ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast

This ADHD Awareness Month 2026, ADHD Women's Wellbeing is putting this community, lived experiences, and practical support front and center. There are live conversations, Instagram Lives, podcast events and ways for you to share what actually helps in your own life. ⁠⁠

Visit the Events page⁠⁠ to see what’s happening and get involved.

We talk a lot about hormones and ADHD. But this conversation goes much deeper.

What if the fatigue, anxiety, gut issues, difficult periods and the way your ADHD seems to shift throughout your cycle aren’t separate problems? What if they’re all giving you information about what’s happening in your body?

This week on The ADHD Women’s Wellbeing Podcast, I’m joined by Dr Jolene Brighten for a fascinating and powerful deep dive into the biology behind ADHD in women, and some of the connections we just aren’t talking about enough.

Jolene is a board-certified naturopathic endocrinologist, nutritionist, certified menopause specialist and bestselling author of Beyond the Pill and Is This Normal? Her new book, ADHD and Women: A Guide to Understanding Your Hormones and Thriving with ADHD, is out now.

And she does not hold back in this conversation.

We get into progesterone, histamine, endometriosis, PMDD and perimenopause, and what they can mean for women with ADHD. We explore why symptoms that appear unrelated may be more connected than we realise, why so many women have spent years being passed between specialists and why understanding ADHD as something that affects the whole body can completely change the conversation.

Jolene also shares her own story, from her son’s ADHD diagnosis to being diagnosed with endometriosis after 29 years of periods and later discovering she is autistic.

This is one of those episodes that may have you joining dots you didn’t even realise were connected. If you’ve ever felt as though your hormones, brain and body are all speaking different languages, this conversation could help you understand the bigger picture.

Advertisement⏐Try AG1 now at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://drinkag1.com/adhdwomen ⁠and get £20 off your first order + 5 AG1 Travel Packs for on the go, a bottle of Vitamin D3+K2, and the Welcome Kit for FREE. No risk with the 30-day money-back guarantee. Find all details about the health benefits in the link. Study results are on file with AG1, 2023.

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In this episode, we cover:

Jolene's late diagnoses of ADHD, endometriosis and autism, and why accommodations are so often mistaken for success

Why fatigue and anxiety are among the most common symptoms of endometriosis, and how it can be present without any pain

The links between ADHD, endometriosis, PMDD and fibroids, and why medicine so often treats them as coincidences

How histamine and mast cells may be connected to 2am to 4am waking, irritability and emotional dysregulation

What happens to dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine and GABA when oestrogen and progesterone drop

Why hysterectomy and hormone suppression don't cure PMDD or endometriosis, and what this means for ADHD women

Body identical progesterone versus synthetic progestins, progesterone intolerance and why starting low and going slow can help

What research tells us about hormonal contraception and depression in ADHD women

Why movement is so powerful for the ADHD brain, and an honest look at why it can feel so hard to do

Alcohol, GABA and the luteal phase, and why we were never designed to be productive all the time

Timestamps:

00:00 - Welcome and introducing Dr Jolene Brighten

02:30 - Jolene's journey to ADHD, endometriosis and autism diagnoses

05:30 - Entrepreneurship, accommodations and the support nobody sees

08:00 - What endometriosis can look like, including when there's no pain

10:00 - Jolene's endometriosis story, from childhood gut issues to secondary infertility

15:00 - Mast cells, histamine and the brain, immune and hormone connection

17:00 - Kate's experience with endometriosis, adenomyosis and continuous progesterone

21:00 - Access to care in the UK, US and Canada

23:00 - Why ADHD is the operating system you were born with

25:00 - What happens to the brain when oestrogen and progesterone drop

27:00 - PMDD: why it may be more than one condition

29:00 - NAC, mitochondria and the ADHD brain in perimenopause

32:00 - Progesterone, progestins and the research on contraception and depression

35:00 - ADHD as a full-body condition and the gut microbiome

37:00 - Progesterone intolerance, dosing and different ways of taking it

42:00 - Serotonin, dopamine and how the ADHD brain adapts

43:00 - Exercise, BDNF and giving your brain more energy

46:00 - Hysterectomies, unsupported women and the generations before us

48:00 - Alcohol, GABA and the luteal phase

49:00 - Rejecting productivity culture and honouring the need to rest

53:00 - Superpowers, kryptonite and asking what it's costing you

56:00 - Where to find Jolene's book and resources

Links and Resources:

Find my popular ADHD Women's Wellbeing workshops and resources on my website here.

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @adhd_womenswellbeing_pod

Get my book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit (also available in ebook and audiobook) here

Join the More Yourself membership community here

Get Jolene's book, ADHD and Women (also available in ebook and audiobook): drbrighten.com/adhd-and-women

Visit Jolene's website for free articles on hormones, ADHD, PMDD and endometriosis: drbrighten.com

Listen to Jolene's podcast: The Dr. Brighten Show

Connect with Jolene on Instagram: @drjolenebrighten

Watch Jolene on YouTube: @DrJoleneBrighten

See Explore Worldwide's range of destinations in the link HERE

If today’s episode brought up anything for you, these organisations offer support and information:⁠⁠

Endometriosis UK Support Network⁠⁠

⁠The Miscarriage Association helpline and support services⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Campaign Against Living Miserably

Kate Moryoussef is a women's ADHD lifestyle and wellbeing coach and EFT practitioner who helps overwhelmed and unfulfilled newly diagnosed women with ADHD find more calm, balance, hope, health, compassion, creativity, and clarity.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Actually Helps YOU: This ADHD Awareness Month 2026, I'm putting community, real experiences, and practical support throughout the month. There are live podcast recordings, Instagram Lives, podcast events and ways for you to share what actually helps in your own life. ⁠⁠Visit the Events page⁠⁠ to see what’s happening and get involved.

This one is a little different. No guest, no workshop clip — just me, talking to you about what's coming next and why community is at the heart of everything we're building here.

Today I'm sharing a personal update about what's happening at ADHD Women's Wellbeing this October and beyond, including some exciting plans for live events in 2027, how you can get involved in ADHD Awareness Month right now, and how I want your wisdom to shape something I'm creating for this community.

This one is warm, unscripted and very much from the heart. Sign up for the ADHD WW events waitlist here

Advertisement⏐Try AG1 now at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://drinkag1.com/adhdwomen ⁠and get £20 off your first order + 5 AG1 Travel Packs for on the go, a bottle of Vitamin D3+K2, and the Welcome Kit for FREE. No risk with the 30-day money-back guarantee. Find all details about the health benefits in the link. Study results are on file with AG1, 2023.

In this episode, I cover:

What the first-ever ADHD Women's Wellbeing live event in Manchester taught me, and why I want to do more

My plans for in-person events in 2027, what they'll look and feel like, and how to get on the waitlist

Why ADHD Awareness Month 2026 is all about community, lived experience and what actually helps

The Google Form I'm creating to collect your wisdom — what makes your daily life easier with ADHD — and how your answers will shape a community workbook

How to attend free live podcast recordings this October and ask experts your questions in real time

Why I believe lived experience often comes before the research, and why I want more of your voice in this space

The legacy I want to leave through ADHD Women's Wellbeing and what I'm building towards

Why I'm doing all of this with very finite energy, a tiny team, and a genuine commitment to keeping things accessible

Links and Resources:

Visit the Events page and join the live events waitlist here

Fill in the What Actually Helps You Form here

Explore the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Workshop Library here

Get my book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit (also available in ebook and audiobook) here

Join the More Yourself membership community here

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @adhd_womenswellbeing_pod

Kate Moryoussef is a women's ADHD lifestyle and wellbeing coach and EFT practitioner who helps overwhelmed and unfulfilled newly diagnosed women with ADHD find more calm, balance, hope, health, compassion, creativity, and clarity.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Actually Helps You?

This ADHD Awareness Month, I’m putting real experiences, community and practical support at the heart of the conversation. Join live conversations, podcast events and opportunities to share what actually helps you. Add your name to my event waitlist as well!

Visit the Events page to see what’s happening and get involved.

_________________________________________

What if the burnout, the guilt and the relentless doing weren't signs that you were failing, but signs that the playbook you'd been given was never designed for you in the first place?

On this week's episode of The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast, I'm joined by Meghan French Dunbar, bestselling author, business anthropologist and founder of Conscious Company Magazine, the first nationally distributed print magazine in the US focusing on impact-driven business.

Meghan's book, This Isn't Working: How Working Women Can Overcome Stress, Guilt, and Overload to Find True Success, is a USA Today bestseller and Next Big Idea Club selection. She works with companies including Coach, John Deere, Torani and Kate Spade on leadership and culture strategy, writes for Forbes, Fast Company and Inc, and hosts the podcast Unbehaved. She was diagnosed with ADHD four years ago, and this conversation made a lot of sense of a lot of things.

We talk about purpose burnout, motherhood, identity, joy and what it actually looks like to build a life and career around meaning rather than productivity. Meghan is warm, honest and brilliantly funny, and this is one of those conversations that leaves you feeling both validated and quietly ready to do something differently.

Advertisement⏐Try AG1 now at ⁠https://drinkag1.com/adhdwomen and get £20 off your first order + 5 AG1 Travel Packs for on the go, a bottle of Vitamin D3+K2, and the Welcome Kit for FREE. No risk with the 30-day money-back guarantee. Find all details about the health benefits in the link. Study results are on file with AG1, 2023.

In this episode, we cover:

How Meghan's ADHD diagnosis four years ago reframed her entire career and the relentless curiosity that drove it

Why she burnt out running her own organisation, resigned from it, and spent two years rebuilding from the ground up

The difference between social success and soul success, and the three elements the most fulfilled leaders Meghan interviewed all had in common

Why sustained leadership is about the quality of your being, not the quantity of your doing

The six key predictors of burnout, and why ADHD makes several of them almost inevitable without the right support

What the broaden and build theory tells us about joy, and why nurturing it is not indulgent but a genuine performance strategy

The joy trip: what it is, why Meghan introduced it into her family and what it has given her every year since

Why ADHD women are often the outliers who model a different way of working, and why that matters for everyone around them

What enough looks like, and why deciding that with your partner is one of the most radical acts available to us

Why autonomy is the non-negotiable for so many neurodivergent entrepreneurs

Timestamps:

00:00 - Welcome and introducing Meghan French Dunbar

02:00 - What drives Meghan's passion for business, impact and entrepreneurship

05:00 - How her ADHD diagnosis reframed decades of relentless curiosity

08:00 - Burning out as founder, resigning in 2020 and two years of rebuilding

12:00 - What the outliers taught her: soul success, purpose and quality of life

16:00 - Sustained leadership: why quality of being beats quantity of doing

19:00 - The practical foundations: sleep, movement, joy and professional support

22:00 - Why younger generations are already rewriting the playbook

25:00 - The joy trip: how it started, what it involves and why it changed everything

31:00 - The broaden and build theory: the science behind why joy makes you better at everything

35:00 - Modeling a different way for other women

38:00 - What Meghan's working life looks like now, and what enough means to her

42:00 - Autonomy, ADHD and why working for yourself so often becomes the answe

Links and Resources:

Find my popular ADHD Women's Wellbeing workshops and resources on my website ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

Follow the podcast on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@adhd_womenswellbeing_pod⁠⁠⁠

Get my book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit (also available in ebook and audiobook) ⁠⁠⁠here

Join the More Yourself membership community ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠

Visit Meghan's website: meghanfrenchdunbar.com

Connect with Meghan on Instagram

Connect with Meghan on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Meghan's Substack: Unbehaved

Listen to Meghan's podcast: Unbehaved

Watch Meghan's TEDx talk

Get Meghan's book: This Isn't Working: How Working Women Can Overcome Stress, Guilt, and Overload to Find True Success

Kate Moryoussef is a women's ADHD lifestyle and wellbeing coach and EFT practitioner who helps overwhelmed and unfulfilled newly diagnosed women with ADHD find more calm, balance, hope, health, compassion, creativity, and clarity.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ADHD Awareness Month 2026: What Actually Helps?

This October, I'm putting community, real experiences and practical support at the heart of ADHD Awareness Month. There are live conversations and ways for you to share what actually helps in your own life. ⁠⁠Visit the Events page⁠⁠ to see what’s happening and get involved.

Understood.org's The ADHD Channel for Women features three shows hosted by three different hosts, unpacking a different side of life with ADHD. They cover everything from sex, dating, and relationships to deep dives into where neurodivergence meets the biggest news stories, like how a newly discovered gene variant could change the way we treat ADHD. There's also an ADHD coach who answers listeners' questions.

Check out The ADHD Channel for Women ⁠here

This episode from The ADHD Channel for Women is called 'I’ve never felt like a good woman...' You'll hear a complex conversation about ADHD, femininity, gender, and why talking about the hard stuff is important.

Cate sits down with Rae Jacobson, host of Understood.org’s Hyperfocus podcast, journalist, and a producer on this show. They talk about something they’ve both struggled to name: the collision between ADHD, femininity, and gender expression. They dig into what it felt like to watch other girls “get it.” The tidiness. The calm. The effortlessness. All things that executive dysfunction made feel out of reach.

They talk about the pressure to be nurturing, organized, and endlessly available — and what happens when your brain doesn’t cooperate with any of it. And they look at the research on outcomes for women and girls with ADHD."

This week’s episode is sponsored by Understood.org, the leading nonprofit dedicated to empowering the millions of people with learning and thinking differences, such as ADHD and dyslexia.

For all things ADHD Women's Wellbeing, including the podcast, resources and events, head here: www.adhdwomenswellbeing.co.uk
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ADHD Awareness Month 2026: What Actually Helps?

This October, I'm putting community, real experiences and practical support at the heart of ADHD Awareness Month. There are live conversations, Instagram Lives, podcast events and ways for you to share what actually helps in your own life. ⁠Visit the Events page⁠ to see what’s happening and get involved.

If you've ever felt shame about what you eat, how you forget to eat, or why your safe foods feel so necessary, this episode is going to be a genuine relief.

On this week's episode of The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast, I'm delighted to welcome back Dr Miguel Toribio-Mateas, clinical neuroscientist, applied microbiologist, nutrition researcher, Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University and Senior Lecturer at the University of West London.

Miguel has just published his brilliant new book, ADHD Body and Mind: A Compassionate Guide to Rewilding Your Nervous System with Neuroscience, Nutrition, and Gut-Brain Health, published by Jessica Kingsley/Hachette. His research has appeared in leading journals including the BMJ and BMC Psychiatry, and his work is known for translating complex science into something genuinely human and accessible.

This is one of those conversations that covers a huge amount of ground while never once feeling overwhelming. We talk about why the ADHD brain is wired for resilience and what that actually costs us, why the gut-brain connection matters so much for neurodivergent people, how to approach nutrition with compassion rather than perfectionism, and why your safe foods are not something to be ashamed of. We also get into the language of science, why terms like comorbidity matter, and how researchers like Miguel are slowly shifting the field towards a more neuroaffirmative approach.

Advertisement⏐Try AG1 now at ⁠http://drinkag1.com/adhdwomen⁠ and get £20 off your first order + 5 AG1 Travel Packs for on the go, a bottle of Vitamin D3+K2, and the Welcome Kit for FREE. No risk with the 30-day money-back guarantee. Find all details about the health benefits in the link. Study results are on file with AG1, 2023.

In this episode, we cover:

Why compassion and kindness are at the heart of Miguel's approach to ADHD, nutrition and the nervous system

How the ADHD nervous system forms in high alert, and what that means for resilience and hypervigilance

Why ADHD is far more than a dopamine deficiency, and how hormones, gut bacteria and the nervous system are all part of the picture

The gut-brain axis and why looking after your gut has a direct impact on your ADHD brain

Why the language of science still creates problems, including terms like comorbidity and healthy cohort, and how researchers are starting to push back

How to read ADHD Body and Mind in whichever way works for your brain, whether that's cover to cover or jumping straight to chapter nine

Why understanding the why behind your ADHD behaviours is the keystone to change, even when it doesn't fix things overnight

Miguel's approach to nutrition: keep your safe foods, add rather than subtract, and never shame what nourishes you

Why safe foods are doing an important job for your nervous system, and why being pushed out of your comfort zone too quickly never lasts

The circle approach to expanding your diet gently, starting from your anchors and building outward

Why a hot bath is an act of self-compassion backed by neuroscience, and why you don't need to get into cold water to support your nervous system

The self-kindness toolkit at the end of the book and what it covers

Chapters:

00:00 - Welcome and introducing Dr Miguel Toribio-Mateas back to the podcast

02:00 - What's at the heart of ADHD Body and Mind, and why compassion comes first

05:00 - Why the ADHD nervous system is wired for hypervigilance and resilience

08:00 - ADHD as more than dopamine: hormones, gut bacteria and the full picture

11:00 - The neuroaffirmative lens in academic research and why language matters

15:00 - How the gut-brain axis connects to ADHD and emotional regulation

19:00 - The awareness and repetition model: why understanding the why is the keystone

23:00 - Nutrition without perfectionism: how to approach food with kindness

27:00 - Safe foods, anchors and adding rather than subtracting

32:00 - The circle approach: expanding your diet gently from the inside out

37:00 - The ADHD cookery school: creativity, condiments and cooking without recipes

42:00 - Hot baths, cold water and why softness is sometimes the braver choice

46:00 - The self-kindness toolkit and what the book offers neurodivergent readers and clinicians

Links and Resources:

Find my popular ADHD Women's Wellbeing workshops and resources on my website ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

Follow the podcast on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@adhd_womenswellbeing_pod⁠⁠⁠

Get my book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit (also available in ebook and audiobook) ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠

Join the More Yourself membership community ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠

Visit Miguel's website

Connect with Miguel on Instagram

Connect with Miguel on LinkedIn

Get Miguel's book: ADHD Body and Mind: A Compassionate Guide to Rewilding Your Nervous System with Neuroscience, Nutrition, and Gut-Brain Health

Kate Moryoussef is a women's ADHD lifestyle and wellbeing coach, author of The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit and EFT practitioner who helps overwhelmed and unfulfilled newly diagnosed women with ADHD find more calm, balance, hope, health, compassion, creativity, and clarity.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices