Do you ever feel like, even if you've been formally diagnosed with autism and ADHD, that you're somehow making it out to be worse than it actually is?

That you somehow, even though you waited for years and answered all the questions truthfully and all the forms and everything, that somehow you don't deserve your diagnosis?

You don't deserve potential support?

Episode 119 of Soles to Soul Care for Trauma and AuDHD is a solo episode where I share some personal reflections (including my lived and professional experience) around caring for ourselves, our Selves and each other when the world seems inexplicably hostile to the idea of people denied a lifetime of support suddenly having potential access to that support.

Let me know what you think and what helps you own your diagnoses (even self-diagnoses).

le grá (with love),

Ev3

CHAPTERS

0:00 – Do I really deserve my autism and ADHD diagnosis?

2:50 – A new way to access support through Adventures

5:42 – Why increased diagnosis isn't the same as overdiagnosis

10:02 – Replacing self-doubt with self-compassion

13:02 – The FEEL. LOVE. HEAL. framework

14:41 – What rescue cats can teach us about accepting ourselves

17:25 – Finding the support your nervous system needs

19:08 – One small step you can take today

20:07 – Final grounding practice and reflection

LINKS

Kaelynn Partlow https://linktr.ee/kaelynn_vp

If you enjoyed this, check out:

Episode 44: Some of my own mental health journey

Episode 69: Will ADHD Meds Work for Me?

Episode 106: Su-Purr! Polyvagal Purrs evolution

Choose your own adventures: New adventures in the works including Inner Child Play, Stop Self Loathing, Move Past People Pleasing and Purpose, Meaning and Joy https://solestosoul.ie/adventures/

Book your free telephone consultation and access 100s of body-mind practices at https://solestosoul.ie/free-downloads

Welcome to ADHD Late Diagnosis and Writing with Flic Everett: Episode 118 of the Soles to Soul Care for Trauma and AuDHD with Eve Menezes Cunningham Podcast

It was such a delight to interview journalist and novelist Flic Everett. I’ve been aware of her writing long before I even became a freelance journalist in 2004 but we’ve been online friends for a good while and was inspired by her move to Scotland when feeling scared about my own move to Ireland a few years later.

In Late ADHD Diagnosis and Writing with Flic Everette: Episode 118 of the Soles to Soul Care for Trauma and AuDHD, Flic shares her love for pottering and decorating, charity shop treasures, reading, hot baths, walks in nature, yoga, why her Inner Teenager wouldn’t want her wisdom and advice and more.

Do you think your Inner Teenager would listen to you?

le grá (with love),

Ev3

LINKS

Flic Everett

https://www.instagram.com/f.l.everett_author/

https://www.facebook.com/p/FLEverett-61551319733773/

Available in bookshops and libraries everywhere, you can also buy Flic’s books using this affiliate link https://amzn.to/3SGGEnE

If you enjoyed this, check out:

Episode 32: Author and podcast host, Joanne Mallon

Episode 47: Create your dopamenu

Episode 83: Community as self-care with Elizabeth Potts

Choose your own adventures: New adventures in the works including Inner Child Play, Stop Self Loathing, Move Past People Pleasing and Purpose, Meaning and Joy

https://solestosoul.ie/adventures/

Book your free telephone consultation and access 100s of body-mind practices at https://solestosoul.ie/free-downloads

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introducing Flic Everett and finding your own version of self-care

03:30 From journalist to cosy crime novelist

09:32 Ideal self-care day of pottering, nature and simple pleasures

13:32 ADHD, creativity and the satisfaction of making things

15:46 Hot baths, thrillers and finding moments of calm

16:29 Nature, yoga and feeling part of something bigger

24:34 The importance of friendship and building community

31:06 Old friends, life lessons and being kinder to yourself

34:50 A grounding exercise to end the episode

#fliceverett

#fleverettbooks

#cosymurdermysteries

#readingasselfcare

#writingasselfcare

The feet are the most distal point from the brain, so anytime we’re working with the feet in yoga or giving yourself a massage, you’re kind of waking up the whole body, you’re treating your whole self. So just notice for yourself which of these things feel friendly to experiment with.

Welcome to episode 117 of Soles to Soul Care for Trauma and AuDHD. Learn to love and care for all your parts from the soles of your feet to your soul. I’m Eve Menezes Cunningham and I’m your host and the producer and you can find out more, access older episodes, full transcripts, free resources, all sorts of things at solestosoul.ie. So that’s s-o-l-e-s-t-o-s-o-u-l.ie and there’ll be a link in the show notes.

In today’s episode, I’m talking about something I never thought I’d be talking about, feet.

When I rebranded at the beginning of this year, I’d been Feel Better Every Day for so long, selfcarecoaching.net, and Soles to Soul felt really appropriate because my approach is very grounded, it’s very embodied and it also works with the transpersonal and energy. So Soles to Soul, it kind of encompassed everything. And it also brought on a bit of a reckoning for me personally, where I’ve been awful to my own feet my entire life.

Now I understand more about sensory differences and AuDHD, I have more compassion for that, and I’ve actually been able to work with my feet, understanding that it’s harder for me than it might be for someone more neurotypical. Or other ADHDers, everyone has different sensory differences. But I remember as a teenager, my brother being like, chop them off already, because I used to moan about having feet so much.

But the learning to love and care for all our parts, from the soles of our feet to our souls meant I had to really connect with my own… It’s been HIDEOUS. And beyond heel-ing (geddit? Heel? Heal? Sorry not sorry).

I hope this episode will help you connect with your own feet and send them more love and care. Let me know how you’re getting on.

le grá (with love),

Ev3

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and why feet matter

01:13 From hating my feet to heeling my relationship with them

03:51 Shock breakthrough in yoga class

10:03 FEEL.: caring for your feet and your nervous system

14:45 LOVE.: accepting and appreciating your feet

17:01 HEAL.: standing tall and supporting others

19:03 Younger you, foetal (feet-al) position and feeling safe

22:53 Grounding practice: from the soles of your feet to your soul

LINKS

Choose your own adventures: https://solestosoul.ie/adventures/

If you enjoyed this, check out:

Episode 51: Reconnect with the earth and your Self

Episode 73: Befriending your Traumatised and ADHD Inner Child

Episode 82: Love Yourself, Warts and All

Book your free telephone consultation and access 100s of body-mind practices at https://solestosoul.ie/free-downloads

I’ve done it again and got the dates mixed up so this one’s going out EARLY in order to give you the SUMMER SOLSTICE benefits for this (gloriously sunny here in the west of Ireland – I swam across the Shannon and back today in just my swimsuit. BEST SWIM EVER) weekend.

This episode offers ways of working with the solar plexus chakra and more to get that sunshiney, powerful and JOYFUL vibe even if everything feels stormy.

What helps YOU?

How might you make life easier for yourself?

As you reflect on your contributions to the world, both current, imaginary, past, ideal, also think about ways in which you can make things more easy, more effortless, how you can work with the seasonal energies, how you can work with nature.

le grá (with love),

Ev3

CHAPTERS

00:00 Summer solstice and the gift of ease

01:52 Feeling safe enough to shine

03:39 FEEL: Reflecting on your impact

06:59 Adventures programme update

09:57 LOVE: Radical acceptance

11:19 HEAL: Community and connection

13:51 Looking back, looking forward

Choose your own adventures: https://solestosoul.ie/adventures/

Episode 114: Sacred Ireland with Dr Karen Ward

If you enjoyed this, check out:

Episode 36: Self care for despair

Episode 63: ADHD, trauma and the Solstice

Episode 98: Self Care When Trauma Triggers are Everywhere

Book your free telephone consultation and access 100s of body-mind practices at https://solestosoul.ie/free-downloads

I recorded this before the racist mobs inflicted terror in Belfast. It’s even more important to look after yourself. And this may feel impossible when fascists are running amok.

The weekend I talk about in this new episode, less than two weeks ago (at time of writing this) was bookended by the fantabulous Panti Bliss’s If These Wigs Could Talk at Westport Pride and the parade then Dublin for the amazing Kimberlé Crenshaw, Backtalker. It went a long way towards healing the heartache I’d been feeling about racism in Ireland.

I’m facilitating a workshop for therapists, coaches, supervisors and other helping professionals, Sustainable Practice When the World is on Fire for onlinevents.co.uk on 22nd August and hope you’ll join me to support yourself and your communities in protecting your nervous system in order to live wholeheartedly and lovingly.

Something Panti Bliss said during her show has stuck with me: A quick nod to the “suspension of disbelief” around acting as if she was beautiful and the audience also acting as if she was beautiful.

She WAS and IS.

Beauty radiates from every pore when people let themselves shine (more on shining in ways that feel safe for your nervous system in next week’s Summer Solstice episode!)

Love truly is stronger than hate and the more you celebrate your whole self and connect with communities that help you do so, the better.

Can you imagine a world in which everyone was nurtured and supported in finding ways to express their uniqueness instead of being hurt for it?

As I say in the episode: if every child, if every adult had the support to flourish, to be celebrated, to their unique gifts, to be nurtured and finessed and the world’s problems could be solved and there’d be so much more joy and collaboration.

And I know I sound way too old to be so idealistic but this was how we were created, this is how we are wired: we are wired to thrive when we feel safe, welcome and loved and we know this now through modern neuroscience.

By not loving others, by not welcoming others, by making others unsafe, we are making ourselves unsafe, we are making ourselves less loved, less welcome.

We’re creating a hell on earth when there could be a heaven on earth.

If humanning feels too much at the moment, with everything that’s going on, give yourself permission to hang out under the duvet and regroup. 2026 is a LOT.

I still believe we can defy dystopia but it’s about continuingly checking in with yourself to identify whether you need self-care, Self care or community care.

Sending love to everyone everywhere.

le grá (with love),

Ev3

LINKS

Panti Bliss https://www.instagram.com/pantibliss

Kimberlé Crenshaw https://www.instagram.com/kimberlecrenshaw

Related episodes

If you enjoyed this, check out:

Episode 80: Own your privilege, change the world

Episode 83: Community as self care with Elizabeth Potts

Episode 84: Be kinder to your extra-sensitive nervous system

Book your free telephone consultation and access 100s of body-mind practices at https://solestosoul.ie/free-downloads

CHAPTERS

0:00 An unforgettable weekend and finding joy in difficult times

2:54 Mayo Pride and feeling inoculated against despair

6:17 Dancing, celebration and the healing power of joy

9:37 Speaking up, community and restoring faith in people

13:30 Kimberlé Crenshaw, hope and responsibility

15:44 The FEEL. LOVE. HEAL. framework in action

20:10 Self-acceptance, love and personal transformation

25:14 Pride, belonging and celebrating who you are

26:29 Community, connection and turning pain into action

29:07 Reflection: finding sources of joy

HASHTAGS

#belfast

#pride

#intersectionality

#kimberlécrenshaw

#pantibliss

It was SUCH a delight to speak to the fantabulous Dr Karen Ward again for this episode. She’s moved from Dublin to Cork and reminds us that we have everything we need within us. Yes, she’s now immersed in magical, Sacred Ireland (I love that oracle deck she created as well as her Brigid deck) but even in the midst of a city, you can connect with nature and the Divine.

I hope you enjoy listening (or watching) as much as I enjoyed catching up with her!

le grá (with love),

Ev3

CHAPTERS

(00:00) Sacred places, liminal spaces and belonging

(02:46) Karen’s journey into holistic and shamanic work

(08:17) FEEL. LOVE. HEAL. and creating a nourishing life

(10:13) Nature, place and the healing power of the sea

(15:32) Community, work and what truly regulates us

(20:51) Finding grounding and connection wherever you are

(24:34) Community care, Moon Mná and being held

(27:57) Advice for a younger self and trusting life

(30:46) Growth, healing and always learning

LINKS

Moon Mná

https://moonmna.ie/

Slí An Chroí

https://www.slianchroi.ie/

Dr Karen Ward https://drkarenwardtherapist.ie/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkarenwardtherapist/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drkarenward

If you enjoyed this, check out:

Episode 20: Dr Karen Ward on energy work and Sacred Ireland

Episode 43: Honouring Brigid and the Divine within you

Episode 96: Sensory Soothers for Trauma and AuDHD this Brigid

Book your free telephone consultation and access 100s of body-mind practices at https://solestosoul.ie/free-downloads

In Healing Sexual Trauma with Erika Shershun: Episode 113 of the Soles to Soul Care with Eve Menezes Cunningham podcast, I’m delighted to introduce the somatic psychotherapist who specialises in helping trauma survivors reclaim the life they were meant to live.

When you think about what YOU’ve survived, how does it feel to imagine, however outlandish it may feel, that you CAN heal? When you read or hear those words about the life you were meant to live, how does it feel to reconnect with potentially forgotten dreams and goals?

le grá (with love),

Ev3

Erika’s the author of the Healing Sexual Trauma Guided Journal: Writing and Somatic Practices to Help You Process, Heal, and Feel Safe, the Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook: Somatic Skills to Help You Feel Safe in Your Body, Create Boundaries & Live with Resilience, and the PESI Sexual Trauma Clinical Training. The workbook is available in Spanish (Tengo Un Trauma Corporal?), Polish, Russian, and Romanian, and the journal is available in Turkish.

Her approach is trauma informed, rooted in somatic principles, drawing on neuroscience and integrative modalities such as EMDR, Brainspotting, energy psychology, mindfulness, self-compassion and parts work.

Erika values diversity, offers individual online therapy sessions in California, and provides coaching to clients outside of the state. You can contact her at HealingSexualTrauma.com, ErikaShershunTherapy.com, or follow her @erikashershun.

Sexual Trauma Clinical Training: Interventions to Cultivate Safety, Release Shame and Guilt, and Nurture Boundaries is available at PESI.com

HealingSexualTrauma.com

ErikaShershunTherapy.com

@erikashershun

https://www.instagram.com/erikashershun/

LINKS

Erika Shershun

https://erikashershuntherapy.com/

https://feltsenseresonance.com

Donna Eden’s five-minute energy tune-up

Bradley Nelson emotion code

https://discoverhealing.com/gb/the-emotion-code

Louise Swartswalter Mind Gems:

www.brainsoulsuccess.com

If you enjoyed this, check out:

Episode 48: Cattitude: Purr! Hiss! Freeze!

Episode 64: Trauma not ‘post’ traumatic stress but ongoing?

Episode 55: EFT Tap Along for Stress Awareness Month

Book your free telephone consultation and access 100s of body-mind practices at https://solestosoul.ie/free-downloads

CHAPTERS

(00:00) Healing, growth and advice for a younger self

(02:22) Erika’s books and journey into trauma work

(07:55) Discovering somatic healing after years of therapy

(13:02) Post-traumatic growth and self-care

(16:36) Grounding practices and toe tapping

(26:06) Self-compassion, spirituality and healing tools

(35:22) Self-agency, choice and nervous system healing

(39:02) Co-regulation, connection and cats

(42:04) Hope, healing and final reflections

I met Claudia Cahalane nearly 20 years ago on an online forum for freelance journalists. I had started my coaching and complementary therapy practice at the same time as going freelance as a journalist with no contacts and, pre social media, it was a brilliant forum to get (and give) encouragement and support.

Since then, I’ve added loads more therapies, counselling and supervision and Claudia has retrained as a Qi Gong instructor.

It was such a joy to reconnect and catch up and I hope you find our conversation helpful.

You can watch or listen wherever you get your podcasts and access full transcript, show notes, links and more at https://solestosoul.ie/2026/05/26/communitea-and-qi-gong-with-claudia-cahalane-episode-112-of-soles-to-soul-care-for-trauma-and-audhd-with-eve-menezes-cunningham/

When you think about your own communiTEAs (geddit?), where do you want to put in more energy and time? Who’s most important to you? What’s most important to you?

le grá (with love),

Ev3

#traumarecovery

#qigong

#claudiacahalane

#teaceremony

#solestosoulcarefortraumaandaudhd

LINKS

Claudia’s website:

https://vitalityqigong.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vitalityqigong/

If you enjoyed this, check out:

Episode 83: Community as Self Care (with Elizabeth Potts)

Episode 87: Movement as Medicine with Gwen Williams

Episode 59: Meditation (with trauma and ADHD) isn’t impossible

Book your free telephone consultation and access 100s of body-mind practices at https://solestosoul.ie/free-downloads

CHAPTERS

(0:00) Introduction

(1:57) Welcoming Claudia Cahalane

(2:48) Silent retreats and early experiences

(7:24) Discovering Qi Gong and the power of silence

(10:29) Burnout and becoming a Qi Gong teacher

(14:37) The Feel. Love. Heal. framework

(16:18) Ideal self-care and daily practices

(21:26) Essential self-care for low energy

(22:59) Self-love, meditation and tea rituals

(25:44) Tea ceremony and cultural roots

(30:00) Community, loss and life transitions

(35:19) Rethinking friendships and belonging

(40:06) Nature as community and connection

(42:44) Creating and holding community

(44:35) Advice to a younger self

(46:05) Where to find Claudia and closing reflection