SEND Parenting Podcast

What happens when a child spends their entire life being told they are “too sensitive,” “not trying hard enough,” or that they “have so much potential”… while secretly struggling just to cope?
In this deeply moving and honest conversation, Dr. Olivia Kessel is joined by author and illustrator Eliza Fricker to explore the hidden reality of growing up as an undiagnosed autistic girl. Inspired by Eliza’s powerful new book, Could Try Harder, this episode unpacks the emotional cost of masking, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and constantly feeling “different” in a world that misunderstands neurodiverse girls. 
Together, Dr. Olivia and Eliza discuss:
 ✨ The subtle signs of autism in girls that are so often missed
 ✨ The exhausting reality of masking and living behind a “coping” facade
 ✨ How phrases like “everyone else manages it” shape identity and self-worth
 ✨ Why neurodiverse girls are frequently overlooked in schools and families
 ✨ The grief, relief, and self-compassion that can come with late diagnosis
 ✨ How parents can better support children who are already trying their absolute best
This episode is a powerful reminder that what looks like “not trying” is often a child trying harder than anyone can see. It is a conversation filled with compassion, insight, humour, and hope for parents, educators, and late-diagnosed women alike. 
📚 Could Try Harder by Eliza Fricker is available now.
💛 If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it.
📚 New Book — Out May 7  👉 Order your copy
Beyond the Label: Empowering Parents of ADHD Girls
A powerful blend of science and lived experience to help you truly understand and support your daughter.
💬 Connect with Us
🌱 Join our SEND Parenting Private WhatsApp Community — a free, safe, welcoming space to share, learn, and feel supported by parents who truly understand the realities of neurodiverse family life.
⚡ Ready to go deeper?
Become part of the ADHD Warrior Mum’s Membership — a paid membership space with group coaching with Dr Olivia, access to masterclasses with neurodiverse experts, monthly self-care and real connection. You don't have to navigate this journey alone.
📩 Contact Me
If you w...

Today is a special one. It is publication day for my debut book, Beyond the Label: Empowering Parents of ADHD Girls, and I wanted to mark it by recording something just for you.
In this episode I share the things I wish someone had told me the day we got Alexandra's diagnosis. Why ADHD is so consistently missed in girls, and what it actually looks like in the home rather than the classroom. The one symptom that causes more chaos in families than almost anything else, and that does not even appear on the diagnostic checklist. The piece of neuroscience that changed the way I parent completely. And the four things that have made the biggest, most tangible difference for our family.
This is not a clinical overview. It is what I know now, after years of living it, researching it, and supporting hundreds of families through it.
Beyond the Label is available everywhere books are sold from today. The link is below. And if you are looking for a community of parents who truly get it, details of the ADHD Warrior Mums membership are in the links too.
You are not alone in this. You never were.
📚 New Book — Out May 7  👉 Order your copy
Beyond the Label: Empowering Parents of ADHD Girls
A powerful blend of science and lived experience to help you truly understand and support your daughter.
💬 Connect with Us
🌱 Join our SEND Parenting Private WhatsApp Community — a free, safe, welcoming space to share, learn, and feel supported by parents who truly understand the realities of neurodiverse family life.
⚡ Ready to go deeper?
Become part of the ADHD Warrior Mum’s Membership — a paid membership space with group coaching with Dr Olivia, access to masterclasses with neurodiverse experts, monthly self-care and real connection. You don't have to navigate this journey alone.
📩 Contact Me
If you w...

Following her recent Daily Mail feature, Dr Olivia Kessel opens up about one of the most misunderstood and most common aspects of ADHD: emotional dysregulation and flash anger.
In this honest and practical episode, Olivia explores why emotional dysregulation isn't in the ADHD diagnostic criteria and why that matters. She unpacks the neuroscience behind flash anger and why reasoning in the moment makes things worse. She also goes into the hidden triggers behind explosions at home, including sleep deprivation, masking at school, hormonal cycles, hunger, transitions, and the "school angel, home devil" pattern so many parents recognise. And she shares the practical tools that transformed daily life in their household.
Plus, messages from the community, including parents who felt, for the first time, that their experience was finally being reflected back to them.
If you have ever felt trapped, ashamed, or utterly alone in what is happening behind your closed front door, this episode is for you.
📚 New Book — Out May 7  👉 Order your copy
Beyond the Label: Empowering Parents of ADHD Girls
A powerful blend of science and lived experience to help you truly understand and support your daughter.
💬 Connect with Us
🌱 Join our SEND Parenting Private WhatsApp Community — a free, safe, welcoming space to share, learn, and feel supported by parents who truly understand the realities of neurodiverse family life.
⚡ Ready to go deeper?
Become part of the ADHD Warrior Mum’s Membership — a paid membership space with group coaching with Dr Olivia, access to masterclasses with neurodiverse experts, monthly self-care and real connection. You don't have to navigate this journey alone.
📩 Contact Me
If you w...

Can I be honest with you for a moment?
For so many parents, the hardest part of the SEND journey is not the diagnosis…

 It is the paperwork.
The forms. The reports. The endless documents.
 The fear of getting it wrong.
And for many, that fear becomes so big that they never even make it to tribunal, despite the fact that 95% of cases that get there are decided in favour of families.
In this episode, I am joined by Stevie Hayes, founder of Bundle Creator—a tool designed to simplify one of the most overwhelming parts of the EHCP journey.
We talk about:
 Why the EHCP and tribunal process feels so complex (and why that is not your fault) 
 The hidden “gatekeeping” role of paperwork that stops families in their tracks 
 How to break the process down into manageable, bite-sized steps 
 The shocking statistic that fewer than 10% of families reach tribunal 
 Practical ways to organise evidence, meet deadlines, and feel more in control 
 How technology can support neurodivergent parents to navigate a non-neuroaffirming system 
This is not about pretending the system is easy.
 It is about giving you the tools to face it with clarity, confidence, and support.
Because you are not failing the system.
 The system has not been built for you.
And when we change how we approach it, everything begins to shift.
 If you have ever felt overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure where to start, this episode is for you.
Stevie Hayes: [email protected]
Click here for SEND Bundle
The NeuroDiverse toolbox - YouTube

**The local authority is responsible for submitting any bundle to a SEND Tribunal. Parents are best prepared when they understand the constraints and can submit their evidence as a partially completed bundle to the local authority. 
   
📚 New Book — Out May 7  👉 Order your copy
Beyond the Label: Empowering Parents of ADHD Girls
A powerful blend of science and lived experience to help you truly understand and support your daughter.
💬 Connect with Us
🌱 Join our SEND Parenting Private WhatsApp Community — a free, safe, welcoming space to share, learn, and feel supported by parents who truly understand the realities of neurodiverse family life.
⚡ Ready to go deeper?
Become part of the ADHD Warrior Mum’s Membership — a paid membership space with group coaching with Dr Olivia, access to masterclasses with neurodiverse experts, monthly self-care and real connection. You don't have to navigate this journey alone.
📩 Contact Me
If you w...

Easter holidays can feel like a breaking point for many ADHD mums.
Less structure. More demands. And that quiet, heavy loneliness that no one else seems to understand.
In this deeply honest solo episode, Dr. Olivia shares what came up again and again in her group coaching this week:
 👉 the invisible load
 👉 the emotional exhaustion
 👉 and the feeling of doing it all alone
If you are heading into the holidays feeling overwhelmed, stretched, or already running on empty… this episode is for you.
This is not about perfect routines or getting it “right.”
 This is about something far more important:
Not losing yourself in the process.
Inside this episode, you will find:
 Why parenting a neurodiverse child can feel so relentless (and why it is not your fault) 
 The hidden “invisible load” so many mums are carrying 
 A powerful mindset shift to take the pressure off this holiday period 
 One simple daily anchor to help you reconnect with yourself 
 A short guided meditation to calm your nervous system and give you space to breathe 
Because you are not just the organiser, the advocate, or the regulator.
You are a person within this, too.
And you matter.
If this episode resonates, please share it with another mum who might need to hear this today.
 🧘‍♀️ Meditation Link 

📚 New Book — Out May 7  👉 Order your copy
Beyond the Label: Empowering Parents of ADHD Girls
A powerful blend of science and lived experience to help you truly understand and support your daughter.
💬 Connect with Us
🌱 Join our SEND Parenting Private WhatsApp Community — a free, safe, welcoming space to share, learn, and feel supported by parents who truly understand the realities of neurodiverse family life.
⚡ Ready to go deeper?
Become part of the ADHD Warrior Mum’s Membership — a paid membership space with group coaching with Dr Olivia, access to masterclasses with neurodiverse experts, monthly self-care and real connection. You don't have to navigate this journey alone.
📩 Contact Me
If you w...