The Neurodivergent Experience

Fine. Stressed. Overwhelmed. We use these words every day, but they can conceal far more than they reveal. Anger and disappointment may feel remarkably similar in the body, yet one may point towards perceived injustice while the other emerges from an unmet expectation. If we cannot recognise the difference, we may reach for entirely the wrong response. In this episode, Ashley begins a new season of Mindful Mondays devoted to exploring the inner toolkit: the many psychological ideas, modalities and practices that can help us understand and support ourselves more deeply. Drawing on the work of Yale psychologist and emotional-intelligence researcher Dr Marc Brackett, Ashley explores what emotional intelligence actually means - not permanent calmness, relentless positivity or talking about our feelings all day, but learning to recognise, understand and respond wisely to the information our emotions carry. Through her Aware, Allow, Align framework, she considers emotional granularity, affect labelling and the space between feeling and action. What changes when we stop treating anxiety as an intruder? How can allowing a feeling differ from handing it control? And how might alignment help us move from automatic reaction towards a more conscious response? Ashley also brings essential Neurodivergent Nuance to alexithymia, masking, overload and delayed emotional processing - because sometimes the body knows that something is happening long before the words arrive. The episode closes with a traditional Yoga Nidra for emotional grounding, inviting you to move awareness through the body, cultivate the witness and meet whatever is present with a little more compassion and choice. Practise with Ashley on Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy Follow Mindful Mondays with Ashley Dupuy: https://mindfulmondayswithashleydupuy.buzzsprout.com Visit Ashley’s website: https://www.integrativeiom.co.uk Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Neurodivergent Experience , Jordan James and Simon Scott open up about imposter syndrome — the belief that you’re never good enough, never qualified enough, and that one day everyone will “figure you out.” With humour and honesty, they share personal stories of childhood bullying, masking, perfectionism and self-doubt, and how growing up misunderstood leaves many autistic and ADHD adults feeling like their achievements aren’t real. From turning down opportunities to assuming every success is luck, they explore why confidence is so difficult for neurodivergent minds. They discuss how imposter syndrome shows up in work, relationships, creativity and social media — and how therapy, self-compassion and supportive people can slowly rewrite the story. This is a raw, validating conversation for anyone who has ever worked twice as hard and still felt like a fraud. If you struggle to believe in yourself, this episode is proof that you’re not alone — and that healing is possible. Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After several years in which illness and healing necessarily made her world smaller, Ashley is beginning to venture out again - and discovering how readily the outer world begins speaking to the inner one when we are available to encounter it. In this episode, two recent experiences become unexpected lessons in transformation and creative expression. At a natural soapmaking workshop led by her friend Tanya Anderson of Lovely Greens, Ashley learns how carefully measured oils and caustic soda undergo saponification to become something entirely new. The process offers a powerful metaphor for the difficult material of our own lives - but also raises an important distinction: harmful experiences do not deserve credit for the meaning we may eventually create from them. The alchemy belongs to us. A week later, a visit to Lancaster Castle leads to an unforgettable encounter with sculptor Alan Ward inside his working studio. Among clay figures, stone carvings and hidden details known only to the artist, another insight emerges: Not everything hidden is a mask. Some things are private because they are precious. Ashley explores why authentic expression does not require complete exposure, what this means for neurodivergent unmasking, and how creativity can give form to experiences that do not always arrive through words. Along the way, she considers the neuroscience of creative thought, the relationship between spontaneous imagination and conscious discernment, and the Neurodivergent Nuance of creativity when perfectionism, sensory needs or executive dysfunction make “just create” feel like another demand. There is also a little Bite-Sized Buddhism, exploring karma not as cosmic reward or punishment, but as intentional participation in what becomes possible. The episode closes with Sculpting the Clouds, a gentle guided visualisation in which each exhaled breath shapes the clouds overhead into small, temporary works of art - giving the inner world space to become visible without needing to be explained. Find more of Ashley’s meditations, Yoga Nidras, nervous-system practices and Bedtime Alchemy sleep stories on Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy Discover more about Ashley’s work: https://www.integrativeiom.co.uk Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a re-run episode from 2024. Society's perspective on autism has shifted, but there is still work to be done to combat misinformation and stigma. In this episode, Jordan James and Simon Scott interview Steve Silberman, the author of NeuroTribes. They discuss the impact of Silberman's book on the neurodivergent community and the importance of embracing neurodiversity. They delve into the history of autism and the misconceptions surrounding Hans Asperger, the legacy of autism, the shift in society's perspective on autism and the importance of finding support within the neurodivergent community. Silberman shares his perspective on the medical model of autism and we explore the impact of the book 'NeuroTribes' in creating advocates for neurodiversity, the concept of the autism spectrum, the need for more frequent and dedicated opportunities for autistic children to engage in their special interests, as these interests can lead to meaningful and successful lives. Steve Silberman: Award-winning science writer, author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity (Avery 2015). Website: https://www.stevesilberman.com/ Book: NeuroTribes Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes another person’s courage, creativity or refusal to remain inside one identity awakens something that was already waiting within us. After attending an evening in conversation with Suzy Eddie Izzard, Ashley reflects on inspiration, sideways thinking and the confidence we sometimes borrow before we can fully experience it as our own. She returns to a moment in the late 1990s when Suzy’s comedy gave her permission to discover her own silliness - and asks what the people who inspire us may be helping us recognise within ourselves. Moving from Suzy’s many creative “citadels” to Michael Jordan’s willingness to become a beginner again, this episode explores novelty and neuroplasticity, beginner’s mind and Steven Pressfield’s concept of Resistance. It also brings some essential Neurodivergent Nuance: not every feeling of resistance means we are afraid of our potential. Sometimes it is burnout, pain, sensory overload, executive dysfunction or a sign that we need more support. How can we tell the difference between a protective warning and an old prediction about what might happen if we allow ourselves to be seen trying? Through Aware, Allow, Align and From Mask to Map, Ashley explores how we can honour the part that hesitates while allowing another truth to exist beside it: we can feel frightened, unfinished or uncertain - and still take one honest step towards what matters. The episode closes with a neuroscience-informed guided practice, The Future Self Who Has Already Begun, inspired by Dr Tara Swart’s perspective-shifting future-self exercise. You do not need confidence for the whole road. You need only enough to begin. Explore Ashley’s meditations, Yoga Nidras, nervous-system practices, courses and Bedtime Alchemy sleep stories on Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy Find out more about Ashley’s work: https://www.integrativeiom.co.uk Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Mindful Mondays, we continue our exploration of the senses by turning toward something deeply personal and often overlooked: touch and movement. For many neurodivergent and highly sensitive people, the body can feel confusing, overwhelming, or even unsafe at times. And yet, movement and touch are not optional extras - they are fundamental ways the nervous system orients, regulates, and makes sense of the world. In this episode, Ashley explores: * How touch can regulate the nervous system - from weighted blankets to co-regulation * Why movement is one of the most powerful (and underrated) forms of medicine * The reality of sensory sensitivities - from textures and hugs to proprioception and coordination * The overlap between neurodivergence and chronic conditions like hypermobility and Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome * Why “clumsiness,” rushing, and discomfort in the body are not personal failings - but nervous system information * How small, gentle movements can help shift both physical and emotional stuckness This episode also includes a guided practice to help you reconnect with your body through tiny, accessible movements and gentle awareness, meeting yourself with curiosity rather than pressure. Movement doesn’t have to be intense to be meaningful. Touch doesn’t have to be complicated to be regulating. Sometimes, the smallest shift is enough to remind your system: You are here. You exist. You belong to this moment. If you’d like to explore this work more deeply, Ashley is currently accepting expressions of interest for a final round of one-to-one journeys (May–July), as well as upcoming group coaching programmes. 📩 integrativeiom@gmail.com More details will be available soon at: 🌐 www.integrativeiom.co.uk If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, share, and leave a review — it helps this work reach more people who need it. And remember… We’re all just walking each other home. Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Reddit Stories episode, Jordan and Simon dive into three stories about autism, relationships, diagnosis and what happens when understanding neurodivergence collides with the expectations of the people around us. First, an autistic man asks how he can explain to his girlfriend that his autism isn't something he can simply change. As the story unfolds through its updates, Jordan and Simon discuss masking, communication, compromise in relationships and the difference between asking a partner to work on their behaviour and expecting them to fundamentally change who they are. Next, a 29-year-old woman says she's divorcing her husband because he has autism and wants to know how she can do it respectfully. Jordan and Simon unpack what's really behind that statement, the realities of neurodivergent relationships, compatibility, communication and why sometimes a relationship ending isn't necessarily about autism itself. Finally, an 18-year-old discovers that her parents withheld an autism diagnosis from her for 15 years after rejecting the original assessment she received as a child. Jordan and Simon discuss parents seeking second opinions, growing up without answers, the impact of discovering a diagnosis years later and why knowing you're autistic can provide important context for a lifetime of feeling different. The stories discussed in this episode are public Reddit posts. Titles may be shortened for readability, and all opinions expressed are those of the original posters. How Do I Explain to My Girlfriend That My Autism Isn't Something I Can Change? I'm Divorcing My Husband Because He Has Autism. How Can I Do It Respectfully? My Parents Withheld a Diagnosis From Me for 15 Years Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Mindful Mondays, Ashley explores something we live within every day, yet rarely stop to consider: light. Light shapes far more than our ability to see. It influences our sleep, mood, hormones, nervous system regulation, and overall wellbeing. For neurodivergent people especially, light can sometimes feel overwhelming or dysregulating - but when we understand how it works, it can also become a powerful ally for health and balance. In this episode we explore: * How light affects the nervous system and circadian rhythms * Why neurodivergent brains often experience light differently * The difference between nourishing light and overstimulating light * Simple ways to work with light to support sleep, mood and sensory balance * A guided meditation to reconnect with the light within you Light isn’t just something that happens to us - it’s something we can learn to notice, shape, and work with in ways that support our bodies and our lives. If you’d like to learn more about Ashley’s work or enquire about her upcoming programmes, you can get in touch at: integrativeiom@gmail.com More details about Ashley’s work will also be appearing soon on her website. www.integrativeiom.co.uk If you enjoyed this episode, please consider following the podcast and sharing it with someone who might benefit from a moment of calm. And remember… We’re all just walking each other home. Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Reddit Stories episode, Jordan and Simon discuss three neurodivergent dilemmas involving boundaries, brutal honesty, family expectations and when neurodivergence explains behaviour — but doesn't necessarily excuse it. First, someone kicks their friend's autistic friend out of their home after they repeatedly ignore boundaries, burp in their face and start handling their expensive hearing aids without permission. Jordan and Simon discuss autism and social cues, respecting personal space, medical devices, direct communication and the difference between struggling to recognise an unspoken social rule and ignoring someone who has explicitly told you to stop. Next, a new mum clashes with her 19-year-old neurodivergent sister-in-law after being told that her six-month-old baby isn't actually that cute. When the sister-in-law becomes determined to make her admit it, Jordan and Simon discuss autistic bluntness, honesty versus unnecessary rudeness, learning social conventions, family members excusing behaviour because of neurodivergence and why sometimes you really don't need to say the thing you're thinking. Finally, a 20-year-old woman is told by her father that if he dies, she should take responsibility for raising her five-year-old autistic brother — despite his mother still being perfectly capable of caring for him. Jordan and Simon explore the pressure placed on siblings of disabled children, parental expectations, guilt, independence and whether being family means accepting a responsibility you never chose. The stories discussed in this episode are public Reddit posts. Titles may be shortened for readability, and all opinions expressed are those of the original posters. • AITAH for kicking out my friend's neurodivergent friend, for what I felt was ignoring boundaries and touching my most personal stuff? • AITA for telling my parents that if they died right now I would not take in my autistic little brother? • AITA for being harsh with my neurodivergent SIL? Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sound is one of the fastest, most powerful systems in the human brain. It can soothe, destabilise, regulate, overwhelm - and, when used intentionally, it can become a profound tool for nervous system support. In this episode of Mindful Mondays, Ashley explores the neuroscience and lived experience of sound for neurodivergent minds. From music and rhythm as ancient emotional language, to binaural beats and brainwave states, humming and vagus nerve activation, ASMR, pink noise, and the surprising science behind tinnitus and musical ear syndrome. We also talk honestly about misophonia, loud noise sensitivity, and the cocktail party effect - and why regulation, not exposure, is the key. The episode closes with a guided theta journey using Alexander Voloshin of Healing Meditation Music's theta binaural beats - an immersive sound experience designed to gently support deep rest, insight, and recalibration. If sound has ever felt like too much - or not enough - this episode will help you understand why, and how to work with it. Headphones recommended. Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Reddit Stories episode, Jordan and Simon discuss three neurodivergent dilemmas shared by the online community. They begin with a woman at breaking point after her husband stops taking his ADHD medication and insists that ADHD is his “superpower” — while his impulsive spending, emotional outbursts and inability to manage everyday responsibilities leave her carrying the household. Jordan and Simon discuss ADHD medication, emotional regulation, burnout, accountability, relationships and the difference between accepting neurodivergence and refusing support. Next, a father is furious after his wife explains the reality of death to their eight-year-old autistic son, leaving him terrified by the idea that life eventually ends. Jordan and Simon explore autism, childhood anxiety, literal thinking, religion, death, parenting neurodivergent children and whether protecting children from difficult subjects can sometimes make those subjects even scarier. Finally, someone reaches breaking point with a friend who has self-diagnosed ADHD but refuses to seek a professional diagnosis, while repeatedly using ADHD to explain their behaviour. Jordan and Simon discuss self-identification, diagnosis, ADHD stigma, medication, accountability and why understanding the reasons behind our behaviour doesn't necessarily remove responsibility for it. *The stories discussed in this episode are public Reddit posts. Titles may be shortened for readability, and all opinions expressed are those of the original posters. • AITA for refusing to help my ADHD husband until he gets treatment? • AIO: Upset at my wife because she told our 8 year old autistic kid the reality of dying. • AITA for finally breaking and telling my friend she probably doesn’t have ADHD? Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if balance is not a fixed point we finally reach, but a living relationship with what is happening? In this episode of Mindful Mondays, Ashley explores the space between holding on and letting go, certainty and possibility, roots and wings. Beginning with the image of a surfer responding to the movement of a wave, she asks what changes when we stop searching for the permanently correct position and begin listening for what this moment actually requires. Today’s Bite-Sized Buddhism wanders next door into Taoism through the ancient story of the Chinese farmer and his enduring response to apparent fortune and misfortune: “Maybe.” Alongside Alan Watts’s backwards law, the story invites us to leave a little room around the meanings we assign while life is still unfolding. With essential Neurodivergent Nuance, Ashley considers why routine, predictability and clear answers may be genuine forms of nervous-system support - and why flexibility should never become another demand to override ourselves. Drawing upon David Eagleman’s image of roots and wings, Ido Portal’s “wild and wise,” emerging neuroscience around creativity, Carl Jung’s transcendent function and Mark Nepo’s reflections on fragility and resilience, the episode explores the human capacities that appear to oppose one another but may actually need each other. Even Cookie Monster makes an appearance as an unlikely Taoist philosopher. The episode closes with a guided practice, Roots and Wings. Through the natural movement of the breath, you will be invited to honour the truth already present within you while making room for another truth to exist beside it. Not everything must be resolved today. Sometimes we need only enough grounding to remain - and enough freedom to move. Practise with Ashley on Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy Explore From Mask to Map and more: https://www.integrativeiom.co.uk Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s Reddit Stories episode, Jordan and Simon do things a little differently, turning to some of Reddit’s funniest and most wholesome pet stories after Jordan shares the sad news that his beloved Sheepadoodle, Milo, has passed away. First, a woman who deliberately got a cat because she doesn’t like dogs discovers that her new companion apparently missed the memo and behaves exactly like one. From constant licking to greeting people at the door, Jordan and Simon talk about the weird personalities our pets develop, sensory sensitivities around animals, misophonia and why neurodivergent relationships with pets can be so powerful. Then, a husband asks whether he was wrong to veto his wife’s choice of name for their new Golden Retriever: "Bitch". What follows is a spectacular detour through inappropriate pet names, questionable baby names, the strange nicknames we give our animals and whether telling someone they can name a dog “anything they want” really means anything . Next, a woman accidentally trains her dog Molly to respond almost exclusively to the nickname "Poopypants". Jordan and Simon discuss the ridiculous language we develop around our pets, echolalia, quotes that become permanent parts of our vocabulary and the mildly embarrassing consequences when a private nickname has to be shouted in public. Finally, a cat owner reveals the strange bedtime ritual her boyfriend has developed with his cat Magoo: letting him lick the inside of his mouth. Jordan and Simon attempt to understand why anyone would willingly participate in this arrangement, before the conversation descends into cats stealing food, questionable animal hygiene, Robin Hood impressions and general chaos. *The stories discussed in this episode are public Reddit posts. Titles may be shortened for readability, and all opinions expressed are those of the original posters. • I got a cat because I don’t like dogs and my cat acts like a dog • AITA for not letting my wife name our dog something stupid? • TIFU calling my dog by a not very mature pet name • TIFU by giving my dog unintentionally the best damn day of his life • TIFU by accidentally teaching my boyfriend’s cat that love means shoving her foot in your mouth • TIFU by petting a dog during a meeting Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Reddit Stories episode, Jordan and Simon discuss four neurodivergent dilemmas shared by the online community. They begin with a disabled woman whose parents complain about having to drive her places despite doctors advising her not to drive. Jordan and Simon discuss autism, ADHD, disability, independence, family expectations and the difficult balance between needing support and finding ways to build autonomy. Next, a man considers ending a new relationship after the woman he's dating reveals she has a cognitive disability. They explore disability and dating, assumptions about someone's capabilities, hyperfixation, emotional intensity, guilt, masking and whether fear about becoming someone's carer is enough reason to walk away. Then, a drunken student pretends to have a speech impediment after a doorman refuses to let him back into a bar to retrieve his keys and student ID. Jordan and Simon debate impulsivity, disability as an excuse, drunken decision-making and whether the lie was justified when it ultimately got him his belongings back. Finally, an autistic man becomes overwhelmed and leaves a family dinner in tears after accidentally spilling his drink. Jordan and Simon discuss autistic overwhelm, shutdowns, RSD, catastrophising, masking, social expectations and how changing the environment can make meeting a partner's family far more manageable. *The stories discussed in this episode are public Reddit posts. Titles may be shortened for readability, and all opinions expressed are those of the original posters. • AITA I told my parents they birthed a disabled child so they just have to live with it. • I (25M) matched with a woman (24F) who later told me she has a cognitive disability • AITA for pretending to have a speech impediment? • My(18F) boyfriend (19M) (has autism) had a breakdown when we are at my family's house for dinner. My parents are understanding but he feels to nervous to face them again Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week marks one full year of Mindful Mondays! And to celebrate, we're going somewhere a little adventurous: the growing research into psychedelics, neuroplasticity, and what it might mean for neurodivergent minds. Ashley explores the idea of a "slow psychedelic" - how From Mask to Map's substance-free process can offer a slower, more integrated version of the revelation psychedelics can provide in a single night. Plus: emerging research on psychedelics and neurodivergence (including autism and ADHD), a few honest words on due diligence, and a brand-new guided practice, Meeting What You Carry. In this episode: - The origin of the word "psychedelic" - and the more poetic meaning behind its Greek roots - Why psychedelic experiences can feel so revealing, and what neuroscience says about prediction, filtering, and neuroplasticity - The "slow psychedelic": how From Mask to Map's Aware, Allow, Align process works without substances - What's genuinely known so far about psychedelics and neurodivergence, including autism and ADHD research - A few honest words on due diligence and care - A guided practice: Meeting What You Carry Links & resources: From Mask to Map - founding cohort begins 15 September, ten places: integrativeiom.co.uk/from-mask-to-map Ashley's psychedelic and mental-health series on Tenacious Be: https://youtu.be/HKrEN6-3-r4?si=F9687B3CbrsBOcH7 - the show itself is also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts Next week: revisiting a favourite from the archive - Episode 24, How Gratitude Rewires the Neurodivergent Brain Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Neurodivergent Experience, Jordan and Simon are joined by the show’s in-house therapist and Mindful Mondays host Ashley Dupuy for four Reddit stories exploring therapy, parenting, disability, neurodivergence and the complicated line between support and autonomy. First, a father questions why his teenage daughter needs to continue therapy when, in his eyes, she should have already dealt with her trauma. The conversation explores why healing doesn’t work to somebody else’s timetable, the importance of trusting the therapeutic process, and what happens when financial concerns collide with a young person asking for help. Then, a parent wonders whether speech therapy is really worth paying for when their fast-talking nine-year-old can technically be understood. Jordan, Simon and Ashley discuss communication differences, the danger of defining support purely around whether other people find someone inconvenient, and why “there’s nothing wrong with her” doesn’t necessarily mean there’s nothing she could benefit from support with. The third story introduces a much more complicated question: can too much support hold a neurodivergent child back? A parent declines an IEP for their six-year-old autistic daughter after feeling that her previous school was “coddling” her. The discussion looks at independence versus accommodation, learned helplessness, individualised support, parental fear about the future and why the answer doesn’t have to be either support them with everything or make them cope alone . Finally, the conversation turns to a raw TrueOffMyChest post from a parent who loves her significantly disabled son but hates what their lives have become. It opens up a difficult discussion around caregiver exhaustion, grief, resentment, guilt and the uncomfortable feelings parents and carers may experience but feel they are never allowed to say aloud. Plus, Ashley introduces From Mask to Map , her new eight-week programme exploring late neurodivergent discovery, identity, masking, nervous-system regulation and finding out who you are underneath the roles you’ve learned to play. https://www.integrativeiom.co.uk/from-mask-to-map *The stories discussed in this episode are public Reddit posts. Titles may be shortened for readability, and all opinions expressed are those of the original posters. • AITA for telling my daughter to limit her therapy sessions • AITA for not wanting to waste money on speech therapy for my daughter • AITA for declining an IEP for my child? • My son has significant disabilities, and I hate that this is my life Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We please. We rescue. We perform. We hold everything together - until sometimes we disappear or reach for escape. But what if these familiar responses are not fixed identities? What if they are intelligent adaptations: ways we learned to secure safety, belonging, continuity or relief? Following last week’s introduction to From Mask to Map, Ashley explores the Nine Adaptation Patterns at the heart of this developing body of work: the Pleaser, Rescuer, Performer, Chameleon, Strong One, Perfectionist, Controller, Vanisher and Escaper. Moving through the different ways we reach towards belonging, attempt to hold ourselves and the world together, or create distance from overwhelming intensity, Ashley considers the protective purpose, genuine strengths and present-day costs carried within each pattern. These are not diagnoses, personality types or nine new boxes in which to place ourselves. With careful attention to Neurodivergent Nuance, Ashley explores why the behaviour alone cannot reveal the whole pattern. Structure may be an essential accommodation rather than control. Solitude may be restoration rather than disappearance. Social fluency may be joyful expression rather than compulsory performance. What matters is the job the behaviour is performing, the freedom we have around it and the price we may now be paying. Ashley also returns to the work of Jungian analyst Dr James Hollis and his question of what, beyond survival, may be seeking expression through us as meaning and purpose. Through recollection, Shakespeare’s “ravelled sleave of care” and the image of the Weaver, the episode becomes an invitation to gather every thread of our experience without mistaking any single pattern for the whole design. The episode closes with a brief guided practice, The Weaver and the Thread. The complete guided exploration of the Nine Adaptation Patterns - including discovering your own configuration and mapping the way forward - will be exclusive to the founding From Mask to Map group coaching and hypnotherapy cohort beginning on 15 September. The programme is fully online, limited to ten people and available worldwide, with replays provided for those unable to attend live. Spaces are still available. Visit integrativeiom.co.uk/from-mask-to-map for full details. Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Reddit Stories episode, Jordan and Simon unpack another selection of dilemmas involving autism, ADHD, relationships and the realities of being neurodivergent. They begin with a parent who invites an entire class to her son's birthday party — except for one autistic child. Jordan and Simon discuss exclusion, ableism, reasonable accommodations and the lasting impact of being the child who is always left out. Next, they explore another neurodivergent dilemma and the assumptions people make about behaviour, asking where personal responsibility ends and understanding someone's disability begins. The conversation then turns to the complicated ways neurodivergent traits can be interpreted by the people around us, including executive dysfunction, forgetfulness and behaviours that can easily be mistaken for laziness or a lack of care. Finally, a woman takes to Reddit to describe her husband as stupid, prompting a discussion about ADHD, dyslexia, executive dysfunction, relationships, resentment and what happens when the person you love doesn't understand the way your brain works. *The stories discussed in this episode are public Reddit posts. Titles may be shortened for readability, and all opinions expressed are those of the original posters. • AITA for inviting my sons entire class except for one child because of his autism? • AITA for disagreeing with my daughter’s ADHD diagnosis? • My speech disability has ruined my life and I think I will never amount to anything. • My husband is so dumb and I think I need to leave him because of it Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Ashley explores the ideas that gave rise to From Mask to Map: her developing body of work, book and coaching cohort for late-discovered neurodivergent adults. Drawing on Dr Andrew Huberman’s conversation with Jungian analyst Dr James Hollis, she considers meaning, purpose and the deeper intelligence within us that may be continually trying to bring us back into relationship with ourselves. She also returns to the question of State or Trait? - and asks what changes when we stop assuming that every familiar response reveals something fixed about who we are. Ashley revisits the Transactional Analysis Drivers, a framework that remains immensely valuable within her work, while explaining why something more was needed to reflect the Neurodivergent Nuance of lived experience. Through six years of research, client work and personal exploration, the Nine Adaptation Patterns began to emerge - not as diagnoses, labels or another set of boxes, but as a compassionate way of recognising the protective roles we may have mistaken for identity. This episode introduces the patterns and tells the story of how they came into being. Next week, we will meet all nine more fully. The episode closes with a short guided practice, The Part That Learned the Way - an invitation to approach one of your adaptations with curiosity rather than judgement, honour the intelligence within it and begin reading the survival directions written for earlier terrain. Ashley’s eight-week From Mask to Map group coaching programme begins on 15 September 2026 and is limited to ten people. Find out more at integrativeiom.co.uk. Our Sponsors: 🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy 🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com 🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and all major platforms. 🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com 🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.