Saturday, April 20th
10 - 11 am PDT

With Special Guest Melissa West

In the two decades since the term “neurodiversity” was coined, the concept has profoundly changed how we understand the wide range of ways human beings learn, think, connect, and attend to the world.

What are we to make of the fact that all of the historically pathologized “atypical” brain patterns - including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and mood disorders - also correspond strongly to creativity?

As members of a “disability culture,” have we been raised to think of creativity itself as a kind of pathology?

As creative people, are our shared experiences of feeling “othered” and feeling shame for our differences tied to our neurospiciness? And how do we release that shame and find belonging?

My guest Melissa West brings a perfect range of perspectives to this conversation as a neurospicy, complexly creative person whose training and experience as a depth psychotherapist gives her extraordinary insight into the traumas of living as an “other” and powerful tools for finding self-acceptance and honoring the truth of who we are.

Join us for this interactive conversation about what it means to be a person who encounters the world in your own original way.