We’re on a mission to create EPIC families: Extraordinary Parents. Incredible Children.
Families with children (and potentially parents!) who have ADHD, Autism or sit along the neurodiverse spectrum...it's time to celebrate the power of thinking differently.
The EPIC Families Podcast gives neurodiverse families the certainty, clarity, and confidence to build EPIC relationships and live incredible lives through embracing - not fighting against - what makes them unique.
We deliver strength in neurodiversity by grabbing the information from experts who have it and giving it to the families who need it. Our focus is on real-life families and providing them with practical guidance, tools and support. We are proudly and boldly different - we focus on real, chaotic, messy family life, not perfect psychological scenarios and academic case studies.
No longer will neurodiverse families feel overlooked, misunderstood, confused, ignored, or forgotten. This is where we make a stand and prove to the world that neurodiversity is a superpower!
EPIC Families is delivered by Bay Paediatrics, New Zealand's leading child neurodevelopmental clinic. Discover more at: https://baypaediatrics.com/
The show is hosted by Freddie Bennett, a neurodivergent dad who conquered his mind and became a Guinness World Record holder, crossed the Sahara Desert, and ran the Arctic towards the North Pole. Now he’s on a mission to help every family understand that neurodivergence does not have to be a weakness…it can be your greatest strength.
You can also join the free EPIC Families community here (https://www.facebook.com/groups/epicfamiliescommunity). Get the support you need to build strength in neurodiversity. Be seen, be heard, and be YOU.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Come join Spencer and our amazing speakers at EPIC Families LIVE on August 16th: New Zealand’s biggest EVER event for Neurodiverse families! Info & tickets here (https://baypaediatrics.com/epic-families-live).
How a broken child can change the world.
At 15, Spencer McNeil tried to take his own life. He grew up in foster care, lost his stepdad at a young age, left school early, and was told by teachers he would never amount to anything. He believed every word.
Today he owns Barber Spence (https://barberspence.setmore.com/). He’s a mental health advocate changing lives. And at EPIC Families live, he will stand on a stage in front of 500 families and tell them something every parent of a neurodiverse child needs to hear.
In this episode, you'll hear:
📖 Spencer's extraordinary story: from a broken home and foster care to barbershop owner, mental health advocate, and keynote speaker.
🎓 Why the things teachers said to him as a child became the things he believed about himself..and the moment he decided to stop believing them.
❤️🩹 Why vulnerability is not weakness, and why the most powerful thing you can do is tell someone you're not okay.
💪 The concept of the broken man trying to heal broken men…and why you have to fill your own cup before you can fill anyone else's.
💤 What Spencer says to the parents lying awake at night wondering if they're doing enough.
🧠 Why the ADHD brain, channelled in the right direction, can genuinely take over the world.
💬 Why our darkest moments show us who our reals are 3am…and why reaching out is always the right move.
This is one of the most powerful, raw, and life-affirming conversations we have ever had on the EPIC Families Podcast. If you are a parent who has ever worried that your child is too broken, too different, too lost…Spencer McNeil is the proof that they are not.
The child you are worried about today could be the one who transforms a life tomorrow.
Follow Spencer on Instagram here (https://www.instagram.com/spencemcneil_/).
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EPIC Families is part of Bay Paediatrics, New Zealand’s leading child Neurodevelopmental clinic. We believe every family deserves to be an EPIC family with Extraordinary Parents and Incredible Children.
Discover more about our award-winning ADHD and ASD assessments, family therapy support, and our free tools and resources here: https://baypaediatrics.com/ (https://baypaediatrics.com/)
Join the free EPIC Families community here (https://www.facebook.com/groups/epicfamiliescommunity/). Be seen, be heard and discover strength in neurodiversity.
Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/baypaediatrics/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/baypaediatrics)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
4 Aug 2026
The Education Circuit-Breaker
Come meet Penelope and the awesome Crimson Global Academy team at EPIC Families LIVE on August 16th: New Zealand’s biggest EVER event for Neurodiverse families! More details here (https://baypaediatrics.com/epic-families-live).
What If School Was Built Around Your Child…Not the Other Way Around?
Every neurodiverse family knows the feeling: The phone calls from the teacher. The emails. The labels. The sense that your child is a square peg being forced into a very round hole. And the quiet, crushing belief that this is just how education works…and there are no other options.
Penelope Barton, CEO of Crimson Global Academy, is here to tell you that's a false assumption. And she's built an entire education system to prove it.
In this episode, you'll hear:
🏫 How Crimson Global Academy went from 20 students in 2020 to over 3,000 students studying across 70 countries — and why the timing of its launch was almost perfectly accidental.
🎓 Why something as simple as a scratchy school uniform was genuinely life-changing for one of their students…and what that tells us about the education system.
🧠 Why bespoke minds need bespoke education…and how the Academy is rebuilding every aspect of school from the ground up.
❤️🩹 The concept of "productive struggle" and why swooping in to save our kids from difficulty might actually be holding them back.
💡 Why the options available to neurodiverse families are so much wider than most parents realise.
💻 The hybrid model that's changing everything: Combining online learning with physical school days for the best of both worlds.
🎉 How education needs to be transformed.,,and why the incentive structures in our current system are fundamentally broken
Discover more about Crimson Global Academy and how they can transform your child’s learning here: https://www.crimsonglobalacademy.school/nz (https://www.crimsonglobalacademy.school/nz)
>>>>>>>>
EPIC Families is part of Bay Paediatrics, New Zealand’s leading child Neurodevelopmental clinic. We believe every family deserves to be an EPIC family with Extraordinary Parents and Incredible Children.
Discover more about our award-winning ADHD and ASD assessments, family therapy support, and our free tools and resources here: https://baypaediatrics.com/ (https://baypaediatrics.com/)
Join the free EPIC Families community here (https://www.facebook.com/groups/epicfamiliescommunity/). Be seen, be heard and discover strength in neurodiversity.
Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/baypaediatrics/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/baypaediatrics)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
29 Jul 2026
Real Radical Neurodiverse Parenting
Come join Sarah and our other amazing speakers at EPIC Families LIVE on August 16th: New Zealand’s biggest EVER event for Neurodiverse families! Grab your tickets here (https://baypaediatrics.com/epic-families-live).
Four kids. A growing food business. Twin nine-year-olds (one with ASD & ADHD, one with ASD). Two and a half years on a public waitlist with barely a phone call in between. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, finding a way to keep going, keep showing up, and keep filling everyone else's cup when yours is running dangerously low.
Sarah Gillum is a mum, an entrepreneur, and one of the most refreshingly honest voices we have had on the EPIC Families Podcast. And in this conversation, she holds nothing back.
In this episode, you'll hear:
🧠 How Sarah's twins went from a two-and-a-half-year public waitlist to finally getting the answers their family needed.
🔎 Why Evie's autism went unnoticed for so long…and what finally connected the dots.
❤️ How Sarah talks to her kids about their diagnoses…and why keeping it simple and positive was the right call for their family.
🏷️ Why the label matters less than the support it unlocks, and how to hold both truths at once.
🍰 What running Real Rad Food has taught Sarah about boundaries, burnout, and showing up as a regulated parent.
🎯 The hunter brain theory…and why neurodivergent kids might just be built for entrepreneurship.
🎉 Why confident, fulfilled parents are one of the greatest gifts we can give our children.
This is a conversation about the juggle, the guilt, the grace, and the moments when you realise that showing up imperfectly is still showing up. And sometimes that is more than enough.
Discover more about Sarah and Real Rad Food here: https://realradfood.co.nz/ (https://realradfood.co.nz/) and follow them on Instagram here (https://www.instagram.com/realradfood/)
>>>>>>>>
EPIC Families is part of Bay Paediatrics, New Zealand’s leading child Neurodevelopmental clinic. We believe every family deserves to be an EPIC family with Extraordinary Parents and Incredible Children.
Discover more about our award-winning ADHD and ASD assessments, family therapy support, and our free tools and resources here: https://baypaediatrics.com/ (https://baypaediatrics.com/)
Join the free EPIC Families community here (https://www.facebook.com/groups/epicfamiliescommunity/). Be seen, be heard and discover strength in neurodiversity.
Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/baypaediatrics/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/baypaediatrics)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Who has been a guest on EPIC Families
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Mary-Jane du Toit
Mary Woods
Jo Fallowfield
Reach and audience
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Spotify
5.0 / 5
10 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 38 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
57
Social presence
90
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
Contact EPIC Families
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