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THE SJ CHILDS SHOW-Building a Community of Inclusion
🎙️ Welcome to The SJ Childs Show Podcast! 🎉
Join Sara Bradford—better known as SJ Childs—as she bridges understanding and advocacy for the neurodivergent community. This podcast shines a light on autism awareness, empowering stories, expert insights, and practical resources for parents, educators, and individuals alike.
Brought to you by The SJ Childs Global Network, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting autistic individuals and their families worldwide, this show is your weekly dose of inspiration and actionable ideas. Visit sjchilds.org to learn more about our mission, find resources, and connect with our growing community.
Catch us on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Goodpods—or tune in Fridays at 8:30 AM EDT on the Helium Radio Network’s Life Improvement Radio (Channel 1). Together, let’s foster a brighter, more inclusive world! 🌟
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THE SJ CHILDS SHOW-Building a Community of Inclusion
Episode 326-Beyond Words: Autism's Intuitive Connection with Catherine Crestani
What if your child's seemingly unusual behaviors are actually their way of connecting with a world most of us can't see?
Catherine Crestani, leadership coach and intuitive healer with nearly two decades of experience as a speech-language pathologist, shares profound insights about the spiritual dimensions of autism that mainstream approaches often miss. Drawing from her extensive work with hundreds of children on the spectrum, Catherine reveals how many nonverbal children possess remarkable intuitive abilities – sensing energies, communicating with spirits, and processing the world in ways that defy conventional understanding.
This conversation takes a deep dive into the power of parental intuition when raising a child with special needs. Sara and Catherine discuss the critical importance of trusting your gut feelings about schools, therapies, and medical advice, even when professionals dismiss your concerns. Through personal stories, including Catherine's experiences with "guardian angels" guiding her nonverbal clients and Sara's discovery that her son's sleep patterns follow lunar cycles, they demonstrate how honoring your child's unique rhythms can lead to profound healing.
Perhaps most powerfully, Catherine shares her perspective on healing generational patterns through self-work. "When you heal something in you, it heals seven generations after and seven generations before," she explains, highlighting how addressing our own wounds creates space for our children to thrive. This shift from trying to "fix" the child to healing the family system offers a revolutionary approach to autism support.
Whether you're parenting a child with autism or supporting families on this journey, this episode will transform how you understand neurodivergence and intuitive connection. Listen now to discover how breaking free from societal expectations and embracing your family's unique path can create unexpected harmony and joy.
The SJ Child Show is Backford's 13th season. Join Sarah Bradford and the SJ Child Show team as they explore the world of autism and share 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 sjchildsorg to donate and to get more information. Congratulations on 2024's 20,000 downloads and 300 episodes.
Speaker 2:Hi, we are back at the SJ Childs show today and I'm so excited to have my friend who is in the future. I love Australians Coming from the future. I love Australians Coming from the future, my new friend that I'm making, catherine, and is it Kristani?
Speaker 3:Kristani, perfect, perfect.
Speaker 2:Kristani, and I'm so excited to talk to you today about your practice and something that we both have a lot of passion and in common. And yeah, before we get started, please introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what brought you here today.
Speaker 3:Hey, sarah, so I'm a leadership coach, intuitive healer, podcaster as well, and an author and a speaker, and but my background is as a speech language pathologist and I'm really passionate about working with children and mums from both sides of the spectrum spectrum but both sides of ends because, you know, it's so often that we neglect being the mum part of things, especially when you're holding that space for children, especially children with disabilities. But, um, I, when I contacted you, it was like I need to share my stories because I've had so many amazing experiences, nearly 20 years as a speech therapist, so you know, um, and most of my caseload was children with autism. So that is how I landed in this space today and it's funny because now I'm actually focusing on the mom side of things to help shift the things with children. So it's been such a journey and a flip in itself.
Speaker 2:And you know, sometimes that's what happens in. You see where the lack of support is, in. You know a genre or an area that needs more tools and more resources. And, boy, do moms really need that help to refigure where their mindset is going. Because, as I'm probably sure you're going to say in this conversation, that a lot of it comes back down to what are you thinking, what are you? What are you, what is your brain saying to you when you first wake up in the morning? What are the patterns you're going to be setting for yourself? So we haven't had this conversation before, but just in case that might be what we're talking about, I know that's, you know, real for me. And, um, I think that it's such an important part of our journey to have resources, to have people we can not only learn from lean on, listen to they, listen, you know, kind of give back and do the same for others. It's such a beautiful symbiotic relationship, isn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and I think you brought up a very good point, sarah is that you need support and you need a dream team that's what my coach calls it, your dream team because we're not meant to do this alone.
Speaker 3:But then when you add in a child with a disability, it makes it incredibly more vital for you to have that support and respite and to be able to have those moments for yourself, because it's not being selfish, because sometimes we just need to fill our cup back up. You know, and my beautiful coach calls it being self-full. You know, because if you don't fill up your own cup and let that overflow, then you're going to have no energy left to keep working and showing up as a mum. And you know, once someone said to me the universe only gives us what we can handle, and I haven't met a mum yet that can't, you know, address all the needs of her child. Yes, it gets hard, yes, it's really extreme, but at the same time they find a way to make it work and I think that's a mom's superpower. You know the things that moms can get done.
Speaker 2:It's just mind-blowing when we figure out how to do universal payment for moms right, that's what we need, payment for being a mom right, learn here. Here's the support. But no, it is so true that this and the lack of support that you feel kind of at that beginning of the journey, when you are at your pediatricians, you're at your school psychologist, whatever, and you're getting that news for the first time and you feel overwhelmed and sometimes a little bit in doubt of yourself and in doubt of your future, and I think that being able to then have this ladder to climb, this bridge to cross and have a hand to hold to do that, it seems so much less scary and you get a little bit of a foothold in, maybe, where you will be heading. You know, and each family and each situation is so individually different. Yeah, especially as a speech pathologist, you have seen every type of of, you know, communication yeah and um very early on in my career.
Speaker 3:So as a new graduate, my first job, I had 18 children with autism on my caseload and I had two hours at university on autism and I had no support and I was like I need to go up skill and you know so I didn't. I didn't shy away from it, I went. There's obviously a reason why um, this is kind of happening. So I went and invested in my own training and that sort of thing and don't get me some of the training I did. I was like this is bogus because, you know, I like to have a holistic point of view for all my clients. I think that's why they liked me, because I wouldn't say I'd be like the one going. Have you seen a chiropractor? Have you considered this? Have you done this? Have you looked into diet, have you? You know, because that was my extent of my knowledge base. But at the same time, you know, I remember sitting in this um workshop and they were talking about um. I actually brought up the question. I was like do you feel diet impacts? Oh no, there's no evidence for that. And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm just sitting there going. But I have children who and this isn't a one I'm emphasizing it's not a one-stop shop, right, because we're all unique, children are all unique. But I've had a lot of children go off gluten and their behavior's completely changed. Or I've had a lot of children, you know, cut out the preservatives and their behavior's completely changed. You know, I've had all this evidence. I'm like I've had kids go on supplements for, you know, zinc or B vitamins, and then they've started talking. And it's not a miracle one-stop shop. It really depends on what your body's doing. But then for her to sit there at the front of this very early on in my career, and I'm like this doesn't feel right. Like part of me went oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I was like no, like I don't agree with that, you know. So it was like continually questioning what was coming through.
Speaker 3:But then, after about two or three years, I started my own. Well, I bought into my practice that I was working for, so I started this business partnership and my whole caseload was children with autism. And I'm like, how did this happen? And as a therapist, it can be actually quite extreme having a week like that, because you actually don't get a moment to breathe, so I get a child with just a lisp come in and I'd be like, okay, all right, you know we can turn um. But it got to the point that when a child walked in my door, even if I'd never met them, I'd know straight away if they had um a diagnosis or not. Yeah, and I was usually the one that broke it to the parents and I I knew how it would go and I'm like, look, I need to share with you what my feelings are. I said, and you're gonna hate me, and then you're gonna go and google it, and then you're gonna come back and you're going to say thank you and and you're going to be.
Speaker 3:And they said no like, no, no, so, and nine times out of ten that's exactly what happened, and because at this point I was like we need to get your child the most help we need, I need I'm going to rip the band-aid off. You know, and we also went through this stage in Australia where, um, a lot of pediatricians were refusing to diagnose because there was a thing saying that it was over diagnosed. But I honestly did not have a single child that I went. I don't think they're on the spectrum. I didn't have a single one like that. So I'm like where is this over diagnosis crap coming from, rather than actually starting to question why are the numbers increasing? That question was never asked, right, so you know. And then, um, so, being part of all that, and then in Australia this funding came in, um called the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the area that I was working in, we were a pilot project for that, so you could imagine the paperwork, legalities and the nightmares that we learnt being all through that and everything. And it's really interesting because now I've left the profession, I'm so grateful to not have to deal with any of that in my background.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, but it was just that shifting and how different children can be. And I would always get really frustrated and I still do when people go oh, they're just like this child. I'm like no, they're not. And I feel that that's such an important piece of the puzzle that every little soul that comes and sees you is unique. You know they all have their. It doesn't matter if they're similar to another child. They'll have something that's different. You know they might remind you of someone else, but at the same time you have to go in with a unique scope lens of like okay, who am I? Who am I seeing right in front of me?
Speaker 3:You know, and I had this beauty. I called her my, my gift, my gift from the universe, client. So at this time I'd like sold my company and I was working in the company I was still working for the company and it wasn't doing as well and I was working on commission and I was like, oh, I could really use some extra money this way. It could be so cool if I had an assessment. And I had no room on my timetable for an assessment. I have like this half hour gap. And anyway, this parent shows up in the waiting room and I was like, oh, can I help you? And they're like, oh, yeah, we're booked in for an assessment. I'm like, let me just go double check. I haven't missed something and I hadn't. But they apparently had been offered this spot but never got back to. Um, got back to the reception and I said, you know what? I've only got half an hour, but let's just see we'll get done what we can get done. You've come all this way, let's see what we can get organized anyway.
Speaker 3:So they came in and she was like non-verbal. But we had, because by this point I kind of tapped into my spiritual gifts. We had the most amazing non-verbal conversation I think I've ever had in my life and her parents were just sitting there going. She is so calm. She's never like this with anybody and I feel like that's such a thing that a lot of people miss is that there's a little soul in there that just wants to be heard, right and um, you know, she'd come in and she'd just lay on my lap and the parents are just like who is this child? We don't even know. I said, well, it's just. I said it's just, I see her, I see her energy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then the amount of little humans I've had, especially with autism, that have seen things.
Speaker 3:You know, they sense spirits, they sense all these things and the parents dismiss it, especially nonverbal children. I had this one client and he always used to run into the room screaming his parents bedroom and she and mum didn't know why. And then when he was talking like this was like a good couple of years later they were looking in this photo album and he goes oh, that's him. And she goes what are you talking about? She goes that's the man that used to come in and scare me in my bedroom and it turned out it was a friend of their family that had died from an overdose in their house. So he was coming and he was still coming, but he had the words to say it now and um. So then we were like I was like it's okay, this happened to a friend of mine. I'll get the words to say to clear the house.
Speaker 3:I wasn't in my element then, but then I had, just before I left my job, I had these few clients and especially this nonverbal one, the universe client, that came in and she was sitting there and she's staring up to the sky. Yeah, I'm like I can sense her too, and her parents are like what are you talking about? I said, oh, did one of you have a parent pass away, because there's like a grandmother here? And then the dad starts crying and he goes. I knew it.
Speaker 3:I knew it, he goes because she always goes up to my mom's photo and puts her hand on there. And they had this beautiful connection and I said, well, yeah, she's here, and it just added this whole other layer. And then I had another client who was nonverbal and her mom knew what I could do. So I started doing some energy healing work on her. And then I was sitting in this room and she's like staring, and what I do sometimes well, no, often what I would do with my clients was I'd send them just some energy, saying like, hey, if you're open, here's some healing energy If you accept it. If you don't, you don't because I don't like forcing anything on it's
Speaker 3:lovely and, um, this angel I want to say guardian angel, that's the energy of it. We were tracking both, tracking it across the room, and then she whispered in my ear and she's like you're not contracted to heal her. And I was like, and I was like then, what do I do? And then I'm like, oh, hang on, I'm a speech therapist. There's plenty I can do, you know. But then the funny thing was her mom was so open, so we'd have these really powerful conversations. And then I started working a lot energetically on her and her throat chakra, so the energy around her throat was really blocked and every time I cleared it, um, she'd have more words come. But then, as I was working with her and I was doing lots of things to rebalance her little system, um, I got the same message again and they're like she won't speak with you, that's not part of her journey. And it's almost like this, um, when, when these little souls choose to come in the world for some reason, they choose this contract where they're not going to talk for a little bit or ever, and it's, it's really interesting when you look at it that it's their choice and you know, totally agree, and you know you don't force anything. Then you just at it, that it's their choice, and you know I totally agree, and you know you don't force anything. Then you just allow it to to be and you just accept it and you think, okay, well, that's for this little one.
Speaker 3:I said to mum look, you know she'll really need AAC, so alternative augmentative communication. I said she's so savvy on like the iPad. I said but that's outside my skill set. You know that's not my expertise. And then I said you need to start looking for someone else and that can teach her this. I said I will still work with her and do everything I'm doing, but you need to find someone else. And she's like.
Speaker 3:And then a few months later I said you know I'm leaving, you know I'm finishing up, you know blah, blah, blah. And she said did you know, when you said this to me, like to go find another? I said yes and no. I said I had it in my heart that I would never stay. I said, but I was just genuinely owning this is my limit of my skill set and I feel that's like a trap that a lot of parents get sucked into. Is that you get a therapist, that their ego is too big and won't say when they can't handle something or they can't do something. And you know, this is part of having your dream team right. So for me I'm like, no, I can't do that, you know, and I used to be a lot more embedded so I would say, hey, I recommend this person, this person.
Speaker 3:But AAC is so specialized so I didn't really run in those circles. I'm like here's a couple maybe that I can think of. But this little girl who was so looked after by her little angels, the one that would come and said to me I'm not meant to heal her that she got into impossible things. She got into a school that normally doesn't accept kids like her. She got into, you know, she got as soon as I left.
Speaker 3:Within a couple weeks she was in with another therapist who specialized in aac, like all these things always aligned for her, and her mom and I were just like guardian angels are looking after her a hundred percent, you know, and it's when you allow that to happen too and you don't try and force it, it's, it's such an important thing. And I, you know, and the biggest thing I did too, um, and I still do, is I never tell my clients. They're crazy, or I never tell them. They're making it up because I have so many gas lit parents and I'm like, did you mention this to your doctor? They're like, oh, oh yeah, they said not to worry about it. I'm like, well, I think it's a red flag and I would really recommend you go do this and sure enough. Then they go follow it up and go oh yeah, you know this is what's going on. You know it happened with hearing, it happened with sensory things, it happened with so many different things and it still happens.
Speaker 2:You know, even as a person, even without not being a mom, but you get gaslit all the time and it's so frustrating the person, the soul for who they are and their experience, and with I, just, I just love you. Love you I just, with the knowledge that they really did make the choice, like this was their choice and this is, yes, we need to support them on this journey, but I think it's like almost so freeing as a parent for myself to to know that for for my kids, because they're going to make them. You know my husband, I have an older stepdaughter. She's 25 and she's out on her own, she's got a family and she's we don't speak and and that's her decision and journey and things, and I, we, he, my sorry, my husband always had an analogy that I loved that we, as the parents, are the bow and the children are the arrows, and once we release this bow into the or this arrow into the world, the bow is no longer can't, it's not in control, it's not responsible, it's none of those things.
Speaker 2:The arrow is going to learn how to be its own bow, send its own arrows to the world, and it's going to have to come to those same terms as well that these. You know we did our best and and then they're on their own and you know that doesn't. That is not for every family, obviously, as you met my special child that will be my forever home child and that you know that's a different set of standards, a different set of everything Life supports, you know, resources, and it just really gives you the sense and the freedom to allow them to be the human that they are and and watch, and I like to say guide as you're following, if that makes any sense, but really let them guide you and just kind of be the safeguards you know yeah, and I guess, like um, from a healer point of view, a lot of the time we don't realize that when we shift things in us, working on ourselves, actually shifts things in our children, and it doesn't matter whether they have a diagnosed disability or not.
Speaker 3:We have this beautiful ability to work on our own wounds and it actually releases them from that too. And especially, kids are so good at reflecting back to us our own children especially and pushing our buttons, because they are little mirrors of us and especially children, they're such emotional radars, right. So, and I know we were talking about before we started recording, because you're sharing, like I've been having tech difficulties, you've been having tech difficulties. And then I was saying, yeah, you know, like, often I'd notice when the kids were getting crazier and I'm like, oh, there's a full moon coming, and the parents are like what? And then they would start to come in and they're like is there a full moon? I'm like there is actually. They're like, yes, it's so true, you know. Oh, they're like, yes, it's so true, you know. Oh, my gosh, isn't that the truth? Yeah, well, actually, like, if you think about it from a science point of view, the full moon is at its most powerful gravity pull right and when the full moon happens, it pulls parasites out of us. So then the parasites go a bit crazy, which makes us crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so this is like kind of when you start to look into it what, why it means, what it means. And even you know we're going into this period of um mercury retrograde while we're recording this, but we're in the shadow and mercury retrograde impacts technology massively communication, like you send emails and they don't get there. That's been my way um travel, so you'll have like disrupted travel plans, things will get cancelled, there's accidents, whatever it might be like it. It all happens during this period. But the whole idea is it's the energy, is about going back within and starting to to look what's going on and finishing things up right, this is the energy of it. It's not about running away from it, but our kids feel that too, right. So, yes, you know people will like go. Oh, you know, and I'm not a star, I'm not an astrologist, I'm just aware what goes on um but you know people will go.
Speaker 3:Oh, you know, astrology's all we're blah blah. I was like no. When you actually look into it and look how those energies are playing out in your life, you get those moments where you're like, oh, like the full moon.
Speaker 3:You know, my husband used to work in security and he's like every full moon he goes we would just put extra staff on. You know, like because and even you talk to people working emergency wards and everything like that, or the police like it always be more full on during the full moon, um, but that's full circle. But when you come back to healing yourself and being aware of that and those impacts of what's going on with your child, there's a thing that it says that when you heal something in you, it heals several generations after and seven generations before. So and there's other people that say it's even more than that, because it's almost like you're stopping it. So if you notice that you're in this pattern that you inherited from your parent, and then you're doing the same thing with your child, if you can shift that in you and go, well, no, I'm not doing that anymore, full stop done, then they don't inherit that and then their behavior shifts and changes it's amazing.
Speaker 2:I completely agree with that. My husband and I have both done all the work that is necessary for doing both of yeah, all of that. So I couldn't agree more and it it can. It's so wonderful. And when you really even start to see the physical changes from the internal work you're doing, wow, like measuring success. It's beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 2:And you know, I have to tell you this little story about the moon because when I really started and I love astrology and I've always been interested in things and I'm a massage therapist, so that goes back to that also the metaphysical, you know, understanding, and but when DJ was little and we would have therapy or whatever, there was often these weeks where he wouldn't be awake and it would just, you know, we're melatonin and all of the things you could do to try to get him to sleep on time. Nothing would work. And I finally said I just have to watch what's going on here. And I stood back and I watched for months and I tracked it and I wrote it down and I realized he sleeps just like the moon. He sleeps two weeks in the day and two weeks in the night, and the time changes by one or two hours a day, you know, and it can fluctuate, it can go back and forth once in a while, but right now he is awake. He'll go to sleep at about two in the afternoon, wake up at about one or two in the morning or maybe midnight, and then tomorrow it will be the later and later and later and later. So planning things whoa impossible. You can't plan much around here, but I've let him sleep on this. You know circadian rhythmic, biological clock that he has for eight years at least. Now he is healthy, he's happy, he, you know, obviously he was upset about a toy missing, but who's not upset when they lose things? Every human, but his actual daily, his energy, everything about him is so peaceful and is so healthy and happy. And I couldn't ask for anything more. And it's because I honored this crazy.
Speaker 2:And what's funny is that out of this came my husband's diagnosis in this during this sleep tracking time, because I also realized here's this man who I've never gone to a restaurant with in almost 15 it's been 20 years now, but at the time about 15 years because he doesn't like to see or hear or be around people eating. It's horrible for him. Ding, ding, ding. His sleep patterns were five hours on, you know, 15 hours awake, five hours of sleep, whatever. It was never like this eight hours sleep period. It was always these two different time periods in the day that he would sleep.
Speaker 2:That's madness. Yeah right, it looks like madness from the outside, but when I started realizing it and thinking and that's sometimes when he gets tired in the afternoon I'll say you need to just go sleep. It's no, we don't need to hang out. You know, everything's no FOMO here. Like reset, reset your body. This is your, this is your reset cycle and you need to do it. And that's what happens every now. We're so well practiced into listening to ourselves and following our own body's needs that it's like so natural. And it looks like a crazy house probably to other people looking in. But who?
Speaker 3:cares. But I think, sarah, you bring up such a good point. It's like you have to honor what's right for you and your family and you know, this is something I really champion is, don't live in the box a society expects you to live in. Because you know, even for me, like we needed money and we had two cars and my husband's like we can live on one car, I was like, oh, yeah, we can live on one car. So we sold a car. Yeah, oh yeah, we can live on one car. So we sold a car, you know, and, um, you know, and now we're like selling our house to move up closer to a beach and people like, oh, but you built that house and it's so beautiful. It's like, yeah, but it's not serving us, it's not giving us what we want, you know. So, yeah, we did do all that, but at the same time, we're ready to move on. This is like this part of our journey's done. We, we did the dream and we're moving on now, you know, and it always comes back to what is right for you and what is right for your body and what is right for your family and what is right for you, and learning to trust your intuition and your mummy gut instincts with that you know so often I'd have parents come in.
Speaker 3:I mean at our, in which school to go to. I'm like, well, go visit them. They're like what do you mean? I said, go visit them and feel into it and notice what's in the classroom. And they're like what do you mean? I said, go look at the classroom. If you can see beautiful artwork and you feel like the kids are really engaged, maybe that's the place for your child. If you go into the classroom, that's void of any life. Maybe that's not the place for your child. If you go into the classroom, that's void of any life. Maybe that's not the place for your child. And you know. But I said, but then your child might be a child that doesn't want all the stimulation and wants the empty classroom. I said, so go in there and feel. And you know, now kids in Australia have less choice.
Speaker 3:But back then you could put like your three choices for what support class you wanted your child to go into, and and half the time the parents would come back and go oh my goodness, I'm so glad I went to visit that place because I would never send my child there. I was like I know that. I said I know that because I've worked in there, but I didn't want to tell you. I wanted you to come up with your own decisions, you know. So, um, you know, and it was funny because I was working in schools a lot too when I would see both sides of things and I could like it was I got.
Speaker 3:I was very privy to a lot of things that people didn't understand. So I'm like, nope, go in, trust your gut, you know, and so often, um, especially schools that were good schools, they'd have a change in the leadership. You know, like the headmaster or the principal would change and then it was no longer a good school. Because I'm like, well, you can't control that, you know. So, just being really conscious of that and honoring that and, you know, feeling that too, like, okay, this school served my child for this long but it's no longer working. What are my options? You know, and always remembering you have a choice, I think, too, is really important, because a lot of parents think, oh well, it's just too hard. It's like, yeah, but will it be worth it in the longterm to get through that?
Speaker 2:And I couldn't agree more Like. I will tell you a situation where my gut you know, there was only two autism schools basically here in Salt Lake City at the time, and one was in industrial area, downtown and the other one is in a city about an hour and 15 minutes away. So what? Obviously we're going to unfortunately choose the closer one which is also in like a not so great area. My gut told me from the get go no, this is not good. And but everyone was like, yes, this is an autism, this is exactly for DJ. This, oh, how exciting. And you have to give it a try. You have to.
Speaker 2:You know, my husband, my mom, like the teachers, everybody I knew from that moment I read that email and that gut feeling I had, I knew and I carried it that whole time through the whole summer and all the testing, all to find out, because DJ, at the time he was speaking multiple languages, he was speaking Italian and he was in third grade speaking Italian, doing long division on the whiteboard in like you know, crazy fashion. And this woman was like, okay, we're going to get him in this like 10th grade classroom with and that's where his academics were at the time was at a 10th grade level. Because this is a totally different beast we're dealing with here with a high high. Because this is a totally different beast we're dealing with here with a high high, highly educated, academic kid with a low behavioral you know, reciprocative yeah, social behavior system.
Speaker 2:And so we, we had it all. It was going to be beautiful, it was going to figure it all out. Show up the first day of school. They had just built a high school as well, so they sent all the staff at the school that we're ready to go to to this high school. Not one person knows us, they don't know our name, they don't know his academic schools. They literally put him in a third grade classroom, third grade academic, third grade, everything.
Speaker 2:He was beside himself because, of course, nothing is the way he was going. He left the school so many times in the first two days and finally it was like the third day that I was there. Literally the universe disconnected my battery from my truck so that I could sit there and watch how many children would leave this school without adults knowing Time, like child after child running away from this school All autistic children by the way, this is the only autistic school in the industrial neighborhood of our city and I just was like I can't believe this is happening. I can't, we can't do this. I went straight back and told my husband we can't lose, this is happening. I can't, we can't do this. You know, went straight back and told my husband, like we can't lose him, Like this isn't work. And so at that point everybody was like, oh my gosh, you, how could you have known?
Speaker 3:and I was like, ah, so I did, intuition told me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, listen, that is the point. Like everyone else that is listening, please don't go down the road. I had to go down. You know, we spent our whole summer at this place. We wasted so much time that we could have been doing other things for nothing. That good that came out of it really. You know, just now, I guess, information for everybody else now I guess information for everybody else?
Speaker 3:yeah, and I guess too, sarah. It's just like you know. This is the thing like intuition is to be acted upon, not to be put in the drawer, and it's all about really trusting that. And you, if you feel something's not right with your child and everyone telling you no, keep looking for till someone listens to you and says yes.
Speaker 3:You know, and even I've got a friend at the moment and she's going through this nasty law case but at the same time she has this genuine fear and she paid she had to pay this money for a very expensive solicitor to look over her case and she said it was so worth it because that person, in the first five minutes she was there, validated all her concerns and she didn't even have to express them, you know, like all the things that she needed to flag, and she said it was worth the money purely to be validated and to be heard, you know, and to be understood.
Speaker 3:You know, because so often that goes unsaid. You know, um, even I've had clients come in from like a intuitive healing point of view and they're like, oh, this is going on. I'm like, oh, yeah, I can feel that. And they're like, really, because my doctor's saying there's no reason for it and blah, blah, blah, and I'm like, oh no, that's definitely going on for you. I said let's see why and then we'll unpack that, you know, and do some healing work and energy work on that and shift it. And they're like, oh, my gosh, and sometimes just the mirror, like someone else acknowledging it, can be enough to shift it in itself too, because you know it's not. You suddenly don't feel like you're crazy anymore. So you haven't got this charged energy around it making you feel like you're crazy, yeah.
Speaker 2:And you know what? It's interesting? My brain just told me that those people literally couldn't give you the reflection back because they didn't have the ability to do so, so you weren't going to, you weren't going to get it from them anyways. That's yeah, that's so, that's so incredible, and and it's now, now that I maybe it will be easier for me when I come into those people, to not worry about pushing forward and just hi, yeah, you're not for me, quickly and easily, yes, exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's even outgrowing people too. So even therapists that you think or felt were like the right fit, sometimes you change, they change, you all change, and it's about being really willing to be open to changing from that and going okay, these people don't serve me anymore. I'm gonna shift and be okay with that, you know. And and if they're the right professional or the right support for you, they let you grow, they let you go, and you know, and that that's who you want in your life. You want people that know that you can go back there if you really need to. But in the end, if your gut saying, without growing this place or we're not meant to be doing this anymore, and your heart saying no, no, no, you need to listen, because the more you listen to that, the more you're going to be in tune with that and and then it will allow you to be more in tune with your life too.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent. That is so true. Now, are you doing practice just there in Australia, or are you doing it globally, um online, where everyone can reach you?
Speaker 3:No, I work online mostly. So, um, I have a handful of clients that will come in, but most of what I do is energetically online and because the universe has these beautiful things where you can still connect with people energetically because it's all energy yeah, so I work with people all over the world and it's really amazing. Actually, my first clients were in America, which was the whole funny irony of everything.
Speaker 4:Oh, I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I'm very familiar about. I'm not good at it, but I know about juggling time zones and I'm very grateful. Websites yeah, exactly Exactly.
Speaker 2:So nice. Um, I put it up on the screen for those of you who can't see, though willowhealingorg. Willowhealingorg that's where you can go and, um, check out the. I guess just check out the website and see what types of of services or resources that might be able to fit you, or if there's someone in your family or close to you that you think would resonate with that information, please pass that on. That is the most important part of this journey is sharing the information, which is why we're here. Essentially right, it's because we want to share this with all of the right people and all of the right families. It's been so great to get to know you. I hope we can stay in touch. I just love your energy and I think that it was. It was just such a special episode today and I really appreciate you coming.
Speaker 3:Thank, you, sarah, and thank you for having me. And I just want to put the caveat to that. If you're like, oh, what can I have for healing? I work with kids too, and sometimes kids are the most amazing things and they don't and especially because of my background, the children don't have to stay in the picture. I can just they can come in and then they can go be themselves. Because I find sometimes as a parent, we think, oh, how could we possibly do that? But once we tapped in and we kind of get that sole permission, they can go, do whatever they want, and I've had clients do that. They'll peer on the screen for a second and then they'll go and I'm like, okay, perfect, we're done. Yeah, and if people want to get to know me more, you can find me on Instagram as well with Willow Healy and then SH at the end me on Instagram as well with Willow.
Speaker 2:Healy and then SH at the end, and you'll just see my beautiful face every day. I love that. I'll be sure to make sure to follow for sure and put all the links in the description of the episode which will be coming out in the next three weeks, possibly pretty soon. So, yeah, if you are in Australia, keep warm and if you're here in the U S, stay cool, cause it is ridiculous right now. And yeah, oh, it was just so nice to catch up with you and and I hope that, um, we can, you know, stay in touch and I'd love to see how we can work together in the future for some of the events that I hold and stuff, because I love including my global advocate friends in those events as much as possible.
Speaker 3:I would love that, sarah, and thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:Yes, thanks for being here.
Speaker 4:We'll definitely be in touch shining bright, oh yeah, stories of love and courage all throughout the night, her voice resonating an anthem for all. Through the trials and trials, she answers the call. Her mother and her fighter, breaking barriers and stride. Her love is her guide, she'll never hide. She's changing the world for you With her heart and speech and strong Empathies and melody. In her journey we all belong. Followers gather like stars in the night. So bright 44,000 voices sharing in the light. She stands for family advocates for more. 44,000 voices sharing in the light. She stands for family advocates for more. Movement of compassion. Ways of the soul Podcast. Together, symphony of support Creating life changing report. She's changing the world for you With a heart that's fierce and strong. Hypothese a melody Thank you, and love you dearly need. She's changing the world for you With a heart that's fierce and strong, empathies and melodies, and a journey we all belong.
