Parenting is hard. Running a business is hard. Running a business AND parenting is even harder. Parenting while neurodivergent, and raising neurodivergent children, is another level altogether! It often feels like trying to juggle chainsaws in a hurricane. If you know this feeling, this episode is for you!
In this powerful and deeply honest conversation, I am joined by ADHD coach Sarah West to talk about diagnoses, school battles, perimenopause, low-demand parenting, and what it really means to raise children who don’t fit the mould - while unlearning everything you were taught about being a “good” parent along the way.
Sarah brings a beautiful combination of lived experience, clinical insight, and fierce mama-bear advocacy, and this episode will resonate with anyone who has ever thought: “Is it just us?” (spoiler: it’s not.)
We talk about:
✨ What led Sarah from a 20-year nursing career to ADHD coaching
✨ Navigating ADHD, autism, perimenopause, and burnout simultaneously
✨ The long road to her daughters’ diagnoses and the guilt that comes with “not knowing sooner”
✨ Why trusting your parental instincts matters more than pleasing professionals (or anyone else)
✨ The importance of curiosity in parenting neurodivergent kids
✨ Low-demand parenting, reducing conflict, and choosing connection over compliance
✨ Rewriting inherited parenting patterns and modelling emotional self-acceptance
✨ How school systems misunderstand behaviour and what it’s actually communicating
Magic moments to take away
💬 “Once you know what you’re dealing with, everything shifts. Not because the struggle disappears, but because you finally have language for it.”
💬 “My job is her mental health, not cross-country on a cold Tuesday.”
💬 “Everything we do gives our children permission to do the same.”
💬 “I’m done earning rest. Now I ask: have I rested enough to do?”
💬 “Let them be who they are, not who society tells you they should be.”
Whether you’re a neurodivergent parent, raising neurodivergent kids, or simply trying to break generational patterns and do things differently, this episode is equal parts validating and empowering. You’ll walk away with practical ideas, big exhale moments, and the reminder that you are not alone in this.
Find out more about Sarah West:
🌐 Website: www.sarahwest-adhd.com
📧 Email: hello@sarahwest-adhd.com
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-west-adhd/