cosmic cheer squad

Episode 11 is a conversation among seven neurodivergent podcasters that became the centerpiece of a peer-reviewed paper. The paper is called “Voices at the Margins: Podcasting as Neuroqueer Collaborative Autoethnography and Epistemic Healing,” and it just came out in Neurodiversity journal. Caitlin Hughes led the project and brought all of us together: Chris, Emma, Bee, Sheldon, Marni, and Teena Mogler, Caitlin’s co-host on Divergent Dialogues. If you’ve been listening to this show, you already know most of these people. Now you get to hear all of us togetherCaitlin gave us five open-ended questions about what podcasting makes possible, where we’ve felt shut out of traditional knowledge spaces, and how sharing our stories ripples outward. We talked about belonging, about what it means to claim your lived experience as real knowledge, and about the way that being different from each other is actually what holds us together. Emma called us “scattergraph unicorns,” and honestly, that might be the best description of this group anyone’s come up with.There’s a lot of laughter in this episode. There are also moments that hit hard. Bee shared a story about sending a podcast episode to someone who didn’t know he was neurodivergent yet—and that connection led to him getting real support. Sheldon talked about holding up a mirror so people can see themselves. Chris named what it feels like to bring your whole self into spaces that would rather you didn’t. The paper calls these things “resonances,” and that word fits.The paper argues that podcasting is a legitimate form of knowledge creation—not a supplement to academic research, but a method in its own right.Read the full paper (open access): https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330261437265Published in: Neurodiversity, Volume 4, Special Issue: Towards a Critical Turn in Neurodiversity Studies: Bridging the Arts, Humanities and the Social Sciences*A PDF of the transcript is available here.The podcasters in this episode:* Caitlin Hughes (she/they) is a queer, nonbinary, multi-exceptional Australian social worker, researcher, educator, and advocate. Late-identified as Autistic, ADHD, Gifted, and PDA, Caitlin co-hosts the Divergent Dialogues podcast and brings a lived experience-led perspective to their work. They are committed to fostering epistemic healing through relational ethics, narrative reclamation, and accessible, lived experience–driven knowledge creation. * Chris Wells (they/them) is a multi-exceptional, nonbinary, and neurodivergent writer, podcaster, and developmental theorist specializing in Dąbrowski’s theory of positive disintegration. They co-host the Positive Disintegration, cosmic cheer squad, and PDA: Resistance and Resilience podcasts, and are the founding president of the Dąbrowski Center and co-creator of the Positive Disintegration Network. Chris brings lived experience and a deep commitment to reframing neurodivergence through a developmental and relational lens.* Emma Nicholson (she/her) is a neurodivergent Australian Senior Business Analyst, creative and advocate, identifying as gifted, Dyscalculic, with all five overexcitabilities (psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional), as well as bisexual and Heathen. She co-hosts the Positive Disintegration Podcast and serves as Vice President of the Dąbrowski Center. She is driven by an unkillable passion to demystify positive disintegration and share hard-won truths to help others feel seen and supported.* Bee Mayhew (she/her) is a multiply neurodivergent (late-identified AuDHD, former gifted kid) writer, narrative collaborator, and communication coordinator for PDN Media. She co-hosts cosmic cheer squad podcast and has a background as a hospitality specialist and business owner. Bee’s work centers on collective narrative-building and neurodivergent storytelling through activist, community-rooted practice.* Sheldon Gay (he/him) is a Black Gifted speaker and podcast host of I Must Be BUG’N (Black Underrepresented/Unidentified Gifted and otherwise Neurodivergent). Sheldon is guided by the belief that learning to deeply and wholly Love oneSelf, cape and kryptonite, is the path to finding, creating, and maintaining Love everywhere we go.* Marni Kammersell (she/her) is an American late-identified neurodivergent (Autistic, ADHD, PDA, gifted) parent of neurodivergent children. She is an educator, researcher, writer, and consultant, and co-hosts the PDA: Resistance and Resilience podcast. Marni is dedicated to honoring neurodivergent experience through relational, self-directed, and nervous-system-informed knowledge practices.* Teena Mogler (she/her) is an Australian AuDHD social worker, researcher, educator, and advocate, as well as co-host of the Divergent Dialogues podcast. As a mother to neurodivergent children, Teena is passionate about amplifying neurodivergent voices and disrupting epistemic injustice through lived experience-led, neuroaffirming, and critically reflexive knowledge practices.Find the podcasters:* Divergent Dialogues: divergentdialogues.substack.com* I Must Be BUG’N: sheldongayisbugn.com* Positive Disintegration: www.positivedisintegration.org* cosmic cheer squad: cosmiccheersquad.substack.com* PDA: Resistance and Resilience: pdapodcast.substack.com💌 Connect with us:* Instagram → @cosmiccheersquad* Find bee on pragmagination* Find Chris on Positive Disintegration and PDA: Resistance and ResilienceWe’d love for you to subscribe, share, or leave a comment! Please leave us a review on your favorite platform and help us reach other potential squaddies ✨ Get full access to cosmic cheer squad at cosmiccheersquad.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 10 of cosmic cheer squad, we welcomed David Sweeney, a dad, husband, and grateful human being from the borders of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Lake Michigan. David shares his insights into mysticism at the intersections of neurodivergence, trauma, and ecstatic experiences of reality. The conversation explores the mystical journey, highlighting the embodied connection that we share and the unique perspectives that arise from our experiences. Together we dive into:* Adoption and trauma as catalysts on the mystical development path* Evelyn Underhill, Lawrence Nixon, and mystic struggle* The “Goldilocks zone” of support for mystics, and what it means to be a human tuning fork or emotional divining rod* Mysticism as service: moments of blessing, connection, and resonance* The difference between mysticism and magic, and how contemporary spirituality is shaped by imagination, culture, and digital spacesDavid shares moving stories of mystical recognition, including a spontaneous blessing from a rabbi, and reflects on the challenge and beauty of living as someone deeply attuned to unseen realities.Resources from this episode * Pew Research: Spirituality Among Americans* Walter Stace, Mysticism and Philosophy * Positive Disintegration Podcast, Episode 33 with David Sweeney* Positive Disintegration Podcast, Episode 17 with Elizabeth MikaEvelyn Underhill* Evelyn Underhill Association* Evenlyn Underhill on Magic, Sacrament, and Spiritual Transformation* Evenlyn Underhill, Mysticism A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness, Chapter 7 - Mysticism and Magic* New Thinking Allowed Podcast, Evelyn Underhill and Mysticism with James Tunney* Free Audiobook: Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness* Free Audiobook: Evelyn Underhill, Practical Mysticism: a Little Book for Normal People* Free Book: Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness.Simone Weil* Simone Weil, Waiting for God [letters and essays]* Simone Weil, On "Forms of the Implicit Love of God"* Philosiphize This! Podcast: Simone Weil, Vessels of God* The Gray Area with Sean Illing Podcast, Simone Weil's Radical Philosophy of Love and AttentionArthur Deikman* Arthur Deikman, Meditations on a Blue Vase* Arthur Deikman, Deautomization and the Mystic Experience* Arthur Deikman, Service as an Altered State💌 Connect with us:* Instagram → @cosmiccheersquad* Substack → cosmiccheersquad.substack.com* Find bee on pragmagination* Find Chris on Positive Disintegration and PDA: Resistance and ResilienceWe’d love for you to subscribe, share, or leave a comment! Please leave us a review on your favorite platform and help us reach other potential squaddies ✨ Get full access to cosmic cheer squad at cosmiccheersquad.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 9 of cosmic cheer squad, we follow up on chris's “swimming with sharks” piece. bee and chris dive deeper into the harmful dynamics that can emerge in professional communities, especially those that claim to prioritize growth and transformation. We talk about developing the discernment to recognize toxic patterns and the courage to extract ourselves when necessary.Together, we explore:* Recognizing when a system has become corrosive to one’s spirit* The grief and relief of choosing to step away* How humor, friendship, and irreverence help keep us afloat* Building new forms of belonging that resist illegitimate authority* The practice of rewriting our stories so we aren’t bound by old narrativesThis conversation is about courage in the open water: leaving the shore of what’s familiar, even when it’s toxic, and learning how to swim toward freer, truer ways of living.Mentioned in this episode:swimming with sharks by chris wellsemotional trampolines by bee mayhewepisode 6: love, loss, and the power of showing upPositive Disintegration episodes by guest:* Frank Falk: Episode 5* Tina Harlow: Episode 11* Celi Trépanier: Episode 31* Kate Arms: Episode 6 and Episode 28* Bob Yamtich: Episode 22Jen Merrill (on Substack), Laughing at Chaos (Jen’s website)Overcoming the Self-Stigma of Mental Illness series by chris wells💌 Connect with us:* Instagram → @cosmiccheersquad* Substack → cosmiccheersquad.substack.com* Find bee on pragmagination* Find Chris on Positive Disintegration and PDA: Resistance and ResilienceWe’d love for you to subscribe, share, or leave a comment! Please leave us a review on your favorite platform and help us reach other potential squaddies ✨ Get full access to cosmic cheer squad at cosmiccheersquad.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 8 of cosmic cheer squad, we welcomed Sheldon Gay, host of the I Must Be BUG’N podcast and entrepreneur. We cover a lot of ground in this conversation, but it keeps circling back to this: what it means to be a mirror for others, and how reflecting people’s truths—especially when they’re not ready to see them—can be both sacred and heavy.Here are a few threads we follow:* The Power of Being a MirrorSheldon talks about what it’s like to simply show up as yourself and watch how that activates other people. Not always in ways they’re grateful for. We get into the emotional labor of being “too much” in rooms that want you to shrink.* Healing in CommunityWe talk about how healing rarely happens in isolation, and how the messy, beautiful work of connection can be its own medicine. Chris shares how their own growth has been shaped through relationships, not just insight.* Vulnerability as StrengthThis is a thread that runs through everything. The way love requires risk. The way being open makes you tender and strong at the same time. And how truth doesn’t have to be hard-edged to be powerful. It just has to be real.This episode is for anyone who’s ever been told they’re too intense, too sensitive, too honest, and for anyone who’s still learning how to love with both compassion and discernment.🎧 Listen in for deep resonance and reminders of what it means to belong.Mentioned in this episode:* bell hooks, All About Love* Mooji* Dr. Ruha Benjamin, Imagination: A Manifesto* The disco ball metaphor [from Bee]* Silly straws and other sacred objects* John Welwood🌍 Visit Sheldon Gay’s website 🔥 Check out Sheldon’s merch 🅾 Find Sheldon on InstagramMore about Sheldon: Sheldon Gay, host of the “I Must Be BUG’N” podcast, is an entrepreneur who has worked in various fields, including healthcare and education-technology. As a late-identified gifted, and therefore neurodivergent, Black man, he sees the world from a different angle than most. Due to his unique perspective, he knows all too well how it feels to be “the only one” in a room. He uses his experiences to help others embrace their true selves, free themselves from shame and thrive in a world not built for them. Sheldon’s audiences become curious about their minds, identify and embrace community as well as experience peace and joy through authenticity.💌 Connect with us:* Instagram → @cosmiccheersquad* Substack → cosmiccheersquad.substack.com* Find bee on pragmagination* Find Chris on Positive Disintegration and PDA: Resistance and ResilienceWe’d love for you to subscribe, share, or leave a comment! Please leave us a review on your favorite platform and help us reach other potential squaddies ✨ Get full access to cosmic cheer squad at cosmiccheersquad.substack.com/subscribe

In episode 7 of cosmic cheer squad, we welcome our friend Caitlin Hughes, an accredited mental health social worker and founder of Cathartic Collaborations in Brisbane, Australia, for a conversation about friendship, neurodivergence, resistance, and reclaiming joy.From our first connections to voicy deep dives, we trace the winding path of how we found each other and built trust across distance, difference, and imagination. Caitlin reflects on growing up in Australia, finding validation through the Positive Disintegration Podcast, and the thrill (and awkwardness) of joining our early community calls.Together we explore:* 🌿 What it means to resist illegitimate authority in everyday life* 🎭 The masks we wear, and the magic of unmasking through friendship* 📚 Storytime, voicies, and the idea of creating content for neurodivergent kids* 💫 Pronouns, identity, and the tenderness of being seen and respected* 🧠 The transformative power of kindness, imagination, and connectionThere’s talk of childhood playlists, including Peter Combe’s absurd Australian kids' songs, Dr. Seuss’s Hooray for Diffendoofer Day, and why being playful is anything but frivolous. Also, “shay/they” pronouns become an unexpected vibe. This one’s funny, tender, and packed with cosmic resonance. Come meet the squad behind the scenes and celebrate the weird, wondrous ways we come into each other’s lives.🔗 Learn more about Caitlin’s work: Cathartic CollaborationsCaitlin’s podcast Divergent DialoguesMore about Caitlin:Caitlin Hughes (she/they) is a multi-exceptional (Autistic, ADHD, Gifted) Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and the founder of Cathartic Collaborations, a neurodivergent-affirming private practice based in Brisbane, Australia. Drawing on both lived and professional experience, Caitlin provides somatic, trauma-informed therapeutic support for neurocomplex and neuroqueer folks, helping clients embrace their unique neurotypes and build self-defined lives of meaning and purpose.Caitlin is a passionate advocate for neurodivergent mental health, with a special interest in supporting other social workers to grow in their affirming practice. They facilitate the Neurodivergent Affirming Social Workers Collective on Facebook and co-host Divergent Dialogues, a podcast and Substack publication exploring neurodivergent mental health through a blend of research, personal experience, and reflective conversation.Currently completing a PhD focused on Autistic mental health, Caitlin is a published researcher with a strong interest in qualitative inquiry and systems change.💌 Connect with us:* Instagram → @cosmiccheersquad* Substack → cosmiccheersquad.substack.com* Find bee on pragmagination* Find Chris on Positive Disintegration and PDA: Resistance and ResilienceWe’d love for you to subscribe, share, or leave a comment! We’d love to hear a favorite story that was read to you, or one you’d love to hear read to you! Please leave us a review on your favorite platform and help us reach other potential squaddies ✨ Get full access to cosmic cheer squad at cosmiccheersquad.substack.com/subscribe