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Neurodivergent Faith explores the intersection of neurodivergence and Christian faith and practice, creating a space where neurodivergent individuals can process their faith without judgment, while also offering education and inspiration for neurotypical listeners to understand and support their neurodivergent family in Christ.
33 Episodes
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Send us a text In this final episode of the Masking and Spiritual Formation series, Josh is joined by Sunita Theiss for a thoughtful and deeply honest conversation about masking as performing belonging—especially within faith and community spaces. Together, they explore masking as a survival strategy shaped by culture, neurodivergence, and the longing to be safe and included. Sunita reflects on her own experience of masking as constant internal recalibration in environments not designed for h...
Send us a text In this second episode of the Masking and Spiritual Formation series, Josh is joined by Harrison Litzell for a thoughtful and honest conversation about masking and belonging in faith communities. Together, they explore how masking shows up in churches and spiritual spaces—and how unexamined expectations might unintentionally require performance, conformity, or self-erasure. And, how does masking in a faith community translate to our own individual connection with God? Rather th...
Send us a text What if we don't have to pretend to be something we aren't in order to be loved? In this opening episode of a short series on Masking and Spiritual Formation, Josh explores the practice of masking—what it is, why neurodivergent people develop it, and how it quietly shapes our inner lives. Drawing from lived experience, research on autistic masking, original music, and poetry, this episode names masking as a survival strategy rooted in safety and belonging—while also acknowledgi...
Send us a text In this episode, my friend Kristina Coombes joins me for an exploration of stimming across all our senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, interoception, proprioception, and the quiet wisdom of the vestibular system. Together we name stimming not as something to suppress, but as a faithful way of tending our nervous systems, a practice of stewarding our energy with compassion and clarity. We wonder aloud about the movements that help us stay present, the rhythms that regulate...
Send us a text This is part three of a conversation on executive function with Neurodiverse Couples Coach, Robin Tate. We wade into the territory of organization—how systems help some of us stay grounded, and how easily life unravels when those systems are disrupted. Together we name the relational ache that surfaces when shared routines aren’t honored, and the grace that comes when we build in margin, contingency, and the courage to pause and reassess. We also turn toward time—how some of us...
Send us a text In this first-ever live gathering of the Neurodivergent Faith community, listeners came together from different states and countries to practice something both simple and deeply brave: honest gratitude in all circumstances. Rooted in the invitation of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, we explored what it means to give thanks in our circumstances—not pretending everything is easy, but naming the places where God meets us in our real lives. Each participant shared two reflections: one challe...
Send us a text This episode is the second part of a conversation on executive function with Neurodiverse Couples Coach, Robin Tate. In it, we explore the tensions many of us know so well—wanting to begin, yet feeling unable to start…attention pulled in different directions… wanting to discern what matters most, yet sensing every task weighted with equal urgency. Robin offers language and compassion for the invisible barriers: demand avoidance, inertia, overstimulation, the weight of expectati...
Send us a text Josh continues the conversation with researcher and podcast host Jon Machnee (Christianity On The Spectrum) to explore the autistic experience of faith. With a recognition that autism is incredibly heterogeneous, they dialogue together about broad trends in characteristics autistic people tend to lean towards as well as away from in their expressions of Christianity. Listen to Christianity On The Spectrum here: https://christianityonthespectrum.podbean.com/ #Neurodivergen...
Send us a text In this conversation, Josh sits down with researcher and podcast host Jon Machnee (Christianity On The Spectrum) to explore how the autistic experience can widen our understanding of life with God and one another. Together, they reflect on Jon’s personal story and the origins of his work, the gifts autistic people bring to the Body of Christ, and the challenges that arise when church life is built around neurotypical expectations. Jon also begins to unpack the idea of “autistic...
Send us a text What does it mean to be a parent when the path looks different from what you imagined? In this conversation, special needs dad John Fela shares his journey of raising his autistic son, Christopher—and how fatherhood, in all its changing seasons, has deepened his faith and revealed the essential gift of community. John offers encouragement to parents who feel weary or unseen, reminding us that the journey of parenting—especially when navigating disability—is not meant to be walk...
Send us a text In this opening episode of Season 3, Josh returns to a simple but powerful spiritual practice first explored in Season 1, Episode 9: naming what’s working and what’s not. Through listener reflections and his own honest check-in, Josh invites you to pause, breathe, and notice where life and connection are flowing—and where they’re not. This is not a productivity exercise, but a contemplative one: a way of paying attention to the shifting seasons of your own heart, body, and fait...
Send us a text In this season finale, Jordan Rios joins us to share her journey of late diagnosis, deep healing, and resilient faith. As a single mother of seven—navigating ADHD, CPTSD, and a lifetime of misdiagnosis—Jordan speaks with raw honesty about overstimulation, self-care, and the slow work of rewriting harmful messages. Together, we explore what it means to parent through trauma, to care for a dysregulated nervous system with compassion, and to hold on to a faith that doesn’t abandon...
Send us a text In this first episode of a series, we begin a sacred conversation at the intersection of Executive Function and Faith. Together with neurodiverse Christian couples coach Robin Tate, we gently explore three foundational executive function skills—Impulse Control, Working Memory, and Emotional Regulation—and how they might shape the ways we love God, others, and ourselves. What happens when you act impulsively before you've thought something through? When you forget something impo...
Send us a text In this episode of Neurodivergent Faith, I sit down with Ananda Bossois—a Brazilian, ADHD, third culture woman of deep faith—to explore the intersection of neurodivergence, multicultural identity, and life with God. Together, we reflect on the strengths and challenges of being both neurodivergent and third culture: the masking, the code-switching, and the holy moments of freedom when we’re fully known, trusted, and loved. We talk about belonging, cultural expectations, and how ...
Send us a text In this thought-provoking and grace-filled conversation, Josh speaks with theologian Léon Van Ommen about his book Autism and Worship. Together we explore what autistic ways of being offer the spiritual community, the value of embodiment, and the possibility of a Church where all can truly belong. We talk about: – dismantling the “tyranny of the normal” in worship spaces – autistic theology as a gift to the Church – real-life communities reimagining liturgy – hope for those who...
Send us a text Sometimes the places that are meant to be sanctuary feel like war zones instead—especially for neurodivergent people navigating unspoken expectations, sensory overload, and shifting social norms. In this honest solo episode, Josh shares the story of a recent autistic shutdown: the days of emotional buildup, the weight of masking in church spaces, the crash into silence, and the surprising moments of care that brought glimmers of repair. With poetic words and a pastor's he...
Send us a text What if “no” wasn’t seen as rebellion, but a nervous system seeking regulation? What if belonging in the church didn’t hinge on meeting expectations, but on being met with grace? In this rich and poetic conversation, I’m joined by Sunita Theiss—an autistic, ADHD, PDA’er and parent coach—who offers profound insight into demand avoidance and its impact on relationships, parenting, and spiritual formation. We explore the invisible weight of expectations in church spaces, how deman...
Send us a text In this powerful episode, Josh is joined by Joy Martin to explore life, faith, embodiment, and community through the lens of Tourette Syndrome. Together, they name the visible and invisible realities of TS, from daily resilience to misunderstood tics, from spiritual reframing to hard-won grace. They explore the tension between suppression and authenticity, wrestle with the idea of self-control, and reflect on what consideration can look like in faith communities. If you’ve ever...
Send us a text What happens when the structures and forms held up as faithful or godly don’t make room for your neurotype? When the “right way” to minister, to lead, to show up—was not made with your wiring in mind? In this honest and liberating conversation, I sit down with coach and fellow ADHDer John Miller. Together, we name the ways religious spaces often spiritualize and moralize rigid frames—frames that can bring deep shame when we can’t (and weren’t meant to) fit inside them. We talk ...
Send us a text Welcome back to Neurodivergent Faith—a space where our whole selves are welcome, where questions are holy, and where the messy, miraculous work of being human meets the mystery of God. We begin Season 2 with a sacred and tender conversation: ADHD + Shame. I’m joined by my friend Jess Pentsil—a therapist and a fellow ADHDer—as we begin to explore the intersection of neurodivergence and shame. Together, we reflect on: The shame scripts ADHDers often carryHow spiritual practices c...
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