A note to our listeners: In this episode we chat about self-harm. Some of our listeners may prefer to skip this one.

Happy Monday! In today’s episode Monique interviews Joanne Seymon; AuDHDer Occupational Therapist, and co-founder of Kaiko Fidgets. Jo is passionate about developing appropriate sensory tools for teens and adults, with a focus on harm minimisation and emotional regulation. She uses both her lived experience and her background in occupational therapy to match sensory needs to the right sensory support. In this episode Jo shares some personal details about her son Kai’s mental health journey, and Kai has given his consent for these details to be shared.

In this episode Monique and Jo cover:

1. How Kaiko Fidgets came to be and Jo’s path to diagnosis and understanding her own neurodivergence.
2. What actually is ‘Occupational Therapy’ (OT) and how can OTs work with neurodivergent folk?
3. Different sensory needs and ideas around supporting sensory regulation.
4. When pain is used as a regulator – Jo’s approach to this and some options for harm minimisation.
5. Understanding and managing the cumulative effect of sensory load.

Find Jo on her website (www.kaikofidgets.com), through her socials (@kaikofidgets), or reach out to her via email (jo@kaikofigets.com)

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