176 episodes
Translating ADHD Asher Collins and Cameron Gott
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- Health & Fitness
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4.9 • 207 Ratings
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We believe that success with ADHD is possible... with a little translation. Hosts Cameron Gott and Asher Collins, both ADHD coaches who have plenty of insight to share navigating their own ADHD experiences, discuss how to live more authentically as an adult with ADHD and how to create real, sustained change to achieve greater success. If you are an adult with ADHD who wants more out of their business, career, and life, this is the podcast for you!
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Advocating ADHD in the Workplace
Asher and Cam have discussed advocacy in past episodes but not in the context of the current theme of being misunderstood. The hosts share lots of client examples of advocating for one’s needs and how each situation is dependent on several factors. Is the environment a safe place to share and advocate? Is it more ADHD or more about challenges beyond our control? They discuss how we tend to not communicate our value assuming it is known and how advocating is nearly impossible when you don’t see yourself in the picture. The hosts emphasize that it takes time in the coaching process to discover challenges clients are facing and they encourage listeners to do the same when considering support at work. They share the BEANS acronym from previous episodes - Boundaries, Expectations, Agreements, Needs and Safety focusing mostly on the latter two. They share what needs to be present in an environment to advocate (respect, clear mission and roles and safety) and red flags to be wary of (politics, unwritten rules, ego and intense emotionality). Cam shares an example of one client’s journey from a challenging environment to one that is supportive and engaging. Both discuss how confidence is something that is a product of effective advocacy, signals of reassurance and feeling like a contributing member of an organization.
Episode links + resources:
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Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate.
About Cam and Asher
For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:
Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode
Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD
Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com -
Advocating ADHD in a Misunderstanding World
Asher and Cam stay with the being misunderstood with ADHD theme and take a big step back to look at the larger context of trying to seek understanding and support in a world quick to judge everything ADHD. Cam shares how a recent BCC investigative news story on private ADHD clinics in the UK unleashed a torrent of follow up stories - common fear-based themes that ADHD is overdiagnosed, that the medicines are not beneficial and stories that call into question the very existence of ADHD.
Seeking support personally and professionally is an ever changing obstacle course when people and organizations have such strong opinions about something they know very little about. Everything we’ve known about ADHD has been reinforced by research and advances in neuroimaging - that ADHD is cognitive in nature, that it is a neuro-developmental condition and that it is hereditary, that it impacts the executive function center of the brain and that it can have a dramatic effect on our ability to have agency and fulfillment in our lives.
Asher makes a key distinction between advocating for oneself and advocacy, where the latter is about general education to create greater systemic change and the former is about identifying specific areas of support for a specific situation. Ash also discusses the meaning of a label, and how ADHD is a starting place to create change. He also discusses the misunderstanding gap and compares the ADHD lived experience with his trans lived experience - that as a trans ally he made assumptions about what it is to be trans. No one can know your lived experience like you, so don’t let their strong feelings define your reality.
Episode links + resources:
Join the Community | Become a Patron
Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate.
About Cam and Asher
For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:
Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode
Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD
Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com -
Identifying Red Herrings at Work with ADHD
Asher and Cam continue in the vein of being misunderstood with ADHD, and how we can create our own misunderstanding in the form of red herrings that distract us from the real challenges and real opportunities at work. When we let fear inform our behavior, we can manage by avoidance.
Managing by avoidance is to avoid looking bad or to avoid not having the answer. We will avoid rocking the boat or avoid the spotlight. When we embrace journey thinking and look for the learning opportunity in every situation, we can start to get a clearer picture of the real dilemmas we are facing at work and the real opportunities at hand. Ash and Cam share numerous client stories to illustrate this dilemma and how listeners can start down this all-important path to change.
Episode links + resources:
Join the Community | Become a Patron
Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate.
About Cam and Asher
For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:
Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode
Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD
Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com -
ADHD and the Seeds of Misunderstanding at Work
Ash and Cam shift their focus to the workplace with regard to the current story arc on being misunderstood with ADHD. Leading with Yours-Mine-Ours, Asher and Cam talk about ADHD challenges in the context of larger potential workplace challenges that can plant the seeds for misunderstanding. There are some environments and some managers where no amount of ADHD management will make the situation tenable. Those of us with ADHD, when in a One-Down state, can feel like we are the instigators of all of the misunderstanding in a workplace.
The hosts go on to share scenarios where the seeds of misunderstanding can be planted when ADHD is in the mix: When we lean on one role to the detriment of another, when we don’t deliver on a promise, when we don’t communicate or inquire about expectations. Ash and Cam share a number of examples from clients to working with teams. A refreshing approach to what is often a difficult topic to address.
Episode links + resources:
Join the Community | Become a Patron
Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate.
About Cam and Asher
For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:
Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode
Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD
Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com -
Being Misunderstood While Misunderstanding our ADHD
Ash and Cam dig deeper into the being misunderstood theme by looking at the very unique ADHD phenomenon of trying to explain our ADHD when our ADHD is acting as a roadblock to new awareness and learning. Cam uses an example shared by a Patreon/Discord member on how she struggles with this challenge. The member illustrated the difference between “front” emotions and “underlying” emotions and how it is hard for her to get to the underlying emotion or need. She shares several examples - one of which where she thinks she is bored with company (front) but in actuality she is physically tired (underlying). Understanding this distinction allows her to better understand her ADHD so she can then articulate her needs to others. Getting to the emotional nuance and awareness is an ADHD challenge just like emotional regulation. So often we feel compelled to explain ourselves without fully knowing what is going on “under the hood.”
Ash continues the thread by sharing a humorous at times story about his partner wanting to install cat shelves late at night. What ensues is how the drama plays out in a series of misunderstandings for two individuals with ADHD. Ash finishes with sharing how clear communication leads to understanding, new agreements and appreciation and trust.
Episode links + resources:
Join the Community | Become a Patron
Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate.
About Cam and Asher
For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:
Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode
Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD
Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com -
Being Misunderstood with ADHD: In Relationships
Cam and Asher continue to explore the topic of being misunderstood with ADHD. Nowhere does this play out more dramatically than in our primary relationships. It’s nearly impossible to articulate thoughts and feelings and advocate for oneself if you are not clear on what is actually going on. The first barrier of ADHD is awareness, and we can feel the frustration and emotion from a particular situation. But ADHD makes it really hard to get to the root cause. ADHD and executive function challenges are a part of the root!
Ash shares a fantastic example of a client who feels like his spouse is ‘tossing a basketball in his face’ every time she asks him to do something, eliciting a response of frustration. As Ash and his client look ‘under the hood’, the client starts to appreciate and understand how his ADHD was coming into the situation with his spouse. With the understanding that it is a challenge with effective transitioning, he can articulate his needs to his spouse. She in turn can develop some empathy for his situation. Cam brings in the concept of context switching and how it can be difficult to shift from work mode to home mode and back.
Episode links + resources:
Join the Community | Become a Patron
Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate.
About Cam and Asher
For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:
Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode
Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD
Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com
Customer Reviews
Thank you Ash and Cam!
This podcast has done as much for my understanding of my own ADHD as anything. Thank you!
Life Changing Information
I've had an ADHD diagnosis for 12 years. With my diagnosis came pills and very rudimentary skills. As I've gotten older and my life has become more full and demanding, the pills and skills I've been using have become inadequate in helping me push ahead and really create the life I want. Cam and Shelly so beautifully put into words so many aspects of my experience in a way that's digestible and helpful. Since starting to listen to the pod a few weeks ago I've really narrowed in on where my symptoms are really holding me back and have begun to learn to ways of working with those symptoms instead of against. This show has brought me to the realization that I would benefit from coaching in profound ways and now I'm really looking forward to going on this journey to being the best me possible. Thank you so much to the hosts and all those involved in the production of this podcast.
So helpful
Cam and Ash have so much helpful information and so many insights, I feel like every single episode gives me a topic to chew on as it applies to my own life. I’m late-diagnosed at 42, and it feels like they are guiding me into understanding and accepting my ADHD. It’s literally been life-changing.