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How to Follow Your Intuition as a Mom of a Special Needs Child with Guest Susanna Peace Lovell

·43 min·3 clips

Susanna says Arizona is "not autism" or "ADHD" but "this perfectly intact soul."

1. Soul Care Mom Podcast covers "How to Follow Your Intuition as a Mom of a Special Needs Child" with Susanna Peace Lovell as the guest. 2. Katherine Wild hosts as a mom of three, Soul Care Mom coach, and yoga and meditation teacher, and Susanna Peace Lovell appears as a life coach, author, and advocate for families of children with special needs. 3. The episode asks how a mother keeps trusting her own knowing when doctors, therapists, and parenting culture keep telling her to doubt it. 4. Susanna says her daughter Arizona is now 18 years old and that she recently registered her to vote for the first time. 5. Arizona lives with autism, ADHD, severe food allergies, and periods of severe anxiety, which Susanna describes as part of a lifelong caregiving path. 6. Susanna says she is a single mother, and she describes her work and personal life as "integrated and flowing together." 7. She says her advocacy work for disability families grew directly out of raising Arizona and learning alongside her. 8. Susanna describes noticing that Arizona was "developing differently" before any diagnoses and initially calling her "a little stubborn." 9. She says she was trying to "participate in life from the outside in" instead of paying attention to what Arizona was showing her. 10. She recalls doctors and therapists dismissing her concerns, including telling her she was "a little cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" and suggesting she relax or hire a nanny. 11. Susanna says affirmations began with seeing Arizona as more than labels and repeating that Arizona is "not autism" or "ADHD." 12. She describes Arizona as "this perfectly intact soul" and says those words helped her stop viewing her daughter through a deficit-based lens. 13. She says the same practice turned inward when she started telling herself, "Susanna, you are enough," even though she says she does not always believe it. 14. Susanna says the affirmations had a "mind shift" and a "heart shift" that changed how she showed up for her daughter. 15. She says her daughter once looked up from her doll and said, "I just liked the way I am," which became a turning point for her. 16. Susanna says that moment helped her see that the goal was self-acceptance for both mother and child, not perfection. 17. Her self-care practice is practical and fluid, and she asks herself, "What does self-care look like for you today?" 18. She lists choices like eating lunch without looking at her computer, not taking a draining call, playing piano, writing in her journal, walking outside, and scheduling tennis. 19. The conversation is warm, personal, and interview-driven, with Katherine reflecting back Susanna's ideas and Susanna answering with concrete examples from parenting and daily life. 20. Anyone navigating motherhood, caregiving, or self-doubt would likely connect with this conversation, while listeners wanting a fast tactical parenting guide may skip it.

As heard by us

A gentle conversation about trust, overwhelm, and a mother learning to keep returning to herself.

This episode stays with a mother learning to trust what she already knows while raising a child who was developing differently and had not yet been diagnosed.

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Why you'd press play

For the moment when your instincts feel louder than everyone else's advice.

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