241: Making Room for the Voices of Others with Aileen Kelleher
01/10/22 • 39 min
Today’s guest has wonderful Instagram posts, many of them covering her work with twice-exceptional adults. I’m a fan of hers, and she’s a fan of the podcast, so it’s exciting to introduce her to the Embracing Intensity audience!
Aileen Kelleher is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, and coach. Her therapy practice in Chicago specializes in helping gifted and twice-exceptional children build social-emotional skills, self-compassion, and confidence to recover from anxiety, depression, and other mental health difficulties. Her international coaching practice focuses on helping gifted and 2E women harness their talents to help them find fulfillment and fun in their personal, professional, and social lives.
Show Highlights:
- Why Aileen is intensely passionate about working with 2E people and sharing tools and resources
- How Aileen’s personal brand of intensity manifests in her passion and her ability to embrace conflict and argumentative engagement; she appears intimidating to others and feels emotions deeply
- Growing up, Aileen experienced bullying from her peers that put her “on guard” with anxiety and fear where there was the capacity for negative emotions; she also had an early sense of social justice
- How Aileen identifies now as a 2E person who has anxiety, depression, and some ADHD characteristics
- In school, Aileen was a student who was eager to please her teachers and experienced solid support from her mother; she struggled to fit in and be accepted with peers
- How, as she grew older, she began challenging authority, rebelling, and calling out injustice
- How being from a large, Irish Catholic family trained her to use direct bluntness that not everyone accepts
- How Aileen learned to tone herself down and tune herself out by escaping in reading books and watching TV; in later life, she numbed herself through substance abuse to “check out” from reality
- How Aileen experienced her out-of-control intensity through raging at people as a young person and now uses writing, exercise, and art as ways to maintain control
- How Aileen has learned not to be “the biggest voice” in the room but to lift up and make room for the voices of others in community and collaboration
- How Aileen uses her fire for good by being helpful and learning all that she can about what she feels passionate about; she has also learned to admit her mistakes and keep going
- How Aileen helps other 2E adults find meaning, joy, and purpose in their lives
- How relationships with family and friends have helped Aileen learn to reach out for help and trust herself
- Why Aileen likes helping others define and find their personal values
- How ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) helps gifted kids figure out what they care about beyond simply proving how smart they are
Parting words from Aileen: “You are OK just the way you are, even if you feel like you don’t belong in a certain situation. That doesn’t mean that there is something fundamentally wrong with you, and it’s OK to ask for help if you need it. Gifted and 2E can have full and satisfied lives, and the fact that we are different shouldn’t stop us from pursuing what we want--and what everyone else gets to have.”
Resources:
Find Aileen on Instagram or at www.coaching4gifted.com. Her work with kids is at www.aileenkelleher.com.
Today’s guest has wonderful Instagram posts, many of them covering her work with twice-exceptional adults. I’m a fan of hers, and she’s a fan of the podcast, so it’s exciting to introduce her to the Embracing Intensity audience!
Aileen Kelleher is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, and coach. Her therapy practice in Chicago specializes in helping gifted and twice-exceptional children build social-emotional skills, self-compassion, and confidence to recover from anxiety, depression, and other mental health difficulties. Her international coaching practice focuses on helping gifted and 2E women harness their talents to help them find fulfillment and fun in their personal, professional, and social lives.
Show Highlights:
- Why Aileen is intensely passionate about working with 2E people and sharing tools and resources
- How Aileen’s personal brand of intensity manifests in her passion and her ability to embrace conflict and argumentative engagement; she appears intimidating to others and feels emotions deeply
- Growing up, Aileen experienced bullying from her peers that put her “on guard” with anxiety and fear where there was the capacity for negative emotions; she also had an early sense of social justice
- How Aileen identifies now as a 2E person who has anxiety, depression, and some ADHD characteristics
- In school, Aileen was a student who was eager to please her teachers and experienced solid support from her mother; she struggled to fit in and be accepted with peers
- How, as she grew older, she began challenging authority, rebelling, and calling out injustice
- How being from a large, Irish Catholic family trained her to use direct bluntness that not everyone accepts
- How Aileen learned to tone herself down and tune herself out by escaping in reading books and watching TV; in later life, she numbed herself through substance abuse to “check out” from reality
- How Aileen experienced her out-of-control intensity through raging at people as a young person and now uses writing, exercise, and art as ways to maintain control
- How Aileen has learned not to be “the biggest voice” in the room but to lift up and make room for the voices of others in community and collaboration
- How Aileen uses her fire for good by being helpful and learning all that she can about what she feels passionate about; she has also learned to admit her mistakes and keep going
- How Aileen helps other 2E adults find meaning, joy, and purpose in their lives
- How relationships with family and friends have helped Aileen learn to reach out for help and trust herself
- Why Aileen likes helping others define and find their personal values
- How ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) helps gifted kids figure out what they care about beyond simply proving how smart they are
Parting words from Aileen: “You are OK just the way you are, even if you feel like you don’t belong in a certain situation. That doesn’t mean that there is something fundamentally wrong with you, and it’s OK to ask for help if you need it. Gifted and 2E can have full and satisfied lives, and the fact that we are different shouldn’t stop us from pursuing what we want--and what everyone else gets to have.”
Resources:
Find Aileen on Instagram or at www.coaching4gifted.com. Her work with kids is at www.aileenkelleher.com.
Previous Episode
![undefined - [Rerun] Twice Exceptional Relationships w/ Dr. Melanie Hayes](https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/episode_images/d52be41bb3b5ecc244e5d6d806e38c2a607802ffa97a11436f73e7011b5b5b22.avif)
[Rerun] Twice Exceptional Relationships w/ Dr. Melanie Hayes
Continuing our top 2019 reruns. This has been one of our top episodes from it’s very start! 2019 was our first year of guest speakers, and we took a break for 2020 but had a great run in 2021. I’m super excited about our upcoming 2022 series especially because all of my top choices got back to me right away and agreed to speak. I’m still waiting on a few scheduling clarifications, but I’m pleased to announce that Jan. 22 we will have Leela Sinha, author of “You’re Not Too Much” talk about the Intersection of Queerness and Neurodivergence, and Feb 19th we’ll have Alexandra Loves talk about Passion vs. Drama! Get on our mailing list for updates and log in information at www.embracingintensity.com. You can support the continued growth of these free calls by joining our community at community.embracingintensity.com or supporting Embracing Intensity on Patreon!
Navigating relationships successfully can be one of the most challenging things we ever do. The intensity and outside-the-box nature of twice-exceptionality (gifted plus disability), adds in a whole new layer of challenge. In this episode, Dr. Melanie Hayes shares both the joys and the hurdles of twice exceptional relationships.
In this episode:
- Common issues in all relationships.
- Additional challenges for twice-exceptional people.
- Meeting our unmet needs in relationships.
- A recipe for twice-exceptional people to connect with who they really are and have fulfilling lives.
Links:
Next Episode
242: My Most Downloaded Shows of 2021
Welcome to 2022! In today’s solo episode, I’m reviewing some of our most downloaded episodes from 2021 and sharing our upcoming guest speaker series and topics already scheduled for this year. It’s going to be a great year, so come along for the ride with me!
Show Highlights:
The countdown of our top ten most downloaded episodes from 2021:
#10: Ep. 231 Intuitive Flow with Kari Betton Our July Guest Call was on Intuitive Flow and Creativity. Kari is a coach and mentor for highly sensitive and twice-exceptional people, and she has a passion for helping them find their innate sense of intuitive flow.
#9: Ep. 239 Perspectives in Giftedness with Gail Post Being gifted can complicate many situations in life. It is wonderful to know that empathetic and supportive professionals are dedicating their lives to advocacy for these individuals. Learn more with psychotherapist Gail Post.
#8: Ep. 229 Thinking Patterns I have seen a lot of posts about the overlap and similarities between ADHD and Autism, and it got me thinking about some observations I’d made both personally and professionally testing neurodivergent kids over the years. I also asked for feedback from neurodivergent people on social media about the patterns they related to most.
#7: Ep. 235 Playing with Your Inner Critic with Jeff Harry This show allows you to listen to our recent group call with Jeff Harry of Rediscover Your Play. Jeff provides tips, insights, and interactive exercises to learn more about “Playing With Your Inner Critic.” Find the full discussion in the Embracing Intensity Community.
#6: Ep. 202 Chipping Away at Societal Conditioning with Julia R. Wild This show focuses on highly sensitive people. My guest loves helping HSPs uncover the layers of conditioning put on them by society and bloom in their uniqueness. Julia R. Wild is a bestselling author, spiritual teacher, and trauma educator with a Master’s degree in psychology. She is also a writing, creativity, and life coach.
#5: Ep. 207 “But I’m Not Really THAT Smart” I’ve heard a lot more comments lately along the lines of, “I relate to your work, but I’m not really gifted.” In this episode, I discuss why gifted folks might not recognize their own gifts, along with some resources to explore if you suspect that you might be gifted.
#4: Ep. 236 Gifted and 2E Assessment This solo episode is about a topic that I’ve thought about for a long time, so I’m happy to bring it to you. We will discuss getting an assessment as a gifted or twice-exceptional adult, so I hope you find my thoughts and tips helpful.
#3: Ep. 208 Coaching and Mentoring Neurodivergent Adults with Dr. Kimberly Douglass I found this guest in the most unusual place: TikTok! I first noticed her work with gifted and twice-exceptional people, and I knew I had to have her on the show. Dr. Kimberly Douglass is president and CEO of Remote Learning Solutions.
#2: Ep. 226 Asynchronous Development in Gifted Adults with Tiff Choumm Our June Guest Call was on Asynchronous Development in Gifted Adults. Asynchronous development is a hallmark of the gifted experience, when we may have developed far ahead of our peers in some areas and have fallen behind in others. This can continue into adulthood, especially for those who are also twice-exceptional, and it can impact many aspects of our life experiences. Find the full discussion in the Embracing Intensity Community.
#1: Ep. 205 Twice Exceptionality–When Giftedness Meets ADHD Last year, I participated in an event called Camp ADHD, where folks around the world shared talks and discussion on topics related to ADHD. I spoke about twice-exceptionality, specifically as it relates to ADHD, and the topic seemed to resonate with many, so I decided to share my talk on twice-exceptionality on the podcast as well.
I’m super excited to announce our 2022 guest speakers and general topics! (Specific details are subject to change.) You can find the schedule listed in the events calendar on the Embracing Intensity Community, and it will soon be on the 2E Connection and Embracing Intensity website calendars!
January 22–Leela Sinha, from Ep. 7: The Intersection of Queerness and Neurodivergence
February 19–Alexandra Loves, from Ep. 67: Passion vs. Drama
March 19–Boontarika Sripom, from Ep. 177: Play
April 16–Cosette “CoCo” Leary, from Ep. 181: Building Confidence and Resilience
May 21–Aileen Kelleher, from Ep. 241: Perfectionism
June 18–Mara McLoughlin, from Ep. 230: Neurodivergent Social Connection
August 20–Dr. Kimberly Douglass, from Ep. 208: Navigating Systems as a Neurodivergent
September 17–Dr. Matt Zakreski, from Ep. 240: Self-Advocacy
October 15–Nadja Careghetti, from Ep. 198: Tidying Up Your Brain (Marie Kondo-Style)
November 19–Julia Wild, from Ep. 202: How to Heal
Resources:
Find more information at
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/embracing-intensity-143250/241-making-room-for-the-voices-of-others-with-aileen-kelleher-17671302"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to 241: making room for the voices of others with aileen kelleher on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy