Divergent Dialogues

About Divergent Dialogues

Welcome to "Divergent Dialogues," a podcast where your hosts, Caitlin and Teena—both Accredited Mental Health Social Workers and Neurodivergent-affirming therapists—draw upon their extensive professional expertise and lived experiences. Divergent Dialogues provides quality education from the heart about Neurodivergent life from a practice, research and lived experience lens. For more information about our podcast hosts check out the links below: Caitlin Hughes: https://catharticcollaborations.com.au/ Teena Mogler: https://www.balancecentreformentalhealth.com.au/

Publisher

Caitlin Hughes and Teena Mogler

Category

health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

31 Dec 2023

Latest episode

28 Apr 2026

Latest episodes

41 of 51 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   28 Apr 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Episode #48 That’s All, Folks! Our Final Episode

   After 2.5 years and 48 episodes, we’re wrapping up Divergent Dialogues. This final conversation reflects on how the podcast began, what it has meant to create this space, and why this ending feels right. We share our thoughts on growth, changing commitments, meaningful connections with guests and listeners, and the sense of completion that can come with a good goodbye. What started as regular Zoom chats between two neurodivergent social workers grew into something we’re incredibly proud of. We’re so grateful to everyone who listened, shared episodes, sent messages, and engaged with our work along the way. All episodes will remain available, so you can revisit old favourites or catch up on the ones you missed. Thank you for being part of this community. For more information about our podcast hosts check out the links below: Caitlin Hughes ⁠⁠Cathartic Collaborations⁠⁠ (https://catharticcollaborations.com.au/) Social media: @cathartic.collaborations Teena Mogler ⁠⁠Balance Centre for Mental Health⁠⁠ (https://www.balancecentreformentalhealth.com.au/) Social media: @balancecentreformentalhealth Ready to enhance your listening experience and make the most of each episode? Become a paid subscriber and gain access to our specially tailored Episode Guides: https://divergentdialogues.substack.com/ What’s inside? Clear, Concise Summaries: Easily revisit episode highlights to ensure you’ve got the essentials covered, all presented in a straightforward, digestible format. Reflective Questions: Explore thought-provoking prompts that honour diverse thinking styles. Whether you prefer quiet contemplation or lively discussion, these questions invite you to delve deeper at your own pace. Supportive Activities: Discover exercises and gentle strategies designed to foster learning, personal growth, and emotional wellbeing. Build on your unique strengths and nurture a sense of self-understanding. By joining our community of paid subscribers, you’ll unlock practical tools to help you on your journey to understanding and embracing your neurodivergence.

2. 

   14 Apr 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Episode #47 Curiosity Over Assumptions Conversations on Black Neurodivergent Experiences with Sheldon Gay

   In this episode, we’re joined by Sheldon Gay for a thoughtful conversation about Black neurodivergent experiences, giftedness, identity, and intersectionality. Together, we explore how systems like education and mental health can misunderstand or overlook neurodivergent people, particularly when race and culture intersect with neurodivergence. Sheldon shares reflections from his own journey as a late-identified gifted Black man, including how bias, assumptions, and systemic barriers can shape who gets recognised, supported, or misunderstood. We also talk about: The impact of being misread in school and mental health systems Masking, code-switching, and navigating safety Why curiosity and genuine listening matter The importance of understanding intersectional lived experiences Setting boundaries in spaces not designed for your identity or neurotype This conversation invites us to slow down, stay curious, and reflect on how we can create spaces where all neurodivergent people are truly seen in their full humanity. Sheldon Gay is an entrepreneur, speaker and host of the “I Must Be BUG’N” podcast. Sheldon is a leading advocate for gifted and neurodivergent people, especially those from melanated and marginalized communities. His lived-experience empowers him to help people become curious about their minds, foster community as well as experience peace and joy through authenticity. Find out more about Sheldon here: sheldongayisbugn.com Books & Resources Mentioned Me and White Supremacy: How to Recognise Your Privilege, Combat Racism and Change the World by Layla F. Saad We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World by Malala Yousafzai Black Disability Politics by Samantha Dawn Schalk Shoshin: Beginner's Mind - The Zen Approach To Grow Faster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl2_NCY5aik “Love Me In A Gay Way”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCjeYR7NAJ4 For more information about our podcast hosts check out the links below: Caitlin Hughes ⁠Cathartic Collaborations⁠ (https://catharticcollaborations.com.au/) Social media: @cathartic.collaborations Teena Mogler ⁠Balance Centre for Mental Health⁠ (https://www.balancecentreformentalhealth.com.au/) Social media: @balancecentreformentalhealth Ready to enhance your listening experience and make the most of each episode? Become a paid subscriber and gain access to our specially tailored Episode Guides: https://divergentdialogues.substack.com/ What’s inside? Clear, Concise Summaries: Easily revisit episode highlights to ensure you’ve got the essentials covered, all presented in a straightforward, digestible format. Reflective Questions: Explore thought-provoking prompts that honour diverse thinking styles. Whether you prefer quiet contemplation or lively discussion, these questions invite you to delve deeper at your own pace. Supportive Activities: Discover exercises and gentle strategies designed to foster learning, personal growth, and emotional wellbeing. Build on your unique strengths and nurture a sense of self-understanding. By joining our community of paid subscribers, you’ll unlock practical tools to help you on your journey to understanding and embracing your neurodivergence.

3. 

   27 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Voices at the Margins: Podcasting as Neuroqueer Collaborative Autoethnography and Epistemic Healing

   This conversation forms part of a creative research contribution to Neurodiversity: Towards a Critical Turn in Neurodiversity Studies. It explores podcasting as a neurodivergent way of doing research — one that values voice, connection, and shared meaning. Through dialogue between seven neurodivergent podcasters, we will reflect on how podcasting helps us share knowledge differently: through conversation, emotion, and lived experience rather than traditional academic writing. You can read the journal article here: https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330261437265 Caitlin Hughes (she/they) is a queer, nonbinary, multi-exceptional Australian social worker, researcher, educator, and advocate. Late-identified as Autistic, ADHD, Gifted, and PDA, Caitlin co-hosts the Divergent Dialogues podcast and brings a lived experience-led perspective to their work. They are committed to fostering epistemic healing through relational ethics, narrative reclamation, and accessible, lived experience–driven knowledge creation. Sheldon Gay (he/him) is a Black Gifted speaker and podcast host of I Must Be BUG'N (Black Underrepresented/Unidentified Gifted and otherwise Neurodivergent). Sheldon is guided by the belief that learning to deeply and wholly Love oneSelf, cape and kryptonite, is the path to finding, creating, and maintaining Love everywhere we go. Marni Kammersell (she/her) is a American late-identified neurodivergent (Autistic, ADHD, PDA, gifted) parent of neurodivergent children. She is an educator, researcher, writer, and consultant, and co-hosts the PDA: Resistance and Resilience podcast. Marni is dedicated to honoring neurodivergent experience through relational, self-directed, and nervous-system-informed knowledge practices. bee mayhew (she/her) is a multiply neurodivergent (late-identified AuDHD, former gifted kid) writer, narrative collaborator, and communication coordinator for PDN Media. She co-hosts cosmic cheer squad podcast and has a background as a hospitality specialist and business owner. Bee’s work centers on collective narrative-building and neurodivergent storytelling through activist, community-rooted practice. Teena Mogler (she/her) is an Australian AuDHD social worker, researcher, educator, and advocate, as well as co-host of the Divergent Dialogues podcast. As a mother to neurodivergent children, Teena is passionate about amplifying neurodivergent voices and disrupting epistemic injustice through lived experience-led, neuroaffirming, and critically reflexive knowledge practices. Emma Nicholson (she/her) is a neurodivergent Australian Senior Business Analyst, creative and advocate, identifying as gifted, Dyscalculic, with all five overexcitabilities (psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional), as well as bisexual and Heathen. She co-hosts the Positive Disintegration Podcast and serves as Vice President of the Dąbrowski Center. She is driven by an unkillable passion to demystify positive disintegration and share hard-won truths to help others feel seen and supported. Chris Wells (they/them) is a multi-exceptional, nonbinary, and neurodivergent writer, podcaster, and developmental theorist specialising in Dąbrowski’s theory of positive disintegration. They co-host the Positive Disintegration, cosmic cheer squad, and PDA: Resistance and Resilience podcasts, and are the founding president of the Dąbrowski Center and co-creator of the Positive Disintegration Network. Chris brings lived experience and a deep commitment to reframing neurodivergence through a developmental and relational lens.

Who has been a guest on Divergent Dialogues

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Laetitia Andrac
• Michael Coles
• Jessica Fox
• Marni Kammersell

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

4,657,710,454

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

10 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 69 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

76

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

60

Contact Divergent Dialogues

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Divergent Dialogues