Active Minds Coaching

Active Minds Coaching Neuroaffirmative Supervisor
AuDHD Coach | ADHD Coach | Clinical Hypnotherapist

I work with people who think differently.

A space for honesty, reflection, less masking, and finding ways of living and working that feel true to you.

Stop asking what’s wrong with me. Start asking how much I’ve been carrying.Autistic burnout doesn’t just slow me down, i...
23/03/2026

Stop asking what’s wrong with me. Start asking how much I’ve been carrying.

Autistic burnout doesn’t just slow me down, it stops me. Everything just stops because my body just can’t.

“Why don’t you take a wash, what have you eaten today, have you seen the state of your home, why can’t you just go out”.

And then people look at me like i’ve lost it, like I’m weird, like i’m not even human. I am a human who feels deeply. I feel everything. It hurts.

My intelligence hasn’t gone anywhere. I know what needs to be done, but my body just won’t do it.

Being told what I should be doing when my body literally can’t. It hurt’s. I cry.

I don’t need pressure. I need understanding. I need space to recover my mind, my body, my spirit.

Because right now I feel disconnected and I’m trying to find my way back. My path back is within me. I do have the awareness and I’m rediscovering my own pathway back.

Love, compassion and understanding that’s what I need. Because my inner critic already knows the shame.

15/03/2026

Where your attention goes your energy flows 💡🤍🧠

One of the most powerful things anyone ever said about parenting wasn’t said to me.It was said to my mum.She had three y...
15/03/2026

One of the most powerful things anyone ever said about parenting wasn’t said to me.

It was said to my mum.

She had three young children close in age. My dad worked away. She was exhausted.

One of my brothers was incredibly hyperactive and when the three of us were together… we were on.

She was often the mum kept behind after class for the quiet conversation.

One day in Kwik Save, when we were running wild and my mum looked worn out, an elderly lady reached out to my mum she said something she would carry with her forever:

“Enjoy them dear… they’re only borrowed.”

Years later I understood exactly what she meant. When my daughter’s health declined, everything changed. She went from a high achiever to completely burnt out.

Our whole family was exhausted.
And in the middle of all that fear and helplessness, I learnt the biggest lesson motherhood has ever taught me.

Let go of expectations.
Let go of outcomes.

Our children are not our projects.
They are not our plans.
They are human beings with their own story to write.

My role is simply to love her, stand beside her, and remind her she is never alone.

So this Mother’s Day I’m holding onto the words my mum once heard:
“Enjoy them dear… they’re only borrowed.”
And I do. Every single day.

To every mum walking beside a child who is struggling Happy Mothers Day. 🤍

Our thoughts influence feelings, and feelings influence behaviour.Be a disrupter of your own mind. Shake things up a lit...
11/03/2026

Our thoughts influence feelings, and feelings influence behaviour.

Be a disrupter of your own mind. Shake things up a little and dare to think differently.

The course of your life might just change. Sharing this photo in support of a sister who showed up authentically as herself 💪✨🤍

A mother once read a letter about her son and chose to write a different story.Because of that choice, the world receive...
08/03/2026

A mother once read a letter about her son and chose to write a different story.

Because of that choice, the world received light.

That story stayed with me today.

On a mindset mastery course, Andy Workman shared the story of Thomas Edison bringing home a letter from school.

The letter said he was disruptive and that the school could no longer keep him.

But his mother told him something different.

She told him he was a genius.She chose to nurture him.She chose belief.

And that boy grew up to bring light to the world.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot today.

Because I see the opposite story far too often.

By the age of 12, many children with ADHD have heard around 20,000 more negative comments than positive ones.

Imagine growing in that environment.

Later I meet those same children as adults.

Creative. Sensitive. Deep thinkers.

People who were never broken.They were simply growing in environments that misunderstood them.

I know this personally too.

My own daughter received care within a system that at times felt very broken.

And yet within that system there were angels.

People who lifted her.People who saw her.People who helped pull her back towards the light.

I see those angels everywhere.

Teachers.Therapists.Nurses.Coaches.Mentors.Parents.

People who look beyond behaviour and see potential.

Human beings grow in environments just like ecosystems.

Words shape environments.Environments shape brains.

So I choose words that lift people up.

Today I celebrate the angels across our schools, hospitals, therapies, families and communities who help people write a different story.

💡 In what ways are you helping someone write a different story today?

For a long time I lived in “should.”Should keep everything together.Should cope.Should work harder.Shouldn’t complain.Sc...
24/02/2026

For a long time I lived in “should.”

Should keep everything together.
Should cope.
Should work harder.
Shouldn’t complain.

School runs.
Work.
Dinner.
Holding everything together.

Day after day.

Until one day my body said enough.

Burnout forced me to stop and ask a different question.

Not what should I be doing?

But what do I actually need?

Today I drew something for the first time in my life.

Not because I suddenly became artistic.

But because I finally made space for something my mind and body needed.

Sometimes reconnecting with yourself doesn’t start with big changes.

Sometimes it starts with one small act.

One quiet moment.

One thing that is just for you.

So I’m curious…

What’s one thing you need more of right now?

Sleep?
Quiet?
Creativity?
Nature?
Time alone?

I’ve been thinking about something.Some girls are born expressive.You can see it straight away.They don’t just take part...
20/02/2026

I’ve been thinking about something.

Some girls are born expressive.
You can see it straight away.

They don’t just take part in art or dance or music; they light up in it.

It’s not about being the best.
It’s about feeling at home in their own body.

And then somewhere along the way, it changes.

The pressure creeps in.
Expectations get louder.
Adults push because they see “potential.”
Standards get higher.
Mistakes feel bigger.

And if something goes wrong; injury, burnout, anxiety, criticism the support doesn’t always match the intensity.

What I notice now is how many brilliant women once had something that made them feel alive and quietly walked away from it.

Not because they stopped loving it.
But because it stopped feeling safe.

Gifted, creative girls are often capable beyond their years. But capable doesn’t mean invincible.

When your identity gets tangled up with performance, it only takes one rupture for your nervous system to decide:

“We’re not doing this again.”

And then years later you’re a grown woman saying,

“I used to love that.”
“I don’t know what happened.”
“I don’t feel like myself anymore.”

Nothing happened to your talent.

You protected yourself.

Reclaiming creativity as an adult isn’t about ambition. It’s about repair.

Making it safe.
Slowing it down.
Letting it be yours again not something to prove.

And you’re allowed to go back.
Gently.


I hadn’t realised for a long time just how unsafe I had felt in certain spaces.Today I was sitting in a coffee shop, fin...
18/02/2026

I hadn’t realised for a long time just how unsafe I had felt in certain spaces.

Today I was sitting in a coffee shop, finishing some work. I chose my table deliberately — to eat quietly, to minimise interaction, to have a moment alone.

When I declined to share it with two men, the response made me feel as though I was the problem.

It struck me how quickly boundaries can be misread.

There was no curiosity about why I might want space.
No awareness that solitude can be intentional.
No recognition that safety looks different for different people.

For some, safety is connection.
For others, it’s autonomy.
For many neurodivergent people, it’s reducing sensory and social demand.

We talk a lot about psychological safety in organisations.

But safety isn’t one-size-fits-all.

Sometimes what looks like distance is regulation.
What looks like aloofness is overwhelm prevention.
What looks like “difficult” is simply a boundary.

If we want truly inclusive environments, we have to recognise that not everyone experiences the world in the same way — and not everyone feels safe in the same conditions.






WomenWithADHD

Waves hold immense power.On the surface they look calm. Rhythmic. Beautiful. But underneath there is force. Momentum. D...
18/02/2026

Waves hold immense power.

On the surface they look calm. Rhythmic. Beautiful. But underneath there is force. Momentum. Depth. Energy that has travelled miles before reaching the shore.

I’ve been thinking about how many people are like that.

I grew up believing I was the problem.

I was born in the 70s. ADHD in girls wasn’t recognised. I pushed through. I coped. I kept going.

Today we call that masking.

My brother was labelled hyperactive. In the 80s, doctors recommended brain surgery for what we now understand to be ADHD.

That’s how misunderstood this was.

We’ve come a long way.

Yet when I sit with late-diagnosed and self-identifying AuDHD adults, the story feels painfully familiar.

They blame themselves.

These aren’t broken people.

They grew up inside systems that didn’t understand their nervous systems.

Schools that worked for some, not all.
Workplaces built around output, not regulation.
Healthcare treating symptoms without always asking what was underneath.

And here’s what keeps circling in my mind:

What happens when those undiagnosed children grow old?

How many elderly people in residential care are ADHD or autistic — and no one knows?

Seventy years of masking.
Now in bright, noisy environments with little control.
Described as “agitated.” “Challenging.”

What if they’re overwhelmed?

Layer in race, class, gender and trauma, and the gaps widen.

If you work inside a system, this isn’t an attack.
It’s an invitation.

Not everyone experiences the world the way you do.

Are we hesitant to have these conversations because it feels like stepping outside the system?
Because it takes longer?
Because it challenges protocol?
Because it asks us to see the person, not just the presentation?

What if human conversation isn’t outside the system?
What if it’s the part that makes it humane?

It takes courage to pause.
To ask what might be underneath.
To notice whether we’re responding to the crash instead of understanding the current.

We’ve moved forward.

But there are still people quietly carrying the cost.





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