Resources
Things that have helped me think differently about wellness, bodies, brains, parenting, and caring for ourselves and each other.
This isn't a definitive list. These are books, podcasts, organizations, and other resources that have given me useful language, new perspectives, practical tools, or simply the feeling of being a little less alone.
I don't agree with every word of every resource, and what has been helpful for me may not be the right fit for everyone. Take what serves you and leave what doesn't.
Caring for Ourselves
These resources have helped me think differently about stress, nervous systems, food, movement, and caring for ourselves without turning wellness into another thing we're supposed to do perfectly.
📖 BOOK
Anchored
Deb Dana
A helpful introduction to noticing and understanding our nervous-system states, with exercises for getting curious about our own patterns and practicing ways to move between them.
📖 BOOK
Food, We Need to Talk
Juna Gjata & Edward M. Phillips, M.D.
An approachable, science-based look at food, exercise, health, and our relationships with our bodies. I especially appreciated how much nutrition and exercise science it makes genuinely easy to understand.
Caring for Our Kids
Parenting has challenged a lot of what I thought I knew about behavior. These resources have helped me spend less time asking, “How do I stop this?” and more time asking, “What’s making this hard?”
📖 BOOK
The Explosive Child
Ross W. Greene
This helped me see big reactions as a sign that a child is having difficulty meeting an expectation—not simply behaving badly—and offered a collaborative way forward.
📖 BOOK
Brain-Body Parenting
Monda Delahooke
A deeper exploration of the nervous system and how we can help kids notice their own states, recognize what safety and regulation feel like, and better understand what their bodies are telling them.
📖 BOOK
Good Inside
Becky Kennedy
A reminder I come back to often: our kids are good kids who sometimes have a hard time. Their hardest moments don’t change their goodness or how deserving they are of our love.
📖 BOOK
Beyond Behaviors
Mona Delahooke
One of the biggest shifts in my parenting: looking beyond the behavior itself and getting curious about what’s happening underneath it. This is one I’ve wanted to hand to every adult who works with kids.
📖 BOOK
Self-Reg
Stuart Shanker
This helped me understand how much our nervous systems affect one another. Kids can borrow from our calm—which means caring for our own regulation is an important part of caring for them.
📖 BOOK
Declarative Language Handbook
Linda K. Murphy
The resource that finally helped me move from knowing I was “supposed to use declarative language” to understanding what that means and how to use it in everyday life.
Understanding Different Brains
Learning about neurodivergence has changed the way I think about behavior, capacity, communication, and support. I’m especially drawn to resources that help us understand different experiences rather than expecting everyone to experience the world in the same way.
📖 BOOK
Low-Demand Parenting
Amanda Diekman
A practical framework for looking at the demands in everyday life and considering which ones we can let go of—leaving more capacity for the things that really can’t be dropped.
🎧 PODCAST
The At Peace Parents Podcast
Conversations and practical ideas focused specifically on parenting children and teens with PDA. It’s been useful both for deepening my understanding and for finding things I can actually try in everyday life.
💼 ORGANIZATION
PDA North America
Education and community focused on PDA, including introductory guides, learning opportunities, support groups, community resources, and directories.
📖 BOOK
Navigating PDA in America
Ruth Fidler & Diane Gould
This helped me recognize experiences that hadn’t fit the more familiar descriptions of autism I’d encountered. It gave me a better framework for understanding PDA and practical ideas for supporting PDAers at home and at school.
💼 ORGANIZATION
Association for Autism and Neurodiversity (AANE)
Education, community, coaching, forums, workshops, and other support for autistic and similarly neurodivergent people and the people who care about them.
💼 AUTISTIC-LED ORGANIZATION
Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)
An autistic-run organization working to advance disability rights and opportunities. I especially value having resources here that come from autistic people speaking for themselves—not only from parents and professionals.
About This Library
These resources are shared for education and exploration, not as medical, mental health, or individualized parenting advice. I'm sharing them because they've contributed something meaningful to my own learning and to the way I think about wellness and caring for ourselves and one another.
I'll keep adding to this collection as I find things worth sharing.