you to share them with yourself. If we can start identifying the ways in which we shrink, we can become more self-aware of them, and make steps to stop the cycle. Wh...
Sep 18, 2024•19 min•Season 4Ep. 123
Send us a text Cliff's Notes Version: We welcome Dr. Christine Li, Procrastination Coach, back to the Mother Plus Podcast to tackle the topic of clutter and its impact on the ADHD woman. It's always about much than the actual clutter—Dr. Li reminds us that we are all different and it's about accepting ourselves without judgment or shame and figuring out what helps us as individuals find more ease and productivity. We want our home—and our " energy home"—to feel more hospitable for ourselves. Clu...
Sep 13, 2024•40 min•Season 4Ep. 122
Send us a text Welcome to Season 4 of the Mother Plus Podcast! We are BEYOND excited to kick off this new phase of our show and our motherhoods. ADHD, meds, overwhelm, kid's diagnosis, and the rituals that keep us sane -- we have SO much to talk about. Here's a quick recap of episode 121: Stace and Steph recap the summer with a highlight (and lowlight) reel, ADHD updates, and our feelings on the switch from summer to fall. We chronicle the origin of the podcast and how it has evolved since 2021,...
Sep 10, 2024•23 min•Season 4Ep. 121
Send us a text Today, Stacey brings you a solo episode to talk to you about what summer break has looked like for this people-pleasing ADHD mom. She talks about how you can learn from her mistakes, and save yourself from burnout, if you, too, struggle with making everybody around your happy all the time - but especially your children. Recap: What happens when people pleasers become moms? We all know the importance of putting up boundaries and teaching your kids to “figure it out” for themselves ...
Aug 14, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 120
Send us a text Steph shares how her life has changed since her ADHD diagnosis, both at work and at home. First, a med update: "I don't feel the meds when I take them, but I feel it when I don't." How finding the right formula has been the key to achieving balance, good sleep, and improved focus. Aside from meds, Steph talks about the element of self-awareness and understanding that has helped with executive functioning, organization, negative beliefs, and procrastination when managing the househ...
Aug 01, 2024•12 min•Season 3Ep. 119
Send us a text Sharon Saline, Psy.D., clinical psychologist and author of the award-winning book, “What your ADHD child wishes you knew: Working together to empower kids for success in school and life and The ADHD solution card deck” specializes in working with children, teens, adults and families living with ADHD, learning disabilities, twice exceptionality and mental health issues. She lectures and facilitates workshops internationally on topics such as ADHD and neurodivergence, executive func...
Jul 17, 2024•32 min•Season 3Ep. 118
Send us a text In our conversation with Dr. Sharon Saline, she talks about the origin of the sense of failure so many people with ADHD experience, and how it can be traced back to harmful messaging we've endured since childhood about how we are defective in some way or not okay. Dr. Sharon challenges us to change our inner dialogue and talk to ourselves with compassion, the way we would a close friend or a child in need. Dr. Sharon breaks down what emotional dysregulation looks like and how it s...
Jul 02, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 117
Send us a text Catastrophizing: An irrationally negative forecast of future events. This is a common ADHD trait. When your thoughts are hyperactive, it's hard not to go down rabbit holes. And some of them can be pretty scary and depressing. Today, Stacey shares her personal experience with catastrophizing, and the two things she's doing to tame her negative thoughts of the future. If you, too, have catastrophizing thoughts and want to find a place where you can share your experience and bond wit...
Jun 26, 2024•20 min•Season 3Ep. 116
Send us a text In this Stace and Steph episode, we talk about what summer looks like for the ADHD Mom: The Good, The Bad, and the very, very Ugly. Transitions are tough for women with ADHD, and the summer transition can be especially jarring. Summer can be such a struggle to balance "work" and "fun" and the result can feel very overwhelming. Who is in charge here?? The lack of structure and routine and the variability of summer days is stressful for ADHD women who struggle with time management, ...
Jun 18, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 115
Send us a text We speak with neuroscientist Brooke Quinn, who is currently getting her Master's degree in sleep medicine from Oxford University, about sleep and the ADHD woman. Women with ADHD can be predisposed to not get good sleep, and inadequate sleep can lead to an increase of ADHD symptoms (even in neurotypical people), so the vicious cycle can be difficult and magnify ADHD symptoms. As a woman with ADHD herself, Brooke has been a pioneer in advocating for more research about sleep, women,...
Jun 11, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 114
Send us a text Sam shares his experience writing his comedy special -- "Neurospicy: Love, Life, and Comedy on the Spectrum" -- as being both "confronting" as he revisited challenging moments in his life, but also "healing" as he was able to reframe those experiences through the filter of Asperger's. Sam describes growing up without a diagnosis as being "confusing, isolating, and lacking a shared reality," and shares that the process of writing this show has created a shared reality and community...
Jun 04, 2024•36 min•Season 3Ep. 113
Send us a text In the second half of our conversation with Dr. Li, she discusses the impact of clutter on our environment and on our mental health. One of the benefits of overcoming procrastination is living without constant stress. Dr. Li emphasizes the importance of not beating ourselves up and being overly critical during the process and to be okay with being who you are. So many of the tasks we focus on are unnecessary—simplifying + choosing not to overreact can eliminate some of that stress...
Jun 02, 2024•31 min•Season 3Ep. 112
Send us a text Dr. Li shares her own history of procrastination and how she thought it was "who she was" as a person rather than a characteristic that was changeable or flexible. Her mission is to spread the word that procrastination is not who you are, but that it's something you can heal that can make your life feel so much better. Dr. Li discusses the importance of becoming your own authority and realizing you can choose to do things differently, and how that opens up opportunities. Mindset i...
May 28, 2024•31 min•Season 3Ep. 111
Send us a text ADHD, high functioning anxiety and perfectionist-based procrastination go together like peanut butter, jelly and banana. We’re former hard-working, top-of our class, good girls who masked our high functioning anxiety our whole lives, and then we became mothers, and the masks are falling apart. They are WORN OUT. And we just can’t keep them together anymore. Today, I’m going to share a story with you about motherhood and anxiety so you can KNOW for sure that there are others out th...
May 22, 2024•14 min•Season 3Ep. 110
Send us a text Steph reviews the new Taylor Swift album, The Tortured Poets Department. But this episode isn't really about music or being a Swiftie—it's about women's voices, rage, community, and connection. Steph had a few viral posts that brought up a LOT of issues—namely, why do women sometimes tear each other down? We talk about the "therapy" of Taylor Swift music, from eras of our lives, versions of ourselves, and playlists of grief and loss. And now a few invitations to join us in communi...
May 16, 2024•29 min•Season 3Ep. 109
Send us a text I used to be fun—what happened?" In this Stace and Steph episode, we explore what happens when an ADHD mom feels like she lost her fun. ADHD women are before we had kids—we want to reclaim some of the fun of our 20s and 30s that we lost. We all go through an inevitable unwilding and rewilding of ourselves, and as a mom of older kids, Steph gives us a glimpse of how much fun it can be on the "other side." We break down exactly why motherhood with ADHD can be such a challenge and sa...
May 14, 2024•30 min•Season 3Ep. 108
Send us a text Guess what? We found a professional organizer who has ADHD. This episode is all about how to actually get our homes -- and our lives -- in a place that makes our minds feel more at peace. But we're not doing it with the typical organizing advice. Because, as you likely already know, that doesn't work for the ADHD brain. Today, Esmeralda Simonelli, Steph, and Stace cover all things organizing and decluttering our way. Here's the Cliff's Notes: Newly diagnosed Esmeralda tells her di...
May 08, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 107
Send us a text When you’re a mom, and you surround yourselves with moms telling their motherhood stories, baring their souls, laughing, crying, and being brutally honest, it is a powerful thing. Listen To Your Mother is a national series of live storytelling shows where local writers share their original pieces about motherhood. And today, Steph brings you the piece she read at last year's show. The story is called “Heartbreak And The Young Entrepreneur.” It’s all about her young daughter’s entr...
May 01, 2024•11 min•Season 3Ep. 106
Send us a text We begin part two with this doozy: Tracy Otsuka shares that she never struggled with motherhood. Why? Her husband served as her executive functioning, and they split tasks based on what they were both good at. Revolutionary, huh? In this episode... Tracy gives us the most beautiful reality check about what it really means to be a "good mom." It's about emotional connection, not the "administrative crap." "What happens to women with ADHD is that they feel they cannot be who they tr...
Apr 24, 2024•32 min•Season 3Ep. 105
Send us a text Organization Graveyard: The place where all the organizational tools you buy from Amazon, Target, and The Container Store go to die. They are unwrapped, unused, and riddled with guilt, a constant reminder that you are a spacey, unorganized ADHD mom. Not. Anymore. Stacey takes you through -- step by step -- how to actually tackle the graveyard. How to go through all the items, open them up, and actually use them. Yes, it's simple. But it's not easy. But as you'll learn, half the ba...
Apr 18, 2024•12 min•Season 3Ep. 104
Send us a text In Part I of our conversation with the incomparable Tracy Otsuka, we share the story of how we came to find her, and introduce her podcast and incredible book to our listeners. We discuss Tracy's superpowers as a woman with ADHD, and how her story may be unlike other ADHD women because of her confidence and comfort level with being "different." The Cliff's Notes Version: Tracy shares something that sets her apart from other ADHD women—she has never cared that she is different, and...
Apr 16, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 103
Send us a text This Tedious Task of the Week is putting the laundry away—we hate doing this! Steph shares her step-by-step guide to pouring out the laundry basket, sorting the clothes, and getting it put away in a less soul-crushing way. We are all about making dreaded household care tasks less painful, so let's tackle it together! Here's the Cliff's Notes: Steph shares how Stacey's "love letters to yourself" bonus episode last week impacted her and inspired her to set out her yoga stuff the nig...
Apr 11, 2024•9 min•Season 3Ep. 102
Send us a text Did you ever imagine a day where you could go to your therapist office, and pull out the tarot cards? Today, we’re talking to holistic therapist, yogi, meditation teacher and author, Chris McDonald. "Tarot friendly" is literally on her about page. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't take her seriously. By the end of today’s episode, you will understand how therapy and spirituality can work together, and most importantly, how that can help women with ADHD. We're going to cover: Spi...
Apr 09, 2024•36 min•Season 3Ep. 101
Send us a text What is one thing you can do for your tomorrow self today? The answer to this question will give you all the material you need to create love notes for yourself, i.e. beautiful gestures throughout the house to help ease that scattered ADHD brain of yours. We’re going to talk about: How the book “Mindful Loving” by Henry Grayson changed the way Stacey looks at relationships and herself (hint: It’s the opposite of the famous “You complete me” line from Jerry Maguire.) The importance...
Apr 04, 2024•17 min•Season 3Ep. 100
Send us a text In part 2 of our discussion with Dr. Rebecca Richey, we talk about the impact of going undiagnosed, whether by chance or by choice. We focus on treatment options, including medication and holistic options, and Dr. Richey explains how individualized treatment can be for women with ADHD, and that a multi-modal approach works best. Dr. Richey explains the impact that peri-menopause and menopause have on women with ADHD, breaking down the hormonal interaction with the brain. What happ...
Apr 02, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 99
