Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here.
July 08, 2026
Laura Pasley is a child and youth worker in Ontario, Canada, who has spent more than a decade in intensive mental health and dual-diagnosis treatment programs for children and adolescents. She is the person who runs toward the crisis when everyone else is running away from it.
After postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, complex trauma, and her sixth concussion, Laura started questioning whether ADHD had been part of her story all along. At 32, she finally received the diagnosis that helped her see herself differently. Not as someone who had fooled everyone. Not as someone who was not smart. As someone whose brain had been working hard to keep her alive.
In this episode, Tracy and Laura talk about ADHD, trauma, fawning, concussions, crisis work, motherhood, shame, and what changes when a woman finally stops explaining every struggle through what happened to her. Laura also shares why she is now returning to school, writing a memoir, and learning to embrace being a daydreamer.
If you have ever wondered whether it is ADHD, trauma, anxiety, or all of the above, this conversation offers a gentler question: what if understanding your brain is not about proving what is wrong with you, but finally seeing what has always been true?
“I think we live in a world where an ADHD diagnosis is a privilege in that it is so helpful in your life, but at the same time, I was privileged enough to have the money to get it.”
- Laura Pasley
“I am on a mission of inspiring other women and giving somebody else permission to truly be who they are.”
- Laura Pasley
“If we can build them up and help them feel so smart and really truly build on the things that they're good at, because despite a really unfair mix of diagnoses, they're still brilliant at things.”
-- Laura Pasley
"Name it to tame it' is my new mantra for everything. I'm sure people are a little bit sick of it, but it works."
-- Laura Pasley
"I lie to myself. If I have a due date, I seriously convince myself it's due three days before."
- Laura Pasley
"Your life matters. It doesn't matter how old you are. You deserve to feel smart and not to live in shame."
- Laura Pasley
- Tracy introduces Laura’s mental health work, ADHD diagnosis, trauma history, and art.
- Laura describes postpartum OCD, anxiety, PTSD symptoms, and returning to work early.
- A sixth concussion intensifies her symptoms and pushes her to self-advocate for an ADHD assessment.
[16:52 – 34:57] Childhood Shame, School, Work, and Parenting
- Laura recalls struggling with circle time, friendships, messy schoolwork, and being shamed by teachers.
- She explains how child and youth work kept her engaged through empathy for adolescents.
- Laura describes crisis work, hypervigilance, parenting two young children, and needing art for recovery.
[34:57 – 50:48] ADHD Training, Hope, and Unfawning
- Laura shares her goal to finish school, work in youth probation, and become a registered therapist.
- She explains why youth mental health workers need ADHD-specific training for children with complex diagnoses.
- Laura discusses writing her memoir, separating ADHD from trauma, and using fake deadlines as a workaround.
ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here
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