What happens when your perfectly planned approach to parenting collides with the unpredictable reality and it doesn't end up fitting the job description! Helen Buzdugan knows this territory intimately. As a late-diagnosed ADHDer, careers advisor, and founder of True To You Careers, Helen shares her raw, emotional journey from parenting, discovering not only hers but her children's neurotype, from juggling work and parenting, to burnout and then recovery.

Helen's story begins with a self-confessed perfectionist approach to parenthood, to her noticing the diverging paths between her experience of parenting and those of other parents, whose challenges seemed to ease while hers intensified. Helen's experience ultimately led her to create her business helping parents in neurodivergent families find employment that accommodates their complex lives.

Helen brings a unique perspective to the workforce challenges facing parents and carers in neurodivergent households, highlighting the valuable transferable skills parents develop through advocacy, from research abilities to negotiation tactics honed in countless school meetings. Her practical advice includes understanding workplace rights like emergency leave for dependents, separating immediate crisis management from long-term career planning, and building essential support systems.

Ready to transform your approach to balancing career and family? Connect with Helen's free resources and community support to discover work that truly works for your neurodivergent family life.

You can find Helen on:

Facebook, LinkedIn and her links page

I'm Liz, The Untypical OT. I work with parents and carers in additional needs and neurodivergent families to support them with burnout, mental health and well-being. When we support parents, everyone benefits.

To connect with me you'll find all my links on Linktree:

The Untypical OT Linktree

If you would like to contact me about the podcast please email me at:

contact@untypicalparentpodcast.com

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Welcome to The Untypical OT Talks to Herself—the mini podcast for typically untypical parents! Bite-sized episodes packed with real talk about parenting in additional needs families. No fluff, no judgment—just honest conversations about the stuff that truly matters.

💡 This week’s episode: My top tip for managing burnout, overwhelm, and stress at work. This also works at home. It's all about the boundaries! Do you know where your boundaries are? Are they hard boundaries or flexible ones? How easy are they to put in place? Join me for a mini podcast to think about your boundaries.

🎧 Are you ready? Come join me.

🔗 To connect with Liz, find all the details on her Linktree:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/the_untypical_ot⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

☕ If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/the.untypical.ot⁠⁠

Topics: If you have a request for a particular topic when it comes to parenting in additional needs families, please just drop the podcast an email at contact@untypicalparentpodcast.com


Take care

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What happens when we stop trying to fit neurodivergent children into a neurotypical world? In this eye-opening conversation, Helen Daniel—author, late-diagnosed neurodivergent, and sensory expert, —challenges everything we've been taught about "perfect parenting" and reveals how societal expectations create unnecessary struggles for neurodivergent families.

Helen shares her theory of neurosensory divergence, which sees autism not as a deficit but as sensory abundance—a richer way of experiencing the world that brings unique ways of learning and thinking, moving away from stigma and highlighting the strengths of neurodivergent minds.

She dives into the everyday struggles neurodivergent kids face in schools, where traditional methods often don’t work for different sensory styles. Whether a child focuses deeply on one sense or takes in everything at once, both can feel out of place in typical classrooms.

This conversation is full of practical insights for parents, teachers, and professionals alike. By understanding sensory needs, we can create better learning environments, support self-advocacy, and build a world that embraces neurodivergence instead of trying to "fix" it.

Helen's book Neurosensory Divergence: Autistic Languages: A Roadmap To An Equitable Life For Autistic Children, is available to buy.

You can find Helen on her social media platforms:

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

I'm Liz, The Untypical OT. I work with parents and carers in additional needs and neurodivergent families to support them with burnout, mental health and well-being. When we support parents, everyone benefits.

To connect with me you'll find all my links on Linktree:

The Untypical OT Linktree

If you would like to contact me about the podcast please email me at:

Helllo@the-untypical-ot.co.uk

Click here to text the show

Support the show