Gateway Behavioral Health Consultants

02/05/2026

If your battery is constantly in the "red zone" then it's time to rethink how you view recharging.

Recharging your battery isn't just a reward for finishing a task. It's a biological requirement.

So what should you do?

1. Honor Your Sensory Needs.
Minimize your sensory overload throughout the day: use natural lighting as much as possible, wear noise-canceling headphones, schedule breaks for stimming. If needed, take 20 minutes and sit in a dark room with noise-canceling headphones and allow your nervous system to reset.

2. The Dopamine Menu
Neurodivergent brains don't give the "ping" of dopamine for boring tasks. So we have to manufacture it. My favorite way to do this is pairing. For example, listen to your favorite podcast only when you're doing the dishes. The podcast provides the dopamine that the task lacks making the battery drain less severe.

You can also schedule time for activities that give lots of dopamine -- physical activity, spending time outside, engaging in a special interest.

3. Come As You Are
Acknowledge and accept that you might have a smaller battery for certain tasks than other people. Be authentic - stop pretending you have a neurotypical battery.

What does that look like in real life?
🧠 create time to recharge throughout the day
🧠 accept help and support
🧠 make accommodations to make your tasks easier
🧠 say no to things to don't honor your needs

4. Audit Your Day
It is essential to figure out which tasks are your biggest battery drains. Ask yourself these three questions:
❓What are things I dread doing in my day?
❓What tasks frequently cause me to feel overwhelmed with or exhausted after?
❓What is going on in my life on days when I find myself running on empty?

From there, think about how to modify, outsource, or automate these tasks.When they can't be avoided, make sure to schedule time after to recharge.

Your brain is such a powerful tool, but like any high-performance machine, it requires specific maintenance and time to recharge.

Our team is here to help.

If you've hit your breaking point or are ready to make change, reach out. We'd love to help you learn how your brain works!

02/04/2026

I like to think of our energy levels as a smartphone battery. 🔋

Everyone starts the day with a certain percentage, but the way that percentage drops—and how we have to plug back in—is vastly different for neurodivergent individuals.

Just like a phone battery dies faster if you have fifty apps in the background, your brain battery drains faster when you're dealing with sensory processing issues or masking.

There are also high-drain and low-drain tasks. These vary for each person. My high-drain tasks are masking, loud and overstimulating places, multi-step tasks with no clear next step, and navigating uncertainty. But my low-drain tasks are engaging with a special interest, reading a book, watching tv, or social media scrolling. Knowing yours is key!

When a neurodivergent person hits 0% battery, they don't just get tired. They shutdown. Or burnout. This is a physical inability to function that can look like:
👉 physical illness
👉 sleeping for 12+ hours
👉 inability to make any decisions
👉 refusal to interact with people
👉 needing complete sensory withdrawal

If you keep pushing when your battery is depleted, you aren't just powering through. YOU ARE DAMAGING THE HARDWARE.

And at this point, it's much harder to recover.

Follow along for ways to recharge before getting to that point.

02/03/2026

Tuesday Truth: Your brain is a battery. It must be re-charged! 🧠

02/03/2026

Let's talk executive functioning (and why it's so hard for neurodivergent folks).

Think of executive functioning as the CEO of the brain. It's responsible for managing:

🧠 Working Memory: holding onto information while you use it
🧠 Emotional Regulation: managing the frustration of a task
🧠 Inhibition: ignoring the bird outside the window to focus on writing an email
🧠 Shifting: moving from one task to another

But in neurodivergent brains, the CEO is often underfunded or working with outdated equipment.

Tasks that should be background process -- deciding what to wear, remembering to put the cap back on the toothpaste -- require manual and conscious effort.

This is just plain exhausting.

It takes significant brain power to force a neurodivergent brain to focus on a low-stimulation task. By the time you've actually started, you've already spent 40% of your energy just getting there.

02/02/2026

If you are neurodivergent—whether you have ADHD, Autism, or both—you may be experiencing neurodivergent burnout and constantly wondering, “Why am I so tired?!” You might look at your neurotypical peers who move effortlessly from a 9-to-5 job to the gym, grocery shopping, and social plans and think, "How are they doing all of that?"

When you’re living with neurodivergent burnout, the exhaustion isn’t a personal failure—it’s a nervous system pushed beyond its limits in a world not designed for your brain.

Neurotypical brains can often automate tasks. This might look like: see a dish, wash a dish, receive a tiny ping of satisfaction as a reward (that's called dopamine).

But it doesn't work that way for neurodivergent brains. Instead, there is often a mental hurdle to jump over before even starting the task. Plus the dopamine reward is too small to outweigh the battery used to complete the task.

This leads to exhaustion. Burnout. Shutdown.

Now what? Time to learn how to properly recharge that battery. Follow along for more.

01/30/2026

Dr Ritchie enjoyed body doubling this morning with others a at Panera this morning as she knocked out a presentation shes giving in a few weeks at Catholic Charities St. Louis!

Looking forward to sharing strategies to support kiddos with ADHD, Autism, and other brain differences! 🧠

01/26/2026

I’m not going to tell you to take a deep breath. Let’s talk about why you’re actually angry. 🤬

If the recent ice events have you feeling more rage than "coping," you’re in the right place. At GBHC, we don't pathologize sane reactions to an insane world. Our "come as you are" approach means we hold space for the real stuff: politics, oppression, and the heavy weight of marginalized identities.

We don't have all the answers, but we promise not to patronize you with basic "wellness" fluff.

Today, prioritize your survival:

Drop the performance: You don't have to be "okay" to be valid.

Protect your capacity: Lower the bar on productivity while your "brain is on fire."

Seek real support: Check the slides for resources that actually get it.

We see you, we’re with you, and we’re here to help you process the raw truth of it all.

Save this for when you need a reminder that your rage is valid.

01/23/2026

Finding your “people” is a total game-changer. ☁️✨

There is something so healing about being in a room where people just get you! I’m feeling incredibly grateful today for the community that truly gets the therapreneur life—the highs, the hurdles, and everything in between.

Huge shoutout to the visionaries who organize these events and everyone who shows up to fill the space. It’s a blessing to have people to lean on, learn from, and lift up each other.

Connection is the best form of self-care. ❤️

01/22/2026

Why are storms so triggering for neurodivergent brains? 🌨️☃️

It’s the ‘Unknowns.’ It’s the ‘Waiting Mode.’ It’s the high cognitive load of making decisions on the fly. If you feel overloaded, it’s because your brain is doing a lot of invisible work 🧠

Focus on your safety, find your center, and let the rest go for now ❤️

01/22/2026

I'm honored I got the chance to talk with Clarity Health & Wellness Coaching and Angie Beckwith Maguire about how ADHD affects women in midlife on the Nurse Coach Duo podcast!

So often when women hit midlife, they start noticing significant changes that make them ask "Is it ADHD? Menopause? Stress?" My conversation with them dives into these questions and I can't wait to share it with you! Listen to the full podcast below ⬇️

In this episode of the Nurse Coach Duo, we sit down with Dr. Jennifer Ritchie, PsyD, a clinical psychologist specializing in ADHD and women’s mental health, ...

01/20/2026

📅 Tip: If you’re a woman living with ADHD, tracking your menstrual cycle can help you anticipate when focus and energy might dip — and plan around it.

Knowing the pattern isn’t about perfection… it’s about empowerment. 💡

Want more insights on how hormones shape ADHD for women? Check out our latest blog >> gbhconsultants.com/blog

10/14/2025