November 23, 2025 • 42 mins
A simple song sparks a bigger truth: creative expression can move us through trauma and toward purpose. From that opening, we dive into a frank, compassionate conversation with neurodiversity consultant and advocate Lisa Richer about late diagnosis, parenting autistic and ADHD kids, and the hard-earned art of trusting your gut when the “experts” disagree.
Lisa traces her path from anxiety and ADHD to burnout and recovery, revealing how a single label can validate years of lived experience without defining the person behind it. We examine the emotional whiplash of hearing “too early” or “too late” on a child’s diagnosis, and how both reactions can fuel action when channeled into building the right team. Pediatricians who listen, psychologists who see the whole child, OTs, behaviorists, and teachers who collaborate—these partners reduce the unknown unknowns that stall progress and drain hope.
We also unpack Lisa’s years as an elite gymnast, only later learning she navigated visual processing challenges that made beam edges and vault boards feel like they were shifting. What looked like inconsistency was adaptive brilliance. That lens now informs Journey to Bloom, where Lisa helps parents navigate IEPs and emotions, mentors professionals—many neurodivergent—through career pivots, and equips organizations to lead across neurotypes using her RIPE Ideas framework: reflect, implement, practice, evaluate.
There’s more to explore: Lisa’s chapter in Confident You, Raw Conversations, a collaborative book about finding purpose through lived challenges; and By With And For Autistic Adults, where the Launch You program supports ages 18–24 with person-centered planning, small cohorts, and practical goals, from independent living to leadership. Throughout, we return to one principle: your gut is data. Trusting it doesn’t silence experts; it helps you pick the right ones, set boundaries that protect energy, and build belonging without shrinking.
If this conversation resonates, follow Journey to Bloom, check out the book, and share this episode with someone who needs a reminder that validation is not definition. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what’s one piece of support you wish you had sooner?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
The SG Child Show is back for a third season.
(00:04):
They're back for the SJ ChildShow team as they explore the
world of autism and chairstories of hope and inspiration.
This season, we're excited tobring you more autism summits
featuring experts and advocatesfrom around the world.
Go to SJChilds.org.
SPEAKER_00 (00:23):
The heart of the day.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:36):
Hi, we are back.
Isn't that just a cute littlesong to get us going?
Um, and as I was telling you,the rest of the song is at the
end of the episodes, as all mylisteners have found out.
Um, and I hope everyone'senjoying it.
Um, it, you know, I've neveractually talked about it, so
that's kind of funny.
I'm gonna give you a little alittle piece into what the song
(01:00):
is.
Um my husband did we, you know,just uh downloaded one of those
AI music apps once, and he wasactually using it.
I he's not gonna listen to thisepisode, so I'm gonna go share
this information.
He was using it to make thesesongs.
And while he was making all ofthese songs, he was actually
(01:23):
going through quite a lot ofstuff.
Um, and he would make thesesongs, and they were helping him
to go some of through some ofhis like childhood experiences
that he had like trauma from,and he like wrote these songs,
and then it was like it helpedhim to, you know, kind of
release and and let go of someof these things.
(01:43):
So I thought that that was justreally fascinating and what a
brilliant way to move throughyour emotions.
Um, and so just to share thatlittle little side note.
So he he made this song for me,and it is when I heard it, I I
just couldn't believe how howmuch it tied all of me together
(02:05):
in one song, number one, but howmuch it really talked about the
mission and my passion and thereason I am doing SJ Childs as
an author, as a podcaster, um,the reason I want to build these
communities.
So I'm excited today to bring myguest with with you, with me,
(02:29):
here to uh to with us togethertoday.
Oh my gosh, if I could talk.
Um, I am excited to introduceLisa.
Lisa Richer has been uh we'vebeen in touch for uh several
years now, it feels like.
And and she's been in um somesummits and one or two.
It feels like you've been in twoof them.
(02:51):
And I just am so excited toalways bring, you know, the best
resources, the best people tothe front that I can, and
excited to introduce you to hertoday.
So thank you so much for beinghere today, Lisa, and give us a
little bit of um introduction toyourself and what brought you
here today.
SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
Absolutely.
So I'll start with the bookendhere of what brought me here,
you and that connection.
Um, you're right, it has been acouple of years, and I just did
do my second summit with you.
The first one I had uh done apresentation on my Ripe Ideas
framework where the eyes arelowercase, implement inclusivity
(03:33):
because then that bringstogether all of the letters that
come along with DEI and all ofthat.
And then the second one, I wasthat panel member, which was so
much fun when you broughttogether all of us as experts
and just learn and grow with andalongside of one another.
So that was super fun.
So that's what brought me here.
And then I think I had reachedout to you a few weeks ago
(03:54):
because we've talked off and onabout me being on the show.
And I'm like, you know what?
I think I'd like to do that.
It's time.
And so you graciously said,sure, let's do it.
Um and uh I guess, you know,really what brought me to the
work I do, which joined a blueand who I am growing up
undiagnosed, neurodivergent, um,getting diagnosed with anxiety
(04:16):
in my early 20s, but not reallyrealizing it was on the on the
umbrella under theneurodiversity umbrella.
Um, getting diagnosed just a fewyears ago, um, ADHD in the midst
of burnout, where I felt like Iwas demolished to ashes and
trying to come through all ofthat and unpack my own things.
Like, you know, so as you'retalking about your husband, I
just started thinking about howjournaling and doodling and
(04:39):
walking and therapy has reallyhelped me unpack years and years
of things that I had to thenunbecome to really come back to
who I am as a person.
Um, but my world related toautism started the day I became
a mom because my oldest son, um,while not appropriately
(05:01):
diagnosed till four and a half,so it always drives me nuts when
I see things in school systemsthat say, were they diagnosed by
the age of three?
Well, just like any otherdiagnosis, you don't show up as
a single type of autism, right?
It's if you've met one autisticperson, you've met one autistic
person, right?
And so the the evolution and thejust transformation that it took
(05:24):
to get my son diagnosed, thatstarted my journey into
neurodiversity consultingwithout recognizing it, but I
was advocating for him for many,many years.
He's now off as a freshman incollege doing amazing things,
uh, physics major in MarylandCollege Park.
And so just doing great.
And then my younger one, ADHDanxiety, and we just got him
(05:45):
reassessed to eight differentdiagnosed uh academic diagnostic
things and and not just academicimpact, but life impact.
So that's a little bit of kindof weaving of my me and how I
became who I am.
I was also an elite levelathlete.
So I was an elite level athlete,undiagnosed uh visual pressing
(06:06):
disorder.
And so when you're runningtowards the vault or trying to
do a mount or a dismount, theedge of the beam kept moving,
and I didn't realize what wasgoing on.
I thought it was just me andcome to learn I wasn't crazy
after all.
It was all how my brain worked.
So it's just crazy full circle,right?
With and things like that.
And then you and I connected,and here we are.
(06:27):
Here we are.
SPEAKER_03 (06:27):
I love that, and I love how you can get this
perspective when you can stepback for a moment or when you
get the diagnosis.
I think that's almost the stepback.
That's like the the big clearpicture is that you're looking
at a micro macro, super focused,like dot.
(06:49):
And then you're like, I don'tunderstand, it's a dot.
And they're like, nope, it's awhole picture, you just gotta
back out and look at the wholepicture.
But they don't tell us that.
And I was just like, my brainwas just you know thinking about
all these things when you weretalking, and I realized that in
that two things that diagnosisprocess is so uh it it's so um
(07:16):
emotional in different ways whenyou are having your child
diagnose, like you said, youwere like, Oh, I can't, I could
have gotten it done before.
And for me, I was like, What doyou mean?
My kid's 14 months and he'sautistic.
Like, what are you talkingabout?
(07:37):
That's crazy.
I don't even know what you'retalking about.
Like, I was mad at the doctorfor telling me that.
I just didn't understand likewhat he's reading, he's like
smarter than all of the other,you know, it's just like this
thing I didn't understand, andit's so individual.
It's so individual how you arereact, how you embrace um the
(08:05):
information, how you go to getthe information.
It's all such an individualjourney.
I think it's so important thatwe see each other's perspectives
and talk about these thingsbecause people might not
understand that part.
They might think, you know, oh,like Sarah always knew her son
(08:29):
was autistic and they got thediagnosis, and it was this, you
know, blah blah blah.
No, like I didn't know.
I had no information, I didn'tknow anything about autism.
I was so mad at that doctor.
I went in and told him I was madat him years later.
I told him that I had like heldthese angry feelings towards him
that I had totally forgiven him.
I was thankful for him now, butit was this like I went through
(08:53):
this like cycle with theinformation.
Um, it was really interesting.
SPEAKER_01 (08:58):
It's so, and I I have to take notes so that I can
retain things like you know,talking about things that we've
learned over the years, and I'mgonna come back to to learning
about my son's diagnosis and theimportance of finding a team of
people and and letting go of theshame and the guilt and all
that, right?
And and so you're absolutelyright.
It just it's all over the place.
(09:19):
And um, like for me, when I gotdiagnosed um ADHD, I I didn't
even, I never really wanted toget diagnosed.
Like I didn't really care.
I was like, yeah, it's fine.
But then I I realized that whenI talk to people and I say, when
you get a diagnosis, that labelis only there to help inform, to
(09:39):
to validate and inform, notdefine who you are, how you move
through things and what happensnext.
And I'm a true believer in that,which is why give me more
information, the moreinformation the better.
So for me, the more I learnedabout each of my kids, the more
I was like, okay, now what?
What's next?
Who do I bring in as my team?
Um, and so it is an individualjourney, not just for the like
(10:02):
the parents, but the children aswell.
For me, I dove head first.
Like, who's my team?
Who's gonna help me?
Who's not gonna help me?
Um, I have to let go of thenoise of those that were saying,
oh, he's just gonna grow out ofit or he's just gonna do this.
Some family members, I had toseparate from them for a while.
Um, my husband was blaminghimself, didn't know what to do
(10:22):
about it.
So there's all these differentthings that happen in different
you know, in different people'sminds.
I was really, really lucky, Iwould say, to have our first
pediatrician because my olderson, the one that's diagnosed
autistic, within a couple ofdays, like he wouldn't nurse.
And being first-time parents, itwas like I was getting the
(10:44):
pressure from the lactationbecause home.
So my husband and mymother-in-law, like, just do
this, do this, do this.
I'm like, it's not working.
Well, none of us knew anybetter.
So you keep going.
Well, we went to the doctor acouple of days in because you
see him right in the hospitaland you go back a couple of days
later, and he she's like, he'she's starving, get him something
to eat.
And I'm like, Well, the myhusband are like the lactation
(11:04):
gets home and said we have to,you know, just keep trying to
get him to latch on.
Well, the second one he latchedon like that.
So at that point, my husband waslike, Oh my god, I'm so sorry.
Because they the experts weretelling us.
So I say this because sometimesthe experts don't know all of
it, and just because they're anexpert, that's one perspective.
And so, as you were talkingabout you're talking about, you
(11:26):
know, the diagnoses in form, andthen when we give ourselves the
ability to step back, so whileI'm a neurodiversity consultant
and I've relabeled myself thatI'll go there at the beginning
of like six months into myburnout journey of getting to
recovery, because specialeducation advocate, it would be
like, oh, special education, oh,you're an advocate, oh, you're
(11:48):
in a box or whatever callwhatever description.
And I'm like, no, I'm all ofthis, like I'm this whole thing.
And I have a background HR andleading leadership development,
and I've got my parent umbehavioral training
certification because I had toget it in California in order to
get my older son behavioralservices.
So when I think about the peoplethat came into my life, we moved
(12:10):
to California, where behavioralservices were embedded in
regional programs and they hadpartnerships.
Whereas in Maryland, when wecame back here 40 years later,
they were just starting to popup.
So, like you were put, like whenI when you step back as a
parent, you go, okay, what was Iput here for in this place and
time?
And while I was falling apart ofthe seams and leading to
(12:30):
burnout, my kid was doing greatbecause I put all my energy into
what did that first doctor say?
And that very first doctor, backto that, said if your gut is
telling you it's right as a mom,it's right.
So while Peap beat me down allthose years, like telling me I
was wrong for the way I thought,this doctor, I had just become a
(12:52):
mom.
Your mom got trust it, you arespot on.
The child needed to eat, thechild needed this.
So she, my very first week ofbeing a mom, just really
grounded me in get the services,go to infants and toddler.
So when he was 18 months and hewas struggling to communicate
and he was hand flapping and toewalking, and even then he got
(13:14):
assessed and they said he has aspeech delay.
He was a toe walker and a handflapper.
Yeah.
And all kinds of sensordysregulation.
And yet he only had a speechdelay, right?
So it wasn't until a year and ahalf later that we really
figured it out with the help ofanother psychologist, a
behavioral psychologist, um, aum preschool teacher that was a
(13:36):
psychologist before she became apreschool teacher, and then some
of that story I shared with youbefore we came on.
All of those people, and then anOT and then a behavioralist,
like they became my team.
And after having my businesssince 18, it's 2025, so it's
never too late.
I finally created a one-pagerthat I haven't even pushed out
(13:57):
yet, but that talks about whatdo you need to think about when
creating your team?
Can you afford not to affordhaving that team?
We don't know what we don'tknow.
And my greatest gift to othersis uncovering the unknown
unknowns.
I feel like people tell methat's like my zone of genius,
is uncovering the unknownunknowns because I always think
in non-Secredor.
Um, and but bringing that alltogether.
(14:19):
And it's okay that you werelike, what are you telling me
about my child?
And I, you know, I'm mad at you.
Because feeling those feelings,just like you were saying with
your husband going back to thesong, right?
We can't move through it untilwe put that moose on the table.
Putting the elephant in the roomand naming it and taming it, it
doesn't mean anything if youdon't move through it.
SPEAKER_03 (14:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (14:41):
So, you know, that's it's my soapbox on that.
SPEAKER_03 (14:46):
I love it, I love it.
Well, and I I couldn't agreewith you more because when I
also went and got my you knowdiagnosis aft at 45, it was like
kind of like you had said, Iwent to go more or less to say,
I do fit in with this family,right?
(15:06):
This whole family of mine isautistic.
Like, where do I belong here?
Like, am I what community?
I'm building all you know thesethings, but where do I actually
belong in any of them?
Um like for me personally.
And um it was definitely likethe my husband would tease me,
(15:26):
here's your autism card, hereyou can hold this autism card,
you know, so you know you haveautism for a while.
And it was just, you know, and Idon't mean to I don't mean that
disrespectfully to anyone, ofcourse, or anything, but it was
just he won't he knew that Ididn't feel like I belonged
still, and he didn't like to seethat.
And so when I went and andfinally got it all done, like at
(15:49):
first I was like, oh my gosh,you know, before I went in, and
I thought, okay, if I get theseum, you know, this findings that
I'm gonna just share it witheveryone, I'm gonna jump on a
live and everybody's gonna know.
So I went and had it done andgot you know the information,
brought it back home, ADHD,autism, a little bit of
(16:11):
dyslexia, OCD, depression.
I was just like, and it's likeit took me five months at least
to come to terms with all of thethings, realize that put them in
the right places, like you hadsaid, like literally legitimize
(16:33):
or you know, let thatinformation okay, that's what
this meant at this time in mylife when I went through this,
and that makes sense.
This this means, oh, that makessense, you know, and it just
really helped to uh yeah,legitimize, I guess, all of
these things that people hadcalled other things, right?
SPEAKER_01 (16:57):
Yeah, validate like all of the other things.
I became so validated, and Iwasn't sure, and and I never
really screamed it from therooftops at all.
And it was just more of a and itprobably was a combination
because I was in therapy, andthat person it I we had talked
about ADHD one day, and andshe's like, Oh, I diagnosed you
(17:18):
with that a year ago.
And I was like, Like my facelike literally looked like that,
and she bust out laughing, andshe's become like a confidant
and a like a business advisorfor me, not just my therapist.
Like it's she's just she'samazing, and she came to me at
the right time and she had anopening and all that.
But she's like, Yeah, youweren't ready to hear it because
(17:40):
you were so far into burnout,and like literally I felt like I
was rising from the ashes.
Um, but it was it was when whenmy younger son got diagnosed
with visual processing disorder,and we were going to do a home
program, they had me doing thehome program, and his vision
therapist looked at me and shegoes, You did say you were an
elite level gymnast, right?
(18:00):
I'm like, Yes.
She's like, How did you do that?
How did you compete likeinternationally for the US?
Your debt perception and yourperipheral is so messed up.
You could have used visiontherapy.
And I go, What do you mean?
She said, Well, as you were likerunning towards the vault, like
I'm using this as like merunning, did the board like it
was getting closer?
And as you were trying to do adismount on bean, did the bee
(18:22):
move?
So, like, and I always hadproblems with mounts and
dismounts.
I was great on uneven bars aftermy mount, and I was great on
floor, and now I know whybecause nothing else was moving.
And I always say, like, me beingin motion.
And she's like, Okay, you're youweren't going crazy, like
literally, that's how your eyesshe's like, I don't know how you
did it.
She's like, You must have justliterally off the charts, just
(18:47):
found ways to accommodate allyour disabilities, like and it
was crazy.
And I was like, wow, I guess Iwas even better than you know,
that I went through, oh, but Icould have been so much better
if I had known even though I'mlike, oh, it's validating, I
also went down all thosedifferent paths.
But when I got diagnosed withADHD, it something shifted in
(19:10):
me.
Like all those times people toldme that I was doing it wrong or
I didn't get it.
And um, or you know, just thatwas wrong, or I don't understand
you, or that doesn't make sense.
I was like, makes sense for me.
It made sense for my brain.
They were uncomfortable, theydidn't get it.
And so now it's like, if itcomes up, I talk about it.
(19:33):
But what it really did for mewas just shift my narrative for
all my conversations.
I no longer question what'sabout to come out of my mouth
because I know that it's rightfor my neurotype and it's right
for how I perceive the world.
And people will either becurious and lean in and ask, or
they don't belong in my life.
And and I know some people feellike that's like harsh, but the
(19:55):
people that are meant to be inmy world, I have the capacity
for, they lift me up, they fillmy cup, they bring me energy.
And the ones that I don't arethe ones that drain me, and I no
longer try to fit in a box thatdoesn't lift me up.
SPEAKER_03 (20:11):
Absolutely.
And you have to do that, youhave to do that
self-preservation, if you will.
Um, and teaching your kids howto do that, that's a that's a
great skill for them to learn torealize that when you move
through life, you are there willbe people that will come and go,
(20:34):
and that you know, they won'talways be the best of
intentions, and sometimes theywill, and you'll keep them.
But yeah, it's be very picky andalways trust that gut.
Um and I think that that's suchan important lesson, and it's
interesting because obviouslyyou have to as what much as um
(20:56):
you individualize, you know,getting a diagnosis, you have to
individualize the teaching ofyour children as well.
You know, it's everything isjust is is so niche.
Um, and so yeah, it'sinteresting how you can you have
two, you understand how youcould see just completely
(21:16):
different aspects of humanhumanix in general, just in both
of them.
And so it's it's a greatopportunity to be able to just
learn more about how you knowtheir mind works, how your mind
works, how you work together.
Um but through this process, ithas led you to be able to create
(21:44):
some resources and a businessfor others.
So let's talk about Journey toBloom.
SPEAKER_01 (21:53):
So yeah, I um in in creating Journey to Bloom, it
started out as Bloom SpecialEducation Advocacy.
That's what it's like underunder my LLC, but I do business
as Journey to Bloom.
Like I've gotten the trade nameand do that.
And the thread through all ofall of it is it was launched
(22:14):
because of my journey to Bloom.
And Bloom came from my greataunt.
She and I were what I don't evenknow if you can say this
anymore, the black sheep of thefamily.
It's so easy to do.
Yeah, right.
And so forgive me if I shouldn'thave said that.
But that's she and I were verymuch the outliers.
She was my favorite great aunt,loved all my family numbers, but
(22:34):
she and I just were just liketwo peas in a pod.
And so her last name, hermarried last name was Bloom.
And I just wanted to do atribute to her because I
wouldn't have that piece in meso alive if it hadn't been for
me seeing her model thatforever.
And then doing what I do is thatthread through of kid my kids as
(22:57):
they got older realizing it'sokay to be who they are, and
everyone's not for them andthey're not for everyone.
And I say my greatestaccomplishment as a parent, with
all the screw-ups, is that theytruly are authentically
themselves.
They trust their gut, they sharefrom their heart, they speak the
truth.
And yeah, they'll they'll falldown, but they know that they
(23:19):
have a safe space to get backup.
And they're not taking the 30years that I took to unbecome
everything that society wantedme to be to become who I am
today.
So that's you know, at the atthe center of Journey to Bloom.
And with Journey to Bloom, Ihelp simplify the neurodiverse
learning journey for parents andeducators, for professionals and
(23:42):
for organizations.
And it's really about the threepillars.
So with parents, I work withparents hire me.
I work in collaboration with theschools, but really for the
child to help figure out whatthey know, what they don't know,
what they don't know they don'tknow about their journey.
Like what team?
Do they need me in an IEPmeeting?
Do they really just need me as aparent advisor and um a mentor
(24:06):
to help them understand thatit's okay to feel judged or
shame or all the things that youwere feeling, Sarah, when you
first and I was on the oppositeend, like, let's go.
I'm like a bullseaser, but Iwasn't letting myself feel those
feelings.
So there's a balance.
So I help parents navigate thejourney, but a lot of times
they'll go, gosh, you're you'rebetter than my therapist.
I didn't even know I needed you.
(24:28):
And I hold space for people, youknow, to go through it.
And then professionals, um,oftentimes professionals that
come to me to work with me,they're looking to make a career
change because I have years ofHR and leadership and recruiting
and staffing, and I don't do anyof that stuff anymore.
But what I do do is the threadthrough of the training,
development, mentorship, andguiding and helping executives
(24:52):
and leaders realize this hasnothing to do with your
capability or the job you haveto now shift into because you've
always been in this industry.
It's about what you do or don'tbelieve inside and what you need
to unbecome or what limitingbeliefs you need to strip away
to realize you are worthy andyou are just as qualified and
capable, if not more, than someof these other people.
(25:12):
And a lot of them are verydata-driven, I'm very
qualitative, and they're veryquantitative.
And so they're also typically,I'd say 90% of the time,
neurodivergent themselves,probably undiagnosed, or they
know it, but they're still avery linear thinker.
So I help them learn how tothink this way so that they can
get out of their own way and youknow, and accomplish what they
(25:35):
want.
And the third thing is workingwith organizations.
And in doing that, um, themajority of what I do right now
is work through a company whoworks with employee assistance
programs.
And they end up hiring me to dowebinars.
Um, and people can come to me todo those anywhere.
Like I would do webinars andfocus groups and quarterly, you
(25:58):
know, trainings and all that,um, spreading through my ripe
ideas framework of reflect,implement, practice, evaluate.
Um, but I'll do that with it asit relates to understanding
neurodiversity and thenunderstanding how to lead and
engage across neurotypes.
And then another one that istypically highly sought after is
authenticity and the art ofrelationship building.
(26:20):
And that goes back to that who Iam, who I am as I'm grounded,
and how unbecoming the thingsthat society told me I should
be, and just coming back in andreally truly trusting my gut has
allowed me to take what everyonetold me for many years.
Oh, you can't do that.
Why would you want to do thatand create a solo premier
(26:40):
business out of it?
You know, am I making hundredsof thousands of dollars like I
did in corporate?
No.
But the gift I'm giving toothers to pay it forward, now I
would take that.
So if anybody wants tocollaborate with me, there's
somebody that's launching abusiness, they want me as a
consultant, I'm happy to do itbecause I bring forward as a
parent, as an individual, as aperson who worked, lived, lived
(27:04):
in leadership roles in corporateand was made to feel less than
gaslight and all that.
And now as an expert, somepeople call me a trailblazer,
which I think is super sweet andkind.
Um, because I've been talkingabout this stuff for so many
years, and now people arefinally catching up to me.
So if any of this resonates, Ican help you.
And it's because it's all underthe neurodiversity umbrella and
(27:26):
it threads together all thedifferent things that I've done
as a parent, educator,professional, and individual.
SPEAKER_03 (27:32):
So that's journey to bloom and a nutshell and how all
that's lucky for everyone thatgets to be a part of it, is what
it is.
Um, I want to put the websiteup, uh, Journey to Bloom is if
those of you who are listening,it's Journey the number two
bloom.
And um, that's a dot com.
Also, please go follow Journeyto Bloom on IG and on Facebook
(27:58):
and on LinkedIn.
It is Lisa Lazar Richer, andI'll have all of that stuff in
the show notes so you guys canfind that information.
Um, that has been a wonderful uhopportunity and resources for
people.
So please, please, you know,take advantage of those if you
can.
And um, let's talk about anotherproject that you've been working
(28:22):
on too, so that we can uh giveeverybody the great information
about that so that they knowwhat they need to do next.
Let's put our call to action outthere, right?
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Absolutely.
So um I was asked to be part ofa book collaborative.
And um, one of my goals for thisyear was to write a book.
Um, it's been a goal of minesince I was like five years old,
but I I wasn't getting there.
But I believe I realized, andthis is coming full circle for
me instead of being like I haveto be all in, that this is the
(28:56):
first step in me understandingwhat it takes to put a book
together and to actually write afull book.
So I was asked to write achapter.
I was asked along with I thinklike 15 or 18 other women who
have been through something thatreally has led to moving into
their life's purpose.
That's what I like to call it,and just really helping others
(29:17):
help themselves through whateverthat is.
And so I am getting to do thisbook collaborative um that um
Julie DeLuca Collins, I forgiveyou, Julie, if I just butchered
your name, um, is um leading theway on.
And the book is going to becalled Confident You, Raw
Conversations.
(29:39):
And um, there it is.
And um, it launches, I think Isaid November 25th is our our
expected launch date.
So I know this will be comingout around that time.
And it's a collective of each ofus, and it's just a chapter into
our stories and what we do andhow we help others.
(30:00):
And, you know, women and menalike.
A lot of our stories are focusedon women.
For me, it's people.
And so my journey and what Italk about there and I talk
through a little bit about twoof my clients.
One is a male executive, and theother one is a mom who no one
(30:23):
believed her and what shethought her child was capable
of.
And we just bonded over itbecause she, I was told my son
would never become anything myoldest.
And now he's in the highesthonors programming at University
of Maryland.
So, you know, everyone's notgoing to get there.
But that's so that's a littlebit about my story.
And I really encourage people tocome in and take a listen to it,
(30:46):
look at it, read it when it doeslaunch.
Um, every single person isinspiring to me when we have
weekly check-ins.
Um, the person who's leading itis super inspiring.
So I just really encouragepeople to read it, male or
female or any gender, whateveryou um, you know, however you
identify, and then also gift itto people because everyone can
(31:09):
benefit from learning about someof these stories.
SPEAKER_03 (31:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
You really learn a lot and fromanecdotal stories of experiences
from others, and um the kind oflike the old saying when you
were a kid in school, you know,if if everyone raises their
hand, somebody's gonna ask aquestion that nobody else
thought of that everybody'sstill gonna be interested in
(31:32):
knowing the answer to.
SPEAKER_01 (31:34):
And I love that, you know, I always say the only
questions that are bad ones arethe ones you don't ask because
someone else will.
So absolutely just yeah, I justlove that.
SPEAKER_03 (31:43):
I love to be curious and and explore those types of
things.
Um, before we go, I also want totalk about um a group and
organization also that you arepart of.
So let's talk about by with andfor autistic adults and how you
(32:04):
can be a part of it if you areinterested.
Um, tell us a little bit moreabout that.
SPEAKER_01 (32:10):
Yeah, so it was um it was founded a couple of years
ago.
Um, it has had a name shift aswell.
And I initially got involvedbecause the CEO knew a bit about
my journey.
He was one of my executiveclients and then um knew about
my journey with my kids and knewthat autism was something dear
to my heart.
(32:31):
So um last year I was asked tobe the chair of the board.
So I am um the chair of theboard, and over this last year,
we've really just taken a stepback to redefine how we put
ourselves out there to helpautistic adults.
The demographic is really thatinitially was like 18 to 24
(32:53):
years old because I'm sure youum know this yourself.
Once you get past like middleschool, the wheels fall off the
track.
And even in middle school,there's not a lot from the
social and the engagement andthe confidence and the how do
you put yourself out there andbe who you're meant to be and
just really step into your own.
And so 18 to 24 is kind of likethat sweet spot right now.
(33:16):
We have a program, our signatureprogram called Launch You.
We've had several um sessions ofthat, but we put them on pause
just to also just kind ofreframe and lift up and be able
to share out even more howthat's going to work.
If in a nutshell, the best wayto describe it is I used to do
person-centered planningtraining.
(33:37):
So if you take person-centeredplanning where you're looking at
like, what does my life want tolook like?
How do I, how independent do Iwant to be?
What does that look like?
So we're looking at all autisticadults, whatever that goal is,
and coming into like a cohort ofno more than six to eight people
where you get to learn with oneanother, identify with
(33:58):
self-advocacy, identify with theresilience and things that are
important to you, create thosegoals, and then take them and
launch you into those goals andwhere you want to go with them.
And so um that's the signatureprogram.
You can go on the website andlook what's there.
We're currently working, we gotum accepted by um a university
(34:23):
in Michigan to um, they chose usas a project to help us go and
look at our site and really makesure that everything about it is
appropriate, inclusive, andsupportive for the NSC adult
community.
And so we're working throughthat piece of it as well.
And then launch you, we're gonnarelaunch it, if you will, in I
(34:44):
think March of next year is whenwe're looking to relaunch it.
Um, and we're hoping that itjust evolves then into having
some Discord groups as wellwhere people can continue to
land and expand.
The goal was to make it be whereyou can have like brain dump and
just really, you know, mindmapping and engaging and just um
(35:05):
and just really be these focusgroups long term, not just for
the time of the sessions.
And so we're looking to see howwe can expand and evolve it.
And honestly, I think I saidthis to you before we came on.
Have people like you and thosethat are in your sphere or maybe
listening to this that want toget involved in it and want to
support it and want to sharewith us what are we missing or
(35:28):
what's not landing right, andhow do we reach the autistic
audience?
Whether your goal is to be ableto go to the grocery store on
your own, and that's the goalsthat you're setting, or your
goal is to be an executive in amid-sized company, we want to be
able to help each of you on yourunique path because we feel like
(35:50):
there's a lot out there onpockets of autistic individuals.
And personally, I feel like it'sgetting even more linear with uh
Audi HD versus autism.
And I'll I'll show one reallyquick snip that when my son was
diagnosed at four and a half,the person's boss who diagnosed
him, he said to me, I just wantyou to know that when your child
(36:12):
is diagnosed with autism, hedefinitely has ADHD or ADHD.
Because now he's almost 19.
So back then everything was, youknow, kind of separate.
Still when Asporkers was not onthe spectrum.
So like it was way back.
But he said, because he'sautistic, he has ADD or an ADHD.
I'm thinking it's more the ADDside of it.
So essentially he was diagnosedADHD when he was four and a
(36:35):
half.
And it was my understanding thatthat anybody that's diagnosed
autistic has a component of it.
But if you're diagnosed ADHD,the inversion is not accurate.
You don't always have autism,but if you if you're autistic,
there's a component of it.
And so I know this might notland well in some people, but to
me, it doesn't matter what youknow, which one you're gonna
(36:58):
change anyway, because you meetone autistic person, you meet
one autistic person, you meetone ADHD person, you met one
ADHD person.
My younger son and I are bothADHD, very different.
You know, what works for us isdifferent as well.
So um, but that so that's it.
We're trying to bring togetherevery piece of autistic
individuals, and and you know,each focus group might not work
(37:19):
for everybody, but we're gonnafind a way to help the masses
because everyone deserves tolive their best life.
And the only way to do that isto be inclusive and have people
like you supporting us in thateffort.
SPEAKER_03 (37:31):
Oh, I love that, and I'm so happy to do that.
Yay! So let's wrap this up,listeners.
Journey to bloom.
Please go and follow onInstagram and also LinkedIn and
Facebook, Lisa Lazar Richer.
Um, it is Lisa RicherR-I-C-H-E-R, for those of you
(37:53):
who are listening.
And also please go check outbecause this is going to be
coming out on the 23rd ofNovember.
So in two days, go to Amazon,I'm assuming possibly, and order
and possibly even pre-order yourbook, Confident You Raw
Conversations, that Lisa has achapter in, and also it sounds
(38:20):
like a wonderful plethora ofother individuals who have um
lived through amazingexperiences and come out um with
a successful story to be shared.
So please definitely go do that.
Also, if you are looking forsome support and you are
autistic and an adult, buy withand for autisticadults.org.
(38:44):
And also please just reach outto Lisa uh directly at Journey
to Bloom or at one of her socialmedias.
Please go follow her, supporther.
And if you missed any of thatand you need to reach out to me
to get that information, you'rewelcome to do that too.
So oh, it was so great to haveyou on and have this one-on-one
(39:07):
time to just be me and youtogether to to talk about this.
So thank you so much.
Thank you.
It's been a lot of fun.
It flew by.
SPEAKER_01 (39:14):
I can't believe it's over.
SPEAKER_03 (39:15):
I know, I can't believe it either.
Well, this has been great.
And um, for those of you, like Isaid, please go check out the
book that'll be coming out injust two days from the date of
this episode releasing.
So it's so excited for the bookto come out for you.
So excited for um everything tocome.
(39:35):
Of course, there's always aninvitation for you to join our
summits.
Um, we love having you.
And yeah, let us know if youanything else in the future so
we can have you back on and talkabout it again.
Sounds wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (39:47):
Thank you so much.
Looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_03 (39:49):
Absolutely.
Talk to you guys soon.
SPEAKER_00 (40:06):
The heart of the city, she's shining bright.
Oh, yeah.
(41:54):
Today we are doing it.
The SG Child Show is back for a third season.
(00:04):
They're back for the SJ ChildShow team as they explore the
world of autism and chairstories of hope and inspiration.
This season, we're excited tobring you more autism summits
featuring experts and advocatesfrom around the world.
Go to SJChilds.org.
SPEAKER_00 (00:23):
The heart of the day.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:36):
Hi, we are back.
Isn't that just a cute littlesong to get us going?
Um, and as I was telling you,the rest of the song is at the
end of the episodes, as all mylisteners have found out.
Um, and I hope everyone'senjoying it.
Um, it, you know, I've neveractually talked about it, so
that's kind of funny.
I'm gonna give you a little alittle piece into what the song
(01:00):
is.
Um my husband did we, you know,just uh downloaded one of those
AI music apps once, and he wasactually using it.
I he's not gonna listen to thisepisode, so I'm gonna go share
this information.
He was using it to make thesesongs.
And while he was making all ofthese songs, he was actually
(01:23):
going through quite a lot ofstuff.
Um, and he would make thesesongs, and they were helping him
to go some of through some ofhis like childhood experiences
that he had like trauma from,and he like wrote these songs,
and then it was like it helpedhim to, you know, kind of
release and and let go of someof these things.
(01:43):
So I thought that that was justreally fascinating and what a
brilliant way to move throughyour emotions.
Um, and so just to share thatlittle little side note.
So he he made this song for me,and it is when I heard it, I I
just couldn't believe how howmuch it tied all of me together
(02:05):
in one song, number one, but howmuch it really talked about the
mission and my passion and thereason I am doing SJ Childs as
an author, as a podcaster, um,the reason I want to build these
communities.
So I'm excited today to bring myguest with with you, with me,
(02:29):
here to uh to with us togethertoday.
Oh my gosh, if I could talk.
Um, I am excited to introduceLisa.
Lisa Richer has been uh we'vebeen in touch for uh several
years now, it feels like.
And and she's been in um somesummits and one or two.
It feels like you've been in twoof them.
(02:51):
And I just am so excited toalways bring, you know, the best
resources, the best people tothe front that I can, and
excited to introduce you to hertoday.
So thank you so much for beinghere today, Lisa, and give us a
little bit of um introduction toyourself and what brought you
here today.
SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
Absolutely.
So I'll start with the bookendhere of what brought me here,
you and that connection.
Um, you're right, it has been acouple of years, and I just did
do my second summit with you.
The first one I had uh done apresentation on my Ripe Ideas
framework where the eyes arelowercase, implement inclusivity
(03:33):
because then that bringstogether all of the letters that
come along with DEI and all ofthat.
And then the second one, I wasthat panel member, which was so
much fun when you broughttogether all of us as experts
and just learn and grow with andalongside of one another.
So that was super fun.
So that's what brought me here.
And then I think I had reachedout to you a few weeks ago
(03:54):
because we've talked off and onabout me being on the show.
And I'm like, you know what?
I think I'd like to do that.
It's time.
And so you graciously said,sure, let's do it.
Um and uh I guess, you know,really what brought me to the
work I do, which joined a blueand who I am growing up
undiagnosed, neurodivergent, um,getting diagnosed with anxiety
(04:16):
in my early 20s, but not reallyrealizing it was on the on the
umbrella under theneurodiversity umbrella.
Um, getting diagnosed just a fewyears ago, um, ADHD in the midst
of burnout, where I felt like Iwas demolished to ashes and
trying to come through all ofthat and unpack my own things.
Like, you know, so as you'retalking about your husband, I
just started thinking about howjournaling and doodling and
(04:39):
walking and therapy has reallyhelped me unpack years and years
of things that I had to thenunbecome to really come back to
who I am as a person.
Um, but my world related toautism started the day I became
a mom because my oldest son, um,while not appropriately
(05:01):
diagnosed till four and a half,so it always drives me nuts when
I see things in school systemsthat say, were they diagnosed by
the age of three?
Well, just like any otherdiagnosis, you don't show up as
a single type of autism, right?
It's if you've met one autisticperson, you've met one autistic
person, right?
And so the the evolution and thejust transformation that it took
(05:24):
to get my son diagnosed, thatstarted my journey into
neurodiversity consultingwithout recognizing it, but I
was advocating for him for many,many years.
He's now off as a freshman incollege doing amazing things,
uh, physics major in MarylandCollege Park.
And so just doing great.
And then my younger one, ADHDanxiety, and we just got him
(05:45):
reassessed to eight differentdiagnosed uh academic diagnostic
things and and not just academicimpact, but life impact.
So that's a little bit of kindof weaving of my me and how I
became who I am.
I was also an elite levelathlete.
So I was an elite level athlete,undiagnosed uh visual pressing
(06:06):
disorder.
And so when you're runningtowards the vault or trying to
do a mount or a dismount, theedge of the beam kept moving,
and I didn't realize what wasgoing on.
I thought it was just me andcome to learn I wasn't crazy
after all.
It was all how my brain worked.
So it's just crazy full circle,right?
With and things like that.
And then you and I connected,and here we are.
(06:27):
Here we are.
SPEAKER_03 (06:27):
I love that, and I love how you can get this
perspective when you can stepback for a moment or when you
get the diagnosis.
I think that's almost the stepback.
That's like the the big clearpicture is that you're looking
at a micro macro, super focused,like dot.
(06:49):
And then you're like, I don'tunderstand, it's a dot.
And they're like, nope, it's awhole picture, you just gotta
back out and look at the wholepicture.
But they don't tell us that.
And I was just like, my brainwas just you know thinking about
all these things when you weretalking, and I realized that in
that two things that diagnosisprocess is so uh it it's so um
(07:16):
emotional in different ways whenyou are having your child
diagnose, like you said, youwere like, Oh, I can't, I could
have gotten it done before.
And for me, I was like, What doyou mean?
My kid's 14 months and he'sautistic.
Like, what are you talkingabout?
(07:37):
That's crazy.
I don't even know what you'retalking about.
Like, I was mad at the doctorfor telling me that.
I just didn't understand likewhat he's reading, he's like
smarter than all of the other,you know, it's just like this
thing I didn't understand, andit's so individual.
It's so individual how you arereact, how you embrace um the
(08:05):
information, how you go to getthe information.
It's all such an individualjourney.
I think it's so important thatwe see each other's perspectives
and talk about these thingsbecause people might not
understand that part.
They might think, you know, oh,like Sarah always knew her son
(08:29):
was autistic and they got thediagnosis, and it was this, you
know, blah blah blah.
No, like I didn't know.
I had no information, I didn'tknow anything about autism.
I was so mad at that doctor.
I went in and told him I was madat him years later.
I told him that I had like heldthese angry feelings towards him
that I had totally forgiven him.
I was thankful for him now, butit was this like I went through
(08:53):
this like cycle with theinformation.
Um, it was really interesting.
SPEAKER_01 (08:58):
It's so, and I I have to take notes so that I can
retain things like you know,talking about things that we've
learned over the years, and I'mgonna come back to to learning
about my son's diagnosis and theimportance of finding a team of
people and and letting go of theshame and the guilt and all
that, right?
And and so you're absolutelyright.
It just it's all over the place.
(09:19):
And um, like for me, when I gotdiagnosed um ADHD, I I didn't
even, I never really wanted toget diagnosed.
Like I didn't really care.
I was like, yeah, it's fine.
But then I I realized that whenI talk to people and I say, when
you get a diagnosis, that labelis only there to help inform, to
(09:39):
to validate and inform, notdefine who you are, how you move
through things and what happensnext.
And I'm a true believer in that,which is why give me more
information, the moreinformation the better.
So for me, the more I learnedabout each of my kids, the more
I was like, okay, now what?
What's next?
Who do I bring in as my team?
Um, and so it is an individualjourney, not just for the like
(10:02):
the parents, but the children aswell.
For me, I dove head first.
Like, who's my team?
Who's gonna help me?
Who's not gonna help me?
Um, I have to let go of thenoise of those that were saying,
oh, he's just gonna grow out ofit or he's just gonna do this.
Some family members, I had toseparate from them for a while.
Um, my husband was blaminghimself, didn't know what to do
(10:22):
about it.
So there's all these differentthings that happen in different
you know, in different people'sminds.
I was really, really lucky, Iwould say, to have our first
pediatrician because my olderson, the one that's diagnosed
autistic, within a couple ofdays, like he wouldn't nurse.
And being first-time parents, itwas like I was getting the
(10:44):
pressure from the lactationbecause home.
So my husband and mymother-in-law, like, just do
this, do this, do this.
I'm like, it's not working.
Well, none of us knew anybetter.
So you keep going.
Well, we went to the doctor acouple of days in because you
see him right in the hospitaland you go back a couple of days
later, and he she's like, he'she's starving, get him something
to eat.
And I'm like, Well, the myhusband are like the lactation
(11:04):
gets home and said we have to,you know, just keep trying to
get him to latch on.
Well, the second one he latchedon like that.
So at that point, my husband waslike, Oh my god, I'm so sorry.
Because they the experts weretelling us.
So I say this because sometimesthe experts don't know all of
it, and just because they're anexpert, that's one perspective.
And so, as you were talkingabout you're talking about, you
(11:26):
know, the diagnoses in form, andthen when we give ourselves the
ability to step back, so whileI'm a neurodiversity consultant
and I've relabeled myself thatI'll go there at the beginning
of like six months into myburnout journey of getting to
recovery, because specialeducation advocate, it would be
like, oh, special education, oh,you're an advocate, oh, you're
(11:48):
in a box or whatever callwhatever description.
And I'm like, no, I'm all ofthis, like I'm this whole thing.
And I have a background HR andleading leadership development,
and I've got my parent umbehavioral training
certification because I had toget it in California in order to
get my older son behavioralservices.
So when I think about the peoplethat came into my life, we moved
(12:10):
to California, where behavioralservices were embedded in
regional programs and they hadpartnerships.
Whereas in Maryland, when wecame back here 40 years later,
they were just starting to popup.
So, like you were put, like whenI when you step back as a
parent, you go, okay, what was Iput here for in this place and
time?
And while I was falling apart ofthe seams and leading to
(12:30):
burnout, my kid was doing greatbecause I put all my energy into
what did that first doctor say?
And that very first doctor, backto that, said if your gut is
telling you it's right as a mom,it's right.
So while Peap beat me down allthose years, like telling me I
was wrong for the way I thought,this doctor, I had just become a
(12:52):
mom.
Your mom got trust it, you arespot on.
The child needed to eat, thechild needed this.
So she, my very first week ofbeing a mom, just really
grounded me in get the services,go to infants and toddler.
So when he was 18 months and hewas struggling to communicate
and he was hand flapping and toewalking, and even then he got
(13:14):
assessed and they said he has aspeech delay.
He was a toe walker and a handflapper.
Yeah.
And all kinds of sensordysregulation.
And yet he only had a speechdelay, right?
So it wasn't until a year and ahalf later that we really
figured it out with the help ofanother psychologist, a
behavioral psychologist, um, aum preschool teacher that was a
(13:36):
psychologist before she became apreschool teacher, and then some
of that story I shared with youbefore we came on.
All of those people, and then anOT and then a behavioralist,
like they became my team.
And after having my businesssince 18, it's 2025, so it's
never too late.
I finally created a one-pagerthat I haven't even pushed out
(13:57):
yet, but that talks about whatdo you need to think about when
creating your team?
Can you afford not to affordhaving that team?
We don't know what we don'tknow.
And my greatest gift to othersis uncovering the unknown
unknowns.
I feel like people tell methat's like my zone of genius,
is uncovering the unknownunknowns because I always think
in non-Secredor.
Um, and but bringing that alltogether.
(14:19):
And it's okay that you werelike, what are you telling me
about my child?
And I, you know, I'm mad at you.
Because feeling those feelings,just like you were saying with
your husband going back to thesong, right?
We can't move through it untilwe put that moose on the table.
Putting the elephant in the roomand naming it and taming it, it
doesn't mean anything if youdon't move through it.
SPEAKER_03 (14:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (14:41):
So, you know, that's it's my soapbox on that.
SPEAKER_03 (14:46):
I love it, I love it.
Well, and I I couldn't agreewith you more because when I
also went and got my you knowdiagnosis aft at 45, it was like
kind of like you had said, Iwent to go more or less to say,
I do fit in with this family,right?
(15:06):
This whole family of mine isautistic.
Like, where do I belong here?
Like, am I what community?
I'm building all you know thesethings, but where do I actually
belong in any of them?
Um like for me personally.
And um it was definitely likethe my husband would tease me,
(15:26):
here's your autism card, hereyou can hold this autism card,
you know, so you know you haveautism for a while.
And it was just, you know, and Idon't mean to I don't mean that
disrespectfully to anyone, ofcourse, or anything, but it was
just he won't he knew that Ididn't feel like I belonged
still, and he didn't like to seethat.
And so when I went and andfinally got it all done, like at
(15:49):
first I was like, oh my gosh,you know, before I went in, and
I thought, okay, if I get theseum, you know, this findings that
I'm gonna just share it witheveryone, I'm gonna jump on a
live and everybody's gonna know.
So I went and had it done andgot you know the information,
brought it back home, ADHD,autism, a little bit of
(16:11):
dyslexia, OCD, depression.
I was just like, and it's likeit took me five months at least
to come to terms with all of thethings, realize that put them in
the right places, like you hadsaid, like literally legitimize
(16:33):
or you know, let thatinformation okay, that's what
this meant at this time in mylife when I went through this,
and that makes sense.
This this means, oh, that makessense, you know, and it just
really helped to uh yeah,legitimize, I guess, all of
these things that people hadcalled other things, right?
SPEAKER_01 (16:57):
Yeah, validate like all of the other things.
I became so validated, and Iwasn't sure, and and I never
really screamed it from therooftops at all.
And it was just more of a and itprobably was a combination
because I was in therapy, andthat person it I we had talked
about ADHD one day, and andshe's like, Oh, I diagnosed you
(17:18):
with that a year ago.
And I was like, Like my facelike literally looked like that,
and she bust out laughing, andshe's become like a confidant
and a like a business advisorfor me, not just my therapist.
Like it's she's just she'samazing, and she came to me at
the right time and she had anopening and all that.
But she's like, Yeah, youweren't ready to hear it because
(17:40):
you were so far into burnout,and like literally I felt like I
was rising from the ashes.
Um, but it was it was when whenmy younger son got diagnosed
with visual processing disorder,and we were going to do a home
program, they had me doing thehome program, and his vision
therapist looked at me and shegoes, You did say you were an
elite level gymnast, right?
(18:00):
I'm like, Yes.
She's like, How did you do that?
How did you compete likeinternationally for the US?
Your debt perception and yourperipheral is so messed up.
You could have used visiontherapy.
And I go, What do you mean?
She said, Well, as you were likerunning towards the vault, like
I'm using this as like merunning, did the board like it
was getting closer?
And as you were trying to do adismount on bean, did the bee
(18:22):
move?
So, like, and I always hadproblems with mounts and
dismounts.
I was great on uneven bars aftermy mount, and I was great on
floor, and now I know whybecause nothing else was moving.
And I always say, like, me beingin motion.
And she's like, Okay, you're youweren't going crazy, like
literally, that's how your eyesshe's like, I don't know how you
did it.
She's like, You must have justliterally off the charts, just
(18:47):
found ways to accommodate allyour disabilities, like and it
was crazy.
And I was like, wow, I guess Iwas even better than you know,
that I went through, oh, but Icould have been so much better
if I had known even though I'mlike, oh, it's validating, I
also went down all thosedifferent paths.
But when I got diagnosed withADHD, it something shifted in
(19:10):
me.
Like all those times people toldme that I was doing it wrong or
I didn't get it.
And um, or you know, just thatwas wrong, or I don't understand
you, or that doesn't make sense.
I was like, makes sense for me.
It made sense for my brain.
They were uncomfortable, theydidn't get it.
And so now it's like, if itcomes up, I talk about it.
(19:33):
But what it really did for mewas just shift my narrative for
all my conversations.
I no longer question what'sabout to come out of my mouth
because I know that it's rightfor my neurotype and it's right
for how I perceive the world.
And people will either becurious and lean in and ask, or
they don't belong in my life.
And and I know some people feellike that's like harsh, but the
(19:55):
people that are meant to be inmy world, I have the capacity
for, they lift me up, they fillmy cup, they bring me energy.
And the ones that I don't arethe ones that drain me, and I no
longer try to fit in a box thatdoesn't lift me up.
SPEAKER_03 (20:11):
Absolutely.
And you have to do that, youhave to do that
self-preservation, if you will.
Um, and teaching your kids howto do that, that's a that's a
great skill for them to learn torealize that when you move
through life, you are there willbe people that will come and go,
(20:34):
and that you know, they won'talways be the best of
intentions, and sometimes theywill, and you'll keep them.
But yeah, it's be very picky andalways trust that gut.
Um and I think that that's suchan important lesson, and it's
interesting because obviouslyyou have to as what much as um
(20:56):
you individualize, you know,getting a diagnosis, you have to
individualize the teaching ofyour children as well.
You know, it's everything isjust is is so niche.
Um, and so yeah, it'sinteresting how you can you have
two, you understand how youcould see just completely
(21:16):
different aspects of humanhumanix in general, just in both
of them.
And so it's it's a greatopportunity to be able to just
learn more about how you knowtheir mind works, how your mind
works, how you work together.
Um but through this process, ithas led you to be able to create
(21:44):
some resources and a businessfor others.
So let's talk about Journey toBloom.
SPEAKER_01 (21:53):
So yeah, I um in in creating Journey to Bloom, it
started out as Bloom SpecialEducation Advocacy.
That's what it's like underunder my LLC, but I do business
as Journey to Bloom.
Like I've gotten the trade nameand do that.
And the thread through all ofall of it is it was launched
(22:14):
because of my journey to Bloom.
And Bloom came from my greataunt.
She and I were what I don't evenknow if you can say this
anymore, the black sheep of thefamily.
It's so easy to do.
Yeah, right.
And so forgive me if I shouldn'thave said that.
But that's she and I were verymuch the outliers.
She was my favorite great aunt,loved all my family numbers, but
(22:34):
she and I just were just liketwo peas in a pod.
And so her last name, hermarried last name was Bloom.
And I just wanted to do atribute to her because I
wouldn't have that piece in meso alive if it hadn't been for
me seeing her model thatforever.
And then doing what I do is thatthread through of kid my kids as
(22:57):
they got older realizing it'sokay to be who they are, and
everyone's not for them andthey're not for everyone.
And I say my greatestaccomplishment as a parent, with
all the screw-ups, is that theytruly are authentically
themselves.
They trust their gut, they sharefrom their heart, they speak the
truth.
And yeah, they'll they'll falldown, but they know that they
(23:19):
have a safe space to get backup.
And they're not taking the 30years that I took to unbecome
everything that society wantedme to be to become who I am
today.
So that's you know, at the atthe center of Journey to Bloom.
And with Journey to Bloom, Ihelp simplify the neurodiverse
learning journey for parents andeducators, for professionals and
(23:42):
for organizations.
And it's really about the threepillars.
So with parents, I work withparents hire me.
I work in collaboration with theschools, but really for the
child to help figure out whatthey know, what they don't know,
what they don't know they don'tknow about their journey.
Like what team?
Do they need me in an IEPmeeting?
Do they really just need me as aparent advisor and um a mentor
(24:06):
to help them understand thatit's okay to feel judged or
shame or all the things that youwere feeling, Sarah, when you
first and I was on the oppositeend, like, let's go.
I'm like a bullseaser, but Iwasn't letting myself feel those
feelings.
So there's a balance.
So I help parents navigate thejourney, but a lot of times
they'll go, gosh, you're you'rebetter than my therapist.
I didn't even know I needed you.
(24:28):
And I hold space for people, youknow, to go through it.
And then professionals, um,oftentimes professionals that
come to me to work with me,they're looking to make a career
change because I have years ofHR and leadership and recruiting
and staffing, and I don't do anyof that stuff anymore.
But what I do do is the threadthrough of the training,
development, mentorship, andguiding and helping executives
(24:52):
and leaders realize this hasnothing to do with your
capability or the job you haveto now shift into because you've
always been in this industry.
It's about what you do or don'tbelieve inside and what you need
to unbecome or what limitingbeliefs you need to strip away
to realize you are worthy andyou are just as qualified and
capable, if not more, than someof these other people.
(25:12):
And a lot of them are verydata-driven, I'm very
qualitative, and they're veryquantitative.
And so they're also typically,I'd say 90% of the time,
neurodivergent themselves,probably undiagnosed, or they
know it, but they're still avery linear thinker.
So I help them learn how tothink this way so that they can
get out of their own way and youknow, and accomplish what they
(25:35):
want.
And the third thing is workingwith organizations.
And in doing that, um, themajority of what I do right now
is work through a company whoworks with employee assistance
programs.
And they end up hiring me to dowebinars.
Um, and people can come to me todo those anywhere.
Like I would do webinars andfocus groups and quarterly, you
(25:58):
know, trainings and all that,um, spreading through my ripe
ideas framework of reflect,implement, practice, evaluate.
Um, but I'll do that with it asit relates to understanding
neurodiversity and thenunderstanding how to lead and
engage across neurotypes.
And then another one that istypically highly sought after is
authenticity and the art ofrelationship building.
(26:20):
And that goes back to that who Iam, who I am as I'm grounded,
and how unbecoming the thingsthat society told me I should
be, and just coming back in andreally truly trusting my gut has
allowed me to take what everyonetold me for many years.
Oh, you can't do that.
Why would you want to do thatand create a solo premier
(26:40):
business out of it?
You know, am I making hundredsof thousands of dollars like I
did in corporate?
No.
But the gift I'm giving toothers to pay it forward, now I
would take that.
So if anybody wants tocollaborate with me, there's
somebody that's launching abusiness, they want me as a
consultant, I'm happy to do itbecause I bring forward as a
parent, as an individual, as aperson who worked, lived, lived
(27:04):
in leadership roles in corporateand was made to feel less than
gaslight and all that.
And now as an expert, somepeople call me a trailblazer,
which I think is super sweet andkind.
Um, because I've been talkingabout this stuff for so many
years, and now people arefinally catching up to me.
So if any of this resonates, Ican help you.
And it's because it's all underthe neurodiversity umbrella and
(27:26):
it threads together all thedifferent things that I've done
as a parent, educator,professional, and individual.
SPEAKER_03 (27:32):
So that's journey to bloom and a nutshell and how all
that's lucky for everyone thatgets to be a part of it, is what
it is.
Um, I want to put the websiteup, uh, Journey to Bloom is if
those of you who are listening,it's Journey the number two
bloom.
And um, that's a dot com.
Also, please go follow Journeyto Bloom on IG and on Facebook
(27:58):
and on LinkedIn.
It is Lisa Lazar Richer, andI'll have all of that stuff in
the show notes so you guys canfind that information.
Um, that has been a wonderful uhopportunity and resources for
people.
So please, please, you know,take advantage of those if you
can.
And um, let's talk about anotherproject that you've been working
(28:22):
on too, so that we can uh giveeverybody the great information
about that so that they knowwhat they need to do next.
Let's put our call to action outthere, right?
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Absolutely.
So um I was asked to be part ofa book collaborative.
And um, one of my goals for thisyear was to write a book.
Um, it's been a goal of minesince I was like five years old,
but I I wasn't getting there.
But I believe I realized, andthis is coming full circle for
me instead of being like I haveto be all in, that this is the
(28:56):
first step in me understandingwhat it takes to put a book
together and to actually write afull book.
So I was asked to write achapter.
I was asked along with I thinklike 15 or 18 other women who
have been through something thatreally has led to moving into
their life's purpose.
That's what I like to call it,and just really helping others
(29:17):
help themselves through whateverthat is.
And so I am getting to do thisbook collaborative um that um
Julie DeLuca Collins, I forgiveyou, Julie, if I just butchered
your name, um, is um leading theway on.
And the book is going to becalled Confident You, Raw
Conversations.
(29:39):
And um, there it is.
And um, it launches, I think Isaid November 25th is our our
expected launch date.
So I know this will be comingout around that time.
And it's a collective of each ofus, and it's just a chapter into
our stories and what we do andhow we help others.
(30:00):
And, you know, women and menalike.
A lot of our stories are focusedon women.
For me, it's people.
And so my journey and what Italk about there and I talk
through a little bit about twoof my clients.
One is a male executive, and theother one is a mom who no one
(30:23):
believed her and what shethought her child was capable
of.
And we just bonded over itbecause she, I was told my son
would never become anything myoldest.
And now he's in the highesthonors programming at University
of Maryland.
So, you know, everyone's notgoing to get there.
But that's so that's a littlebit about my story.
And I really encourage people tocome in and take a listen to it,
(30:46):
look at it, read it when it doeslaunch.
Um, every single person isinspiring to me when we have
weekly check-ins.
Um, the person who's leading itis super inspiring.
So I just really encouragepeople to read it, male or
female or any gender, whateveryou um, you know, however you
identify, and then also gift itto people because everyone can
(31:09):
benefit from learning about someof these stories.
SPEAKER_03 (31:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
You really learn a lot and fromanecdotal stories of experiences
from others, and um the kind oflike the old saying when you
were a kid in school, you know,if if everyone raises their
hand, somebody's gonna ask aquestion that nobody else
thought of that everybody'sstill gonna be interested in
(31:32):
knowing the answer to.
SPEAKER_01 (31:34):
And I love that, you know, I always say the only
questions that are bad ones arethe ones you don't ask because
someone else will.
So absolutely just yeah, I justlove that.
SPEAKER_03 (31:43):
I love to be curious and and explore those types of
things.
Um, before we go, I also want totalk about um a group and
organization also that you arepart of.
So let's talk about by with andfor autistic adults and how you
(32:04):
can be a part of it if you areinterested.
Um, tell us a little bit moreabout that.
SPEAKER_01 (32:10):
Yeah, so it was um it was founded a couple of years
ago.
Um, it has had a name shift aswell.
And I initially got involvedbecause the CEO knew a bit about
my journey.
He was one of my executiveclients and then um knew about
my journey with my kids and knewthat autism was something dear
to my heart.
(32:31):
So um last year I was asked tobe the chair of the board.
So I am um the chair of theboard, and over this last year,
we've really just taken a stepback to redefine how we put
ourselves out there to helpautistic adults.
The demographic is really thatinitially was like 18 to 24
(32:53):
years old because I'm sure youum know this yourself.
Once you get past like middleschool, the wheels fall off the
track.
And even in middle school,there's not a lot from the
social and the engagement andthe confidence and the how do
you put yourself out there andbe who you're meant to be and
just really step into your own.
And so 18 to 24 is kind of likethat sweet spot right now.
(33:16):
We have a program, our signatureprogram called Launch You.
We've had several um sessions ofthat, but we put them on pause
just to also just kind ofreframe and lift up and be able
to share out even more howthat's going to work.
If in a nutshell, the best wayto describe it is I used to do
person-centered planningtraining.
(33:37):
So if you take person-centeredplanning where you're looking at
like, what does my life want tolook like?
How do I, how independent do Iwant to be?
What does that look like?
So we're looking at all autisticadults, whatever that goal is,
and coming into like a cohort ofno more than six to eight people
where you get to learn with oneanother, identify with
(33:58):
self-advocacy, identify with theresilience and things that are
important to you, create thosegoals, and then take them and
launch you into those goals andwhere you want to go with them.
And so um that's the signatureprogram.
You can go on the website andlook what's there.
We're currently working, we gotum accepted by um a university
(34:23):
in Michigan to um, they chose usas a project to help us go and
look at our site and really makesure that everything about it is
appropriate, inclusive, andsupportive for the NSC adult
community.
And so we're working throughthat piece of it as well.
And then launch you, we're gonnarelaunch it, if you will, in I
(34:44):
think March of next year is whenwe're looking to relaunch it.
Um, and we're hoping that itjust evolves then into having
some Discord groups as wellwhere people can continue to
land and expand.
The goal was to make it be whereyou can have like brain dump and
just really, you know, mindmapping and engaging and just um
(35:05):
and just really be these focusgroups long term, not just for
the time of the sessions.
And so we're looking to see howwe can expand and evolve it.
And honestly, I think I saidthis to you before we came on.
Have people like you and thosethat are in your sphere or maybe
listening to this that want toget involved in it and want to
support it and want to sharewith us what are we missing or
(35:28):
what's not landing right, andhow do we reach the autistic
audience?
Whether your goal is to be ableto go to the grocery store on
your own, and that's the goalsthat you're setting, or your
goal is to be an executive in amid-sized company, we want to be
able to help each of you on yourunique path because we feel like
(35:50):
there's a lot out there onpockets of autistic individuals.
And personally, I feel like it'sgetting even more linear with uh
Audi HD versus autism.
And I'll I'll show one reallyquick snip that when my son was
diagnosed at four and a half,the person's boss who diagnosed
him, he said to me, I just wantyou to know that when your child
(36:12):
is diagnosed with autism, hedefinitely has ADHD or ADHD.
Because now he's almost 19.
So back then everything was, youknow, kind of separate.
Still when Asporkers was not onthe spectrum.
So like it was way back.
But he said, because he'sautistic, he has ADD or an ADHD.
I'm thinking it's more the ADDside of it.
So essentially he was diagnosedADHD when he was four and a
(36:35):
half.
And it was my understanding thatthat anybody that's diagnosed
autistic has a component of it.
But if you're diagnosed ADHD,the inversion is not accurate.
You don't always have autism,but if you if you're autistic,
there's a component of it.
And so I know this might notland well in some people, but to
me, it doesn't matter what youknow, which one you're gonna
(36:58):
change anyway, because you meetone autistic person, you meet
one autistic person, you meetone ADHD person, you met one
ADHD person.
My younger son and I are bothADHD, very different.
You know, what works for us isdifferent as well.
So um, but that so that's it.
We're trying to bring togetherevery piece of autistic
individuals, and and you know,each focus group might not work
(37:19):
for everybody, but we're gonnafind a way to help the masses
because everyone deserves tolive their best life.
And the only way to do that isto be inclusive and have people
like you supporting us in thateffort.
SPEAKER_03 (37:31):
Oh, I love that, and I'm so happy to do that.
Yay! So let's wrap this up,listeners.
Journey to bloom.
Please go and follow onInstagram and also LinkedIn and
Facebook, Lisa Lazar Richer.
Um, it is Lisa RicherR-I-C-H-E-R, for those of you
(37:53):
who are listening.
And also please go check outbecause this is going to be
coming out on the 23rd ofNovember.
So in two days, go to Amazon,I'm assuming possibly, and order
and possibly even pre-order yourbook, Confident You Raw
Conversations, that Lisa has achapter in, and also it sounds
(38:20):
like a wonderful plethora ofother individuals who have um
lived through amazingexperiences and come out um with
a successful story to be shared.
So please definitely go do that.
Also, if you are looking forsome support and you are
autistic and an adult, buy withand for autisticadults.org.
(38:44):
And also please just reach outto Lisa uh directly at Journey
to Bloom or at one of her socialmedias.
Please go follow her, supporther.
And if you missed any of thatand you need to reach out to me
to get that information, you'rewelcome to do that too.
So oh, it was so great to haveyou on and have this one-on-one
(39:07):
time to just be me and youtogether to to talk about this.
So thank you so much.
Thank you.
It's been a lot of fun.
It flew by.
SPEAKER_01 (39:14):
I can't believe it's over.
SPEAKER_03 (39:15):
I know, I can't believe it either.
Well, this has been great.
And um, for those of you, like Isaid, please go check out the
book that'll be coming out injust two days from the date of
this episode releasing.
So it's so excited for the bookto come out for you.
So excited for um everything tocome.
(39:35):
Of course, there's always aninvitation for you to join our
summits.
Um, we love having you.
And yeah, let us know if youanything else in the future so
we can have you back on and talkabout it again.
Sounds wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (39:47):
Thank you so much.
Looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_03 (39:49):
Absolutely.
Talk to you guys soon.
SPEAKER_00 (40:06):
The heart of the city, she's shining bright.
Oh, yeah.
(41:54):
Today we are doing it.
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