Why Open Plan Offices Don't Work for Neurodivergent Brains

Get the Bloody Message Across... with Sam Warner

Sam Warner [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samwarner/] is a Neurodivergent Communication Specialist, TEDx speaker, and founder of Get Your Message Across. And like me, she's AuDHD (and yes, it brings me joy that it rhymed). She has 25 years of corporate experience, and has made it her mission to help people communicate better together, especially when the difference is the kind you can't see.And that's where this connects to my world.Because so much of what I do is about communication. Getting organisations to actually listen.Getting people to talk about menstrual health and the impacts that it has on neurodivergent people. And helping neurodivergent people find language for their experience, and helping workplaces create space for that conversation.Knowing the facts isn't enough if nobody's saying them out loud.So we're going to talk about...🩸 Why communication breaks down when neurodivergence is in the room🩸 What it actually takes to make every brain feel heard🩸 And how getting the message across is half the battle, whether you're talking about periods, neurodivergence, or bothGet the Bloody Message Across.

Why Open Plan Offices Don't Work for Neurodivergent Brains

Ever walked into your open-plan office and felt the day drain out of you before you'd even sat down? In this episode, I'm talking about why open plan offices are so depleting for neurodivergent brains, and why it's got nothing to do with how much you care about your job. In this episode... * Why neurodivergent brains struggle with auditory filtering in noisy environments * How ADHD and autistic brains process sound differently, and what that costs you by 3pm * The role of the luteal phase and perimenopause in making sensory sensitivity worse * Why fluctuating capacity affects far more people than we tend to acknowledge * What individuals and people leads can actually do to make open plan offices more workable Helpful Links... 📖 Read the transcript here [Ever walked into your open plan office and felt the day drain out of you before you'd even sat down? In this episode, I'm talking about why open plan offices are so depleting for neurodivergent brains, and why it's got nothing to do with how much you care about your job. In this episode: Why neurodivergent brains struggle with auditory filtering in noisy environments How ADHD and autistic brains process sound differently, and what that costs you by 3pm The role of the luteal phase and perimenopause in making sensory sensitivity worse Why fluctuating capacity affects far more people than we tend to acknowledge What individuals and people leads can actually do to make open plan offices more workable].  🟦 Connect with me on ⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]for daily insights 🌶️ ND friends, grab your CyclicalTrait Mapper [https://samanthagarstin.com/tt] and start spotting your own patterns. 🩸 Not-so-spicy? Download the Cycle Mapping Guide [https://samanthagarstin.com/ch] instead. 💌 ⁠⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/]Subscribe to The Period Press⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/]⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/] Written editions drop every Sunday at 5 am, ready for coffee in bed at 10!

The Cost of Period 'Banter' in the Workplace

Workplace banter, menstruation, and neurodivergence. I'm talking about the real cost of jokes that get dressed up as harmless, specifically the kind that use hormones as a punchline. In this episode... * What's actually happening when a woman gets written off as 'moody' or 'probably on her period' * Why banter is a particular minefield for neurodivergent people * What you can actually do when you find yourself in that room, whether it happened to you or someone else No one's identity, body, or brain should ever be the material for a joke. This one's for anyone who's ever sat in stony silence whilst the room laughed. Helpful Links... 📖 Read the transcript here [https://samanthagarstin.com/the-cost-of-period-banter-in-the-workplace/].  🟦 Connect with me on ⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]for daily insights 🌶️ ND friends, grab your SpicyTrait Mapper [https://samanthagarstin.com/tt] and start spotting your own patterns. 🩸 Not-so-spicy? Download the Cycle Harmony Mapper [https://samanthagarstin.com/ch] instead. 💌 ⁠⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/]Subscribe to The Period Press⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/]⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/] Written editions drop every Sunday at 5 am, ready for coffee in bed at 10!

How to Exercise With Your Menstrual Cycle (Not Against It)

Ever wondered why your fitness routine feels completely different depending on where you are in your menstrual cycle? If you've ever yeeted your trainers into the bin mid-routine, this one's for you. In this episode... * Why moving cyclically works better than a fixed fitness routine * How to exercise with your menstrual cycle across all four phases * What "no pain, no gain" does to a spicy brain (spoiler: nothing good) * How neurodivergence changes the way each phase feels in your body * Why ovulation isn't always the green light it's made out to be * The one question worth asking yourself every morning instead of following a plan Mentioned in the episode - A Year of Cyclical Running - What I Learned [https://samanthagarstin.com/a-year-of-cyclical-running-what-i-learned/] Helpful Links... 📖 Read the transcript here [https://samanthagarstin.com/exercise-with-your-menstrual-cycle/].  🟦 Connect with me on ⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]for daily insights 🌶️ ND friends, grab your SpicyTrait Mapper [https://samanthagarstin.com/tt] and start spotting your own patterns. 🩸 Not-so-spicy? Download the Cycle Harmony Mapper [https://samanthagarstin.com/ch] instead. 💌 ⁠⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/]Subscribe to The Period Press⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/]⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/] Written editions drop every Sunday at 5 am, ready for coffee in bed at 10!

HRT, Perimenopause and ADHD - Using Cycle Mapping for Self-Advocacy

Ever wondered why perimenopause hits so much harder when you have a spicy brain? In this episode, I'm sharing my own HRT journey, including what two years of cycle mapping data revealed, how ADHD and oestrogen are more connected than most people realise, and how I walked into a GP appointment armed with evidence and got exactly what I asked for. If you've ever felt fobbed off, dismissed, or like you're asking for too much, this one's for you. In this episode: perimenopause and ADHD, oestrogen and dopamine, cycle mapping for self-advocacy, body-identical HRT, neurodivergent traits and hormonal shifts, NICE guidelines, gender pain gap Helpful Links... 📖 Read the transcript ⁠here⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/?p=24675&preview=true].  🟦 Connect with me on ⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]⁠LinkedIn ⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagarstin/]for daily insights 🌶️ ND friends, grab your ⁠SpicyTrait Mapper⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/tt] and start spotting your own patterns. 🩸 Not-so-spicy? Download the ⁠Cycle Harmony Mapper⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/ch] instead. 💌 ⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/]⁠Subscribe to The Period Press⁠⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/]⁠⁠⁠ [https://samanthagarstin.com/nl/] Written editions drop every Sunday at 5 am, ready for coffee in bed at 10!