Episode 335-Belonging Begins When You Trust Your Neurotype with Lisa Richer

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?

Chapters

• 0:00 Season Three Returns & Theme Song Story
• 2:35 Meet Lisa Richer And Her Journey
• 5:55 Parenting, Diagnosis, And Advocacy
• 12:30 Reframing Labels And Finding Your Team
• 18:40 Burnout, ADHD, And Self-Trust
• 24:05 From Athlete To Advocate: Vision And Validation
• 29:20 Teaching Kids Boundaries And Belonging
• 32:45 Journey To Bloom: Mission And Services
• 39:10 Ripe Ideas Framework And Workplace Training

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

The SG Child Show is back for a third season. They're back for the SJ Child Show team as they explore the world of autism and chair stories of hope and inspiration. This season, we're excited to bring you more autism summits featuring experts and advocates from around the world. Go to SJChilds.org.

SPEAKER_00: 0:23

The heart of the day. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 0:36

Hi, we are back. Isn't that just a cute little song 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 my listeners have found out. Um, and I hope everyone's enjoying it. Um, it, you know, I've never actually talked about it, so that's kind of funny. I'm gonna give you a little a little piece into what the song is. Um my husband did we, you know, just uh downloaded one of those AI music apps once, and he was actually using it. I he's not gonna listen to this episode, so I'm gonna go share this information. He was using it to make these songs. And while he was making all of these songs, he was actually going through quite a lot of stuff. Um, and he would make these songs, and they were helping him to go some of through some of his like childhood experiences that he had like trauma from, and he like wrote these songs, and then it was like it helped him to, you know, kind of release and and let go of some of these things. So I thought that that was just really fascinating and what a brilliant way to move through your emotions. Um, and so just to share that little 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 how much it tied all of me together in one song, number one, but how much it really talked about the mission and my passion and the reason 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 my guest with with you, with me, here to uh to with us together today. Oh my gosh, if I could talk. Um, I am excited to introduce Lisa. Lisa Richer has been uh we've been in touch for uh several years now, it feels like. And and she's been in um some summits and one or two. It feels like you've been in two of them. And I just am so excited to always bring, you know, the best resources, the best people to the front that I can, and excited to introduce you to her today. So thank you so much for being here today, Lisa, and give us a little bit of um introduction to yourself and what brought you here today.

SPEAKER_01: 3:12

Absolutely. So I'll start with the bookend here of what brought me here, you and that connection. Um, you're right, it has been a couple of years, and I just did do my second summit with you. The first one I had uh done a presentation on my Ripe Ideas framework where the eyes are lowercase, implement inclusivity because then that brings together all of the letters that come along with DEI and all of that. And then the second one, I was that panel member, which was so much fun when you brought together all of us as experts and just learn and grow with and alongside of one another. So that was super fun. So that's what brought me here. And then I think I had reached out to you a few weeks ago because we've talked off and on about 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 blue and who I am growing up undiagnosed, neurodivergent, um, getting diagnosed with anxiety in my early 20s, but not really realizing it was on the on the umbrella under the neurodiversity umbrella. Um, getting diagnosed just a few years ago, um, ADHD in the midst of burnout, where I felt like I was demolished to ashes and trying to come through all of that and unpack my own things. Like, you know, so as you're talking about your husband, I just started thinking about how journaling and doodling and walking and therapy has really helped me unpack years and years of things that I had to then unbecome to really come back to who I am as a person. Um, but my world related to autism started the day I became a mom because my oldest son, um, while not appropriately diagnosed till four and a half, so it always drives me nuts when I see things in school systems that say, were they diagnosed by the age of three? Well, just like any other diagnosis, you don't show up as a single type of autism, right? It's if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person, right? And so the the evolution and the just transformation that it took to get my son diagnosed, that started my journey into neurodiversity consulting without recognizing it, but I was advocating for him for many, many years. He's now off as a freshman in college doing amazing things, uh, physics major in Maryland College Park. And so just doing great. And then my younger one, ADHD anxiety, and we just got him reassessed to eight different diagnosed uh academic diagnostic things and and not just academic impact, but life impact. So that's a little bit of kind of weaving of my me and how I became who I am. I was also an elite level athlete. So I was an elite level athlete, undiagnosed uh visual pressing disorder. And so when you're running towards the vault or trying to do a mount or a dismount, the edge of the beam kept moving, and I didn't realize what was going on. I thought it was just me and come 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. Here we are.

SPEAKER_03: 6:27

I love that, and I love how you can get this perspective when you can step back for a moment or when you get the diagnosis. I think that's almost the step back. That's like the the big clear picture is that you're looking at a micro macro, super focused, like dot. And then you're like, I don't understand, it's a dot. And they're like, nope, it's a whole picture, you just gotta back out and look at the whole picture. But they don't tell us that. And I was just like, my brain was just you know thinking about all these things when you were talking, and I realized that in that two things that diagnosis process is so uh it it's so um emotional in different ways when you are having your child diagnose, like you said, you were like, Oh, I can't, I could have gotten it done before. And for me, I was like, What do you mean? My kid's 14 months and he's autistic. Like, what are you talking about? That's crazy. I don't even know what you're talking about. Like, I was mad at the doctor for telling me that. I just didn't understand like what he's reading, he's like smarter than all of the other, you know, it's just like this thing I didn't understand, and it's so individual. It's so individual how you are react, how you embrace um the information, how you go to get the information. It's all such an individual journey. I think it's so important that we see each other's perspectives and talk about these things because people might not understand that part. They might think, you know, oh, like Sarah always knew her son was autistic and they got the diagnosis, and it was this, you know, blah blah blah. No, like I didn't know. I had no information, I didn't know anything about autism. I was so mad at that doctor. I went in and told him I was mad at him years later. I told him that I had like held these angry feelings towards him that I had totally forgiven him. I was thankful for him now, but it was this like I went through this like cycle with the information. Um, it was really interesting.

SPEAKER_01: 8:58

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'm gonna come back to to learning about my son's diagnosis and the importance of finding a team of people and and letting go of the shame and the guilt and all that, right? And and so you're absolutely right. It just it's all over the place. And um, like for me, when I got diagnosed um ADHD, I I didn't even, I never really wanted to get diagnosed. Like I didn't really care. I was like, yeah, it's fine. But then I I realized that when I talk to people and I say, when you get a diagnosis, that label is only there to help inform, to to validate and inform, not define who you are, how you move through things and what happens next. And I'm a true believer in that, which is why give me more information, the more information the better. So for me, the more I learned about 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 individual journey, not just for the like the parents, but the children as well. 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 the noise of those that were saying, oh, he's just gonna grow out of it or he's just gonna do this. Some family members, I had to separate from them for a while. Um, my husband was blaming himself, didn't know what to do about it. So there's all these different things that happen in different you know, in different people's minds. I was really, really lucky, I would say, to have our first pediatrician because my older son, the one that's diagnosed autistic, within a couple of days, like he wouldn't nurse. And being first-time parents, it was like I was getting the pressure from the lactation because home. So my husband and my mother-in-law, like, just do this, do this, do this. I'm like, it's not working. Well, none of us knew any better. So you keep going. Well, we went to the doctor a couple of days in because you see him right in the hospital and you go back a couple of days later, and he she's like, he's he's starving, get him something to eat. And I'm like, Well, the my husband are like the lactation gets home and said we have to, you know, just keep trying to get him to latch on. Well, the second one he latched on like that. So at that point, my husband was like, Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Because they the experts were telling us. So I say this because sometimes the experts don't know all of it, and just because they're an expert, that's one perspective. And so, as you were talking about you're talking about, you know, the diagnoses in form, and then when we give ourselves the ability to step back, so while I'm a neurodiversity consultant and I've relabeled myself that I'll go there at the beginning of like six months into my burnout journey of getting to recovery, because special education advocate, it would be like, oh, special education, oh, you're an advocate, oh, you're in a box or whatever call whatever description. And I'm like, no, I'm all of this, like I'm this whole thing. And I have a background HR and leading leadership development, and I've got my parent um behavioral training certification because I had to get it in California in order to get my older son behavioral services. So when I think about the people that came into my life, we moved to California, where behavioral services were embedded in regional programs and they had partnerships. Whereas in Maryland, when we came back here 40 years later, they were just starting to pop up. So, like you were put, like when I when you step back as a parent, you go, okay, what was I put here for in this place and time? And while I was falling apart of the seams and leading to burnout, my kid was doing great because I put all my energy into what did that first doctor say? And that very first doctor, back to that, said if your gut is telling you it's right as a mom, it's right. So while Peap beat me down all those years, like telling me I was wrong for the way I thought, this doctor, I had just become a mom. Your mom got trust it, you are spot on. The child needed to eat, the child needed this. So she, my very first week of being a mom, just really grounded me in get the services, go to infants and toddler. So when he was 18 months and he was struggling to communicate and he was hand flapping and toe walking, and even then he got assessed and they said he has a speech delay. He was a toe walker and a hand flapper. Yeah. And all kinds of sensor dysregulation. And yet he only had a speech delay, right? So it wasn't until a year and a half later that we really figured it out with the help of another psychologist, a behavioral psychologist, um, a um preschool teacher that was a psychologist before she became a preschool teacher, and then some of that story I shared with you before we came on. All of those people, and then an OT and then a behavioralist, like they became my team. And after having my business since 18, it's 2025, so it's never too late. I finally created a one-pager that I haven't even pushed out yet, but that talks about what do you need to think about when creating your team? Can you afford not to afford having that team? We don't know what we don't know. And my greatest gift to others is uncovering the unknown unknowns. I feel like people tell me that's like my zone of genius, is uncovering the unknown unknowns because I always think in non-Secredor. Um, and but bringing that all together. And it's okay that you were like, 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 the song, right? We can't move through it until we put that moose on the table. Putting the elephant in the room and naming it and taming it, it doesn't mean anything if you don'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 agree with you more because when I also went and got my you know diagnosis aft at 45, it was like kind of like you had said, I went to go more or less to say, I do fit in with this family, right? This whole family of mine is autistic. Like, where do I belong here? Like, am I what community? I'm building all you know these things, but where do I actually belong in any of them? Um like for me personally. And um it was definitely like the my husband would tease me, here's your autism card, here you can hold this autism card, you know, so you know you have autism for a while. And it was just, you know, and I don't mean to I don't mean that disrespectfully to anyone, of course, or anything, but it was just he won't he knew that I didn't feel like I belonged still, and he didn't like to see that. And so when I went and and finally got it all done, like at first I was like, oh my gosh, you know, before I went in, and I thought, okay, if I get these um, you know, this findings that I'm gonna just share it with everyone, I'm gonna jump on a live and everybody's gonna know. So I went and had it done and got you know the information, brought it back home, ADHD, autism, a little bit of dyslexia, OCD, depression. I was just like, and it's like it took me five months at least to come to terms with all of the things, realize that put them in the right places, like you had said, like literally legitimize or you know, let that information okay, that's what this meant at this time in my life when I went through this, and that makes sense. This this means, oh, that makes sense, you know, and it just really helped to uh yeah, legitimize, I guess, all of these things that people had called other things, right?

SPEAKER_01: 16:57

Yeah, validate like all of the other things. I became so validated, and I wasn't sure, and and I never really screamed it from the rooftops at all. And it was just more of a and it probably was a combination because I was in therapy, and that person it I we had talked about ADHD one day, and and she's like, Oh, I diagnosed you with that a year ago. And I was like, Like my face like literally looked like that, and she bust out laughing, and she's become like a confidant and a like a business advisor for me, not just my therapist. Like it's she's just she's amazing, and she came to me at the right time and she had an opening and all that. But she's like, Yeah, you weren't ready to hear it because 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 when my younger son got diagnosed with visual processing disorder, and we were going to do a home program, they had me doing the home program, and his vision therapist looked at me and she goes, You did say you were an elite level gymnast, right? I'm like, Yes. She's like, How did you do that? How did you compete like internationally for the US? Your debt perception and your peripheral is so messed up. You could have used vision therapy. And I go, What do you mean? She said, Well, as you were like running towards the vault, like I'm using this as like me running, did the board like it was getting closer? And as you were trying to do a dismount on bean, did the bee move? So, like, and I always had problems with mounts and dismounts. I was great on uneven bars after my mount, and I was great on floor, and now I know why because nothing else was moving. And I always say, like, me being in motion. And she's like, Okay, you're you weren't going crazy, like literally, that's how your eyes she's like, I don't know how you did it. She's like, You must have just literally off the charts, just found ways to accommodate all your disabilities, like and it was crazy. And I was like, wow, I guess I was even better than you know, that I went through, oh, but I could have been so much better if I had known even though I'm like, oh, it's validating, I also went down all those different paths. But when I got diagnosed with ADHD, it something shifted in me. Like all those times people told me that I was doing it wrong or I didn't get it. And um, or you know, just that was 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, they didn't get it. And so now it's like, if it comes up, I talk about it. But what it really did for me was just shift my narrative for all my conversations. I no longer question what's about to come out of my mouth because I know that it's right for my neurotype and it's right for how I perceive the world. And people will either be curious and lean in and ask, or they don't belong in my life. And and I know some people feel like that's like harsh, but the people that are meant to be in my world, I have the capacity for, they lift me up, they fill my cup, they bring me energy. And the ones that I don't are the ones that drain me, and I no longer try to fit in a box that doesn't lift me up.

SPEAKER_03: 20:11

Absolutely. And you have to do that, you have to do that self-preservation, if you will. Um, and teaching your kids how to do that, that's a that's a great skill for them to learn to realize that when you move through life, you are there will be people that will come and go, and that you know, they won't always be the best of intentions, and sometimes they will, and you'll keep them. But yeah, it's be very picky and always trust that gut. Um and I think that that's such an important lesson, and it's interesting because obviously you have to as what much as um you individualize, you know, getting a diagnosis, you have to individualize the teaching of your children as well. You know, it's everything is just is is so niche. Um, and so yeah, it's interesting how you can you have two, you understand how you could see just completely different aspects of human humanix in general, just in both of them. And so it's it's a great opportunity to be able to just learn more about how you know their mind works, how your mind works, how you work together. Um but through this process, it has led you to be able to create some resources and a business for others. So let's talk about Journey to Bloom.

SPEAKER_01: 21:53

So yeah, I um in in creating Journey to Bloom, it started out as Bloom Special Education Advocacy. That's what it's like under under my LLC, but I do business as Journey to Bloom. Like I've gotten the trade name and do that. And the thread through all of all of it is it was launched because of my journey to Bloom. And Bloom came from my great aunt. She and I were what I don't even know if you can say this anymore, the black sheep of the family. It's so easy to do. Yeah, right. And so forgive me if I shouldn't have said that. But that's she and I were very much the outliers. She was my favorite great aunt, loved all my family numbers, but she and I just were just like two peas in a pod. And so her last name, her married last name was Bloom. And I just wanted to do a tribute to her because I wouldn't have that piece in me so alive if it hadn't been for me seeing her model that forever. And then doing what I do is that thread through of kid my kids as they got older realizing it's okay to be who they are, and everyone's not for them and they're not for everyone. And I say my greatest accomplishment as a parent, with all the screw-ups, is that they truly are authentically themselves. They trust their gut, they share from their heart, they speak the truth. And yeah, they'll they'll fall down, but they know that they have a safe space to get back up. And they're not taking the 30 years that I took to unbecome everything that society wanted me to be to become who I am today. So that's you know, at the at the center of Journey to Bloom. And with Journey to Bloom, I help simplify the neurodiverse learning journey for parents and educators, for professionals and for organizations. And it's really about the three pillars. So with parents, I work with parents hire me. I work in collaboration with the schools, but really for the child to help figure out what they know, what they don't know, what they don't know they don't know about their journey. Like what team? Do they need me in an IEP meeting? Do they really just need me as a parent advisor and um a mentor to help them understand that it's okay to feel judged or shame or all the things that you were feeling, Sarah, when you first and I was on the opposite end, like, let's go. I'm like a bullseaser, but I wasn't letting myself feel those feelings. So there's a balance. So I help parents navigate the journey, but a lot of times they'll go, gosh, you're you're better than my therapist. I didn't even know I needed you. And I hold space for people, you know, 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 of HR and leadership and recruiting and staffing, and I don't do any of that stuff anymore. But what I do do is the thread through of the training, development, mentorship, and guiding and helping executives and leaders realize this has nothing to do with your capability or the job you have to now shift into because you've always been in this industry. It's about what you do or don't believe inside and what you need to unbecome or what limiting beliefs you need to strip away to realize you are worthy and you are just as qualified and capable, if not more, than some of these other people. And a lot of them are very data-driven, I'm very qualitative, and they're very quantitative. 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 a very linear thinker. So I help them learn how to think this way so that they can get out of their own way and you know, and accomplish what they want. And the third thing is working with organizations. And in doing that, um, the majority of what I do right now is work through a company who works with employee assistance programs. And they end up hiring me to do webinars. Um, and people can come to me to do those anywhere. Like I would do webinars and focus groups and quarterly, you 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 as it relates to understanding neurodiversity and then understanding how to lead and engage across neurotypes. And then another one that is typically highly sought after is authenticity and the art of relationship building. And that goes back to that who I am, who I am as I'm grounded, and how unbecoming the things that society told me I should be, and just coming back in and really truly trusting my gut has allowed me to take what everyone told me for many years. Oh, you can't do that. Why would you want to do that and create a solo premier business out of it? You know, am I making hundreds of thousands of dollars like I did in corporate? No. But the gift I'm giving to others to pay it forward, now I would take that. So if anybody wants to collaborate with me, there's somebody that's launching a business, they want me as a consultant, I'm happy to do it because I bring forward as a parent, as an individual, as a person who worked, lived, lived in leadership roles in corporate and was made to feel less than gaslight and all that. And now as an expert, some people call me a trailblazer, which I think is super sweet and kind. Um, because I've been talking about this stuff for so many years, and now people are finally catching up to me. So if any of this resonates, I can help you. And it's because it's all under the neurodiversity umbrella and it threads together all the different 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 that gets to be a part of it, is what it is. Um, I want to put the website up, 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 Journey to Bloom on IG and on Facebook and on LinkedIn. It is Lisa Lazar Richer, and I'll have all of that stuff in the show notes so you guys can find that information. Um, that has been a wonderful uh opportunity and resources for people. So please, please, you know, take advantage of those if you can. And um, let's talk about another project that you've been working on too, so that we can uh give everybody the great information about that so that they know what they need to do next. Let's put our call to action out there, right?

SPEAKER_01: 28:33

Absolutely. So um I was asked to be part of a book collaborative. And um, one of my goals for this year was to write a book. Um, it's been a goal of mine since I was like five years old, but I I wasn't getting there. But I believe I realized, and this is coming full circle for me instead of being like I have to be all in, that this is the first step in me understanding what it takes to put a book together and to actually write a full book. So I was asked to write a chapter. I was asked along with I think like 15 or 18 other women who have been through something that really has led to moving into their life's purpose. That's what I like to call it, and just really helping others help themselves through whatever that is. And so I am getting to do this book collaborative um that um Julie DeLuca Collins, I forgive you, Julie, if I just butchered your name, um, is um leading the way on. And the book is going to be called Confident You, Raw Conversations. And um, there it is. And um, it launches, I think I said November 25th is our our expected launch date. So I know this will be coming out around that time. And it's a collective of each of us, and it's just a chapter into our stories and what we do and how we help others. And, you know, women and men alike. A lot of our stories are focused on women. For me, it's people. And so my journey and what I talk about there and I talk through a little bit about two of my clients. One is a male executive, and the other one is a mom who no one believed her and what she thought her child was capable of. And we just bonded over it because she, I was told my son would never become anything my oldest. And now he's in the highest honors programming at University of Maryland. So, you know, everyone's not going to get there. But that's so that's a little bit about my story. And I really encourage people to come in and take a listen to it, look at it, read it when it does launch. Um, every single person is inspiring to me when we have weekly check-ins. Um, the person who's leading it is super inspiring. So I just really encourage people to read it, male or female or any gender, whatever you um, you know, however you identify, and then also gift it to people because everyone can benefit from learning about some of these stories.

SPEAKER_03: 31:12

Yeah, absolutely. You really learn a lot and from anecdotal stories of experiences from others, and um the kind of like the old saying when you were a kid in school, you know, if if everyone raises their hand, somebody's gonna ask a question that nobody else thought of that everybody's still gonna be interested in knowing the answer to.

SPEAKER_01: 31:34

And I love that, you know, I always say the only questions that are bad ones are the ones you don't ask because someone else will. So absolutely just yeah, I just love that.

SPEAKER_03: 31:43

I love to be curious and and explore those types of things. Um, before we go, I also want to talk about um a group and organization also that you are part of. So let's talk about by with and for autistic adults and how you can be a part of it if you are interested. Um, tell us a little bit more about 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 as well. And I initially got involved because the CEO knew a bit about my journey. He was one of my executive clients and then um knew about my journey with my kids and knew that autism was something dear to my heart. So um last year I was asked to be the chair of the board. So I am um the chair of the board, and over this last year, we've really just taken a step back to redefine how we put ourselves out there to help autistic adults. The demographic is really that initially was like 18 to 24 years old because I'm sure you um know this yourself. Once you get past like middle school, the wheels fall off the track. And even in middle school, there's not a lot from the social and the engagement and the confidence and the how do you put yourself out there and be who you're meant to be and just really step into your own. And so 18 to 24 is kind of like that sweet spot right now. We have a program, our signature program called Launch You. We've had several um sessions of that, but we put them on pause just to also just kind of reframe and lift up and be able to share out even more how that's going to work. If in a nutshell, the best way to describe it is I used to do person-centered planning training. So if you take person-centered planning where you're looking at like, what does my life want to look like? How do I, how independent do I want to be? What does that look like? So we're looking at all autistic adults, whatever that goal is, and coming into like a cohort of no more than six to eight people where you get to learn with one another, identify with self-advocacy, identify with the resilience and things that are important to you, create those goals, and then take them and launch you into those goals and where you want to go with them. And so um that's the signature program. You can go on the website and look what's there. We're currently working, we got um accepted by um a university in Michigan to um, they chose us as a project to help us go and look at our site and really make sure that everything about it is appropriate, inclusive, and supportive for the NSC adult community. And so we're working through that piece of it as well. And then launch you, we're gonna relaunch it, if you will, in I think March of next year is when we're looking to relaunch it. Um, and we're hoping that it just evolves then into having some Discord groups as well where people can continue to land and expand. The goal was to make it be where you can have like brain dump and just really, you know, mind mapping and engaging and just um and just really be these focus groups long term, not just for the time of the sessions. And so we're looking to see how we can expand and evolve it. And honestly, I think I said this to you before we came on. Have people like you and those that are in your sphere or maybe listening to this that want to get involved in it and want to support it and want to share with us what are we missing or what's not landing right, and how do we reach the autistic audience? Whether your goal is to be able to go to the grocery store on your own, and that's the goals that you're setting, or your goal is to be an executive in a mid-sized company, we want to be able to help each of you on your unique path because we feel like there's a lot out there on pockets of autistic individuals. And personally, I feel like it's getting even more linear with uh Audi HD versus autism. And I'll I'll show one really quick 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 want you to know that when your child is diagnosed with autism, he definitely has ADHD or ADHD. Because now he's almost 19. So back then everything was, you know, kind of separate. Still when Asporkers was not on the spectrum. So like it was way back. But he said, because he's autistic, he has ADD or an ADHD. I'm thinking it's more the ADD side of it. So essentially he was diagnosed ADHD when he was four and a half. And it was my understanding that that 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 not land well in some people, but to me, it doesn't matter what you know, which one you're gonna change anyway, because you meet one autistic person, you meet one autistic person, you meet one ADHD person, you met one ADHD person. My younger son and I are both ADHD, very different. You know, what works for us is different as well. So um, but that so that's it. We're trying to bring together every piece of autistic individuals, and and you know, each focus group might not work for everybody, but we're gonna find a way to help the masses because everyone deserves to live their best life. And the only way to do that is to be inclusive and have people like you supporting us in that effort.

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 on Instagram and also LinkedIn and Facebook, Lisa Lazar Richer. Um, it is Lisa Richer R-I-C-H-E-R, for those of you who are listening. And also please go check out because this is going to be coming out on the 23rd of November. So in two days, go to Amazon, I'm assuming possibly, and order and possibly even pre-order your book, Confident You Raw Conversations, that Lisa has a chapter in, and also it sounds like a wonderful plethora of other individuals who have um lived through amazing experiences and come out um with a successful story to be shared. So please definitely go do that. Also, if you are looking for some support and you are autistic and an adult, buy with and for autisticadults.org. And also please just reach out to Lisa uh directly at Journey to Bloom or at one of her social medias. Please go follow her, support her. And if you missed any of that and you need to reach out to me to get that information, you're welcome to do that too. So oh, it was so great to have you on and have this one-on-one time to just be me and you together 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 I said, please go check out the book that'll be coming out in just two days from the date of this episode releasing. So it's so excited for the book to come out for you. So excited for um everything to come. Of course, there's always an invitation for you to join our summits. Um, we love having you. And yeah, let us know if you anything else in the future so we can have you back on and talk about 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. Today we are doing it.