In this episode of the Journeys with PDA Coffee Chat podcast, hosts Heather and guest co-host Dusty welcome special guest Dr. Joy Eberhardt DeMaster.

Dr. Joy Eberhardt DeMaster joins the conversation to break down the relationship between PDA, PANS, and PANDAS through a parent-led, integrative, and neurodiversity-affirming lens. Key topics covered:

• What PDA means and why the term “persistent drive for autonomy” resonates with many families
• How PANS/PANDAS can show up as a sudden, dramatic change in a child
• Why sleep, eating, toileting, sensory overwhelm, handwriting, and separation anxiety can all be red flags
• How to distinguish baseline PDA traits from an abrupt medical change
• What parents can bring to appointments to help clinicians take concerns seriously
• Testing considerations, including throat, nose, and other swabs
• The importance of looking for infection, inflammation, and symptom support together
• How to tell autistic burnout apart from PANS/PANDAS in broad terms
• Why continued symptoms after treatment may mean more evaluation is needed

To download the QR code resource page mentioned go to: https://orchid-pediatrics.kit.com/573c5cfba3

Learn more about Dr. Joy at https://orchidpediatrics.com/

Follow in Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.pda.doc/

Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Orchid-Pediatrics/100080652554270/

Heather & Kerissa are Certified PDA Trainers. They offer advocacy, education & family support through one-on-one coaching sessions.
You can connect with Heather & Kerissa through their website and on social media.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/journeyswithpdanstagram: https://www.instagram.com/journeys_with_pda/

🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/journeys-with-pda-coffee-chat-podcast/id1681327230

📲 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TelhjJN6J3Dt8PPfKEm6k?si=a85f893540a142c0

💻YouTube Video Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaSyUriZW2txMrh8vGLdljVFTf_VgK03d

Support the show

https://journeyswithpda.com

In this episode of the Journeys with PDA Coffee Chat podcast, hosts Heather and Kerissa welcome special guest Sarah Mireles.

Sarah Mireles, LPCC, CLC, is a neurodivergent therapist and founder of Sarah Mireles Therapy with more than 10 years of experience supporting neurodivergent teens, young adults, and their families across hospital, residential, and outpatient settings. After seeing families cycle through therapy, treatment programs, and medications while continuing to feel overwhelmed and stuck, Sarah came to believe that lasting progress requires a home environment designed to support neurodivergent functioning. This led her to create a parent training program focused on helping families build the skills and conditions that support sustainable change. Her practical, compassionate approach centers on emotion regulation, openness to feedback, mental flexibility, and maintaining connection and communication, helping parents move from worry and trial-and-error toward greater confidence and clarity. Through her practice, Sarah provides therapy, coaching, and parent training for families navigating ADHD, autism, PDA, OCD, anxiety, depression, and other complex mental health needs.

Heather & Kerissa are Certified PDA Trainers. They offer advocacy, education & family support through one-on-one coaching sessions.
You can connect with Heather & Kerissa through their website and on social media.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/journeyswithpdanstagram: https://www.instagram.com/journeys_with_pda/

🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/journeys-with-pda-coffee-chat-podcast/id1681327230

📲 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TelhjJN6J3Dt8PPfKEm6k?si=a85f893540a142c0

💻YouTube Video Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaSyUriZW2txMrh8vGLdljVFTf_VgK03d

Support the show

https://journeyswithpda.com

In this episode of the Journeys with PDA Coffee Chat podcast, hosts Heather and Kerissa welcome special guest and friend of Journeys With PDA, Bailey Hoffner.

Bailey is a poet, mother, white woman, neuroqueer, autistic PDAer, and recovering neuro-conformer. Her well-being is grounded in autonomy, trust, growing self-awareness, and mutual, unconditional love. She currently serves as the Metadata Librarian at Oklahoma State's Edmon Low Library (remotely). In her own research, she is particularly interested in the convergence of libraries and autism. To that end, she is working with autistic librarians across the globe on a research project entitled, “Perceptions and discourses of autism in Library and Information Science literature: a critical interpretive synthesis,” with the purpose of laying a strong foundation for all future research related to autism and libraries.

You can find out more about Bailey at www.substack.com/@badfrench

To learn more about the Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) autism profile, visit our website at https://journeyswithpda.com/

Heather & Kerissa are Certified PDA Trainers. They offer advocacy, education & family support through one-on-one coaching sessions.
You can connect with Heather & Kerissa through their website and on social media.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/journeyswithpdanstagram: https://www.instagram.com/journeys_with_pda/

🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/journeys-with-pda-coffee-chat-podcast/id1681327230

📲 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TelhjJN6J3Dt8PPfKEm6k?si=a85f893540a142c0

💻YouTube Video Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaSyUriZW2txMrh8vGLdljVFTf_VgK03d

Support the show

https://journeyswithpda.com