This week Cam and Shelly pivot from the recent focus on negative emotions to positive emotions. Emotions are the on-off switch for action. Understanding how emotions come into play is key to motivation and taking action. Those of us with ADHD tend to over-utilize our fear neural networks or negative emotions to get things done. How often do you hear yourself prioritizing or taking action through urgency or on the greatest consequence? How often does worry, fear or anxiety inform what you are try...
Jan 17, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 111
This week we continue our exploration of big signal emotions as we explore rejection. Cam and Shelly discuss that with ADHD on board it’s not just rejection, but the fear of rejection that has the biggest impact. Cam and Shelly discuss the relationship between fear and rejection and how rejection comes from a place of fear. To examine this more closely, Cam takes listeners back to a time in life when he felt rejected frequently despite the fact that he was not being rejected. Cam felt rejected a...
Jan 10, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 110
This week we return to our exploration of big signal emotions as we dig into shame. Shame is no stranger for those of us living with ADHD. Shame is often the root of many downstream emotional responses, like imposter syndrome and rejection sensitivity. As one walks through the world with an invisible disability like ADHD, one can see how shame can manifest. Cam and Shelly discuss how years of dismissal and rejection, deliberate and not, and years of struggling to explain or account for the unexp...
Jan 03, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 109
This week Shelly and Cam use a client story as a vehicle to explore emotion and emotional dysregulation. To have ADHD is to have challenges with managing appropriate and measured emotional responses. But that is not all. Emotion is key to the motivation system and developing new awareness and learning (All three barriers). Cam and Shelly look at emotional dysregulation beyond the term and, in Translating ADHD fashion, dig into a client situation revealing language and dynamics that go far beyond...
Dec 27, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Emotions are key to driving beliefs and behaviors. They also play a big part in effective ADHD management. Emotions also drive big signal responses like rejection, sensitivity or imposter syndrome. Those big signal responses can really impact our ability to identify and circumvent First Barrier dilemmas. The First Barrier of ADHD is the barrier to new awareness. Emotions like blame can cloud our judgment, disrupt our own agency and take us offline down some negative emotional rabbit holes (one o...
Dec 20, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Shelly and Cam revisit the First Barrier of ADHD - the barrier to new awareness - by illustrating a client’s own experience with struggling and eventually succeeding to generate new awareness. In Shelly’s words “to walk this world as an ADHD person is to walk this world misunderstood”. Because of the first barrier of ADHD, it can be extremely frustrating to know when we are struggling, and - when we do have this awareness, - it can be doubly hard to articulate our dilemmas to those around us. In...
Dec 13, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 106
This week we are delighted to present another special episode dedicated to exploring the lived experiences of people of color with ADHD by presenting an interview with coach and therapist Romanza McAllister LCSW. Romanza is a trauma-informed psychotherapist and ADHD coach in New York City. She is a mental health advocate and very active in the leadership of ADDA. In this episode, Romanza speaks about growing up and the challenge of being misunderstood, even gaslit, by those around her as she tri...
Dec 06, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Why is it that we stray off the path we know - of best practices, best strategies and best resources? Why is it we struggle to recognize we have left the path and additionally, struggle to relocate the path once we have realized this? This challenge with generating valuable awareness at the right time is a signature ADHD dilemma and creates the biggest obstacle to meaningful change and even addressing our ADHD, including pursuing a diagnosis. This is the first barrier of ADHD - The barrier to ne...
Nov 29, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Shelly and Cam continue with the ever-expansive topic of context with respect to ADHD with a deep dive into how our unique wiring is connected to our unique value at work and in the world. In this episode, they explore how contextual wiring presents in a few examples and how to leverage this ‘super strength’ throughout the week. They distinguish how big value is not the same as the big signal (episode 80) . Our big value is often downplayed or dismissed because of societal norms and our own nega...
Nov 22, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 103
Shelly and Cam continue the theme of exploring context by introducing a process for shifting to a better mindset. Context informs our current narrative and our narrative informs our mindset or the way we perceive our world. They share a simple three-step process of Pause, Disrupt, Pivot to shift from a negative context to a positive one. Shelly shares an excellent story of how she uses the process to interrupt a potential spiraling event and move to a better frame of mind. As they often do, Cam ...
Nov 15, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Shelly and Cam stay on the topic of context but shift to its positive elements. They distinguish the value of ‘Who’ and ‘Why’ questions and how they inform the frame or context those of us with ADHD put around our experience. Both Shelly and Cam share how the tone of their own ‘Why’ questions early in their careers led to very different outward manifestations but similar feelings of frustration and confusion. They then talk about how changing the tone of the ‘Why’ questions can open us up to cur...
Nov 08, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 101
Shelly and Cam continue to explore contextual pitfalls and ADHD. Last week they introduced contextual mad-libs. This week they explore two more contextual challenges, ‘locking in’ to a limiting narrative and conversely ‘spinning through’ multiple narratives. Both are contextual in nature and a very ADHD Valley experience. We constantly tether to how we relate to our world, drawing frames of reference that meet a need that may be keeping us in a current state or mode and delay real and positive c...
Nov 01, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 100
Shelly and Cam continue to discuss the concept of context as it relates to coaching and to the lived experience with ADHD. We are wired for context and the compelling narratives that can drive behaviors good and bad. Today we delve into how being wired for context is not so helpful as Shelly shares a concept that one of her clients termed ‘contextual mad-libbing’ - where one inserts their own narrative and meaning into an incomplete context like a short text message or a rushed meeting in the ha...
Oct 25, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 99
Shelly and Cam bring forth a topic that is synonymous with coaching and the ADHD lived experience but rarely, if ever, discussed overtly in ADHD circles. Context drives so much of the coaching conversation from discovering big agendas to exploring limiting perspectives, yet we often don’t recognize when context is at work influencing our thoughts and behaviors. Shelly and Cam define context and how it is of particular interest to those of us with ADHD. Part of the neurodiverse experience is in p...
Oct 18, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Shelly and Cam do what they do best, taking listeners on a journey through an ADHD-lived experience. Today they integrate all three barriers of ADHD as Shelly shares her own discovery and learning process. She digs into a recent dilemma around a breakdown with getting house chores done. Listen as Shelly and Cam explore Shelly’s journey as she bumps into and then develops workarounds for all three barriers, to new learning that she converts into new action resulting in systems and practices that ...
Oct 11, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Shelly and Cam look at learning and its role in creating positive and sustained change. Deemed The Third Barrier of ADHD, learning is the most significant element of a change process and the one most impacted by ADHD. In ADHD land so much focus is put on the first two barriers - knowing what to do and doing what you know - that many miss this third and so essential step in moving one's agenda forward. Learning is key to our higher level TA concepts of agency, integrity (doing what matters) and l...
Oct 04, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 96
Surprisingly, this is the first episode dedicated to the topic of self-care. Shelly and Cam discuss self-care in the context of the coaching process. They discuss why they start with self-care in every coaching engagement. Clients often come to coaching looking for a quick win but they're often seeking that win from an urgent state of mind or in an ARC perspective. Shelly and Cam go on to discuss certain obstacles to self-care including “shoulds”, getting hung up in the “how”, diminishing or dow...
Sep 27, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 95
Shelly and Cam pick up a thread from a past client conversation who was shifting from a knowing place to a place of action. Shelly shares more about her client in an active state of ‘cultivating safety’. This is significant because it is an excellent example of breaking through the ‘Second Barrier of ADHD’ - the first barrier is to new awareness, the second barrier is to new action and new behaviors. The Second Barrier is ubiquitous with the ADHD experience and likely the most maddening aspect o...
Sep 20, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 94
Continuing the theme of resilience, Shelly and Cam revisit COVID as a topic, discussing the stress of living with an ongoing pandemic. They share personal stories and stories from clients and how the current uncertainty in daily life creates additional stressors. Building effective resilience is about identifying and managing stressors, distinguishing what we can and can not control. With ADHD we can diminish or downplay negative inputs and just try to ‘soldier on’. Acknowledging the stress and ...
Sep 13, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Hosts Shelly and Cam continue down the road of resilience with a focus on developing a reflective practice. A reflective practice is a key element of coaching and an absolute linchpin in the action/learning process. Research in neuroscience and meditation shows the benefits of cultivating a reflective practice. The population as a whole under-utilizes this practice and those of us with ADHD can really struggle in developing a consistent reflective practice. We introduce the idea of The Keen Obse...
Sep 06, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 92
Hosts Shelly and Cam continue to explore the concept of resilience and focus on resilience practices. Episode 60 laid out the ‘valley’ experience - getting stuck and not finding a way out. In today’s episode we explore practices to manage those valley moments. We share more examples of challenges when we are ‘deep in the emotion of an event’ like ‘blame sponge’ and our old friend from Episode 4, Adrenaline Response Cycle. Cam shares a humorous “brain under assault” story and Shelly does a little...
Aug 30, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Shelly and Cam kick off the second season of the Translating ADHD podcast! In this episode, we lay out what listeners can expect in the next 90 episodes. We reflect on our biggest learnings getting a 20,000ft. view of the podcast and review what our audience is wanting to see more of in each episode. One request from our listeners is to have more examples of live coaching. Another is for us to provide listeners with more insight into how they can practice the concepts presented in the show in th...
Aug 23, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 90
This week, Cam and Shelly take some time to reflect on their journey in creating and producing the Translating ADHD podcast. We take some time to reflect on where we started, how we've grown, and what we've learned so far after 89 episodes of Translating ADHD. We also discuss what we're considering in the future, and how we plan to use our six week summer break. We examine ways in which we are considering evolving Translating ADHD as a show and discuss how strengthening engagement with our amazi...
Jul 05, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 89
This week we are delighted to present another special episode dedicated to exploring the lived experiences of people of color with ADHD by presenting an interview with ADHD Advocate Kofi Obeng. Kofi is a mechanical engineer who lives in South Carolina. He was diagnosed with ADHD in the early 2000s. He is a father of sons with ADHD and has become very involved with the ADHD community. He is a co-facilitator of the African American/Black Diaspora ADHD Group at ADDA. ADDA supports adults with ADHD....
Jun 28, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 88
One of the biggest dilemmas we face in our professional lives as ADHD people is the when, what, and how of disclosing our ADHD. Through client examples and years of experience, Shelly and Cam discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of ADHD disclosure. The hosts focus on the rich middle ground between ‘share everything’ and ‘share nothing’ and how the Understand, Own, Translate work listeners are doing can be an effective resource. Cam and Shelly talk about the preconceived notions neurotypicals c...
Jun 21, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 87
Romantic relationships can present tremendous challenges with ADHD in the equation. Romantic relationships produce big, intense signals that can block out other things. This is especially true because of the emotional investment that comes with a romantic relationship and the emotional dysregulation that comes with ADHD. Shelly and Cam continue their discussion on ‘seeing oneself in the picture’ as they explore romantic relationships. We delve into how developing a healthy, meaningful, complimen...
Jun 14, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Personal relationships can often be more challenging than professional relationships with ADHD in the mix. Just remove all of the work related structures like role, goal and objective and add elements like emotional investment and historical baggage and watch out! Shelly and Cam continue their discussion on ‘seeing oneself in the picture’ as they explore personal relationships - typical personas like rescuer or bulldozer, common pitfalls like over extension or ‘making up for’ behavior and strate...
Jun 07, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Continuing their discussion on agency and advocacy, Shelly and Cam tackle the all important area of managing professional relationships. The workplace is where translating opportunities and challenges will be ever present. In this episode, Shelly and Cam share a number of client stories as they highlight the significance of setting clear agreements, managing expectations and addressing needs. They continue the ‘seeing self in the picture’ concept with more of a focus on the picture part - is wha...
May 31, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 84
This week, Shelly and Cam continue their discussion on "seeing yourself in your picture" and the broader concepts of agency and advocacy. In this episode they focus on role definition and value creation. As divergent thinkers we can believe that we need to cast a broader net when it comes to roles and value. Shelly and Cam make the case for limiting scope here. Shelly introduces the coaching skill of co-creating and how anyone can use this skill to further define role and value in everyday conve...
May 24, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 83
As ADHD people, we can be so focused on the biggest signals that we lose ourselves in our own pictures. This week on the Translating ADHD podcast, Cam and Shelly pivot to introduce a new concept of agency and advocacy that will inform the next several episodes from articulating needs in relationships to whether to disclose your ADHD at your workplace. The definition of agency we introduce is the social science definition that includes acting independently and exercising free choice. Often there ...
May 17, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 82
