Sharmayne Bennett, Psychologist at Wonderfully Wired Psychology, shares valuable insights into ADHD and neurodivergence, reminding us to appreciate the diversity in how people think and process the world.

Neurodivergence refers to natural variations in brain function and thinking styles that include, but are not limited to, Autism, ADHD, Obsessive-Compulsive Preferences, Dyslexia, and more. These ways of thinking reflect differences rather than deficits.

Examples of neurodivergent identities include:

Autistic people

ADHDers

1. People with Down syndrome
2. People with Dyscalculia
3. People with Dyslexia
4. People with Obsessive-Compulsive Preferences
5. People with Intellectual Disabilities
6. People with Mental Health Conditions

ADHD involves differences in attention regulation, impulsivity, and activity levels—traits that can present both challenges and unique strengths.

Helpful Neurodivergence Resources:

1. www.yellowladybugs.com.au
2. www.reframingautism.org.au/resources/
3. www.divergentfutures.com/freeresources
4. www.neuroqueer.com
5. www.embrace-autism.com

For up-to-date information on diagnosis and support reforms related to ADHD, please consult trusted professional sources.

www.wonderfullywiredpsychology.com.au

@thinkongood podcast

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Think ON Good. Hello and welcome to Think on Good. Coming up, are you trying to tackle a knotty

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are neurodivergent. This means that someone in your workplace who is a neurodivergent thinker

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may bring the difference needed in solving that problem. We are here to think on good a space to

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find out what it takes to build a healthy mind, sharing inspirational stories and learning what

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to expect from programs, therapies and community connections. This time we are looking at the way

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we think. It is interesting to note someone close to you may be living there every day, from a very

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different perspective to you. To gain a little insight into the neurodivergence view, we welcome

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Sharmayne Bennett, psychologist from Wonderfully Wired. Thank you for joining us. Sharmayne How did

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you first get involved with firstly, psychology and also the interest in neuro divergence?

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Yeah, absolutely. So psychology has been something I've almost always been interested in. Um, which

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now makes a lot of sense to me with all the knowledge I have of autism and deep interests. Um,

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but that's a whole other conversation. So my first, um, I guess internship, you could call it,

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was involved a lot of autism and ADHD assessments. And while I was working there, I went, yeah, I know

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all of the things I need to know for the questions to ask my clients. And I was going

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through. And the more I was asking questions, the more that I noticed I was relating to the

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questions more than I possibly should have been, um, or more than I expected to. And

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the more I researched into it, I found that it's this space that's so much more than I ever

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imagined. It's like the tip of the iceberg that you get taught in university And coming out of

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that I went, oh my gosh, maybe I'm ADHD. Um, and it was actually the Neurodivergent

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Woman podcast that I came across through a recommendation from a client, and it was

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this whole new world. I'd never heard all of these different things, and it was all of a sudden the

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penny just dropped and I went, this makes sense. Like, this is this incredible world that I knew

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nothing about, and yet we're living in it. You know, this is our lives of being different but not

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really relating. And I probably should say I'm now diagnosed autistic and ADHD myself. So it was this

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journey over probably, probably about 18 months that I, you know, did

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the research, did some questionnaires, talked to more people and understood what it meant to be

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neurodivergent, and then where in that that I my neuroscience kind of fell. Um, and yeah, it just hit

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the ground running and I haven't stopped researching and exploring ever since, and that

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would help yourself as well as your clients. Tell us a little bit about the symptoms or the

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conditions that come under the banner or the umbrella of neuro divergence. Yeah, absolutely. And

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I think you've put it perfectly when you say umbrella. It's so broad when you talk about neuro

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divergence. Um, you know, most people will know autism and ADHD are under that banner, and that's

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what a lot will end up defaulting to. You know, they'll say I'm neurodivergent, but what they

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really mean is they're autistic. So that's almost kind of like saying, um, I'm

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Australian. Yes. But within that, more specifically, I'm originally from Queensland, so it's part of

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this bigger banner and it doesn't really, you know, if someone said, where are you from? And they're in

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Australia and you wouldn't say Australia, it doesn't fit underneath that as well. Whereas if

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I'd said I'm autistic or I'm from Brisbane, that makes more sense in that image. Um,

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and underneath that banner, you've got bipolar. You've got dyslexia. You've got mental health

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conditions. Because anything under that is a divergent from what is considered the typical

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brain. And that typical brain is an expectation. So it's a social hierarchy of what

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we've decided is the most important brain or the best brain, but it doesn't. It's not really a thing.

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You know, normal is a construct. It's not it's not something that we can put an explanation to.

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Because if I said to you what is normal, I think it would be really difficult for you to come up

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with a description of that. And I think it it is that you do know, you know, if you're going through

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from as young child and you're always feeling like you don't really fit in a situation, it's

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very much will depend on what kind of neuro type is there for particular traits that show up or

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characteristics. If we talk specifically about ADHD, you might notice that you're

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always on the go, or you've got a lot of energy and a lot of thoughts in your brain that are

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often competing, and you're having to figure out, you know, which one to follow, which may look from

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the outside to be, um, more of a distraction. Or someone says your name and you don't focus on

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it. Um, where if we were talking about autism, it might be that you've got this

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really deep interest in let's go with psychology, and you feel like you get so caught up in

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what you're researching that you can't drag yourself away from that to be able to do anything

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else for a long period of time. And it's it's quite often consistent through your life. So for

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myself, I went, no, I don't have any deep interests. I don't have anything that, you know, is a really

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special, pervasive interest that I have throughout my life. And then I went, oh, hang on a

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second, maybe I do. You know, psychology has been that constant for me. Um, travel has always been

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something that I'm deeply passionate about and I get quite caught up. And if someone wants to talk

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about travel, I could go on and on and on about it. It's different interests that have highlighted

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through my life now. Um, so there are obviously, like we said, a lot more conditions underneath

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that umbrella. And that would be any differences that are clinically significant is where we would

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fit the diagnostic criteria. Um, obviously for myself, being autistic and ADHD, it's easy for me

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to explain what that experience is like. Um, but I think for anyone who feels like they don't fit,

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I think that's probably the best description of, you know, feeling like things are really hard

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things. Life isn't meant to be really hard. And I think that's what we've missed in growing up.

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We're not told that we're not. We don't have to just push through everything. If that's the case, I

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would do some more research and just, um, yeah, explore your your options there on what might be

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going on. What would you say to a typical thinker? Um, say for instance, in a workplace scenario

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that has somebody alongside them that are obviously thinking a little bit different, what

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would you say? Because you know, you've experienced it, you've lived it. What would you say to them? How

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to manage, what to look out for, how everybody can work together better? I'd say get curious. I think

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it's it's really nerve wracking for people when there is that difference of thinking that we have

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to have all of the answers. We don't when we're not meant to know everything. It's like anything

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in life. We learn new things as we go along. And I think asking the person how they're getting to

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that thought process, um, you know, how that might work, why their idea is so helpful, and approach

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it with curiosity, you know, how can I support you to this idea or to follow through on your plans?

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Um, and that's probably the we can go that we can follow that message either way of being

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curious, because to anyone in life that's helpful to come across as, oh, that's interesting thinking.

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Why do you think that way? As opposed to that defensive, which we often get because different is

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scary, something that's unusual to our experience. We go, oh, am I doing it wrong? Um, but yeah. Yeah.

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Sometimes I think to the benefits that brings to the table and in particular, I know I've talked

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about problem solving, but in in looking at different aspects like keeping things in order,

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there's so many different areas that they're perfectionists or can be genius. Can you give an

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example of that? Yeah, absolutely. So especially ADHD thinking it's quite often

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known for thriving and chaos. And I think that's a great analogy because, you know, with executive

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functioning when our brains are always sensing a threat. So it's always going, oh, there's a bear

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running at you. And so you're responding and you kind of get a bit jarred in that. But when there

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is that crisis situation, like an actual or metaphorical bear running at you, our

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ADHD brains will go, okay, I am going to fix this. What do we need to do? We need to get this, this,

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this sorted. And it's quite that methodical thinking that's able to thrive in those

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situations where if it's the hey, where did you put that glass that I saw you carrying five

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minutes ago? It's gone. It's it's out of sight, out of mind. It's not a priority. It's not deemed as

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important, even if it might be. Recent changes in diagnosis of ADHD. What does this mean for a

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person who has symptoms and wants to manage this? Absolutely. I think the key that you've said there

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of management is perfect because it is like it's not something we need to fix in ourselves. We're

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never going to not be ADHD. It's a part of our brain. It's who we are. Um, but sometimes that's

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really hard. Much like any other condition in life. You know, you want to be able to do the things

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that you want in life without feeling held back from that. um, the recent changes with some

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GP's in New South Wales being trained up to be able to prescribe medication is an amazing step

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in the right direction. Um, it's really complex. It's it's certainly not as simple as oh, yay. This

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is going to be this amazing new concept and it's going to change our lives forever. It's it's not.

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The system is really challenging to be able to get supports, especially with medication. And

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there's lots of reasons for that, including making sure that the right medication is prescribed. Um,

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making sure that the person isn't going to find that addictive or have any difficulties there. Um,

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it is very much outside my scope to manage medication or deal with medication. Um, as a

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psychologist. So, um, it that is exactly why psychologists can't prescribe medication. You know,

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we're not trained as doctors. We don't have that pharmaceutical training. Um, however, it makes it

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really challenging to be able to access that if you need it? And I think it's it's an option. It's

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one of many options to be able to help manage it. Um, particular difficulties that might come up as

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being ADHD, um, something that I find particularly helpful for clients is

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self-compassion. So that's a big one that you don't need any kind of doctor. You don't need

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anything else for that. Um, and sorry, I'm looking at the reason I'm looking down. I've got this

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amazing book that, um, one of the hosts of the Neurodivergent Woman podcast has written

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alongside of Jennifer Kemp, who's an Adelaide psychologist. So Monique Mitchelson and Jennifer

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Kemp have written the Neurodivergent Skills Workbook for autism and ADHD, and it's founded on

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that concept of, um, self-compassion. So it is giving you practical tools that you can use

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that, that sort of idea alongside talking to your GP and having a GP that you trust, that you

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feel you can confide in and say, look, this is what I'm feeling and then be validated in that. Um, but

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I would say explore on your own as well. So do some research into what traits might come

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up. Um, you can do self-assessment tests online. So I did provide a few websites that do have

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screeners specifically for autism and ADHD. Um, but obviously a GP and then psychologist psychiatrist,

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wherever you end up through that process, will be able to help you figure that out as well. And I'd

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say work on. And again, in the book they go through self-advocacy, but that's a big one as well. So

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knowing when to trust yourself, knowing that just because we have professionals in the field who

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have a lot of understanding within the space of the technicals, doesn't mean that we will ever

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know you better than you know yourself. You are the expert on you Um, and being able to then say

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that if you are experiencing something that doesn't feel right, speak up. Be able to say to

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your GP. Look, I know you've said that you don't think I'm autistic. However, I've done some

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research. I really think it fits. I'd like to take it further. And don't be afraid to ask for a

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second opinion. If you don't feel like you're being heard, ask for more. Go to someone else. Find

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someone that will listen to you. Brilliant. Thank you so much, Sharmayne. Just before we go, what's

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your favourite quote or saying? It's a classic, um, well, classic within the neurodivergent community.

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So we like to say nothing about us without us. And that basically means that research should include

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autistic or ADHD or bipolar or other neurodivergent people who it's about, um,

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and that all practices and decisions that should be made should be including those members of the

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community that are directly impacted. Thank you for joining us today. Thanks for sharing. Thanks,

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Sharmayne. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Neurodivergent thinking is a social framework

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that is used to describe a different way of brain development and thinking, rather than only

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neurotypical. Both are needed. Some of the conditions that come under the umbrella of

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neurodivergent are autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down's

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syndrome, dyslexia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and intellectual disabilities. Our focus

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today is on ADHD. Some of the symptoms include inattention when it is hard to keep focus on

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things for long periods of time, impulsivity when it is difficult to stop yourself doing what you

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think of doing in the moment, rather than waiting or planning it for another time. Hyperactivity.

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This is when it is difficult to sit still and the urge to talk and move around a lot, described like

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a motor running inside and find it hard to stop even when tired. More about this from

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Neurodiversity Hub dot org by Headspace some resources for building and learning. Share today

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from psychologist Sharmayne Bennett, including Yellow Ladybugs, Reframing

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Autism, Divergent Futures, and Embrace.

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For more information about Wonderfully Wired, go to Wonderfully Wired Psychology. So think on

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good is a program offering information for mind health and is not intended to replace medical

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treatment, professional advice, or diagnosis. If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health

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you continue to think on good.

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Think on good.