The Special Needs Mom Podcast
Episodes
297 episodes
I Don't Know What's Next: I Do Know I Need To Pause
This episode is a personal one. I’m sharing why I’m stepping back from the podcast for now and what it looks like to choose rest, even when it’s hard to let go.
What People Don’t Understand About This Life (Even When They Try) with Anika Atkins
This episode is a real-life conversation about what support actually looks like and where it still falls short for special needs moms. Kara and Anika talk about advocacy, friendship, community, and the quiet weight so many of us are still carry...
Learning to Live Inside the Life You Didn’t Choose with Joy Shaw
Transformation guide and stroke survivor Joy Shaw joins me to talk about healing through the lens of the hero’s journey and what it means to become the author of your own story. In this thoughtful conversation, we explore grief, witnessing pain...
The Hidden Cost of Being The Strong One
In this episode, Kara re-shares a deeply personal story about the aftermath of a medical crisis with her son and what she calls the “fallout zone” that follows survival mode. This conversation about the shadow side of strength is one many careg...
Digging Deep Without Trying Harder: A Different Kind of Healing with Erin Popp
What happens when everything you intellectually understand still doesn’t help you survive the hardest seasons of motherhood? In this episode, I talk with Erin Popp about complex grief, chronic uncertainty, and what it really means to dig deep w...
The Emotional Cycle of a Special Needs Mom
This episode explores the emotional stages many special needs moms move through, from survival and self-sacrifice to restoration and possibility. Kara shares a personal moment of heartbreak and why community changes everything.
Medical Mistakes, Ethical Repair, and How Caregivers Rebuild Trust with Anika Atkins
Ethics educator and special needs mom, Anika Atkins, joins me for a conversation about medical mistakes, ethical repair, and what it looks like to rebuild trust after hard experiences in the healthcare system. We talk about apologies, advocacy,...
The Power of Letting Be: Why Being Held in Community Changes Everything
In this episode, I reflect on the power of being held inside a safe community and what becomes possible when you stop trying to fix yourself. I share a moment from inside the Pathway to Peace ...
A Mindset That Can Handle Uncertainty: Learning How to Be Okay Even When You’re Not
A powerful reflection on uncertainty, resilience, and learning how to trust yourself in seasons where you cannot control the outcome. This episode explores what it really means to be okay even when life is not okay, and how to build a mindset t...
Permission to Not Be Great as a Special Needs Mom
You don’t need to be great right now you need permission to do what works. In this short episode, Kara shares why choosing the easiest path on purpose can be the most powerful decision you make in a hard season.👉
The Next Right Thing: How to Move Forward When You Feel Stuck with Misty Coy Snyder
Misty Coy Snyder shares how “the next right thing” helped her move forward after her son received a Down syndrome diagnosis. This episode is for the mom who feels stuck and needs one simple step forward.
How to Finally Organize Everything You Carry as a Special Needs Mom
Caregiving does not become overwhelming because we do not care. It becomes overwhelming because everything lives everywhere, and the mental load has nowhere to land.In this episode, Kara shares the system she built to organize medical in...
The Hidden Path to Feeling More Alive When Grief is Part of Your Story
Grief does not mean something is wrong with you. In this episode, I share why grief is part of the special needs parenting journey and how allowing it can quietly lead you back to feeling more alive.👉 Read the full show notes and refl...
Your Well Deserved Holiday Bonus
This episode is a small way of saying I see you and I appreciate you this holiday season.Read the full show notes and access your holiday gift he...
Reimagining Christmas When the One You Pictured Does Not Exist
There is often a version of Christmas we carry in our heads. Quiet. Cozy. Predictable. The kind that feels comforting but somehow never shows up in real life.In this episode, I talk about the grief that can surface when the Christmas you...
Your Gateway Drug to Self Compassion
This week I hit record while standing, which feels fitting because this episode has a little extra energy behind it. November was a lot for me — two ER visits for Levi, construction stress, holiday disruption, all the things. I sat down to prep...
The Challenging Story is Not The Only Story
This episode came from a simple morning walk and one very unexpected moment of wisdom from my teenage niece’s boyfriend. We spent Thanksgiving together and he shared something that stopped me in my tracks. It got me thinking about how the peopl...
Complex Gratitude
This Thanksgiving week, I’m keeping it simple and talking about complex gratitude. The kind that feels messy, honest, and actually doable for special needs moms.I share a story from the early days after Levi’s surgery, when gratit...
Coffee with Kara: Life Updates and Messy Realities
Today’s episode is a cozy, casual chat. The kind you’d have over coffee with someone who gets it. I almost skipped releasing an episode this week, but connecting with you truly matters to me, even when life feels full.I shared w...
Caring for Yourself When Behaviors Get Hard with Brittney Crabtree
This week, I’m back with my friend Brittney Crabtree from Moms Talk Autism for part two of our talk on behaviors that include aggression: physical, verbal, or self-directed.In this episode, we answer the big questi...
Punched at Parties with Brittney Crabtree
In this episode, I sat down with my friend Brittney Crabtree from Moms Talk Autism to talk about something few of us say out loud, aggression in our homes.Brittney shares what life looks like parenting her non-spea...
Why Fixing Feels So Heavy (and Acceptance Feels So Light) with Carrie Holt
This week, I invited my friend and returning guest Carrie M. Holt back to talk about something that every special needs mom wrestles with, the difference between fixing and accepting our children.We unpacked what those energies ...
Balancing Identities: Mother, Professional, Advocate, Woman with Cynthia Schulz
This week, I got to sit down with the wise and feisty Cynthia Schulz, author of Shine On: Raising Our Children with Disabilities to Lead Bright, Happy Lives. Cynthia’s daughter is now 40, and hearing from a mom who’s decades down the r...
Stepping Into Peace: The Power of One Hour a Week
Today’s episode is a little different. I’m pausing our regular programming to share something close to my heart: The Pathway to Peace Coaching Community.This podcast connects us week after week, and still, sometimes we need a spac...
