My Story

I am a single mum to two neurodivergent boys and I am neurodivergent myself. Apples don’t fall far from trees! Navigating modern life has brought many challenges I hadn’t anticipated. When life is ticking along you, rightly, don’t think about how things can change in a heartbeat. Everything changed when my eldest could no longer attend school due to neurodivergent burnout. It doesn’t quite fit in the playground chat alongside play dates or the next party. All of a sudden our world became much less frivolous and much more serious. He’d gone from repeated and extended viruses to chronic fatigue that was difficult to manage as school hours increased after reduced timetables to being virtually bed bound. Two years in, the diagnosis of “severe neurodivergent burnout” landed with no timeframe for recovery and medical advice against returning to school. I am grateful for some really key people in our lives, but my goodness did life turn on its head.

The reason I’m telling you this is that I’m not a teacher turned coach who’s read a bit on burnout, EBSA and neurodivergence. I’m in this with you. I’m sat here in the thick of meetings, calls, visits, emails and forms whilst parenting and working. I’ve changed my job, I read like my life depends on it and I care. I care because I know how it feels. I’ve been finding my way from scratch and I know this path is not on any parenting sat nav. We’re out there with half a map, a dodgy compass and welly boots that leak. When you take on the role of Chief Advocator overnight, there’s no job description or reviews and there’s no training. You go in at executive level and you learn on the job. I have never felt more alone, lost and isolated as I did through this chapter and I want to be able to help others navigating similar paths.

I am writing this story about my experience as a parent, I will write blog posts about how this has been for my son, and also his brother, but I want you to feel less alone and feel seen.

You are doing better than you think. I just hope that by me sharing my experiences, useful resources and anything new I discover along the way that it helps you.

Gemma x