Clinically Awkward

Alyssa Zimmerman
  • 5.0 (4)
  • MENTAL HEALTH
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Clinically Awkward is the podcast for the wonderful weirdos. Hosted by an AuDHD therapist, this show dives into the neurodivergent experience with candid conversations, laugh-out-loud moments, and unapologetic honesty. Here, we embrace the “awkward” and celebrate the “overshare,” because around here "too much" is exactly enough.

  1. 3D AGO

    Your Nervous System Doesn't Speak English: EMDR, Trauma, and Neurodivergent Healing with Laurie Bellinger

    We're talking EMDR, trauma, nervous system regulation, and why no one in the history of calming down has ever calmed down by being told to calm down. This week I'm sitting down with clinical social worker Laurie Bellinger, who has spent 25 years working with clients across the lifespan, to talk about what's actually happening in your body when trauma gets stuck and why understanding it intellectually is never going to be enough to move it. We start with what trauma actually means through a nervous system lens (spoiler: it's a lot more than car accidents and big scary events), then get into why top-down approaches like CBT hit a wall when your body thinks it's still in danger. Laurie breaks down polyvagal theory, window of tolerance, and bottom-up processing in a way that actually makes sense, and then walks us through EMDR therapy from the ground up: what the eight phases look like, why bilateral stimulation works, and why a good EMDR therapist is going to spend a lot of time before they ever wave a finger in front of your face. We also get into how to adapt EMDR for neurodivergent clients, what resourcing actually means, and why the therapeutic relationship predicts outcomes more than any modality ever will. And for the therapists listening: we go there on mentorship gaps, burnout, what the community mental health model does to new clinicians, and Laurie's upcoming book for therapists trying to build a sustainable career without losing their minds in the process. Laurie practices in New York State and offers consultation for clinicians at lauriebellinger.com.   00:00 Your Body Doesn't Know the Trauma's Over 03:48 What Actually Counts as Trauma (It's More Than You Think) 08:41 Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Therapy: Why Talk Therapy Isn't Always Enough for Trauma 14:01 What Is EMDR Therapy and How Does It Reprocess Trauma 20:35 Bilateral Stimulation in EMDR: What It Is and Why It Works 26:17 Resourcing in EMDR: Why Safety Has to Come Before Trauma Processing 34:08 EMDR for ADHD and Autism: Adapting Trauma Therapy for Neurodivergent Brains 41:16 Why Good Therapy Is About the Relationship, Not the Modality 48:56 Therapist Burnout and Building a Sustainable Mental Health Career 56:32 Connect with Laurie Bellinger

    58 min

  2. MAY 12

    The Problem Has a Name and It's Not You: Narrative Therapy for ADHD, Autism, and the Lies We Tell Ourselves

    Narrative therapy, ADHD, autism, and the story you've been telling yourself that is only ~10% of the actual truth. This week I'm talking to Dr. Cristina Louk, neurodivergent clinical psychologist, ADHD specialist, and one of the most genuinely warm and disarmingly earnest humans I've had on this show. She's been doing this work for decades and she is here to explain why narrative therapy might be the most slept-on modality for neurodivergent brains and why the story you've been telling about yourself is technically accurate but also deeply incomplete and kind of a disaster. We get into what narrative therapy actually is, how you thicken a thin story, and why you should absolutely name your problem. Mine is Vanessa. We don't know why. We're not questioning it. We also cover why narrative therapy is not your first stop if you're in crisis, how it plays with CBT, DBT, IFS, and somatic work, and what it looks like to restory your life without anyone telling you to just think positive. Nobody is telling you to just think positive on this podcast. Ever. And then because we are who we are, we spiral into justice sensitivity, RSD, masking, ADHD friend breakups, why some neurodivergent people attract users, and the very specific experience of clocking every single thing someone does wrong while smiling politely about it. Dr. Louk offers a free 15-minute consultation and sees clients in person in Woodinville, Washington and virtually throughout the state, with telehealth licenses in Florida and North Carolina. Find her at peacehumanistic.com. If this episode hit different and you want more, you can find me at alyssazimmerman.com for therapy services in New York State or to apply to be a guest on Clinically Awkward. Come be unhinged with us.   0:00 Meet Dr. Cristina Louk: Neurodivergent Psychologist on ADHD, Autism, and the Anxiety Misdiagnosis Pipeline 5:15 What Is Narrative Therapy? Why This ADHD-Friendly Modality Flies Under the Radar 8:27 Thickening the Story: The Narrative Therapy Technique That Changes Everything 11:57 Narrative Therapy and Suffering: Why We Don't Run From the Hard Parts 14:39 Externalizing the Problem: Getting Neurodivergent Clients to Believe They Are Not the Issue 19:18 Neurodivergent Therapists, Compassion Fatigue, and Why We Don't Work in Candyland 22:04 How Narrative Therapy Actually Works: The Structured Process for ADHD and Autistic Clients 28:44 Masking, IFS, and Narrative Therapy: The Neurodivergent Overlap 30:50 Neuroexpansive: Reframing ADHD and Autism as Strength 36:30 Strength-Based Therapy vs. Toxic Positivity: What Narrative Therapy Gets Right 45:20 Justice Sensitivity and RSD: How Neurodivergent People Experience Emotional Dysregulation 49:11 ADHD, RSD, and Friend Breakups: The Stories We Tell About Relationships

    59 min

  3. MAY 5

    We Didn't Fail School. School Failed Us: What the System Got Wrong About Neurodivergent Kids

    If you grew up neurodivergent in a school that had no idea what to do with you, this episode is going to hit you right in the feelings. I'm sitting down with Rebecca Engle, AuDHD dyslexia specialist, special education teacher, and owner of Stitches and Stanzas, an advocacy and creativity company that somehow combines knitting and screaming about the school system, which is the most neurodivergent business model I've ever heard of. We're both AuDHD, we were both identified early, and we both spent years in a system that had very strong opinions about our brains and was wrong about most of them. We get into what ableism in special education actually looks like when it's not dramatic, just normalized. IEPs written for classroom management instead of learning, behavior charts standing in for actual support, and schools consistently misreading a nervous system in overload as a behavior problem. We dig into dyslexia specifically because it gets lost in the neurodivergence conversation and it shouldn't, what happens cognitively when dyslexia, ADHD, and autism show up in the same kid, school refusal, learned helplessness, screen time, and the pipeline from second grade dropout risk to the prison system. We close on Rebecca's experience being denied entry into a teacher training program for being autistic, and why she only takes jobs at low-income schools. Regulation before rigor. That's the whole thing. Rebecca's resources, including trauma-informed classroom tools and co-regulation models, are available through Stitches and Stanzas on Instagram and Facebook. If you're looking for therapy in New York, find me at alyssazimmerman.com. 00:00 Meet Rebecca Engle: AuDHD Dyslexia Specialist and Special Education Advocate 08:21 What Ableism in Special Education Actually Looks Like 13:00 Ableism is Just Annoyance in Disguise 17:12 What Schools Get Wrong About Dyslexia and Learning Differences 22:02 When Dyslexia, ADHD, and Autism Show Up in the Same Kid 26:26 School Refusal, Learned Helplessness, and the Cost of Compliance Culture 29:21 Screen Time, Reading Struggles, and Neurodivergent Kids 32:24 Why IEPs Fail Neurodivergent Students and What Actually Works 38:48 From Student with an IEP to Special Education Teacher 42:08 Ableism in Teacher Training Programs 47:49 What Every Educator Needs to Know About Neurodivergent Students

    51 min

  4. APR 28

    On Tuesdays We Unmask: Mean Girls, Relational Aggression, and the AuDHD Experience

    This week on Clinically Awkward, fellow therapist (and fellow Alyssa) Alyssa DeRoche joins me for what I can only describe as a reparative experience disguised as a podcast episode. We're both AuDHD, both millennial, both AFAB, and we both grew up watching this movie like it was a nature documentary about a species we were desperately trying to infiltrate. We dig into why Cady crash landing in American high school isn't just a fish-out-of-water story. It's an allegory for what it actually feels like to be neurodivergent: arriving somewhere everyone else already knows the rules, doing everything wrong, and having absolutely no idea why people don't like you. We talk relational aggression, why it's so much more damaging than just getting punched, and why so many of us would have genuinely preferred the punch. We get personal about our own diagnosis stories, our masking histories, and how exclusion in girlhood turns you into the adult who will not let a single person get left off an invitation list. We talk friendship limerence, the social coordinator trap, and why "just text her back" is not the helpful advice people think it is when you have ADHD. We close on the forward-looking stuff: self-trust, knowing your actual capacity, and learning to tell people how your brain works before the friendship implodes. Alyssa DeRoche is a therapist licensed in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. You can find her at seedoftruthcounseling.com. If you're looking for therapy in New York, I'm at alyssazimmerman.com. Timestamps: 00:00 Late Diagnosed and Finally Making Sense of It 09:16 Cady Heron and the Autistic Experience Nobody Named 16:08 Friendship Limerence, Executive Dysfunction, and the Group Chat 24:27 Is Regina George and The Case for Pretty Girl Autism 28:36 Janice Ian, The Role of the Outsider, and The Accountability Gap 33:32 Relational Aggression Is a Trauma Response 36:56 What Karen Smith Gets Right About Neurotypical Obliviousness 43:23 Why You Want an Autistic Therapist 48:07 Gretchen Weiners Deserves Better: Toxic Loyalty and Female Friendships 51:04 Self-Trust, Capacity, and Looking Forward

    53 min

  5. APR 21

    Whole Body, Whole Mess: Holistic Medicine for Your Neurodivergent Flesh Prison

    "It's natural" is not a safety label. This week, Blair Buckley returns to the pod and we are getting into holistic medicine for neurodivergent bodies. The genuinely helpful,  the ineffective, and the stuff that can turn you yellow. We talk about why supplements are less regulated than you think, what "proprietary blend" actually means, and why serotonin syndrome is a real risk, especially if you're already on antidepressants. We get into acupuncture, including a very important contingency plan for what to do if you're full of needles and there's an emergency in the building, why the holes are much smaller than you think, and how chiropractic care requires a lot more nuance than just finding the nearest guy who will crack your neck. If you have Ehlers-Danlos or hypermobility, this part is especially for you. We also go deep on chronic pain and mental health, because living in a body that hurts all the time has a psychological cost that most providers are not equipped to talk about. And because this is us, we end up in a whole conversation about ADHD, autism, and sleep, why the standard sleep hygiene advice was never written with neurodivergent people in mind, and how sometimes the goal is just harm reduction. Blair is based in Denver and sees neurodivergent clients of all ages. You can find her on Psychology Today under Blair Buckley. Find me at alyssazimmerman.com for therapy in New York State or to apply to be a guest. 00:00 Holistic Medicine: A Neurodivergent Guide to Whole Person Care 06:19 Supplements: Risks, Interactions, and Serotonin Syndrome 14:38 Acupuncture: Evidence Based Pain Relief and What to Expect 21:49 Chiropractic: What You Need to Know About EDS and Hypermobility 26:45 Physical Therapy: Barriers and Self-Advocacy for Neurodivergent People 32:52 Instant Gratification Medicine: ADHD, Dopamine, and Healthcare Decisions 35:22 Treating the Physical and Emotional Pain: Chronic Pain and Mental Health 40:04 The Pain Trauma Connection: Chronic Pain, Injury, and the Neurodivergent Nervous System 42:42 Is Cortisol Evil? Anxiety, Stress, and Neurodivergent Nervous Systems 44:57 The Neurodivergent Sleep Crisis: Sensory Sleep Hygiene and Why the Standard Advice Fails 49:50 More ND Taxes: The Hidden Time and Energy Costs of Neurodivergence 53:27 Wrap Up: Holistic Medicine, Self-Advocacy, and Informed Decision Making

    55 min

  6. APR 14

    Enneagram Fishing in the Boy Aquarium: Another Heated Rivalry Deep Dive

    In this episode, I'm joined by my unlikely friend Rain Glynn to keep our Heated Rivalry hyperfixation going with a full Enneagram breakdown of the characters. We prepared separately and compared notes live, which means there's some lighthearted beef, a lot of six blindness, and an apparently very important clarification that the plane did not, technically, crash. We type Scott, Kip, Shane, Ilya, Hayden, Rose, Yuna, David, Svetlana, and Elena covering core types, wings, integration and disintegration lines, and what any of this has to do with being AuDHD. We also get into why nines are slippery, how every woman on this show is from Bad Bitch City, and why it's difficult to type someone during an ongoing meltdown. New to the Enneagram? Check out Episode 2, Ennea-what Now, for a foundation before diving in. 00:00 What Makes a Great Show 02:43 Scott Hunter is The Most Correct Type 10:06 Kip Grady and Our Own Type Blindness 16:16 Hayden Pike is Too Relatable 24:38 Svetland Petrova from Bad Bitch City 29:01 Rose Landry Will Make You Love Her 32:53 Yuna Hollander Fan Club Meeting 36:07 David Hollander is Everyone's Dad 40:21 Shane Hollander isn't Fooling Us 45:41 Ilya Rozanov is Actually Just a Baby 48:46 We Left Elana in Bad Bitch City 50:19 The Enneagram IRL 53:48 How Do We Keep The Hyperfixation Going?!

    58 min

  7. APR 7

    The Faulty Fire Alarm: OCD and ERP with Dr. Alice Rizzi

    In this episode of Clinically Awkward, I sit down with Dr. Alice Rizzi, a New York licensed psychologist specializing in OCD and anxiety disorders, to blow up everything you think you know about obsessive compulsive disorder and actually replace it with something useful. We get into the OCD cycle, intrusive thoughts, mental compulsions, and the presentations nobody wants to talk about: pure O, harm OCD, health OCD, and the relationship and sexuality spirals that have people texting their friends for reassurance at 2am. We cover the difference between OCD and OCPD, why your brain's smoke alarm is broken, and why the compulsions you've been using to feel better are actually making it worse. We also get into exposure and response prevention, why ERP is the gold standard for OCD treatment, what it actually looks like in practice, why traditional CBT can accidentally keep people with OCD stuck, and how to find an OCD therapist who genuinely knows what they're doing versus someone who listed OCD among their 57 other specialties on Psychology Today. Dr. Rizzi's therapy practice is based in New York and Florida. Find her at dralicerizzi.com. For entrepreneurs and women in business, find her mindfulness and values work at togethermindful.com. If you're an adult looking for therapy in New York, find me at alyssazimmerman.com.

    59 min

  8. MAR 31

    Pain Is Inevitable. Suffering Is Optional. ACT for Neurodivergent Brains.

    In this episode of Clinically Awkward, I sit down with Dr. Paige Victorine, a clinical psychologist and co-owner of Nouveau Psychological Wellness in Arlington, Virginia, to break down Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: what it actually is, why it's spelled ACT and not A-C-T, and why it might be one of the most neurodivergent-friendly therapeutic modalities out there. We get into the passengers on the bus metaphor, why "acceptance" is one of the most poorly named concepts in mental health, and the difference between radical acceptance and just giving up. We talk about values versus goals, what it actually looks like to connect with your values when you're in survival mode, and why your special interests might be hiding the most important information about who you are. We also cover defusion, psychological flexibility, and why you do not need a quiet mind to have a peaceful life. We get into the evolutionary reason your brain generates catastrophic thoughts, why ACT doesn't ask you to think positively, and what it looks like to use ACT specifically with neurodivergent clients — including why standard mindfulness training makes both of us unreasonably angry. We close with the masking conversation I didn't know I needed, the concept of creative hopelessness, and how ACT approaches meaning and purpose in a way that actually works for brains that have spent years failing to meet standards that were never built for them. Dr. Victorine's practice, Nouveau Psychological Wellness, offers therapy and adult assessments across PSYpact states. Find them at nouveaupsychology.com and on Psychology Today. If you're an adult looking for therapy in New York, find me at alyssazimmerman.com. 00:00 What Is ACT? Understanding the Basics 06:15 Redefining Acceptance: Willingness vs Resignation 11:18 Changing Your Relationship with Thoughts 16:05 Psychological Flexibility: The Core of ACT 22:09 Navigating Post-Diagnosis Identity & Masking Burnout 27:15 ACT for Clinicians: Working with Neurodivergent Clients 32:34 Masking as Choice: Context Over Rules 37:18 Coping Strategies & Creative Hopelessness 42:18 Meaning & Philosophy: ACT's Existential Foundation 44:42 What to Expect in ACT Therapy 50:42 Common Misconceptions and Finding a Therapist

    55 min
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out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Clinically Awkward is the podcast for the wonderful weirdos. Hosted by an AuDHD therapist, this show dives into the neurodivergent experience with candid conversations, laugh-out-loud moments, and unapologetic honesty. Here, we embrace the “awkward” and celebrate the “overshare,” because around here "too much" is exactly enough.

Information

  • Creator
    Alyssa Zimmerman
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Clinically Awkward

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