The Neurodivergent Visionary Podcast

In this episode, Kari shares about a couple transitions she’s making, including 1) changing jobs/roles in her occupational therapy life (making this the 3rd job she has quit in 2 years), learning how she can sustainably engage in trailblazing and advocacy, and 2) taking a pause from the podcast before season 2 begins!  Please share with Kari any and all feedback about what you loved about this podcast so far this season, and what you’d like to hear more about! Message Kari on  Instagram or Facebook to say hi and/or share feedback about what you’d like to learn more about in season 2.  To re-imagine business for your sensitive, highly neurodivergent brain through honing your intuition and radical community collaboration, join the Community Wisdom Collective. You can schedule a complimentary consult call about the Collective or other 1:1 support at this link.

In this episode we are joined again by the brilliant and strategic Althea Seloover, who introduced me to the idea of “Self-Accommodation.” In this episode, we discuss: What is self accommodation? What are some frameworks that can inform self-accommodation? Examples of self-accommodations from both of us (Kari - quitting a job; Althea - tiny trashcans, stickers, and way more) Implications and takeaways about how you can self-accommodate.  You can find Althea on instagram , merch (including practical and satisfying stickers for self-accommodation inspiration) from  Disobedient Goods & Apparel here, and an AMAZING work on her substack here that impacted me greatly.  Check out her whole site and how to connect with her here.  Connect with  Kari on Instagram and Facebook To re-imagine business for your sensitive, highly neurodivergent brain through honing your intuition and radical community collaboration, join the Community Wisdom Collective. 

Today Kari talks with Kat (they/them), spiritual weirdo and healer, about all things Pranayama and neurodivergence. Kari and Kat met at Brand Camp with Kristy Black, and became fast friends. Kari experienced a pranayama (breathwork) session with Kat and found it absolutely wonderful, and really respected how much Kat honors staying true to the roots of indigenous and yogic practices.  Today we discuss: Kat’s neurodivergent career trajectory and underlying themes Rainbow Dot Spirituality, Kat’s healing business Common themes and stories we have learned from society about being neurodivergent  Pranayama (breathwork) as a beautiful modality for neurodivergent humans  Reclaiming, reconnecting, re-remembering connection to all of life and our ancestors Kari’s experience doing a breathwork session with Kat You can find out more about Kat at their website https://rainbowdotspirituality.com/, and check them out on instagram and tiktok.  Connect with  Kari on Instagram and Facebook To re-imagine business for your sensitive, highly neurodivergent brain through honing your intuition and radical community collaboration, join the Community Wisdom Collective.

Today Kari talks with Jennifer Alumbaugh (she/they) MSc,. Neuroinclusion Accessibility Consultant, Speaker, and Trainer 🧠 Harnessing the Power of Diverse Brains to Boost Business & Prevent Burnout 🛋️ about neuroinclusion and how implementing neuroinclusion practices benefits everyone. Their discussion covers topics including: Jennifer’s journey into her ADHD and Autistic and other neurodivergent identities at age 42 How the current late identified neurodivergent population is building the bridge of understanding neurodiversity even as we cross it ourselves The issue with research, policies, and design for neurodivergent folks without including them as stakeholders and leaders (nothing about us, without us) Neuroinclusion information vs. designing neuroinclusive experiences (e.g., how events/processes themselves can be more accessible and accommodating) Neuroinclusion in the workplace and examples of how to be more inclusive  Embracing that there is never just one way to do anything, and neurodivergent brains are often systems design thinkers who can come up with innovative solutions that are meaningful and impact everyone  The death sentence of: “This is just how we’ve always done it” The importance of having safe spaces and time to practice being neuroinclusive  You can find more of Jennifer on LinkedIn, and on their website Expansive Expressions, where you can find more about Expansive Expressions programming including the NeuroDefiant Collective for neurodivergent entrepreneurs and her Neuroinclusion Training and Consulting offerings.  Connect with  Kari on Instagram and Facebook To re-imagine business for your sensitive, highly neurodivergent brain through honing your intuition and radical community collaboration, join the Community Wisdom Collective. 

In this episode, Kari has a passionate conversation with Celestyna Brozek Wild (she/they), an integrative deep change worker and astroanalyst who specialties in parenting and neurodiversity.  Today Kari and Celestyna jam about:  - Demystifying “gentle parenting” - what it is NOT (e.g., it’s NOT about being “calm all the time” or “always being present or available”, and it definitely doesn’t result in your kids always being compliant) - Gentle parenting is actually about working around YOUR OWN nervous system as an adult  - Interrupting the urgency of needing to “fix” problems - The snowball of time effect where we do future catastrophization about the things we are experiencing today  - How accepting neurodivergence + our kids’ emotional expression is medicine for our emotionally flatlined culture - The benefits of being in non-evaluation, curiosity, and observation, and using declarative language to describe what’s being experienced and cross check with your child’s experience  - Being willing to use experimentation and trial-and-error to find bespoke strategies for your particular family  - The necessity of safe places to share your truth and be supported  You can learn more about Celestyna here.  Sign up for emails from the Village Collaborative Parenting Center for Neurodiverse Families and register for our free community gatherings and coworking/body doubling  Connect with Kari on Instagram and Facebook To re-imagine business for your sensitive, highly neurodivergent brain through honing your intuition and radical community collaboration, join the Community Wisdom Collective. 

Today, Kari speaks with Saturday Grace (they/them),  in a serendipitous conversation that rang about a billion bells for Kari in terms of synchronicity!  Among other things, Kari and Saturday discuss: - The benefits and limitations of labels, including neurodivergence and relevant diagnoses - Comparisons between indigenous and modern Western Medicine treatment of individuals born with perceived differences, including Shaman Sickness - The perils of attempts to “maximize your [earning] potential”  - How to handle it when someone who has positively influenced you makes mistakes, e.g. Brene Brown  - Reclaiming agency when you feel like a cog in the capitalist machine - The beauty of magick as a neurodivergent person  - Ancestor work, particularly for people with adoption in their lineage  You can find more of Saturday and their writing here on Instagram.  Connect with  Kari on Instagram and Facebook To re-imagine business for your sensitive, highly neurodivergent brain through honing your intuition and radical community collaboration, join the Community Wisdom Collective. 

Today, Kari speaks with Lobsterbird (they/them), a multiprismatic being, traveler of liminal time and space, pilgrim of paradox, and agent of transformation who is on a mission to co-create a better world for all.  Today Kari + Lobsterbird talk about:  How the term “neurodivergent” can play into ableist frameworks What is neuroemergence + how can it help us be more appreciative of diversity?  The power of language Lobsterbird’s discovery of their own neuroemergence  Lobsterbird’s Neuroemergent Life Initiative The importance of interconnectedness and community  Fractals and mushrooms, and more  Lobsterbird invites you to connect with them on instagram and  facebook, and inquire about working with them on their website.  For more on their neuroemergent refuge center, Neuroemergent Life, visit http://neuroemergentlife.com/. Lastly,  if you resonate with their mission, to collaborate and co-create a neuroemergent world together,  pop your deetz in here.  Connect with  Kari on Instagram and Facebook To build a gentle, low demand business for your sensitive, highly neurodivergent brain through honing your intuition and radical community collaboration, join the Community Wisdom Collective. 

In this episode Kari meets with Petra Vega (she/her/Ella), a Liberatory Leadership Coach, Emergent Strategist, Facilitator, Radical Social Worker, and Founder of Create More Possibilities, LLC and they have a conversation that left Kari reeling and digging out her Emergent Strategy book again.  In this episode, Petra shares about: - Emergent Strategy as a framework and skillset to create the change we want to see in the world - Three emergent Strategy principles particularly important to neurodivergent humans  including “Change is constant, be like water,” “Less prep, more presence,” and “What you pay attention to grows. - The importance of reclaiming your voice in a world that tells you to sit down, shut up, and take up less space - How to factor in ableism and oppression to how you’re thinking about things - Petra says, “add in a layer of power, privilege, and oppression and see what you get.”  Connect with Petra on Instagram, download her Shaping Change Workbook, and check out her other offerings here.  Connect with  Kari on Instagram and Facebook. To build a gentle, low demand business for your sensitive, highly neurodivergent brain through honing your intuition and radical community collaboration, join the Community Wisdom Collective. 

Kari talks with Althea Seloover (she/her), who does prisoner liberation, self-parenting & accommodation work in the world. She is a poet, relational map-maker, entrepreneur, hope holder, griever, dreamer, & a friend. She’s a neurodivergent squirrel two years into workaholism recovery, aka the restructuring of her life and the way she relates to work. She’s worked in prisoner liberation for 10 years, working with & advocating for people incarcerated for serious crimes they committed as teenagers and “emerging adults. Today Kari and Althea talk about: How neurodivergence (both innate and acquired through trauma or other means) has everything to do with liberation and justice  The neurobehavioral accommodation method  How Althea helps support her parole clients in coming back to themselves and showing up how they want to in the courtroom with the goal of getting out of jail (often for 25+ years) How lack of accommodations impacts offenders’ experiences in life with specific examples of how it shows up in the courtroom Self-accommodation and how it helps increase your ability to be responsible and accountable for your actions You can find Althea on Instagram , merch from  Disobedient Goods & Apparel here, and an AMAZING work on her substack here that impacted me greatly.  Check out her whole site and how to connect with her here.  Check out the writing community where we met here: Write On with Priscilla Thomas. Connect with Kari on Instagram and Facebook To build a gentle, low demand business for your sensitive, highly neurodivergent brain through honing your intuition and radical community collaboration, join the Community Wisdom Collective. 

Content warning: a lot of talk of ableism, ageism, and mentions of assisted suicide. Kari and Sam jump into conversation regarding late-identified neurodivergence, long COVID, and all things acquired neurodivergence and dementia and caregiving.  Topics we discuss: - What occupational therapy actually is and why it’s an amazing career  - How Kari shifted from medical model OT to the coaching model - Sam’s late-identified neurodivergence, and experience with long COVID - Ableism and ageism - Sam’s experience caring for their previously estranged mother with dementia and how dementia enabled them to reconnect  - Non-affirming vs. affirming practices - Self-advocacy and consent vs. losing ability to consent and - advocate  - Grappling with mortality, eventual disability, and internalized ableism  - Anticipatory grief  - The challenges of having non-identified, high masking parents  You can learn more about Sam + their practice of the Art of Undiscipline at artofundiscipline.com and their artwork at samsundius.com Connect with  Kari on Instagram and Facebook To spend time with Kari + neurodivergent community on the regular, check out The Community Wisdom Collective: a wisdom-sharing, community collaboration space for neurodivergent, highly sensitive creatives and entrepreneurs to take business from overwhelming to OH YES!  Mentioned on the podcast: Jill Bolte Taylor and My Stroke of Insight

In this episode, Kari talks about PDA (pathological demand avoidance, more affirmingly known as pervasive drive for autonomy), a nervous-system based response to perceived demands.  Kari talks about how this can look in service-based entrepreneurs wanting to sledgehammer their own goals and chosen activities, and we discuss how permission to do nothing and rest helps to reveal societal programming and give rise to finding out what really matters to us.  Mentioned in the episode: Grounding practices with Karyn Paige  Connect with  Kari on Instagram and Facebook The Community Wisdom Collective: a wisdom-sharing, community collaboration space for neurodivergent, highly sensitive creatives and entrepreneurs to take business from overwhelming to OH YES! 

In this episode, Kari and Caitlin talk about their journeys to meeting each other and the following topics: Journeys to realizing our neurodivergence Navigating conflict as a neurodivergent person including the difference between being nice vs. being kind Sensory needs and comfortable clothes Feeling like you’re just really weird or an outlier your whole life Finding your neurokin and people you can be yourself with Follow Kari on Instagram: Kari Burch (@neurodivergent.ot.kari) | Instagram profile Follow Kari on Facebook: Facebook Check out Caitlin’s amazing offerings:  www.learn-caitlinlizfisher.com  Find Caitlin on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/caitlinlizfisher and check out their Youtube channel Caitlin Liz Fisher - YouTube Join Caitlin’s group: The Creatives’ Rebellion on Facebook & Discord: The Creatives' Rebellion (askfishfisher.com)

In this episode, Kari talks with Cindy - an artist, writer, educator, speaker, entrepreneur and radical wonderer who helps people come home to themselves through art and connection. Cindy and Kari talk about: -Art -Intuition and self-trust -Community -Neurodivergent burnout -Neurotypical business models//structure vs. the importance of being in tune with your true feelings and intuition as a neurodivergent human -Cindy's amazing programs -An upcoming community program for entrepreneurs from Kari Find more about Cindy & her programs at: www.cindyingram.com Cindy’s book: Art Is About Being Whole: A Memoir - Kindle edition by Ingram, Cindy. Health, Fitness & Dieting Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com Learn more about Kari’s upcoming community program at: https://kariburch.podia.com/i-m-interested-in-thriving-together We discussed the work of art Chasm by Daniel Popper:  “Chasm” by Daniel Popper and AG PNT in Las Vegas (7 photos) | STREET ART UTOPIA We mentioned the following books in our conversation: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert:Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear book by Elizabeth Gilbert (thriftbooks.com) It’s Not Your Money by Tosha Silver:It's Not Your Money: How to Live Fully... book by Tosha Silver (thriftbooks.com) The Genius of Women: The Genius of Women: From Overlooked to Changing the World: Kaplan, Janice: 9781524744212: Amazon.com: Books

In this episode, Kari is joined by Dr. Rachel Graddy to talk about all things Disability, Accessibility, Neurodivergence, Spoon Theory, and Invisible Disabilities. Rachel shares really helpful frameworks to think about energy expenditure, disability frameworks, and empowers you to think about how to go easy on yourself while you advocate for what you may need.  Rachels shares with us this helpful article on Spoon Theory: https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/ Follow Kari on Instagram: Kari Burch (@neurodivergent.ot.kari) | Instagram profile Follow Kari on Facebook: Facebook

Trigger warning: This episode mentions and talks about ABA and non affirming behaviorist interventions for Autistic kids. Kari works as a contractor in early intervention with neurodivergent children ages 0-3. In this episode she talks about the painful reality of being in the middle of a non-affirming workplace, and the need to honor your capacity and willingness to work alongside non-affirming colleagues. The field of occupational therapy is wanting to move toward being more neuro-affirming, but the reality is that many systems are not set up to be so. In this episode Kari talks about Autistic play, Autistic social skills, behavior, and other realities of what is often being targeted as ‘deficits’ in therapy and ABA settings. Download Kari’s free e-book: Your Neurodivergent GPS System to get instant access to your intuition for next steps to take in challenging situations; full of exercises that Kari uses personally and recommends to all her clients. https://kariburch.podia.com/your-neurodivergent-gps-system  Follow Kari on Instagram: Kari Burch (@neurodivergent.ot.kari) | Instagram profile Follow Kari on Facebook: Facebook

In this episode Kari talks about self-diagnosis, traditional diagnosis, and various factors to consider when you’re approaching the subject; including that traditional diagnostic system is inherently ableist, white supremacist, and patriarchal.  The values of listening to others’ lived experience and reflecting on how this matches your own experience can ONLY be valuable. Kari didn’t mention this in the episode but she recommends following the Lived Experience Educator Sonny Jane Wise: Sonny Jane Wise (@livedexperienceeducator) • Instagram photos and videos.  Download Kari’s free e-book: Your Neurodivergent GPS System to get instant access to your intuition for next steps to take in challenging situations; full of exercises that Kari uses personally and recommends to all her clients. https://kariburch.podia.com/your-neurodivergent-gps-system  Follow Kari on Instagram: Kari Burch (@neurodivergent.ot.kari) | Instagram profile Follow Kari on Facebook: Facebook

In this episode Kari talks about some common pitfalls of “knowing too much” when it comes to having done a lot of therapy and/or coaching… making the mistake of not letting your emotions move through you. Kari describes some simple somatic exercises she uses and also talks about another self-compassion skill to not overlook.  Download Kari’s free e-book: Your Neurodivergent GPS System to get instant access to your intuition for next steps to take in challenging situations; full of exercises that Kari uses personally and recommends to all her clients. https://kariburch.podia.com/your-neurodivergent-gps-system  Follow Kari on Instagram: Kari Burch (@neurodivergent.ot.kari) | Instagram profile Follow Kari on Facebook: Facebook Book referenced: Self-Compassion: Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself a book by Kristin Neff (bookshop.org)

In this episode we explore what’s possible when we respond to peoples’ message rather than their actions or “behaviors.” Society prizes teaching children (and rigorously enforcing adults’) “good behavior,” at the expense of deep connection, communication, and reinforcing individuals’ sense of agency.  Kari shares a story about a young OT client who throws toys all over the place during a session and how she responded to the message, not the action/behavior, to create a positive experience that contributes to a collaborative long-term solution.  Download Kari’s free e-book: Your Neurodivergent GPS System to get instant access to your intuition for next steps to take in challenging situations; full of exercises that Kari uses personally and recommends to all her clients. https://kariburch.podia.com/your-neurodivergent-gps-system  Follow Kari on Instagram: Kari Burch (@neurodivergent.ot.kari) | Instagram profile Follow Kari on Facebook: Facebook

Kari accidentally learned about self-compassion as part of taking an anti-diet, body-image self-study course. She read the book Self-Compassion by Dr. Kristen Neff and her life changed deeply forever. Self-compassion strategies and tangible hacks to implement them are a game changer for neurodivergent humans. Listen to this episode to get the full scoop and how you can avoid unnecessary suffering by implementing self-compassion.  Book referenced: Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to  Yourself by Dr. Kristen Neff Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself a book by Kristin Neff (bookshop.org) Download Kari’s free e-book: Your Neurodivergent GPS System to get instant access to your intuition for next steps to take in challenging situations; full of exercises that Kari uses personally and recommends to all her clients. https://kariburch.podia.com/your-neurodivergent-gps-system  Follow Kari on Instagram: Kari Burch (@neurodivergent.ot.kari) | Instagram profile Follow Kari on Facebook: Facebook

Hold onto your pants as we take a wild ride through questions like “What is neurodivergent? Aren’t we all neurodivergent?” and explore the many iterations of Kari’s journey to understanding her neurodivergence (spoiler: from empath and HSP to ADHD and Autistic)..    We talk about things like the paradox of holding a nonpathological, accepting lens for our neurodivergence while we also often have to revert to pathologizing language to explain our experiences and needs to others.  Books referenced: The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You a book by Elaine N. Aron (bookshop.org) Unmasking Autism by Devon Price Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity a book by Devon Price (bookshop.org) Download Kari’s free e-book: Your Neurodivergent GPS System to get instant access to your intuition for next steps to take in challenging situations; full of exercises that Kari uses personally and recommends to all her clients. https://kariburch.podia.com/your-neurodivergent-gps-system  Follow Kari on instagram: Kari Burch (@neurodivergent.ot.kari) | Instagram profile Follow Kari on Facebook: Facebook

Hey! It's me, Kari, introducing this podcast and letting you see my face/hear my voice so you can tell if we vibe, if our values align. If it's a good fit I hope you stick around and we can learn from each other!