Every few years, a new headline claims to have found “the cause” of autism. This time it’s Tylenol (paracetamol). Before that, it was vaccines, diets, or even parenting styles. These stories grab attention, but they also leave parents carrying a heavy weight of guilt, shame, and anger.

In this episode, I unpack the latest Tylenol announcement in plain language, place it within the long history of blaming mothers for autism, and explore why science keeps chasing causes instead of focusing on what really matters: supporting autistic people to thrive.

Most importantly, I talk about what these headlines do to us emotionally as parents — and how we can release the blame that doesn’t belong to us. Because you are not broken. Your child is not broken. And you are not to blame.

You’re tired. You’re irritable. You can’t remember why you walked into the kitchen.

Is it burnout? Chronic stress from being a carer? Perimenopause? Or are you just… falling apart?

In this episode, Kirsten unpacks the perfect storm so many mothers face: the identity shift of post-diagnosis matrescence, the relentless mental load of raising a neurodivergent child, and the hormonal upheaval of perimenopause.

With personal reflection, expert insight, and plenty of validation, we’ll explore:

• Why burnout, stress, and perimenopause can look and feel the same

• How medical gaslighting leaves mothers unsupported

• The biology, the systems, and the cultural silence keeping us stuck

• Practical ways to care for yourself when you can’t change the storm

You’re not broken. You’re living through more than anyone should — and you still show up.

What if your need to control everything — the routines, the therapies, the endless meetings — wasn’t just about being prepared… but about being afraid?

In this raw and reflective episode, I explore how the urge to manage every detail of our child’s life is often rooted in fear: fear of judgment, fear of failing them, fear of what might happen if we don’t get it exactly right. I open up about my own journey through post-diagnosis matrescence, emotional burnout, and the slow, painful realisation that all my striving was leaving me disconnected from myself and my child.

Together, we’ll unpack:

• Why control often masks deeper fears

• How matrescence amplifies anxiety for mothers of neurodivergent children

• The emotional and physical cost of trying to “get it all right”

• What happens when we start to loosen our grip

• Real-life reflections on trust, presence, and letting go — without giving up

This one is for every mum who’s ever felt like she’s the only thing holding it all together — and is quietly falling apart in the process.

July 19th was International Self-Compassion Day — and this episode is a soft place to land.

If your inner voice has turned harsh… if you’re exhausted from trying to be everything for everyone… if you wouldn’t speak to anyone else the way you speak to yourself — this is for you.

Together we’ll explore:
💬 Where our inner critic comes from
🧠 The real cost of self-criticism (emotionally, physically, and socially)
🌿 A guided visualisation to meet yourself with tenderness
🧘‍♀️ A somatic reset to soothe the nervous system
🛠 Four practical tools to help rewrite the script — gently

You don’t need to be fixed. You need to be spoken to like someone who matters.

And that includes by you.

There’s a weight to the care we carry — and far too often, it’s invisible.

In this powerful solo episode, we explore the radical truth that mothering a disabled or neurodivergent child is not just love — it’s labour. And it’s time we called it what it is: emotional, structural, political care work.

Drawing on Care Feminist theory, lived experience, and the quiet rage of being expected to carry it all, this episode unpacks:

• Why mainstream feminism often erases caregiving mothers

• What Care Feminism can offer those of us raising children outside the "normal" scripts

• The emotional toll of invisible labour

• And what a truly caring society might look like

With space for breath, personal storytelling, and radical reimagining, this episode is a love letter to the ones doing it all — and a call to stop doing it alone.

“You are not just a mother. You are the architect of survival. And you deserve to be held too.”

In a world that demands we stay strong, keep coping, and never crumble — what if the most radical act is to soften?

In this deeply reflective episode, I invite you to explore softness not as weakness, but as wisdom. Drawing on voices like Audre Lorde, Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, bell hooks, Pema Chödrön, and more, this episode is a gentle rebellion against burnout, perfectionism, and constant self-sacrifice — especially for mothers of neurodivergent or disabled children.

We’ll unpack:

• Why softness is essential for nervous system health

• The myth of the “strong mum” and the cost of constant coping

• Sensory softness, rest as resistance, and boundary-setting as care

• What to do when you were never taught how to be soft

• How joy, breath, and stillness can be healing forms of protest

This episode includes breathing prompts, reflection moments, and space to reconnect with yourself in the middle of the chaos.

Because you, too, deserve to be held.

There are things we don’t say out loud.

The thoughts that creep in during sleepless nights. The words we swallow in school meetings. The grief that hides behind our advocacy. This episode is for the mothers who’ve been holding it together for too long, and wondering if it’s safe to fall apart.

In this raw, unfiltered conversation, I share the truth behind a recent school meeting — what was said, what was really meant, and what it cost to sit through it. This isn’t an episode with tips or tidy takeaways. It’s a hand on your back in the dark. A space to exhale.

We talk about:
– The perfect mother myth and the burden of being seen as “strong”
– What burnout really looks like (and why it’s not your fault)
– The quiet rage that comes from being dismissed by the system
– Why joy and rest can be acts of rebellion
– And what happens when you let the cracks show

You don’t have to be calm to be a good mum. You don’t have to be okay to be worthy.

You’re here. You’re listening. You’re still loving through all of it. And that is enough.

💛 Gentle breathing prompts and reflection spaces are included throughout.

Please take care while listening.

New theme music is "For You", by Entheos

What do you do when the system only wants to hear about what your child can’t do — and never asks about who they are?

In this episode of Fi(ND)ing Motherhood, Kirsten explores the emotional toll of support systems that reduce neurodivergent and disabled children to deficits and checklists. From DCA forms to school meetings, SEN parents are constantly asked to showcase the “worst day” version of their child just to access help — and it hurts.

Kirsten reflects on what it means to be a parent caught between advocating for services and fiercely protecting your child’s dignity. With references to Dr. Mona Delahooke, Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, and Brené Brown, this is an honest, validating episode for anyone who’s ever walked away from a meeting feeling unseen, unheard, and heartbroken.

Because your child’s story is so much more than a list of struggles — and so is yours.