203 - Unsilencing Your Authentic Voice: Shadow Work & Communication for Autistic Women

What if the way you speak—or don’t speak—was shaped more by survival than by choice? 

In this solo episode, Carole Jean Whittington dives into how shadow work can reveal hidden fears, unmet needs, and the unspoken patterns that impact the way autistic women communicate.

You'll learn how masking, alexithymia, and trauma may be influencing your communication style—whether that’s silence, shutdown, over-explaining, or people-pleasing.

Carole Jean shares how uncovering these shadow patterns can help you reclaim your voice, speak your truth, and ask for what you need with clarity and self-trust.

🌿 This episode includes:

– A warm, trauma-sensitive explanation of shadow work for autistic women

– Insights on how fear and unmet needs show up through the Enneagram lens

– Guided practice to gently connect with your inner voice – Actionable communication tools to use in your life or your practice

– This week’s Recharge Bonus: “Journaling Prompts for Shadow Exploration”

Whether you're on a journey of unmasking or guiding others through theirs, this episode offers powerful tools for speaking from a place of authenticity, not apology.

🔔 Subscribe + turn on notifications so you never miss an episode of Beyond Chronic Burnout—where we explore what it really means to thrive as autistic women.

Plant the Seed

Here’s your energy-in-action experiment for this week:

1. Identify one communication pattern you’d like to shift.
   Maybe you over-apologize.
   

• Maybe you stay quiet when you want to contribute.
  

• Maybe you soften your tone so you won’t be “too much.”
  

1. Practice bringing awareness to why you do that. What’s the fear behind it? What need might not be getting met?

   
   

Water & Nourish

This week, I’ve got two prompts for you—and there are 16 more waiting for you in the full Shadow Workbook in The Recharge Library.

🖋 What parts of my voice have I hidden to stay safe?

🖋 How can I begin to communicate my needs without guilt or apology?

And here’s one more from the bonus download: 🖋 How does my shadow influence my communication style? Am I passive, aggressive, or something in between?

Subscribe to The Recharge Newsletter and receive weekly burnout recovery insights, tools for yourself or to use with your autistic clients, and learn about upcoming workshops at Whittington Well-Being.

🔗 Subscribe to The Recharge: 

https://energyuplevel.kit.com/becomeafan 

Access the Recharge Library - https://energize.whittingtonwellbeing.com/products/courses/view/1180958/?action=signup 

🔗 Hormone shifts shouldn’t feel like chaos.  If you’re an autistic woman or support autistic clients, this is your invitation to experience a new kind of hormone education—one rooted in rhythm, clarity, and compassion.

✨ Join us for Hormone Harmony, a live guided event exploring how to align with your body’s natural hormone cycle—from menstruation to menopause—even when conditions like PMDD, POTS, MCAS, PCOS, or EDS/hEDS are also in the mix.

📅 Live Online | May 29th

🎁 Free ticket includes tracking tools, and support plans for hormone-related burnout or upgrade to VIP for a separate Q&A with Carole Jean.

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