Resources
These resources for further support and education center lived experience.
Neuro Affirming Resources
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Neurodivergent Insights - Dr. Megan Neff, clinician and educator with lived experience
Embrace Autism - Dr. Natalie Englebrecht MSc, ND RP
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Divergent Conversations
The Divergent Conversations Podcast is hosted by Patrick Casale and Dr. Megan Anna Neff, two AuDHD mental health professionals and entrepreneurs, as well as features other well-known leaders in the mental health, neurodivergent, and neurodivergent-affirming community. Listeners know, like, and trust the content and professionals on this podcast, so when they hear a recommendation on the podcast, they take action.Neuroversity
A weekly podcast about neurodiversity with a purpose to expand our understanding of what that term means, elevate the life experiences of the neurodivergent, and advocate for a more inclusive and informed culture.AuDHD Flourishing with Mattia Mauree
Host, Mattia Maurée (they/them), shares research findings, lived experience, and what they've learned from coaching over 120 neurodivergent folks.Two Sides of the Spectrum
A place where we explore research, amplify autistic voices, and change the way we think about autism in life and in professional therapy practice.The ADHD Lounge
The ADHD Lounge podcast is hosted by Katy Weber & Alex Gilbert. Whether you are someone with ADHD or a learning disability, or just curious to learn more, this is the podcast for you.Women and ADHD with Katy Weber
A late diagnosis turned her world upside down. Join Katy Weber each week as she interviews other women who discovered they have ADHD and are finally feeling like they understand who they are and how to best lean into their strengths, both professionally and personally. This neurodivergence isn’t just for hyperactive little boys anymore!
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Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism. ASAN believes that the goal of autism advocacy should be a world in which autistic people enjoy equal access, rights, and opportunities.
Autistic Women & NonBinary Network
The mission of Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network (AWN) is to provide community support, and resources for Autistic women, girls, transfeminine and transmasculine nonbinary people, trans people of all genders, Two Spirit people, and all people of marginalized genders or of no gender. AWN is committed to recognizing and celebrating diversity and the many intersectional experiences in our community.
Lives in the Balance
Lives in the Balance advocates against punitive, exclusionary disciplinary practices in schools, families, and treatment facilities, and advocates for interventions that are effective, compassionate, proactive, and collaborative, including the model we disseminate, Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS). We provide vast, free resources on the CPS model on this website, and provide training on the model globally.
HAES Resources
Association for Size Diversity and Health
The Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with an international membership started in 2003. The organization is committed to the Health At Every Size® (HAES®) principles. The Health At Every Size Principles and Framework of Care are continuously evolving alternatives to the weight-centered approach to treating clients and patients of all sizes. ASDAH educates about medical anti-fat bias and advocate for healthcare to align with the Health at Every Size approach.
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Maintenance Phase - Hosts Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon debunk the junk science behind health and wellness fads.
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison - a podcast dedicated to critiquing diet and wellness culture.
Rethinking Wellness with Christy Harrison - Critical thinking and compassionate skepticism about wellness and diet culture, and reflections on how to find true well-being.
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What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon - Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied basic needs because they are fat and calls for social justice movements to be inclusive of plus-sized people’s experiences. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and quasi self-help books that encourage readers to love and accept themselves, Gordon pushes the discussion further towards authentic fat activism, which includes ending legal weight discrimination, giving equal access to health care for large people, increased access to public spaces, and ending anti-fat violence. As she argues, “I did not come to body positivity for self-esteem. I came to it for social justice.”
“You Just Need to Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People by Aubrey Gordon - In “You Just Need to Lose Weight,” Aubrey Gordon equips readers with the facts and figures to reframe myths about fatness in order to dismantle the anti-fat bias ingrained in how we think about and treat fat people. Bringing her dozen years of community organizing and training to bear, Gordon shares the rhetorical approaches she and other organizers employ to not only counter these pernicious myths, but to dismantle the anti-fat bias that so often underpin them.
Wellness Trap by Christy Harrison - From the paradigm-shifting author of Anti-Diet comes a deep dive into the underbelly of modern wellness culture and how it stands in the way of true well-being “It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle.” You've probably heaAnti-Dietrd this phrase from any number of people in the wellness space. But as Christy Harrison reveals in her latest book, wellness culture promotes a standard of health that is often both unattainable and deeply harmful.
Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison - In Anti-Diet, Christy Harrison takes on diet culture and the multi-billion-dollar industries that profit from it, exposing all the ways it robs people of their time, money, health, and happiness. It will turn what you think you know about health and wellness upside down, as Harrison explores the history of diet culture, how it’s infiltrated the health and wellness world, how to recognize it in all its sneaky forms, and how letting go of efforts to lose weight or eat “perfectly” actually helps to improve people’s health—no matter their size.
LGBTQIA+2S Affirming Resources
Trans Maryland is a multi-racial, multi-gender, trans-led community power building organization dedicated to Maryland’s trans community. By trans folks, for trans folks.
FreeState Justice (FSJ) is Maryland’s leading legal nonprofit working to improve the lives of Maryland's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community.
The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998. Focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth, they offer a toll-free telephone number where confidential assistance is provided by trained counselors.
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Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource by and for Transgender Communities 2nd Edition by Laura Erickson-Schroth - a comprehensive, reader-friendly guide for transgender people, with each chapter written by transgender and gender expansive authors. Inspired by Our Bodies, Ourselves, the classic and powerful compendium written by and for cisgender women, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is widely accessible to the transgender population, providing authoritative information in an inclusive and respectful way and representing the collective knowledge base of dozens of influential experts. Each chapter takes the reader through an important issue, such as race, religion, employment, medical and surgical transition, mental health, relationships, sexuality, parenthood, arts and culture, and many more. Anonymous quotes, testimonials, art and poetry from transgender people are woven throughout, adding compelling, personal voices to every page. In this unique way, hundreds of viewpoints from throughout the community have united to create this strong and pioneering book. It is a welcoming place for transgender and gender-questioning people, their partners and families, students, professors, guidance counselors, and others to look for up-to-date information on transgender life. The content of the second edition of this award-winning resource will be thoroughly updated throughout and will include entirely new stories, artwork, and illustrations as well as dozens of new contributing authors and collaborators.
Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens by Kathy Belge and Marke Bieschke - Honest and engaging, Queer takes LGBT teens on an awesome and enlightening journey through the sometimes scary, sometimes silly, and always fabulous world of queer life. With advice on coming out, navigating a queer social life, dealing with queerphobia, and having safe sex, Queer is a must-have for all teens who think they might be queer―or know someone who is.
Parent & Family Support Resources
PFLAG is the nation's largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.
The Family Acceptance Project® is a research, intervention, education and policy initiative to prevent health and mental health risks and to promote well-being for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer-identified (LGBTQ) children and youth, including suicide, homelessness, drug use and HIV — in the context of their families, cultures and faith communities.
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The Transgender Teen by Stephanie Brill and Lisa Kenney - Is it just a phase, a fad, or a real issue with your teen? This comprehensive guidebook explores the unique challenges that thousands of families face every day raising a teenager who may be transgender, gender-variant or gender-fluid. Covering extensive research and with many personal interviews, as well as years of experience working in the field, the author covers pressing concerns relating to physical and emotional development, social and school pressures, medical options, and family communications. Learn how parents can advocate for their children, find acceptable colleges and career paths, and raise their gender variant or transgender adolescent with love and compassion.
The Gender Identity Guide for Parents by Tavi Hawn - Nurture and celebrate your child's true self with this parent's guide to gender identity. Talking with your child about gender identity can seem overwhelming―but with the right guidance, you can have healthy conversations and create an affirming environment for them as they grow. Whether your child is cisgender, gender expansive, transgender, or still unsure, this guide provides practical advice and strategies to help you embrace them for who they are and support them as they approach puberty.
How to They/Them by Stuart Getty - What does nonbinary really mean? What is gender nonconforming? And isn’t they a plural pronoun? In this charming and disarming guide, a real-life they-using genderqueer writer unpacks all your burning questions in a fun, visual way. No soapboxes or divisive comment-section wars here! Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, always human, this gender-friendly primer will get you up to speed. It’s about more than just bathrooms and pronouns–this is about gender expression and the freedom to choose how to identify. While they might only be for some, that freedom is for everyone!
Life Isn’t Binary: On Being Both Beyond and In Between by Alex Iantaffi and Meg-John Barker - Much of society's thinking operates in a highly rigid and binary manner; something is good or bad, right or wrong, a success or a failure, and so on. Challenging this limited way of thinking, this ground-breaking book looks at how non-binary methods of thought can be applied to all aspects of life, and offer new and greater ways of understanding ourselves and how we relate to others. Using bisexual and non-binary gender experiences as a starting point, this book addresses the key issues with binary thinking regarding our relationships, bodies, emotions, wellbeing and our sense of identity and sets out a range of practices which may help us to think in more non-binary, both/and, or uncertain ways.
Emergency Supports:
If you are experiencing a mental health emergency please consider reaching out to the following resources:
Maryland Crisis Line 2-1-1
Howard County Crisis Line: 410-531-6677
The Trevor Project (24-hour crisis intervention/suicide hotline for LGBTQ youth): 866-488-7386
Trans Lifeline (24-hour hotline staffed by transgender people): 877-565-8860
Crisis text line- text HOME to 741741
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 9-8-8
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788
The Fireweed Collective also offers a Crisis Toolkit with resources for people in crisis, and people supporting loved ones in crisis, using a consent based approach.