The Inner Rhythms Podcast

Episode 49 - Neurodivergent Pregnancy and Birth: Approach to Compassionate Care with Victoria White

• Iris Josephina • Episode 49

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🐚Topics covered

  • Victoria’s background and how they became interested in birth work.
  • The journey to specializing in neurodivergent pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care.
  • Key differences between neurodivergent prenatal care and neurotypical care.
  • Victoria’s vision for changes in birth care.
  • Recommendations for neurodivergent individuals preparing for pregnancy.
  • Discussion of preconception experiences and neurodivergent perspectives.
  • Final wisdom for neurodivergent people who wish to have a baby.

About Victoria

Victoria is a birth and postnatal doula who supports families through pregnancy, birth and beyond. She believes birthing people have the right to a positive birth and postnatal experience, and that this can be achieved with the help of consistent and compassionate support.  She offers support both in person in Aberdeen, Scotland, and online anywhere in the world. She is also a trained Traumatic Birth Recovery 3 Step Rewind Practitioner, and Perinatal Emotional Health and Wellbeing Practitioner. She is the mum of two girls, one of whom is autistic, and is passionate about improving support for neurodivergent people perinatally.


Where to find Victoria 

Website: www.ndbirth.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neurodivergentbirth/ 


More about Iris

💬Come say ‘Hi’ on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cycleseeds/

🎓Check out our training

https://www.instagram.com/hormone.cycle.coach.training/ https://cycle-seeds.mykajabi.com/hhcc-20242025



[00:00:00] Iris Josephina: So for those of you who have been listening to the podcast for a while, you'll know from a previous episode that I got diagnosed with A DHD and actually right after my diagnosis, I started thinking about and also worrying about what does this mean for me when I get pregnant, when I have to give birth, when I am postpartum as a parent.

[00:00:24] Iris Josephina: Like, I've really started to think about all of that and researching online. And during my researching, I found Victoria and her social enterprise Neurodivergent birth, and I immediately invited her over on the podcast to come and talk about this topic because I feel in the medical system there is very little information about truly what it means for a neurodivergent person to get pregnant.

[00:00:53] Iris Josephina: Experience labor and birth experience postpartum, and life as a neurodivergent parent. And I was so grateful when I found Victoria. And this episode really warmed my heart and also took away some of my own worries, and I'm just so grateful for her work. And I hope that neurodivergent people who are listening may feel I.

[00:01:17] Iris Josephina: Some reassurance and some peace after listening to this podcast with Victoria. And Victoria is a birth and postnatal doula who supports families through pregnancy, birth, and beyond, and she believes birthing people have the right to a positive birth and postnatal experience. This can be achieved with the help of consistent and compassionate support.

[00:01:42] Iris Josephina: She offers support both in person in Aberdeen, Scotland, and online anywhere in the world. She's also a trained traumatic birth recovery. Three step rewind practitioner and perinatal emotional health and wellbeing practitioner. She's also a mom of two girls, one of whom is autistic, and she's passionate about improving support for neurodivergent people.

[00:02:04] Iris Josephina: Perinatally, I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Let us know what you think. 

[00:02:11] Iris Josephina: You are listening to the podcast of Iris Josephina. If you are passionate about exploring the menstrual cycle, cyclical living, body wisdom, personal growth, spirituality, and running a business in alignment with your natural cycles, you're in the right place.

[00:02:28] Iris Josephina: I'm Iris. I'm an entrepreneur, functional hormone specialist, trainer and coach. And I am on a mission to share insights, fun facts, and inspiration I discover along the way as I run my business and walk my own path on earth. Here you'll hear my personal stories, guest interviews, and vulnerable shares from clients and students.

[00:02:49] Iris Josephina: Most people know me from Instagram where you can find me under at cycle seeds, or they have been a coaching client or student in one of my courses. I'm so grateful you're here. Let's dive into today's episode. 

[00:03:04] Iris Josephina: Hi Victoria. 

[00:03:05] Victoria White: Hi. 

[00:03:06] Iris Josephina: Welcome to the show. 

[00:03:08] Victoria White: Thank you so much for having me. 

[00:03:09] Iris Josephina: I'm so excited that you're here and, this topic is really, really close to my heart.

[00:03:15] Iris Josephina: Yes, I have been diagnosed with a DHD myself last year. Mm-hmm. And I'm on my preconception journey. So this yes, really fits into where I'm at and, I've been having a lot of conversations with people about this specific topic, so I'm very sure that our conversation will help a lot of people or create clarity.

[00:03:38] Iris Josephina: Yes, I hope so too. And so before we fully dive in, I'm interested to know a little bit more about you, like what's your background and how did you get interested in birth work? 

[00:03:51] Iris Josephina: Yeah, sure. No problem. I. So, I actually live in the northeast of Scotland and, I'm 40 years old and in my sort of first career I suppose, I worked as a marine biologist.

[00:04:04] Iris Josephina: So it's been quite a change in career. Definitely. Wow. Moving into birth work. Yeah. but really the, the catalyst for that move was having my own children. So I have two daughters, age seven and five. And I had quite a difficult, challenging time, having them and postnatally as well. And it really sort of led me to be very interested in maternal mental health and supporting people who are navigating the whole perinatal journey.

[00:04:36] Iris Josephina: So initially I, I trained as a, as a breastfeeding supporter. That was something I was really passionate about helping people to, to do. and then as a family, we moved to France when my second daughter was, six months old. So that was a kind of opportunity really for me to have a think about what I wanted to do long term, as a, as a career.

[00:04:58] Iris Josephina: We were in France with my husband's job, and I decided that I was going to really indulge my passion for supporting the, the perinatal time. So I trained as a doula. I initially worked supporting members of the expat community in Paris where we were living. So the English speaking expat community, my French isn't quite good enough to, support the French community.

[00:05:23] Iris Josephina: And it was a time where people were, you know, navigating some challenges as they were embarking on having families. a lot of the people. Were, you know, living in Paris, away from their families, away from their native country, perhaps having, barriers with the language and in accessing antenatal education.

[00:05:46] Iris Josephina: So I did a lot of postnatal work, actually, you know, working with families in their homes as they, adjusted to life with a, a newborn baby. And I really fell in love with the role of the doula. So we returned to Scotland about, well, coming up for two years ago now, and I've continued the birth work since, and I've now kind of gone on this other journey as well, which we're going to talk about today, which is supporting neurodivergent perinatal experiences.

[00:06:18] Iris Josephina: Yeah, super interesting. How did you eventually decide to kind of like niche your work in neurodivergent pregnancy, birth, and postpartum? I. 

[00:06:28] Victoria White: So again, it's, it's from personal, experience being the kind of the driving force. My, now 7-year-old daughter was diagnosed as autistic and with a DHD about a year ago now.

[00:06:43] Victoria White: And really, you know, as most, as a lot of, parents will relate to, of neurodivergent children, I just completely immersed myself in the reading and research around the topics of autism and A DHD. And I really began to look at my own experiences in childhood with a different lens because I really feel that, you know, my daughter is very much navigating a lot of the things that I had to navigate as a child, but perhaps without the same understanding and support behind it.

[00:07:14] Victoria White: But at that time I was really getting into this stride of things with my birth work, and I thought, gosh, we are not talking about this topic enough. We're not talking about what it is like to navigate the perinatal journey as a neurodivergent person. And there are differences, there are areas of challenge, but there are areas of, positivity and joy as well.

[00:07:38] Victoria White: But because of the way that. You know, our, our maternity care is, is set up in most of the world. We don't treat people as individuals with individual support needs. We often are following, you know, a very prescribed policy and procedure. And everybody should be treated as an individual, I believe, in their care.

[00:08:00] Victoria White: But particularly for neurodivergent people, there may be some quite. Specific support needs around topics including sensory processing, communication as well. We have different communication styles, executive functioning, so our ability to kind of analyze a task needs doing right through to completing that task in a timely manner.

[00:08:23] Victoria White: We can have some issues with focus, with prioritizing, with organization and time management, and then. Many people who are neurodivergent are navigating life on a foundation of anxiety. It is difficult to function in a world that is very much set up to meet neurotypical needs. So a lot as are, you know, approaching the perinatal time, approaching pregnancy, birth, and the postnatal time with a foundation of anxiety anyway, which can really be exacerbated during that time, particularly because it's, there are so many elements of that time that are quite difficult to control.

[00:09:00] Victoria White: So I started a, a podcast on this topic and I've had some really wonderful conversations with neurodivergent people about their perinatal experiences, and we talk about how to improve understanding, awareness, and support for those experiences. 

[00:09:18] Iris Josephina: Oh, this is so needed. Yeah. And so beautiful that you felt the call to focus on this and provide a platform for people to listen and talk about this.

[00:09:29] Iris Josephina: Yeah, I agree. Yeah, you already mentioned that. Our care, our perinatal care is not very individualized. It's, yes, oftentimes very protocolized. Mm-hmm. In your view, how does neurodivergent prenatal care differ from neurotypical care? Or how would you like to see maybe even a new paradigm of neurodivergent prenatal care?

[00:09:55] Victoria White: I would love to see more awareness, from the health professionals, from the birthing professionals about the ways that neurodivergence may impact the perinatal journey. And then we can ask a person what their support needs might be around some of these key themes. So I think sensory processing is a really great example of how there might be some differences and there might be some areas of support if we think about.

[00:10:22] Victoria White: The senses and how our senses are, are just bombarded with information, every second of the day when we're navigating pregnancy and birth. It's a hugely sensory experience. There's a lot of information coming our way. The way we feel within our bodies also changes the way we experience. Our senses changes.

[00:10:42] Victoria White: It's a real time of heightened sensory sensitivity and for people who have sensory processing issues, some people may be what we call hypersensitive to some stimuli. So, very reactive to, to the stimuli. others are hyposensitive, so under reactive to those stimuli. You know, when we think about the perinatal time, we might suddenly have a requirement to attend medical appointments at, in noisy environments with bright lighting, with lots of other people there.

[00:11:16] Victoria White: And we might be sharing ward space with all those other people, but also their babies and potentially their visitors as well. And then the sensations of birth in itself can be. Experienced on a, on a very different level and can be intense, and the elements of pain that people might experience can be experienced differently.

[00:11:38] Victoria White: Many neurodivergent people have a different experience of pain and how it's registered, and then when we go into the postnatal time, suddenly having. All the, the sensory output that's associated with looking after a newborn baby can be overwhelming. So I mean, that's just one element of neurodivergence, the sensory side of things that can be experienced really quite intensely and differently for people who are neurodivergent compared with neurotypical peers.

[00:12:08] Victoria White: So I would love prenatal care. I'd love, maternity workers to have an awareness of that and to be able to support somebody in modifying their environment and modifying the way that a service is delivered to, take into account those, those sensitivities and those sensory needs. 

[00:12:28] Iris Josephina: That's beautiful and I think many people have never thought of this.

[00:12:34] Iris Josephina: Yeah, yeah. Like the way that neurodivergent people process. Literally everything in their environment. And yes, their internal environment is very different than what is Neurotypically known to people. Absolutely. And with that, I also feel that neurodivergent people will always try to adapt. Like something that is very common is trying to adapt in the best way possible to the environment, but also masking.

[00:13:05] Iris Josephina: Yeah. Which I feel is a very big burden, especially when you're pregnant and are running on hormones, you're usually not running on. Yeah. Have you seen that, that people who are pregnant feel that they need to, you know, adapt to like. The system 

[00:13:26] Victoria White: a hundred percent. I think females are particularly socially motivated and very, very good at masking as a result of that.

[00:13:36] Victoria White: And when it comes to the, to pregnancy and the birth and, and even to being a parent. There is a kind of, a sort of a social, construct of what you should be doing, right? We have a lot of pressures around Old pregnancy should look like this, and your birth should look like this. And if it's not like that, you've, you've got it wrong.

[00:13:56] Victoria White: And, you know, parenting the shoulds, never the list of shoulds or an end basically. So if you're somebody who masks or has, has, has perhaps even no idea that you're masking because that's the way that your, your life has, has been since, you know, you had to navigate things as a child. It's hugely draining.

[00:14:17] Victoria White: It's hugely exhausting, and it can lead to, you know, some real difficulties in terms of mental health. And we talk about meltdowns and shutdowns quite a lot. And that's a place that people can reach when they, they have just completely overwhelmed with perhaps the sensory environment or the pressures of communicating that are suddenly put on us when we have to go to all these appointments where we're suddenly meeting all these new people.

[00:14:45] Victoria White: We're encouraged to socialize with other pregnant people and new parents. We can just reach a point of complete overwhelm and that can become really difficult to manage. And it can also become quite problematic in a healthcare setting. So if we are somebody who, who shuts down, when we're overwhelmed, we kind of go inward and maybe we stop talking, we go quiet.

[00:15:07] Victoria White: We're, we're in real kind of. Going into basic functions mode that can be misinterpreted in a healthcare setting as somebody who is, is consenting to something that they're, they might not actually wish to be consenting to. So I think, again, awareness both within the, the professionals, the birth professionals world, that these things can happen is really important.

[00:15:31] Victoria White: And I also think that antenatal education for neurodivergent people. Which highlights some of the things that might come up and might be challenging and how to seek support in those areas is also really important. And that's one of the things that we're currently working on at the social enterprise that that I run, which is neurodivergent birth.

[00:15:50] Victoria White: We're developing antenatal education specifically for neurodivergent, birthers and their families. 

[00:15:57] Iris Josephina: Oh, that's really beautiful and really needed. Yeah. Thank you for. All the work and effort that you put in to create that. 

[00:16:06] Victoria White: Thank you so much. 

[00:16:07] Iris Josephina: Thank you. Yeah, 

[00:16:08] Victoria White: I think it's really important. And ultimately, you know, I, when I look at my daughter, I, I, I don't know if she'll have children one day, but I really hope that I.

[00:16:17] Victoria White: If she does, decide and is able to have children that she is navigating this time with, with much better understanding, awareness and improved support. So that's really kind of the driver for, for this is for, neuro divergent people like her who will hopefully go on to, have their own families.

[00:16:37] Victoria White: And I, I also really think it's important as a foundation for family life, you know, neurodivergent families getting off to the best start possible. On a positive experience of pregnancy and birth in the postnatal time, gives them that, that foundation, you know, too many families, I think particularly neurodivergent families, start their lives together on a foundation that's quite traumatic, and that's something that I really think can be changed with this better understanding and awareness of support needs.

[00:17:06] Iris Josephina: Hmm. Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah. And I can imagine, you know, if people are listening right now and they are, maybe wanting to get pregnant. Yes. What would you recommend to neurodivergent people getting pregnant? 

[00:17:23] Victoria White: I think it's the whole perinatal period, right? From trying to conceive can be stressful. Well, for everybody, but particularly if you're a neurodivergent person who really needs.

[00:17:35] Victoria White: Normally to have a sense of what's happening, a sense of control, perhaps a routine. The things that make us feel safe tend to be the things that are predictable. And unfortunately, you know, we don't have a predictable time when it comes to, to conceiving and to, then going on to having a baby. There is a lot of uncertainty.

[00:17:56] Victoria White: So I think it's about recognizing that, showing yourself some self-compassion about how you might be finding that, challenging, that uncertainty, and perhaps getting some support to navigate that. I also really recommend, you know, becoming as informed as possible. I recommend this for, for everybody I work with as a doula because there are a lot of choices and decisions to make along your perinatal journey.

[00:18:23] Victoria White: And often we're surprised at the things that are not default within our healthcare setting. So things that might be really important to you may not be default for your particular healthcare provider, but we don't know what we don't know. So unless we do our research and really become informed about the physiology of, of pregnancy and birth, but also the different medicalized interventions that might be offered to us down the line.

[00:18:51] Victoria White: Then it's very difficult for us to give informed consent to those things. And really, I say this a lot, but it's so true that consent is not really true consent unless it's informed. So absolutely doing as, as much research as possible as you can about all those different times that are hopefully to come, it can be very useful, but getting support during what is an uncertain time, whether that's, you know, a therapeutic type of support.

[00:19:19] Victoria White: Or if it's, you know, activating your, your parasympathetic nervous system, you know, that's, that's our rest and digest nervous system. That's where we feel safe and we're not operating from a place of fight and flight. We're feeling safe and calm and connected and loved, and we can activate that in many ways, right?

[00:19:38] Victoria White: From yoga through to. Listening to relaxation, MP threes to cold water swimming. There's lots of different ways to activate your, your parasympathetic nervous system, and I think that's really important part of the journey. 

[00:19:51] Iris Josephina: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. And something that comes up for me when you share all of this is that sometimes when we are doing all these things that are so good for us and so right for us, they may perceived by our.

[00:20:06] Iris Josephina: Community. Mm-hmm. As weird or strange, like in my personal example, I am on my preconception journey. Yeah. And I already have lists for things that I need during birth, during labor. Mm-hmm. Postpartum, like I have prepared everything. So it's out of my brain. Yes. And I don't have to think about it. And.

[00:20:27] Iris Josephina: Basically I can get pregnant and I know everything is there on a list in a drawer, and it doesn't have to sit in my brain because I've thought about it and I can just be with my pregnancy. Yes, I. But what I notice is that a lot of people, especially neurotypicals, they're like, oh my God, like you're obsessing so much over it.

[00:20:44] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. And you cannot prepare ever, and you don't know how things are gonna go, but mm-hmm. It's so helpful, and I do want to give this piece of recommendation to people who are neurodivergent. Like it can help so much to think everything through before you even get started. Yeah. So that it's out of your brain, because our brains can get.

[00:21:04] Iris Josephina: So overwhelmed and so full. Yeah. And I can tell for myself, I haven't even started to try to get pregnant, but I feel so confident about having all of these preparations done and having them in a drawer. Yes. Just the peace it gives me is like beyond. Beyond, so. Absolutely. Yeah. That's 

[00:21:25] Victoria White: so good. I'm so glad you've shared that.

[00:21:27] Victoria White: 'cause I think it should be normalized and it's, it's a shame, isn't it, that the judgment that comes with that, you know, like. Seeing comments about you being obsessed, et cetera. I think, you know, particularly for the neurodivergent brain, anything we can do to help sort of get some of these things down on paper and away from the kind of chaos that can sometimes be going on in our minds.

[00:21:49] Victoria White: And that brings real reassurance and that's really important. And it's only through doing that preparation in advance that you will bring yourself some peace of mind. And also you will san yourself a thousand times over when you actually need that information because you won't be scrambling around for it a time that might be feeling, you might be feeling quite vulnerable, you know, depending on what's happening.

[00:22:11] Victoria White: You'll know exactly where to go to get it. So I always recommend that people. Plan for pregnancy. Plan for birth, and don't forget to plan beyond plan for what your life with a newborn is going to look like. Of course, you won't know for certain exactly what it's going to look like, but there are some key themes that you can talk about with your family, with your partner, and start to imagine that life because it will help you when you, when you get to that point.

[00:22:37] Victoria White: For sure. 

[00:22:38] Iris Josephina: Yeah, exactly. The way that I now usually explain it to people is like, what if I'm nauseous? Mm-hmm. Like 24 7 for nine months. I'm not going to want to break my head yes. About what I want for labor and birth and postpartum. Like yes. Then you have to just be with your body and what it's doing, because I also feel that people who are neurodivergent experience a wider variety of.

[00:23:03] Iris Josephina: Internal body sensations during pregnancy? Definitely. Yes. Because of their neuro 

[00:23:09] Victoria White: interception. 

[00:23:10] Iris Josephina: Yeah. 

[00:23:11] Victoria White: Yeah, 

[00:23:11] Iris Josephina: because of their neurotransmitters and just the way that our brains are wired, and I think people don't think about this enough. 

[00:23:19] Victoria White: That's absolutely true. So we talk about interception being the sense that's really around kind of what's going on inside of our bodies.

[00:23:28] Victoria White: So that can include everything from thirst to you know, hunger and need to use the toilet, how tired you're feeling, et cetera. And that those senses or that sense of what's going on inside your body can really change during pregnancy and birth and postnatally as well. So for neurodivergent people, often those changes are really felt, you know, they're magnified compared to the neurotypical population.

[00:23:53] Victoria White: And definitely, you know, the example that you gave with the nauseas. Is very valid. There are lots of anecdotal examples of people with Neurodivergence really, really suffering with the nausea and suffering with hyperemesis, which is the, you know, very severe form of sickness. I myself had hyperemesis with both my pregnancies.

[00:24:12] Victoria White: Oh wow. And I, yeah, I really couldn't have done really anything other than, you know, rest during that time. So I think, yeah, you don't know quite how you might experience it. And preparing in advance is absolutely the best thing to do for you and your, your family. Absolutely. 

[00:24:31] Iris Josephina: Yeah. And would you say to already start doing this in the preconception phase, what's your take on neurodivergent preconception?

[00:24:40] Victoria White: I think definitely if it feels comfortable to do so. I know for some people it can feel challenging to kind of imagine. I. Beyond where you are now, if you're in the preconception phase and you're having some challenges, but if it feels comfortable for you as an individual, then yes, I would absolutely recommend doing that.

[00:24:59] Victoria White: I would also recommend starting to talk to healthcare providers and see if things like being able to visit. In the uk we have labor wards and we have maternity LED units, midwife LED units, sorry, I should say, which are like birth centers. So we have a right to request to visit some of those spaces in advance.

[00:25:19] Victoria White: So if you're ex, for example, if you're an autistic person who has sensory. Processing sensitivities, you might want to go and visit a space in advance to get an idea of, okay, what's challenging in this environment and what adjustments could I ask for, for my own birth in this environment that would make it more manageable and less likely for me to feel that sensory overwhelm.

[00:25:42] Victoria White: So all of these things can be done. At a time when you feel comfortable individually to do them. There are no rules with this, but anything that you do now can really help you down the line, right? From visiting spaces to, you know, testing out nursing bras and you know, working out if they're an issue for you from a sensory point of view.

[00:26:05] Victoria White: Are there alternatives that are more comfortable? This will all help you in the long run to really have a smoother transition into pregnancy and parenthood. 

[00:26:17] Iris Josephina: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. I feel there is so much we can already do for ourselves to start this journey, like you said, informed and from like a little bit of a calmer space because there is so much that comes.

[00:26:34] Iris Josephina: With preconception and pregnancy and birth and postpartum and parenthood like, it's a lot. It's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And to close off, do you have any wisdom for neurodivergent, people who are listening who want to have a baby, but they're may be overwhelmed by, am I gonna be able to actually do this?

[00:26:58] Iris Josephina: Or how is it gonna be for me? Do you have any wisdom for people? 

[00:27:04] Victoria White: I think just, some, some reassurance that you know you are enough and you matter as an individual and your neurodivergent experience matters and your neurodivergence can bring with it so many elements that should be celebrated. I really want to celebrate the diversity in perinatal experiences, and I think that's.

[00:27:28] Victoria White: Part of this conversation. We can talk about some of the challenges, but let's also talk about the positivity. So the, the sensory joy of, of having a, a baby and having, you know, making a start to your life as a family together and. So many neurodivergent people are just such wonderful parents because, you know, I generally find that there is this real desire to parent and to do it, you know?

[00:27:58] Victoria White: Well, and there's a lot of, there can be a lot of hyper focus right on the topics. So somebody, for example, who. Is keen on, on breastfeeding. We'll probably have, you know, almost got a, a PhD thesis in this topic of breastfeeding by the time that they actually get to do it. So, you know, the research, the, the, the love and the care and attention that neurodivergent people put into things.

[00:28:22] Victoria White: That they care about and they really focus on is amazing and, and that can be frustrating sometimes for them. You know, for example, if you then go to see a health professional with a breastfeeding question and you realize that you actually know much more yourself than a health professional on the topic.

[00:28:38] Victoria White: But I think that's a wonderful thing that can be celebrated. So, yeah, 

[00:28:42] Iris Josephina: I feel so seen when you say all of this. 

[00:28:46] Victoria White: It's from personal experience as well, but I think, you know, many elements of pregnancy, birth, and parenthood will, you will know so much about. You will have done all the research and you will be absolutely giving it your, your, your everything to do it, to the best of your ability and for your family.

[00:29:05] Victoria White: And I think that's to be celebrated. Yeah, you, you matter as an individual. There will be times when you feel that people are making assumptions about you or kind of, trying to cast you in the neurotypical mold. So it's about, you know, knowing your, your differences, communicating your differences if you can, and if that's uncomfortable, perhaps having a support person, an advocate to help you communicate those.

[00:29:31] Victoria White: I absolutely love the role of the doula in the whole perinatal experience because I think they, you know, this is about developing trust as well. Trust in the people that are supporting you. Having a doula means that you have the time to really develop that rapport and that trust, and to have a relationship with each other and get to know each other, and they can get to know your support needs.

[00:29:53] Victoria White: But yeah, just stand tall and say, this is who I am, these are my individual needs, and this is what I need so that I can, you know, navigate this time and have the, the smoothest transition possible. to stand in that and to celebrate that. To celebrate asking for what you need. 

[00:30:09] Iris Josephina: Thank you for that. You're welcome.

[00:30:11] Iris Josephina: This is really helpful and I think as neurodivergent people, we sometimes also just. Need to hear that we are worthy, that we are good as we are, that we're not like broken. Absolutely. Yeah. It's just a different way of approaching life. Seeing life and having just a different type of rich experience of what Absolutely.

[00:30:35] Iris Josephina: Yeah. 

[00:30:35] Victoria White: I couldn't agree more. 

[00:30:36] Iris Josephina: What life is. Yeah. So I'm very curious about all of your beautiful work coming out. Mm, thank you. And I'm sure other people are too. So maybe you could share where people can find you right now and where they can potentially find all of the beautiful things coming up. 

[00:30:56] Victoria White: Thank you, I'd love to share.

[00:30:57] Victoria White: So, on Instagram, we're at neurodivergent birth and in the UK we're registered as a social enterprise. So we're a not-for-profit company. at the moment we're running workshops for birth workers. So we have midwives, doulas, hypnobirthing instructors attend our workshops, all about supporting neurodivergent birth and they're run online.

[00:31:20] Victoria White: And all the details of those workshops can be found at. ND birth.com. But I'm super excited because this year we're also working on offerings for pregnant neurodivergent people and their families. So we're working on this antenatal education. We have a, a course launching next week that's a a two hour workshop, and then the antenatal course will be.

[00:31:43] Victoria White: A much more involved workshop on a platform that you can download and, and take your own time to go through, because that's one of the things that I'm, I'm really keen on is that antenatal education's more accessible to people who might have delayed processing or might need to listen to something in an audio format or read it in a transcript.

[00:32:02] Victoria White: Then watch the video or process it in different ways. So that's what we're working on this year. And we also have the Neurodivergent Birth podcast. So we're about to go into season three. Everybody on that podcast is a a neurodivergent person who has I. Real lived experience of navigating this time. So if you are, somebody who is neuro divergent and listening and, and you, you know, feel that you'd like to listen to other people's experiences, then that would be a great place to, to start.

[00:32:33] Iris Josephina: Thank you so much. I'm sure that people are very interested to go there and learn more, and I want to really thank you for taking the time to come on here and come shed some light on this very, super important topic. 

[00:32:49] Victoria White: It's my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. You 

[00:32:52] Iris Josephina: are so welcome.

[00:32:56] Iris Josephina: Okay, this wraps up today's episodes. Thank you so much for listening. Want to know more about me? The best way to reach me is via At Cycles Seeds on Instagram. And if you heard something today and you think, oh my God, wow, I learned something new, feel free to share the podcast on your social media and tag me or leave a review of rating.

[00:33:16] Iris Josephina: In this way. You help me reach more people like you. Thank you so much.