ADHD Families Podcast

Have you ever wondered where your money is actually going - even when you’re trying your best to stay on top of things?

In this episode of the ADHD Families Podcast, ADHD parenting expert Sharon Collon unpacks the very real cost of the “ADHD tax” and how small forgotten admin tasks can quietly drain thousands from family finances.

Sharon shares honest stories about impulsive spending, budgeting struggles, dyscalculia, and the emotional load many ADHD households carry during a cost-of-living crisis. You’ll learn why ADHD brains often avoid money management, how financial overwhelm builds silently, and the practical systems Sharon used to finally regain control.

If you’ve been feeling stressed, avoidant, or ashamed about money, this episode will help you feel less alone - and give you practical next steps to start reducing the ADHD tax immediately.

👀 In This Episode, Sharon Covers:

✅ What the “ADHD tax” actually is and why so many families experience it
✅ How forgotten subscriptions, overdue admin, and delayed decisions quietly cost families thousands
✅ The emotional side of money avoidance and financial overwhelm
✅ Living through the collision of ADHD, rising living costs, fuel prices, and family stress
✅ Why dyscalculia and ADHD can make budgeting feel impossible
✅ The truth about impulsive spending in ADHD households
✅ Simple systems Sharon used to uncover hidden financial leaks
✅ How to reduce shame and start taking small practical action
✅ The 5-day “Money Hunt” implementation event designed to help families regain control of their finances

⚠️ If your household has been feeling stretched financially lately, this episode is an important reminder that small admin gaps can create major financial stress over time.

Timestamps

00:00 – Welcome to the episode
01:12 – The collision of ADHD, cost-of-living pressures, and family finances
02:45 – The real story behind the “life-size pumpkin man” argumen
05:10 – Why ADHD brains avoid money and admin tasks
07:18 – Discovering thousands of dollars leaking from the household budget
09:40 – What the ADHD tax really looks like in everyday life
12:05 – Dyscalculia, overwhelm, and financial shame
15:10 – Small systems that helped regain control
18:42 – Why this is not about perfection or strict budgeting
21:08 – Introducing the 5-day Money Hunt implementation event
23:00 – Final thoughts and encouragement

💰 Ready to Stop Paying the ADHD Tax?

The Money Hunt is Sharon’s practical implementation event designed specifically for ADHD families who feel overwhelmed by money, forgotten admin, subscriptions, late fees, and financial chaos.

Over 5 focused days, Sharon will help you uncover hidden money leaks, simplify your systems, and create practical habits that actually work for ADHD brains.

Inside The Money Hunt, you’ll learn how to:

✅ Find forgotten subscriptions and recurring charges

✅ Reduce financial overwhelm and avoidance

✅ Create ADHD-friendly money systems

✅ Recover money quietly leaking from your household

✅ Build momentum without shame or perfectionism

👉 Join The Money Hunt HERE

🔔 Next Steps & Resources

Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast

Join the waitlist for the ADHD Family Quest

Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com

Work With Sharon

Sharon Collon helps ADHD families create calmer homes, stronger relationships, and practical systems that reduce overwhelm. Through her programs, resources, and podcast, Sharon shares compassionate, evidence-informed support for parents navigating the realities of ADHD family life.

Whether you’re struggling with emotional regulation, executive functioning, school stress, or family routines, Sharon’s work is designed to help parents feel supported — not judged.

🌐 The Functional Family

***Blakey's new film - In pieces together***

What happens when a world-record surfing challenge becomes a mission to save lives?

In this inspiring episode of the ADHD Families Podcast, Sharon Collon sits down with world-record endurance surfer, surf coach, and mental health advocate Blakey Johnston to explore the powerful connection between mental health, ADHD, anxiety, movement, and purpose.

Blakey shares the deeply personal story behind his 40-hour world-record surf attempt and how losing his father to suicide became the catalyst for helping men speak openly about mental health. Sharon and Blakey unpack the science behind surfing, cold water, community, movement, and emotional resilience — especially for people navigating ADHD, anxiety, and overwhelm.

If you’re looking for practical mental health strategies, inspiring resilience stories, and powerful conversations around ADHD and emotional wellbeing, this episode delivers both heart and hope.

👀 In This Episode:

✅ Blake Johnston’s 40-hour world-record surfing challenge
✅ The mental health crisis impacting men and families
✅ How movement and surfing support ADHD and anxiety regulation
✅ The emotional impact of losing a parent to suicide
✅ Why community and connection are critical for mental wellbeing
✅ The science behind cold water, nature, and emotional regulation
✅ Burnout, stress, and high-performance mindset traps
✅ Parenting, vulnerability, and emotional resilience
✅ Practical mental health strategies for everyday life
✅ How purpose-driven challenges can create real impact

⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode discusses suicide, mental health struggles, anxiety, and emotional distress.

Timestamps

00:00 – Welcome to the ADHD Families Podcast
01:30 – Meet Blake Johnston
03:10 – The story behind the 40-hour surf challenge
07:20 – Losing his father to suicide
12:45 – Anxiety, burnout, and emotional overwhelm
18:15 – Why surfing helps mental health
23:50 – ADHD, movement, and nervous system regulation
29:40 – The physical and mental realities of endurance surfing
36:10 – Community, connection, and vulnerability
42:20 – Parenting, resilience, and emotional awareness
48:00 – Practical mental health strategies anyone can use
53:45 – Blake’s message for struggling men
57:10 – Final thoughts and key takeaways

Key Takeaways

Mental health conversations save lives.

Movement and nature can regulate stress and anxiety.

Community connection is essential for emotional wellbeing.

High performers are not immune to burnout.

ADHD nervous systems often benefit from physical activity and structured challenges.

Vulnerability is strength, not weakness.

Purpose-driven action creates long-term impact.

Quotes From The Episode

“Real change requires more than conversation — it requires action.”

“Connection and community are some of the most powerful tools we have for mental health.”

“You don’t have to struggle alone.”

What's Coming? 👀 👀

The Money Hunt — Five Days, Five Money Wins

While screens leak your child's attention, subscriptions and forgotten auto-renewals are quietly leaking money from your household every month. The Money Hunt is a five-day live event for mums of ADHD families who want that money back.

No budgeting. No spreadsheets. No willpower. Just one 45-minute session a day, one bingo square to tick off, and a running tally of every dollar you find. Most Hunters cover the cost of the event by Day 2.

5 days. 5 wins. Cash back in your pocket.

Monday 29 June to Friday 3 July 2026, 1pm AEST daily

Live on Zoom plus a private Facebook group

Six months of replay access

$97 AUD (Regular Price: $397)

JOIN THE MONEY HUNT

Already in The ADHD Family Quest? It's included in your membership

🔔 Next Steps & Resources

Blakey Johnston Social Media Links

Website

Instagram

SWELLBEING

IN PIECES TOGETHER FILM

Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast

Join the waitlist for the ADHD Family Quest

Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com

💛 Work With Sharon

Sharon Collon is a PCC credentialed ADHD family coach and founder of The Functional Family. She works with parents of children with ADHD who are exhausted by the daily battles — the mornings, the meltdowns, the school emails, the emotional dysregulation — and helps them build a family life that actually works.

Sharon's approach is practical, ADHD-informed, and built around real family systems — not generic parenting advice that wasn't designed for your child's brain.

With Sharon's support, families:

Understand what's really driving their child's behaviour — and respond strategically instead of reactively

Build the executive function skills their child needs, in a way that actually sticks

Replace daily conflict and overwhelm with calm, connection, and confidence

Create routines and systems that hold — even on the hard days

Move from survival mode to a family life that feels genuinely functional and joyful

Whether you're brand new to the ADHD diagnosis or years in and still feeling stuck — there is a way through.

You don't have to keep pushing through alone.

👉 Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com

It's Sunday afternoon. Your kids can't walk past each other without it turning into something. Every interaction is a battle. And somewhere in the middle of it, you're thinking — when they grow up, are they ever going to be friends?

If that's your house, stay with us.

Sharon is joined by Jacquie Ward — Registered Psychologist and mum of three, including a child with ADHD — to talk about one of the most common and most misunderstood challenges in ADHD family life. Why sibling conflict is more intense in your home, and what to actually do about it.

👀 In This Episode:

Why sibling conflict is more intense in ADHD families — and why you are not imagining it

The six ADHD factors that create the perfect storm for sibling conflict

Executive function age vs chronological age — and why it changes your expectations

The family nervous system: why the whole house feels it when one child dysregulates

Sharon's Blue Mountains story — and the moment that changed everything

Why prevention beats reaction every time

The Three Cs Framework: Cool Down, Communicate, Collaborate

Why jumping in as referee is making things worse

The one action to take this week that will change your next sibling fight

Quote to Carry With You

"You are not stuffing this up. Your family is not beyond support. This is a very predictable friction point in ADHD families — and it is not beyond help."

— Sharon Collon

⏱️ Episode Timestamps

00:00 – The Sunday afternoon scene — sibling conflict in ADHD homes

01:13 – Introducing Jacquie Ward

02:31 – The six ADHD factors that create the perfect storm

05:01 – Executive function age vs chronological age

06:43 – The family nervous system and emotional contagion

08:14 – Why conflict in public hits differently

11:06 – Sharon's Blue Mountains story

15:44 – The Three Cs Framework: Cool Down, Communicate, Collaborate

16:30 – Why prevention beats reaction

19:15 – Cool Down — the most important first step

21:06 – Communicate — giving kids the language

24:01 – Collaborate — building skills for long-term change

26:28 – The one action to take this week

28:45 – Workshop details — May 11–13



🥊 Want to Go Deeper?

Stop the Fighting. Start Feeling Like a Family Again.

Sharon and Jacquie are running a 3-part live workshop series — the full playbook with scripts, in-the-moment strategies, and prevention tools specifically for ADHD families.

Live sessions: May 11, 12 and 13 at 7:30–8:30pm AEST

Replay available for 6 months

Payment plans via Afterpay and Klarna

JOIN US HERE

🔔 Next Steps & Resources

Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast

Join the waitlist for the ADHD Family Quest

Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com

💛 Work With Sharon

Sharon Collon is a PCC credentialed ADHD family coach and founder of The Functional Family. She works with parents of children with ADHD who are exhausted by the daily battles — the mornings, the meltdowns, the school emails, the emotional dysregulation — and helps them build a family life that actually works.

Sharon's approach is practical, ADHD-informed, and built around real family systems — not generic parenting advice that wasn't designed for your child's brain.

With Sharon's support, families:

Understand what's really driving their child's behaviour — and respond strategically instead of reactively

Build the executive function skills their child needs, in a way that actually sticks

Replace daily conflict and overwhelm with calm, connection, and confidence

Create routines and systems that hold — even on the hard days

Move from survival mode to a family life that feels genuinely functional and joyful

Whether you're brand new to the ADHD diagnosis or years in and still feeling stuck — there is a way through.

You don't have to keep pushing through alone.

👉 Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com

Every week in my support group, parents share the same quiet ache — they wish they had people in their lives who actually got them. They feel lonely. And they're often so busy supporting their child's social struggles that their own go unspoken.

This episode is for you. The parent. The adult.

I am joined by Caroline Maguire (M.Ed, ACCG, PCC)— ADHD coach, social emotional learning expert, and author of Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults — for one of the most honest and relieving conversations the ADHD Families Podcast has had.

✨ About the Guest:

Caroline Maguire (M.Ed, ACCG, PCC) is an ADHD coach, social emotional learning expert, author, and speaker who has spent over a decade researching how neurodivergent adults experience friendship and belonging. Her book Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults is the first written by a neurodivergent person, for a neurodivergent audience — practical, research-backed, and deeply human. She is also the host of the new podcast Your ADHD Social Playbook and has a TEDx Talk available on YouTube.

👀 In This Episode, Sharon Covers:

Why adult friendship is genuinely harder — and why that is not your fault

The worldwide loneliness epidemic and why ADHD adults feel it more acutely

Why proximity is the single biggest factor in making friends — and how ADHD gets in the way

The radical reframe: friendship is a learnable skill, not a personality trait

The hidden cost of masking — and what it is doing to your energy and mental health

The Flavours of Friendship — a framework for understanding different levels of connection

Why ADHD adults mistake acquaintances for close friends — and the hurt that follows

Info dumping, oversharing, going quiet: separating shame from skill building

How to move someone from acquaintance to actual friend

The repair: how to come back after you've gone quiet or disappeared

⏱️ Episode Timestamps

00:00 – Why ADHD parents feel lonely — and why we don't talk about it

02:17 – Friendship is a learnable skill: the reframe that changes everything

04:43 – How parenting a child with ADHD affects your own friendships

07:06 – Proximity — the single biggest factor in making friends

09:15 – The myth that everyone else has it figured out

11:38 – Confidence and friendship: the missing piece

14:02 – Finding your people — why environment matters more than effort

16:20 – The hidden cost of masking in friendships

18:36 – Why socialising drains you even when it goes well

20:55 – Managing your social energy and the power of the pause

23:20 – The Flavours of Friendship framework

30:21 – Rejection sensitivity and what it does to friendships

35:09 – Pinging: a practical strategy for finding shared connection

37:33 – Info dumping, oversharing, going quiet — shame vs skill building

39:55 – How to repair a friendship after you've gone quiet

42:21 – It's never too late — the path forward

📕 Caroline's NEW Book — Out Now!

Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults iis the first book of its kind — written by a neurodivergent person, for a neurodivergent audience. If this episode resonated, this book is your next step.

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Hachette, Audible, and wherever you love to buy books. Also available in audiobook.

Website: https://carolinemaguireauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolineM

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

NEW Podcast: Your ADHD Social Playbook

NEW TEDx Talk — Becoming a Social Spy: Observational Learning

👦🏼 Also Worth Reading — From Xavier

This episode talks about the adult experience of friendship and ADHD. But what about our kids?

My son Xavier — who has ADHD — wrote a blog that has stopped parents in their tracks since the day it was published. It is called A Note from a Kid with ADHD: How to Be My Friend.

In Xavier's own words, he shares what he needs from friends — the patience, the inclusion, the kindness, and the grace. It is the resource I wished she could hand to other families when Xavier was young.

Share it with another parent, a teacher, or a child who could use the reminder.

Read it here → https://www.thefunctionalfamily.com/blog/anotefromanadhdkidhowtobemyfriend


🥊 Are Your Kids Constantly Fighting? (Enjoy Discounted Rate HERE)

A 3-part live workshop series for parents of children with ADHD — co-facilitated by me (ADHD Coach) and Jacquie Ward (Psychologist).

If sibling conflict in your home feels more intense and harder to recover from than it should — you are not imagining it. ADHD changes the equation. This series gives you the why and the what now.

In just 3 nights, you'll learn how to:

Understand why your kids are constantly clashing — and what ADHD has to do with it

Step in without escalating or taking sides

Calm conflict in the moment, even when emotions are running high

Teach the skills your kids are missing so the same fights stop repeating

The Details:

Live sessions: May 11, 12 and 13 at 7:30–8:30pm AEST

Replay available for 6 months

Payment plans via Afterpay and Klarna

Early bird: $197 AUD (save $100) — use code EARLY at checkout

JOIN US HERE → https://www.thefunctionalfamily.com/offers/LCALkojv/checkout?coupon_code=EARLY

🔔 Next Steps & Resources

Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast

Carolin Mcguirre — Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults (available in audiobook, including in Australia)

Join the waitlist for the ADHD Family Quest

💻 Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com

💛 Work With Sharon

Sharon Collon is a PCC credentialed ADHD family coach and founder of The Functional Family. She works with parents of children with ADHD who are exhausted by the daily battles — the mornings, the meltdowns, the school emails, the emotional dysregulation — and helps them build a family life that actually works.

Sharon's approach is practical, ADHD-informed, and built around real family systems — not generic parenting advice that wasn't designed for your child's brain.

With Sharon's support, families:

Understand what's really driving their child's behaviour — and respond strategically instead of reactively

Build the executive function skills their child needs, in a way that actually sticks

Replace daily conflict and overwhelm with calm, connection, and confidence

Create routines and systems that hold — even on the hard days

Move from survival mode to a family life that feels genuinely functional and joyful

Whether you're brand new to the ADHD diagnosis or years in and still feeling stuck — there is a way through.

You don't have to keep pushing through alone.

👉 Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com

Are you stuck in the impossible loop of should I or shouldn't I — and feeling judged no matter which way you lean?

If you're a parent of a child with ADHD, the medication question is one of the most emotionally loaded decisions you'll face. And it doesn't get easier when everyone around you seems to have a very strong opinion — whether they know anything about ADHD or not.

In this episode of the ADHD Families Podcast, Sharon Collon, ADHD family coach and founder of The Functional Family, shares her own family's messy, exhausting, emotionally charged journey through this exact decision. Sharon unpacks what ADHD medication actually does in the brain, what the research really says (including what often gets left out), the truth about side effects, and five practical questions to ask before you decide. This episode won't tell you what to do — it will give you the clarity to figure out what's right for your child.

Freebie:

🎁 Download your free guide: 5 Ways to Navigate Big Emotions Without Power Struggles

👀 In This Episode, Sharon Covers:

✅ Why the medication decision feels so chaotic — and why that's completely normal
✅ The fears every ADHD parent holds: "What if I'm numbing my child? What if I'm taking the easy way out?"
✅ Sharon's own family story — the diets, the therapies, the pressure, and the turning point
✅ What ADHD medication actually does in the brain (hint: it's not a sedative)
✅ The MTA Study — the most comprehensive ADHD treatment research ever done, and what gets left out of the headline
✅ Why medication alone isn't enough — and what the research actually shows works best
✅ What a 2025 longitudinal MRI study found about timing and brain development
✅ Long-term outcomes: what the research says about medication, substance use, and quality of life
✅ Side effects — the honest, evidence-based answer every parent deserves
✅ Five questions to ask before deciding whether medication is right for your child
✅ Why the medication decision isn't a knowledge problem — it's a systems problem
✅ The most important reframe: choosing medication isn't taking the easy road

⚠️ If you've been going back and forth on this decision while the pressure from school, family, and your own head keeps building — this episode will help you think more clearly.

⏱️ Episode Timestamps

00:00 – The fear and chaos that comes with the medication question
01:00 – Sharon's disclaimer: not medical advice, but real family experience
01:37 – Sharon's family story: diagnosis, pressure, and trying everything first
03:08 – The exhaustion of pursuing every alternative
04:12 – Getting ADHD advice from the barista (and other unhelpful moments)
06:21 – The turning point: what Sharon's husband disclosed that changed everything
07:48 – The second realisation: medication alone isn't enough
08:24 – What ADHD medication actually does in the brain
09:06 – What the research says: the MTA Study and what gets left out
11:06 – Effectiveness rates, the 2025 MRI findings, and long-term outcomes
12:06 – Side effects — the real, evidence-based answer
14:54 – Five questions to ask before deciding on medication
20:39 – Closing: you are not a bad parent either way

🎁 5 Ways to Navigate Big Emotions Without Power Struggles — FREE DOWNLOAD

You're already doing the hard work of understanding your child's ADHD.

But in the heat of the moment — when emotions explode and everything escalates — it can feel impossible to know what to actually do.

This free guide gives you five simple, ADHD-informed strategies to help you respond to big emotions with calm and confidence, without it turning into a power struggle every single time.

Because when you know what to do in the moment, everything feels a little more manageable.

👉 Download your free guide HERE.

🗺️ The ADHD Family Quest — Join the Waitlist

If you're trying to make clear decisions — like the medication question — while your family life still feels like organised chaos, that's not a knowledge problem.

That's a systems problem.

The ADHD Family Quest is a structured, practical pathway for families navigating ADHD. It gives you the roadmap, the routines, and the clarity to move from reactive to responsive — not with a list of tips, but with real systems built around how your family actually works.

When your home has a foundation, every decision — including this one — becomes clearer.

📋 JOIN THE WAITLIST HERE

🔔 Next Steps & Resources

Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast

Share this episode with a parent who is navigating the medication decision right now

Download the free guide: 5 Ways to Navigate Big Emotions Without Power Struggles

Join the waitlist for the ADHD Family Quest

💻 Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com

💛 Work With Sharon

Sharon Collon is a PCC credentialed ADHD family coach and founder of The Functional Family. She works with parents of children with ADHD who are exhausted by the daily battles — the mornings, the meltdowns, the school emails, the emotional dysregulation — and helps them build a family life that actually works.

Sharon's approach is practical, ADHD-informed, and built around real family systems — not generic parenting advice that wasn't designed for your child's brain.

With Sharon's support, families:

Understand what's really driving their child's behaviour — and respond strategically instead of reactively

Build the executive function skills their child needs, in a way that actually sticks

Replace daily conflict and overwhelm with calm, connection, and confidence

Create routines and systems that hold — even on the hard days

Move from survival mode to a family life that feels genuinely functional and joyful

Whether you're brand new to the ADHD diagnosis or years in and still feeling stuck — there is a way through.

You don't have to keep pushing through alone.

👉 Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com