Navigating the Tangle of ADHD and OCD with Natalia Aiza
Hacking Your ADHD
Hey Team! In this episode, I’m thrilled to welcome Natalia Aíza, a multilingual counselor and OCD specialist. Natalia is the founder and executive director of Kairos Wellness Collective, a therapy center that focuses on holistic care for clients experiencing OCD and Anxiety - located in Boulder, Colorado. They offer therapies including Exposure Response Prevention (ERP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Play Therapy, Art Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Neurofeedback. Obviously, we won’t get into all of...
info_outline
Quitting Isn't Failing
Hacking Your ADHD
Hey Team I was recently thinking about kids being picky eaters and how there is a movement where we’re not supposed to say picky anymore; we’re supposed to say they’re selective eaters. And you know what, I get that. I grew up as a picky kid, and… let’s be honest, I’m a fairly picky adult as well. Scratch that, selective adult. And I know it’s semantics, but I often find semantics are important. Because if we’re reframing this idea of being picky into being selective, it loses a lot of that negative connotation, and it gives a lot more power to the idea that what we’re doing...
info_outline
ADHD-Friendly Goal Setting with Chris Wang
Hacking Your ADHD
Hey team! Well, it’s 2025…. It doesn’t quite feel real yet; I mean, we’re a quarter of the way into the 21st century, but it feels like we got here fast. I’m not quite sure I’m ready, but regardless, time marches on. I know a lot of you are working on making plans for the year, so we’re going to be starting this year with Chris Wang, CEO and co-founder of Shimmer, an ADHD coaching platform designed to meet people where they are. I had a lot of fun in this conversation, where we covered a bunch of stuff about goal setting and how to make sure you’re doing the important stuff in...
info_outline
How to Make your Smart Phone ADHD Friendly (Part 2 rebroadcast)
Hacking Your ADHD
This is the second part of the series on how to better manage your smartphone with your ADHD - you don't have to have listened to part 1 to listen to this episode, but if you like this episode I'd definitely recommend going back and listening to last week's episode as well. In that episode, we covered how we can limit the distractions that our smartphone can present and also how to make it easier on our ADHD brains when we're setting up our smartphone. This week we're going in a bit of a different direction - while smartphones can be easily distracting and endless entertaining, they also...
info_outline
How to Make your Smart Phone ADHD Friendly (Part 1 rebroadcast)
Hacking Your ADHD
I've been carrying around a smartphone in my pocket for more than 10 years - I started off with the first iPhone and have since gone over to Android, dabbled with the Windows Phones for a few years and then ended back up with an iPhone again. Through my years with my phone I've learned that it can be a great asset and help me with a number of my ADHD difficulties; however, I've also felt the dark side of the phone as well. Games, social media, email and all those notifications. ADHD makes it really easy for us to get off track so we want to be making sure that we're not letting our...
info_outline
How to Get Refocused After Your Vacation (rebroadcast)
Hacking Your ADHD
Last week was all about getting there and this week we're focusing on what to do when you get back. Travel disrupts our routines and habits - and we should take those disruptions seriously. One thing that I've had to learn over and over again is that ADHD makes transitions hard - and coming back from a trip is a big transition. This Episode's Top Tips Identify your routines and habits before your trip so that when you get back you know where to pick things back up. Make sure you are paying special attention to your While you are traveling try and keep up as many of your habits and...
info_outline
Focused and Balanced: ADHD Strategies That Work w/ Skye Waterson
Hacking Your ADHD
Hey Team! This week we’ve got Skye Waterson of Unconventional Organization back on the show to talk about the book she’s working on, Focused, Balanced Days with ADHD. Skye is an academic and ADHD coach with over seven years of experience in adult education. She has studied various fields, including Psychology, Sociology, and Public Health, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Population Health. Skye also hosts "The ADHD Skills Lab" podcast, where she discusses research-backed tips and advice to help individuals navigate life with ADHD. Today, as I mentioned, we’re going to be getting...
info_outline
Reflections on the 2024 International ADHD Conference
Hacking Your ADHD
Hey team! Feels like it’s been a while for me but hopefully I was able to prepare enough material ahead of time so that you didn’t have to notice. And the reason it’s been a bit for me is because of the 2024 International Conference on ADHD which is a collaborative event put on my CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), ADDA (Attention Deficit Disorder Association), and ACO (ADHD Coaches Organization). The conference caters to adults with ADHD, educators, coaches, organizers, clinicians, therapists - really anyone who is effect by ADHD either directly...
info_outline
Madeline O’Reilly and Jonathan Hassall
Hacking Your ADHD
Hey Team! This week I’m joined by Madeline O’Reilly and Jonathan Hassall to talk about their new online program called Decoding Doing that is based on a book they wrote with the same title. And that’s fair, Decoding Doing is a great title when we’re talking about procrastination. And just a little background, Madeline is a clinical psychologist with a Masters in Clinical Psychology. Additionally, Madeline is a member of the Australian Clinical Psychology Association along with the Australian Professional ADHD Association and the Australian Association for CBT. Jonathan is an ADHD and...
info_outline
Neurofeedback and ADHD with Sean Brock
Hacking Your ADHD
Hey Team! We’ve got another exciting guest teed up for this week. I’m talking with Sean Brock, a neurofeedback expert and the owner of Neuro Colorado. Now I’ll be honest that I had a lot to learn in this interview because I wasn’t terribly well versed on the science behind neurofeedback. In the interview, Sean shares the fascinating history behind neurofeedback and how it’s evolved from training cats to helping humans regulate their brain waves. We get into how neurofeedback works and its longer-term benefits. Also, we end the interview by taking a turn and talking about EMDR therapy...
info_outlineHey Team!
In this episode, I’m thrilled to welcome Natalia Aíza, a multilingual counselor and OCD specialist.
Natalia is the founder and executive director of Kairos Wellness Collective, a therapy center that focuses on holistic care for clients experiencing OCD and Anxiety - located in Boulder, Colorado. They offer therapies including Exposure Response Prevention (ERP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Play Therapy, Art Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Neurofeedback. Obviously, we won’t get into all of that in our conversation today, but we do hit on a few of those.
Also, separately, I wanted to mention that Kairos is the Greek word meaning “the perfect, delicate, crucial moment; the fleeting rightness of time and place that creates the opportune atmosphere for action, words or movement; also weather.” And really, I just wanted to share that because I love words like that - I just find them neat.
Anyway, in our conversation today, we dive into the overlap of ADHD and OCD - how they are similar and how they differ, and also the unique challenges each presents, especially when they are co-occurring. Natalia shares her personal and professional insights on distinguishing between ADHD distractions and OCD compulsions and how to approach treatment for each.
If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/209
Also before we get started, I wanted to let you know about my AMA on YouTube Live, happening the week this is released on January 31st at 10 AM Pacific - if you’re interested you can find that on the Hacking Your ADHD YouTube page, youtube.com/@hackingyouradhd and subscribe to the channel - or if you want to submit a question ahead of time you can do so at hackingyouradhd.com/ama
The #1 ADHD Coaching app for teens and adults. Use code HACKINGYOURADHD for 30% of your first month!
This Episode's Top Tips
-
- It’s important to remember that you need to approach OCD and ADHD treatments differently; techniques beneficial for one may exacerbate the other.
- Try to distinguish between compulsions and simple fidgets or stims—while symptoms can be similar, it’s essential to understand the root causes that characterize compulsions.
- Be proactive in seeking diagnosis and treatment if OCD symptoms appear; early intervention can prevent the condition from worsening.