Cam and Asher continue to explore the topic of being misunderstood with ADHD. Nowhere does this play out more dramatically than in our primary relationships. It’s nearly impossible to articulate thoughts and feelings and advocate for oneself if you are not clear on what is actually going on. The first barrier of ADHD is awareness, and we can feel the frustration and emotion from a particular situation. But ADHD makes it really hard to get to the root cause. ADHD and executive function challenges...
May 01, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 169
Ash and Cam begin a new series on a ubiquitous ADHD experience - being misunderstood. ADHD operates out of sight and in the background, yet its impact can have enormous consequences. Additionally, ADHD and related executive function challenges make it very difficult to bring the ADHD out into the open to generate new understanding and awareness for the individual and for others. The hosts kick off the series by looking at how childhood experiences of living with ADHD create misunderstanding for ...
Apr 24, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 168
Ash and Cam often speak of the Understand, Own, Translate model that is so ubiquitous to the mission of the Translating ADHD podcast - that to live fully and to have success one must understand, own and translate their ADHD experience. Today, Ash and Cam explore this model in depth through a single coaching session with one of Ash’s clients. Describing this single session checks many of the boxes the hosts have been speaking of recently like journey thinking, revealing the Meaning Maker, shiftin...
Apr 17, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 165
Cam takes Ash and listeners on a field trip to the land of ADHD causation, introducing listeners to Cam’s own Meaning Maker (MM). Veteran listeners will recall the challenge for ADHDers to get to causation from the Mt. Rainier Model introduced in episode 10. They will also recall Cam speaking about his Big Idea Generator (BIG). The Meaning Maker is first cousin to the BIG and is a part of everyone’s belief system - the neural system that makes sense of the world and that rationalizes choices and...
Apr 10, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 166
Following up on last week’s episode of emotional autopilot, Ash and Cam explore some of the motivations for this behavior. We do what we need to to get through our days, and emotional autopilot is a coping mechanism for managing strong emotions and the limiting stories that can accompany them. Cam shares three specific examples of limiting stories and how we can uncover the ADHD that is operating in the background. When we explore causation, we can start to poke holes in our stories that don't s...
Apr 03, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 163
Ash and Cam continue to pull the thread on getting distance from the Adrenaline Response Cycle as they explore common emotional responses when faced with uncertainty and challenge. Today they share the concept of emotional autopilot . We can approach our days and plans in an autopilot fashion expecting our day to go off without a hitch. We can also set our emotions on autopilot or conveniently set them aside - partitioning them from our day. We all know how this plays out. When things don't go a...
Mar 27, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 163
To be untethered can mean a lot of things in mental health circles. Often it is referred to as one not being grounded or tethered to reality . With respect to ADHD, it can take on a whole different meaning. Ash and Cam discuss how as coaching clients unravel themselves from the react and respond mode of the Adrenaline Response Cycle, they can find themselves in a rather uncomfortable in-between place straight out of a Dr Seuss book. This is the place of lots of awareness and little change, and a...
Mar 20, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 162
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 and influencer Rach Idowu. When Rach’s own diagnosis was disrupted due to the Covid pandemic, she took it upon herself to educate herself about ADHD. When she didn’t find what she was looking for, she started to share her own experience on social media as a black professional woman living in London. Rach discusses th...
Mar 13, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 164
Ash and Cam bring the conversation down to earth from last week’s big picture view on journey thinking and detaching from outcome. Chasing big signal items like drama, shiny objects or avoiding conflict has us beholden to the Adrenaline Response Cycle of delay, hyper-focus, crash, recovery. This is often fueled by destination thinking and attaching to outcomes. Both Ash and Cam bring in examples of where clients design their own practices or experiments to limit ARC-fueled behaviors. Cam talks a...
Mar 06, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 163
Ash and Cam continue to discuss the Adrenaline Response Cycle and ways to create some distance from ARC. The hosts revisit the concept of Journey Thinking - a cornerstone of coaching principles and a common theme on the podcast. Those of us with ADHD are prone to Destination Thinking or a propensity for attaching to specific outcomes. Both Cam and Ash share their own examples of Journey Thinking and what they did to address it. Ash brings back a popular metaphor of rocks in a foggy pond to illus...
Feb 27, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 160
Ash and Cam shift from exploring the phases of the Adrenaline Response Cycle to discussing how to become less beholden to the cycle. The hosts share that this work is central to any ADHD coaching relationship - locating motivators other than urgency and hyperfocus to get things done. Ash and Cam focus on three main discussion points in today’s episode. Building awareness around how we can rationalize our avoidant behaviors prolonging the Delay phase. Building awareness of how we can hunt for mea...
Feb 20, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 158
Asher and Cam dive deeper into the Adrenaline Respon s e Cycle , exploring the Delay phase that preceeds the Intense Activity phase. Last week they explored the Crash-Recovery phases, so the hosts thought it wise to look at the phase that so many of us with ADHD spend lots of time grappling with. In common circles this is referred to as procrastination, but hosts Cam and Ash prefer to not use this language because it doesn't get to the root of the dilemma. They share several examples of how Dela...
Feb 13, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 157
Ash and Cam continue to look at the dynamic nature of boundary creation and management by revisiting the very popular Adrenaline Response Cycle from Episode 4 . The hosts share how our boundaries naturally adjust as a result of our current mode of activity. For so many of us with ADHD our daily mode is governed by the ARC Model – when we are beholden to the urgency of the current big signal. This urgency elicits an adrenaline and dopamine response that allows us to access our task management net...
Feb 06, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 159
Asher and Cam revisit boundaries after their initial boundary discussion way back in episode 25 almost three years ago. The hosts discuss why it is so hard for those of us with ADHD to establish and maintain boundaries, and they share ways to create boundaries that can work for a brain wired for context. Ash and Cam bring an inside/out approach to boundary development by asking the listener to think more about what they are defending than what they are defending against. The podcast concept of s...
Jan 30, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 158
Ash and Cam continue to explore the roles and other factors that contribute to the dynamic that can create dysfunction and associated drama in our relationships. Cam distinguishes dysfunctional moments from the more serious dysfunctional people and relationships. If we can pause, disrupt and pivot around these moments, we can lessen the dramatic outcome. Asher introduces the idea of the executive function tax when confronted with new environmental factors. Cam brings Positive Intelligence, a new...
Jan 23, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 157
Co-Hosts Ash and Cam continue to explore relationships and the drama related to them, looking at specific ADHD situations and distinctions. They dig deeper into the Karpman model introduced last week and look at the internal factors that can contribute to external dysfunction and drama. Those of us with ADHD can focus on getting a need met to the detriment of a larger dysfunction, focused on the immediacy of the need and missing the subtle yet damaging effects of a prolonged dynamic that doesn’t...
Jan 16, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 152
Asher and Cam launch a new episode arc on relationships and ADHD. Relationships have already been covered in episodes 83-86 but the cohosts revisit relationships to explore specific ADHD challenges when we interact with the people around us. Today’s episode centers on drama. The hosts orient listeners to different factors that contribute to drama - that drama is a big signal (episodes 109-110) that can elicit a strong emotional response and challenges with emotional dysregualtion. When we explor...
Jan 09, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 153
Asher and Cam make an easy transition from last week’s episode on needs and self-actualization to a focus on ADHD and purpose. The hosts share how purpose is a product of the work that happens in the action/learning model of coaching. As clients identify and operate out of strengths and start to see themselves in the picture, they begin to get insight into their Who. A client’s Who is their sense of identity and, as Asher shares in the episode, those of us with ADHD can struggle to connect to th...
Jan 02, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 153
Asher and Cam finish their exploration of important ADHD distinctions around basic needs as they delve into self-actualization needs from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow argued that people have a need for fulfillment at this highest level. ADHD disrupts this desire in a number of ways. Never short in the creativity department, ADHD people are prone to a scattershot approach when it comes to creative expression. Distractibility, activation and sustaining effort all conspire to thwart creative...
Dec 26, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 153
Cam and Asher continue to explore important ADHD distinctions around basic needs as they delve into esteem needs on Maslow’s Hierarchy. Maslow argued that people have a need for appreciation and a recognition of their efforts. The specific ADHD distinction of self-compassion addresses the efforting aspect here and the universal question those of us with ADHD ask - Why do I not do what I know I ought to do? To live with ADHD is to live with this disconnect between a desired intention and the effo...
Dec 19, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 152
Cam and Ash continue to explore important ADHD distinctions around basic needs as they dig into belongingness and love needs. Humans will often seek out connection more so than other basic needs, especially those in the self care arena. The need for acceptance and validation can be a giant big signal for those of us with ADHD. It feels good to be at the service of others but in overextending or seeking external validation, we can lose sight of ourselves - our own authentic Who . The hosts talk a...
Dec 12, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 148
The hosts continue to explore distinguishing ADHD needs using Maslow’s Needs model as the inspiration. Cam and Ash jump right into how daily stressors can directly impact needs regarding safety and security. The challenge here is that those of us with ADHD use stressors like an urgent crisis to create enough stimulation to take action and get things done. When we react and respond our way through our day it can take a collective toll. Asher observes how different needs levels are linked together...
Dec 05, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 147
Most models, tools and processes, especially those focused on productivity, are not designed with the neurodivergent brain in mind. Often those of us with ADHD have to improvise to successfully implement a concept or a principle - think GTD or Omnifocus. Malsow’s Hierarchy of Needs model is no different in its highly rigid and linear qualities. Yet, it still is an excellent source to prompt thought and exploration around the concept of basic needs. With ADHD, needs often go unnoticed (because of...
Nov 28, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 147
This week we turn our attention to the role of needs with respect to our own unique lived experience. Needs often are overlooked when it comes to ADHD primarily because of the very nature of needs. They operate often quietly in the background, and when they do make their presence known they show up as stressors. Needs are those things that make functioning sustainable. When needs go unattended they turn into stressors. Those of us with ADHD use stressors to get things done, and we often walk a f...
Nov 21, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 148
Today Shelly shares very personal news. Shelly, living as a woman for 38 years, has come out as a transgender man. Meet Asher, listeners. Asher shares with Cam his journey to a more authentic life that fits. He discusses when one’s context changes almost overnight, sharing the dysphoria he felt living as a woman and reaching a pivotal galaxy-brain moment when disparate thoughts and feelings gelled into a new truth. Coincidentally, this is Transgender Awareness Week. Asher reveals the challenges ...
Nov 14, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 147
We continue our theme on race and ADHD as we welcome men's mental health advocate John Hazelwood to Translating ADHD. A nuclear engineer by day, in his spare time John advocates for men’s mental health and runs a 13,000 member support group for men with fellow advocate and ADHD coach Marc Almodovar (a PoC Voices guest in episode 136). In this episode, John speaks about his own challenges growing up as a Black man with ADHD in a community wary of mental health issues. John shares how he was rejec...
Nov 07, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 143
We continue our theme on race and ADHD as we welcome fellow ADHD coach and psychotherapist Inger Shaye Colzie back to Translating ADHD. Inger Shaye helped Shelly and Cam kick off the PoC Voices series back in the summer of 2020. Inger Shaye shares how a lack of representation at the 2019 Annual ADHD Conference inspired her to become a coach herself and also inspired her to start The ADHD Black Professionals Alliance - an organization committed to addressing ADHD and mental health issues in the B...
Oct 31, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 141
The show pivots this week to explore race and culture and how they both inform one’s own lived experience. Shelly and Cam welcome fellow ADHD coach and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) advocate Sudhita Kasturi to the show. Similar to the show’s PoC Voices series, the hosts delve into the South Asian-ADHD experience with Sudhita as their guide. Sudhita shares her own story of growing up in India with undiagnosed ADHD - the challenges she faced and the surprising sources of support and unders...
Oct 24, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 140
Have you ever noticed being sensitive to too much noise or visual stimuli? Last week the hosts shared the concept of processing modalities as both strengths and challenges. This week they continue to look at modalities but introduce the concept of a sensitivity scale in addition to the strength scale. Modalities are the modes in which we prefer to process information and build knowledge. For years organizer coach Denslow Brown observed that her clients demonstrated modal preferences when it came...
Oct 17, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 140
Shelly and Cam continue to explore the ‘your context matters’ theme by looking at how modalities can inform an individual’s lived experience. Processing modalities, sometimes referred to as learning styles, are preferences we exhibit, often associated with physical senses like visual, auditory and verbal or additional areas like intuition and emotion. Much has been written about modalities including Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Recently, advances in brain imaging have calle...
Oct 10, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 142
