Claim OwnershipThe Special Needs Mom Podcast
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© 2026 The Special Needs Mom Podcast
Description
Think of this podcast as your very own special needs mom support group--except it's helpful and fun! You will leave with the hope that you can have a super happy life even when your life includes parenting a medically complex child or a child with something like autism and ADHD.
You likely didn't ask to be the parent of a disabled child or to live portions of your life in the hospital NICU or PICU. Your story is unique; it’s hard to find a place where you belong or where you don't feel so isolated and alone. Your child might have a rare disease, be undiagnosed or experience something that almost everybody has heard of like Downs syndrome yet the weird thing is that whether your child has an intellectual disability or physical disability, the experience as a mother is so similar. So regardless of your child’s disability, we can all find a home in this community.
You find yourself managing everybody else's needs; your child, their siblings, and all the guilt that you have about that. All this has you feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and dizzy---not knowing who to turn to or what to do next for help. This podcast is your lifeline, you’ll find encouragement and inspiration as we connect to other moms’ journeys. We’ll get practical and look at what it takes to stop feeling so stuck in your life.
You know this podcast is for you if you find yourself googling:
Overwhelmed special needs mom help
How to do self care as a special needs mom?
Dealing with anger as a special needs mom
How to manage special needs mom burnout and stress?
How do I deal with mom's guilt?
Help for myself as a special needs mom
How do I cope with a disabled child?
How do I manage the grief of my medically complex child?
How to keep from drowning as a caregiver
Support group for special needs mom or community for caregivers
I'm tired of taking care of my special needs child
Finding balance between my child’s needs and my own mamas needs
Respite and rest for special needs moms
293 Episodes
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Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) What happens when everything you intellectually understand still doesn’t help you survive the hardest seasons of motherhood? In this episode, I talk with Erin Popp about complex grief, chronic uncertainty, and what it really means to dig deep when control stops working. Read the full show notes here. Get more information on Pathway to Peace Coaching Community Connect with Kara, host of The Special Ne...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This episode explores the emotional stages many special needs moms move through, from survival and self-sacrifice to restoration and possibility. Kara shares a personal moment of heartbreak and why community changes everything. Read the full show notes here. Get more information on Pathway to Peace Coaching Community Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast: Instagram: https://www.instagram...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Ethics educator and special needs mom, Anika Atkins, joins me for a conversation about medical mistakes, ethical repair, and what it looks like to rebuild trust after hard experiences in the healthcare system. We talk about apologies, advocacy, and how caregivers can communicate clearly without losing themselves in the process. Read the full show notes here. Get more information on Pathway to Peace Coachin...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, I reflect on the power of being held inside a safe community and what becomes possible when you stop trying to fix yourself. I share a moment from inside the Pathway to Peace community that beautifully illustrates what I call the power of letting be. Read the full story and details. Get more information on Pathway to Peace Coaching Community Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs ...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) A powerful reflection on uncertainty, resilience, and learning how to trust yourself in seasons where you cannot control the outcome. This episode explores what it really means to be okay even when life is not okay, and how to build a mindset that can hold uncertainty without losing your footing. 👉 Read sthe full show notes and resources here. Get more information on Pathway to Peace Coaching Community Conne...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) You don’t need to be great right now you need permission to do what works. In this short episode, Kara shares why choosing the easiest path on purpose can be the most powerful decision you make in a hard season. 👉 Full show notes here. Get more information on Pathway to Peace Coaching Community Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespecialneedsmom...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Misty Coy Snyder shares how “the next right thing” helped her move forward after her son received a Down syndrome diagnosis. This episode is for the mom who feels stuck and needs one simple step forward. Read the full show notes here. Get more information on Pathway to Peace Coaching Community Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespecialneeds...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Caregiving does not become overwhelming because we do not care. It becomes overwhelming because everything lives everywhere, and the mental load has nowhere to land. In this episode, Kara shares the system she built to organize medical information, providers, tasks, and caregiving knowledge into one flexible command center you can actually use. 👉 Read the full show notes and get your free download! Get mor...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Grief does not mean something is wrong with you. In this episode, I share why grief is part of the special needs parenting journey and how allowing it can quietly lead you back to feeling more alive. 👉 Read the full show notes and reflections. Get more information on Pathway to Peace Coaching Community Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespecialne...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This episode is a small way of saying I see you and I appreciate you this holiday season. Read the full show notes and access your holiday gift here. Get more information on Pathway to Peace Coaching Community Connect with Kara, host of The Special Needs Mom Podcast: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespecialneedsmompodcast/ Website: https://www.kararyska.com/
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) There is often a version of Christmas we carry in our heads. Quiet. Cozy. Predictable. The kind that feels comforting but somehow never shows up in real life. In this episode, I talk about the grief that can surface when the Christmas you imagined does not exist and how common that experience is, especially for special needs moms. Between medical needs, disrupted routines, and the sheer weight of caregiving, the hol...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week I hit record while standing, which feels fitting because this episode has a little extra energy behind it. November was a lot for me — two ER visits for Levi, construction stress, holiday disruption, all the things. I sat down to prepare for work and realized I had been judging myself for everything I didn’t get done. In coaching, we talk about two paths: judgment or self compassion. And while there’s no w...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This episode came from a simple morning walk and one very unexpected moment of wisdom from my teenage niece’s boyfriend. We spent Thanksgiving together and he shared something that stopped me in my tracks. It got me thinking about how the people we spend time with quietly shape our thinking, our habits, our emotional landscape and even our hope. As special needs moms we often forget how much this matters because our...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This Thanksgiving week, I’m keeping it simple and talking about complex gratitude. The kind that feels messy, honest, and actually doable for special needs moms. I share a story from the early days after Levi’s surgery, when gratitude felt impossible and I fully wanted to shove the whole concept off a cliff. What finally clicked for me was realizing I didn’t have to be grateful for everything to be grateful for some...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Today’s episode is a cozy, casual chat. The kind you’d have over coffee with someone who gets it. I almost skipped releasing an episode this week, but connecting with you truly matters to me, even when life feels full. I shared why I’ve stepped back from social media, what prompted it, and how that space has led me to new things like watercolor (and letting go of perfection, one messy brushstroke at a time). I also ...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I’m back with my friend Brittney Crabtree from Moms Talk Autism for part two of our talk on behaviors that include aggression: physical, verbal, or self-directed. In this episode, we answer the big question: “What now?” We walk through the framework of pre-game, game time, and post-game recovery. We discuss how to prepare, get through, and recover from the hardest moments as special needs parents. We shar...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) In this episode, I sat down with my friend Brittney Crabtree from Moms Talk Autism to talk about something few of us say out loud, aggression in our homes. Brittney shares what life looks like parenting her non-speaking son with profound autism, while I share parts of our story with Levi, a brain tumor survivor with his own set of challenges. Together we explore what it’s like to navigate these moments, when love an...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I invited my friend and returning guest Carrie M. Holt back to talk about something that every special needs mom wrestles with, the difference between fixing and accepting our children. We unpacked what those energies feel like, how they show up in motherhood, and how they connect to deeper themes of fear, control, grief, and peace. We also talked about how acceptance doesn’t mean giving up. It means seei...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) This week, I got to sit down with the wise and feisty Cynthia Schulz, author of Shine On: Raising Our Children with Disabilities to Lead Bright, Happy Lives. Cynthia’s daughter is now 40, and hearing from a mom who’s decades down the road was such a gift. We talked about what it was like when she first received her daughter’s diagnosis, by mail, in the most abrupt and heartbreaking way, and how she decided early on ...
Send us a text (Note: we are not able to respond but LOVE to hear from you!!) Today’s episode is a little different. I’m pausing our regular programming to share something close to my heart: The Pathway to Peace Coaching Community. This podcast connects us week after week, and still, sometimes we need a space to go deeper to actually live out the things we talk about here. That’s what Pathway to Peace is. It’s part coaching, part community. A place for special needs moms to rediscover themsel...
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