S2 Eps 7 From Rock Bottom To Bay Paediatrics with Freddie Bennett

I sit down with Freddie Bennett to talk about what happens when the “indestructible” version of you takes a hit and you’re forced to rebuild from the inside out. The conversation moves from grief and late ADHD diagnosis to the real-world systems Kiwi families need for clear, credible child neurodevelopment support. 

https://baypaediatrics.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thefreddiebennett/

• a torn bicep as a wake-up call about fragility and identity 
• growing up in chaos and chasing “normal” through status and stability 
• masking, burnout and the pressure-cooker effect of hiding traits 
• ADHD being suggested during breakdowns and the cost of late diagnosis 
• grief after a sudden death and the spiral into rock bottom 
• the “strong enough why” behind lasting health and behaviour change 
• building Bay Pediatrics in Tauranga, New Zealand after years of waiting and confusion as parents 
• how we split clinical care and business leadership in a family-run clinic 
• why we push back on unqualified “ADHD coach” advice 
• Illuminate as a two-part ADHD assessment with objective digital screening 
• why ADHD diagnoses seem to be rising and the genetics plus lifestyle view 
• sleep as a major factor that can mimic ADHD symptoms 
• screen time as a possible regulation tool for neurodivergent kids 
• ambition, burnout risk and reframing neurodiversity beyond clichés 
• what’s next: Epic Families Live and the 300 km Amazon challenge 

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Transcript

Welcome And What We Stand For

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The Bolton Ink Effect.

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Hey there, I'm Louis. And I'm Bridget. Welcome to the Bolton Ink Effect Podcast, where we are navigating new horizons.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Each week we're pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to build something remarkable, a business, a life, and a legacy.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

So join us as we share honest conversations about relationship, entrepreneurship, video production, and the art of building a life together in a new land.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Because sometimes the biggest risks lead to the greatest rewards. How can we help? Can I ask you a question? Bolton Inc Effect.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

Welcome back to the Bolton Inc Effect podcast where I'm your host, Louie Bolton, and today is a big day for me because I am sitting opposite someone who has done epic, epic stuff. And I am very, very honored, slightly nervous to be here, but I have Freddie Bennett in the studio with me. Freddie, welcome to the studio.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Thank you. Great to be here. I was about to look behind me. I'll be like, who is opposite you?

SPEAKER_03 1:03

And then um and then here I am. You're it, you're it, Freddie. So listen, first of all, thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much for making the time to come here. I have so much to ask you. But before I get into that, who is Freddie? Freddie is the managing director of Bay Pediatrics Child Neurodevelopmental Clinic. He's an ADHD advocate, he's an adventurer, and he's a Guinness World Record holder as well. We'll touch on some of that, but uh let's find out a little bit more

The Bicep Injury And Being Human

SPEAKER_03 1:34

about Freddie. But the first question I've got for you is Freddie, how's your bicep?

SPEAKER_02 1:39

My bicep, that was a uh unfortunate incident. I did uh I tore my bicep in uh just before Christmas.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

I don't even want to know what that must feel like.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Uh it hurt, definitely. I was uh I was basically still thinking that I was about 20 years old, playing fiver-side football here in Beautiful Matua in Ferguson Park, final game of the season, dressed as Father Christmas, thinking I was looking pretty cool, uh, until the ball came, stuck out my hand, bicep went ping, and uh, and then yeah, the the rest is is history and trips to emergency departments and everything, but it's on the mend. I've heard all of the jokes about how I am uh recuperating my bicep and uh and I'm just trying to recover as hard as I can as often as I can, to be honest.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

Did you find that when that happened, knowing the knowing the bit that I know about you and what what you've achieved and and and what you've done in your life, did that frighten you? Did that how did that make you feel when you realised that you are fallible?

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Not very good, to be honest. Um I was with my son at the time, and I'm I'm a fairly open book. I'm happy to say that I kind of I got a bit tearful and a bit upset, and um, and this grief came over me, which is pretty embarrassing when you're playing five-aside football with a bunch of guys on a Thursday night and your son, your 13-year-old son is watching you. And he was upset because he saw me upset, because I, in the past, have prided myself on being this kind of indestructible, all go, no quit, hit the gas pedal, I'll do anything kind of guy. And it's such a cliche, isn't it? One minute you're living your best life, dressed as Father Christmas, having a beer on a football pitch, playing football. The next minute you're on your knees in agony. And um, it was a reminder, again, firstly, that I'm not 20 anymore, but secondly, that I am human, I am fallible, I am fragile, and literally, you know, wrong place, wrong time, wrong second, and then all of a sudden the next five, six months isn't the way that you think it's gonna be. And I went from thinking about Christmas shopping and holidays to hospitals and surgery and painkillers and all these sorts of things. So, yeah, to be honest, I hated it. I it felt like I'd finally found at the age of 44 a chink in my armor. And um, I didn't like being reminded that I am in fact human and infallible.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

So how so how yeah, I mean, there's so much to unpack there, but uh, we won't go into the it's not about biceps, people. Promise you, it's not about biceps. But but yeah, it's uh it's definitely a wake-up call. Let me rephrase that. It's a privilege getting older. Because you realise what you've got, and you realise, I realized in my younger years just how indestructible I thought I was. And you know, there's that old cliche that the youth is wasted on the youth.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

But having said that, you've certainly made up for it really in terms of what you've done and what you've achieved. I mean, you know, you've run across the desert, you've run in the Arctic, you trained unbelievably manically, you know, for 18 months to run over 300 kilometers. And then, you know, to have an injury like that, you know that that will kind of stop your normal routine. Does that mess with your head at all? Does that play a part in in redefining who you are and like how you move forward in terms of more measured, or do you still put that that pedal to the metal?

SPEAKER_02 5:21

It's a tricky one. The funny thing is, like, after because I I pride myself on on say in in the what I call the the new me. I had the old me, which I'm sure we'll touch on, which was very uh which was very unhealthy, unfit, very the the absolute uh opposite of health and of wholesome, fresh, and healthy. Um the new me, I was saying great, fit, healthy, indestructible. The funny thing was I got this injury, and then I got another one, and then I got another one, and then I got another one. And it's almost kind of like, you know, the opposite of the four-minute mile. Yeah. Where everyone said that can never be broken. No one can run a four-minute mile. And then Sir Roger Bannister did it, and then after that, the records kept tumbling and tumbling and tumbling. Amazing. Yep. This was the opposite. I got one injury, and then another and another, and for the first time in my life, that that pathway back, that road to recovery from where I am to where I want to be, this was the first time when I thought, you know what, I don't think I can do this again. I think, you know what, I'm saying I'm 44. Now, now's maybe the time to settle, to do all the things that I hate doing. Be more reasonable, lower my expectations, settle down, take it easy, just kind of go into that life that society wants me to go in, which is Netflix, beers, no change, fully comfortable, no discomfort in my life. And this was the first time when I was like, you know what, I've had a good run, literally, in some cases. Now it's time just to just to be the middle-aged dad who's got the beer belly and a stress problem and a heart problem and a blood pressure problem, and just turn into that kind of life. And then I thought, I just can't do it because I always believe that everyday people can do extraordinary things. And that's kind of my mission, really, to prove that anyone, whether they're five, fifty, eighty-five, can still do extraordinary things.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Can I ask you a question about um your your parents? I mean, you grew up in England.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

Um, I know your father passed away, and your mom, your mom's still around. For me, looking at my dad, he wasn't necessarily the most sporty of men, but he was active. He did look after himself as well as he could. But I always remember him, he had a beer belly. And I remember growing up, especially when I was in my teenage years, and I looked at him and I thought, I never want a beer belly. And it was such a weird kind of um thing to take on as a child or as a as a teenager, going, I don't know what that looks like, I don't know how I'm going to avoid it. Um he wasn't a heavy drinker by any stretch of the imagination, he just had a beer belly.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:10

But I didn't want one. I didn't like it, I didn't w like the way he looked. And I love you, Dad. But I and I've just and I've always tried to not have one. Was there something in your dad that's and it you you don't have to answer this, but was there something that was he sporty? Did did did he give you that kind of drive or your mom? I I know there's a reason why you did what you did, which we'll unpack in a second. But what influence did your folks have on you in terms of that drive to be the best that you could be all the time?

SPEAKER_02 8:43

It's uh it's a great question, it's an interesting one. I mean, look, my my uh you could say that my dad was active. He um, you know, he he was active with his friends every night. He hung out with Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker every single night. And he uh he walked to the shops every day to buy cigarettes. So I guess in a way he was active. Um I'm being prestigious, but um he he wasn't active. Um we we didn't have that kind of relation, you know, we didn't have the kind of father-son go and watch the football together, going for a kick-around in the park. He he was a man of many talents, he was a creative genius, but I wouldn't call him active. But I would say, I think, as the I get it, but this is kind of the the new me part of my life, um the the chaos of my upbringing led me to, I believe, build resilience and be able to be comfortable with discomfort. And it's been said before that the chaos is my comfort zone. And I I will now create that chaos um if I'm feeling too comfortable, which can be a strength, it can be a weakness. So I will be a sword, isn't it? It is, definitely, and it's you know, it's funny you call it a sword. Um I call it your edge. And um your your edge can cut you if you're not careful, but if you've got no edge, then you're too well rounded.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Freddie, I I've just recently been on a men's retreat a couple of weeks ago. Nice with a um a brotherhood of men, and it's not an us and them thing, it's called the bros, bros.n.nz, the brothers, and I'll tell you, and they and there's a um to your point about the sword and keeping your edge sharp, is they talk about the axe of keeping the axe edge sharp. In order for you to actually show up as the best version of yourself, and I'm gonna rephrase that and use eye language, in order for me to show up the best version for myself, because I feel that if I can show up the best version of myself, by default, those around me will be will improve and I can live them up. So that keeping that edge, you know, they call about chop wood, carry water, keeping that edge sharp. And I love that because it's a motto and it's something that I can strive towards in my later years now. I'm not old by any stretch of the major.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

I think we're 35.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

You can stay, mate. You can stay. But yeah, I I I what there's so much I still want to do. There's so much I still want to achieve. I mean, you've achieved a lot, you've done a lot, and you st there's still so much that you want to achieve and do. Let's just touch on very quickly on um the previous version of of Freddie.

Chaos Childhood And The Mask

SPEAKER_03 11:28

And folks, I'm not gonna delve into it too much. If you want to go and find out about it, there's plenty of information out there um where you can find that. But you grew up in England, you you you you got the job, you got the car, you got the job, you got the wife, you got the kids, but you were unhappy, unhappy as.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah. Hey? Definitely.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

All right, so just let's just touch on that. Like, how did you get to that and what was the and what was that single uh point of change, and then we'll get into the good the fun stuff.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Definitely, yeah, it's it's all fun, just different kind of fun. Um sure. I suppose to carry on your uh your story around my parents, I had a very chaotic upbringing. Um you know uh parents were separating, getting back together, separating all the time. Neither of my parents had you know proper jobs as you'd call it. So uh money came in through various legal and illegal ways. So some days were good, some days we had debt collectors knocking on the door. And um I said to myself from a very young age, I do not want this life.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

How old would you have been when you kind of remember that to yourself?

SPEAKER_02 12:32

I would have been around nine, ten years old. That's pretty young. Yeah, definitely. And I think again, that's why I think I bought my resilience. I remember kind of I would have walked home. I'm an only child. I've got a half older half-brother and sister, but I'm kind of we're not we're not connected. So I think of myself as an only child.

SPEAKER_03 12:47

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

I remember that feeling of dread walking home from school, kind of like happy, happy, happy. Then you turn the corner and see the house, and then your heart just drops. And I would lie in my bedroom every night, hearing my parents arguing and screaming and shouting and fighting. I just said to myself, I am not gonna have this life. And that led me to, yeah, I was the first person in my family to go to university, the first person in my family to have a proper job. All I wanted at that time was what I would call, I call it the normal people's club. I wanted to be part of the normal people's club. I wanted to- not have bet. No, I wanted a normal job, normal house, normal salary, landing my bank account where I knew it was going to arrive, that safety, that stability, that normality, that's what I thought I wanted. And I was willing to do anything to get it. I was even willing to be someone that I wasn't actually. And we talk about the edge. I was willing to dull my edge, hide my edge, put a mask over my edge, do anything that I had to do, enable to create this what many parts of society would call success with a prestigious job, big corporation, traveling the world, expense accounts, as you say, nice cars, nice watches. Not kind of, you know. Yeah, so from the outside, perfect life. Yeah. In many ways. Yeah, I wasn't, you know, we weren't talking like MTV cribs. I wasn't kind of like rolling around and bent things. All the clocks were chicked. Yeah, I was kind of in this place when, you know, I could, I could buy crunchy nutcorn flakes and not be like, ooh, you know, maybe I should just go for the stuff at the bottom of the shelf. And um, you know, you could go for a coffee and not be thinking, oh, I should probably get a small, not a large. Because when I was growing up, well, we didn't even go for coffees. It was kind of, it was, it was, you know, make make your own stuff. And and it was it was that instability, that's what I hated of not knowing, you know, we can't afford it, we can't afford it, we can't afford it. That was the the soundtrack to my life. And I just wanted to never say to my kids, We can't afford it. Yeah, I didn't, yeah, I didn't want mansions, I didn't want business class flights, I just wanted to, if my kids wanted a slice of cake to not say we can't afford it. And in my twenties, I achieved that goal, but as you say, it came at a price because I lost myself because I believed that I could not be successful in in society's terms, while being the true authentic version of myself. And the more I tried to hide myself, uh it's like it's like putting a lid on a pressure cooker. That shit's gonna come out sideways if you don't let it release. And that's what happened with me. And I found myself, as I say, early 30s, externally successful, internally, one bad decision from either killing myself, quite frankly, either intentionally or unintentionally.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

Yeah. That edge that was blunted or masked. Um what was the catalyst for change then? What was the catalyst? And I mean, and you have spoken about this, but just for the audience here that have not necess necessarily listened to you, what was the catalyst for that change? And on top of that, very your diagnosis when when you because this is where we're gonna get into the pediatrics part of it, how did that change your life?

ADHD Clues Grief And Rock Bottom

SPEAKER_02 16:09

It's a good question. I mean, my my ADHD diagnosis was it was first suggested um when I had my first breakdown, which was around 2014. Kind of my my son was uh my my elder son was a couple of years old. I I couldn't cope. I was trying to, I always had I was a six-figure earner, I wasn't being a six-figure husband, I wasn't a six-figure father, I wasn't a six-figure son, I wasn't a six-figure friend. Um, I was trying to be everything to everyone, and that caused me to burn out, stress out, crash out. Um I did everything that guys are supposed to do. I put my hand up, I asked for help, I talked to someone, I got the therapy, got the counselling. Um along that, that was when ADHD was first suggested to me.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

Okay, so that's roughly around 2014. Yes, around then.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

And um I kind of I wasn't really listening. I was, again, maybe it's the male version. I was there thinking, there's something in my head that's broken. Give me what I need to do to fix it so I can go back on the road. And I didn't fix it, I learned to hide it even better. And so I carried on, because it's it's hard asking for help the first time, asking for help the second time when you're supposed to be fixed feels almost impossible. And I carried on, um, just trying to live this life that was seemingly normal but chaotic under the surface. And then one day my dad died very suddenly. I was at work, probably quite hungover, um, doing the whole kind of like you know, works of a deal, like stumped at your desk, like just tapping away. Wait, is it five o'clock yet? Just, oh come on, almost five o'clock. Uh the phone rang. Um, yeah, long story short, your dad's in hospital. I'd jump in my car straight from work, 300 kilometres, get to hospital, and it's the the day that we all hear about, but we hope doesn't help, uh we hope doesn't happen to us. It's you're having a normal lunchtime by dinner time. I kissed my dad on the forehead and I watched him die. And it gave me a crash course in in life being precious and and life being short. I know that's a cliche, but that morning my dad didn't know he was gonna die. He was having a normal morning. And um, I always think there would have been a moment, kind of that afternoon, when he would have thought, like, oh shit, time's up. Yeah. I'm like, what regrets did he have? What were all those things that he never did? What were the conversations he never had? What were the places he never saw? What were the things he never did? And fast forward six months, because the six months immediately after his death, I said, you know what, life is short, so I am gonna have that fifth to key with her on a Tuesday night. I tore the arse out of it. I partied more, I drank more, I did more stupid shit, I was angry at the world, I was on this path to destruction because I just thought, what's the point? If my dad can just die, um, I might as well live every single day. Fully to the eighth degree. I went too far. This wasn't kind of enjoying sunsets, like I say, this was drinking a bottle of occur on a Tuesday night because why not? Life is short. And um then one morning after those those six months of of partying, I did wake up and and they call it rock bottom, but that's where I was. Um yeah, I literally woke up in a horrible hotel room. Um, I'd missed work, I had loads of missed calls on my phone. I kind of stumbled to the bathroom, just like kicking these empty, like these miniature bottles out the way. And I saw this guy in the mirror, and he looked like a monster. I didn't recognise him.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

Yeah, I was like really fritty. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

Literally looking at yourself in the mirror, going, Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

I was like, who is this guy? I was like, the pale skin, the like, you know, I was like horrible, like this grey, baggy old man boxer shorts, and like this pale skin and this bare belly, and like these chipped yellow, my whole teeth, my chipped yellow nicotine-stained teeth, these bloodshot eyes. And I was just like, this isn't the way it's supposed to go. And I was like, what happened? That guy with all the hopes, all the dreams, all the energy, all the excitement. I was like, what happened to that guy? This isn't the way your life is supposed to go, Freddie. And then I realized kind of all these things that I wanted in my life, and I don't mean like these material things, I mean the confidence and the happiness and the love and the experiencing the world. If I want all these things that I've never had before, I need to do the things I'd never done before, which was getting my life on track seriously in terms of my health, my fitness, my drinking, my partying, all of it. I was always looking to the world for an external fix, be that a positive fix or a negative fix. But I knew that I wouldn't create long-lasting change unless I changed myself. And that was the moment when I said, I need to do this for me. And I in, especially in the sobriety world, they they talk about having a strong enough why. He who has he or she who has a big enough why can endure anyhow. And when I had a big enough why, this life that I wanted, this person I wanted to be, that's when I knew I could make the changes I had to make. Because in the past, yeah, every every Sunday night, we all do, every Sunday night. Yeah, I was just like, I'm doing it because I'm supposed to, or because I'm being told to, or because my boss, because HR telling me to, all these things, I wasn't doing it for me. This was the first time when I thought, if I want to be the man, the father, the person who I want to be, now I need to start making these changes. And that was uh was was the the way forward. And I always say in life, no matter how many times you've fallen, failed, messed up, screwed up, fucked up, no matter how many times you've Lost, no matter how many times you've stumbled, you only need to get it right once. Then then everything changes, then you win. And that was the one time, one of the few times in my life when it actually stuck. And I made those changes.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

I I I took my hat to you for you because I think a lot of the time, you know, I look in the mirror and I'm going, you know, there's there's a lot that I want to do, there's a lot that I want to achieve, and to hit rock bottom at that at that moment in your life, like you say, you look at you look at yourself in the mirror and you don't even recognize that version of that person looking back at you is is there's a there's a self-awareness piece there, which I think is very important to recognise as well. Of going that I am infallible, that I have hit rock bottom and it's up to me. No one else is gonna do it. Not my wife, not my children, not my friends, no one. It's up to me. I would still be curious one day to have a chat to you about what that looked like in terms of a feeling if there was something outside you that actually made that change happen because the version of yourself now is very different to that version. But we could go on and on and on about this, and there's so much that I want to explore. So I'm going to move a little bit forward now and go into these questions that I've kind of got for you with that context and that history in in mind, is that I mean you changed

Building Bay Pediatrics From Scratch

SPEAKER_03 23:28

your life. I mean, you you were a business coach, um, you were a communication strategist before you co-founded the pediatric clinic. Freddie, what did you know about healthcare industry before starting Bay Pediatrics? And and what were the things that that you didn't know that actually nearly broke you to get, you know, that in this um what I know about healthcare?

SPEAKER_02 23:52

I uh I had a great experience being uh being a patient. I uh yeah, I I put myself at ED a lot. I yeah, had many conversations with doctors, psychiatrists, counsellors, therapists. Being on the other side of the table was something new to me. And I suppose that the story of of Bay Pediatrics, because as you mentioned, I I went through my own ADHD diagnosis and you kind of we fast forward a few years and ADHD. That would have been that would have been in England. Uh so I had my original diagnosis in England, I had my my medicated diagnosis uh here in New Zealand.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

Okay, so just so just for the timeline's sake, so that was in England. So you you folks got here in 2020.

unknown 24:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

You could take this in the in the time of COVID, but so you got your second your real diagnosis here. Okay, cool. So now you're sitting on the other side of the healthcare system.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Yeah. Thank you. And along the way, as I say, my my son, my youngest son, he'd been through the healthcare system uh for an ADHD diagnosis as well. And again, as a parent, you kind of, you know, I call it the awakening, that that moment when you think, my son's or my child's a little bit different. Okay. And okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

What does that look like, Freddie? And um, because for me, I've never been through that. So essentially, how long was that period of time? And what did that awakening kind of look like when you realised, oh shit, there's something not quite right here?

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Uh, my uh I think it was a it was a couple of years that we actually waited for a diagnosis.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

Okay, so it's a couple of years. We're not talking months or nights.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

A couple of years. Cheap. And uh that's a couple of years of uh my son struggling. And that gradual realization that we're not getting the party invites, we're not getting the sleepover invites, we're not getting the play dates, my son's getting into trouble in class, all these things. And he was that old? Uh he was um around eight years old when they started. So um so he was struggling, and we put it down to it's a new country, it's a new way of life, all these things. Then time goes on and you think, no, there's there's something happening here. And there's this gradual realization that my son's different. And as a parent, you get the guilt and the shame and the overwhelm. And then you feel guilty or guiltier because you kind of you end up thinking, hang on, I didn't I didn't sign up for this. I signed up, I signed up for the the child who was fun and popular and everything, yeah, and everything in life was easy. And um and it can it could be a bombshell to learn that, and then it's almost like the the the second blast comes in of the guilt and the shame around I shouldn't be feeling like this, and then you think, what have I done wrong as a parent? What have you known, what book haven't I read? What strategy haven't I done? Is it me? Is it my upbringing? Am I too soft? Am I too strict? Uh do I talk too much? Do I talk too little? All these things go around your head. So we're waiting for years for these answers and uh you know, hopefully that the solution to our troubles. It didn't come. Then, as I say, like many parents in of our neurodivergent kids do, you kind of you look at look at the criteria and the symptoms and the signs of ADHD, and you think, well, this just sounded quite familiar. Um, mate, could I have ADHD? And obviously, I'd gone on this journey already, but again, I thought I could manage it.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

So there were similarities going through the process, watching your son go through this process, going, hang on a second, this is ringing a bell for you.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Definitely. And I think in the back of my mind, there was probably some fear with his diagnosis pathway. And I have to be honest, I looked at my life and my life as a child and my life as a teenager and my life growing up as an adult, and I didn't want him to have my life. Because I was undiagnosed uh for 35 years, and for a big part of my life, that was 35 years, when I couldn't be me, I didn't know how to be me, I didn't give myself permission to be me. I did not want my son to have that life. I wanted to give him the gift of a future which was truly authentic, where he could truly lean into, embrace, and love who he was. And I hoped by giving him the opportunity for that ADHD diagnosis, he could have that. And he finally got it. And then I thought, well, you know what, in my own ADHD way, I think I can do this better. I think I can, uh I think I can, I didn't want, that's why I started Bay Pediatrics, effectively. Okay. I didn't want families to suffer like like we had. I didn't want children to suffer like I had. And with with very little money and very little planning and uh a hell of a lot of hope and a pinch of confidence, uh, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna back myself here and I'm gonna go all in and just go on this journey. And I I heard this phrase from a film once, and it was sometimes all you need is 30 seconds of courage. All you need is 30 seconds of true, insane courage to make that one decision that changes the course of your life. And it did. And I hope it did, I hope it's doing that different.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

It's doing it pretty. I think I think you need to stop saying I hope, and I think you need to stop saying my dream or whatever, because you're doing it. I'm living it. Certainly want to be living it. And it feels like the I know you've got a lot to do, but but just from someone who's watching from the outside, you're doing it. Well, that's good to know, definitely. It would be remiss of me not to talk about your partner who is in Bay Pediatrics with you.

Working With Your Partner Under Pressure

SPEAKER_03 29:26

You're not a doctor, your partner is. Can we just talk about what that looked like and what that journey was for you to get to the point where you started Bay Pediatrics with your wife?

SPEAKER_02 29:37

It was a challenging journey. Definitely. Um, I think from the Bay Pediatrics perspective, in in some ways it works really well because she is an amazing doctor, she's an amazing developmental pediatrician. Uh, I would say the best in New Zealand. She I'm very good at praising other people, just not myself, you see. Um yeah, she would be she's very modest, but I would I would say the best of what she does in New Zealand. You know, there's only one New Zealand pediatrician who got invited to speak at the ADHD World Summit in Prague, and that was her. And so she brings that medical um knowledge and expertise to help families and children every day.

SPEAKER_03 30:19

Did you have to convince her to go on this journey, or did was it a mutual was it a mutual discussion?

SPEAKER_02 30:27

I think we both reached a conclusion at the same time. Based on your on your son's diagnosis. Definitely. I think we both we're both very purpose-driven and we both feel that more can be done to help Kiwi families, which is ultimately where you know why why we do this. And in some ways, it's kind of the the right answer is the balance because I come at things from the very ADHD, screw it, let's do it, let's take the risk, let's take the leap, let's go. Yeah, she comes at it from a very academic, medical, risk-averse point of view. It's almost like we have a phrase um with ADHD around um the ADHD brain has got a Ferrari engine and BMX brakes. Um, I'm probably the Ferrari engine, she's the Ferrari brakes. Okay. Um I'm very good at hitting the gas pedal, she's very good at hitting the brakes.

SPEAKER_03 31:18

So it's complementary in some ways. So so that so it's interesting then, for you. So, how do you navigate a disagreement when you're both the boss at home and at work? And then, like, I mean, what's that taught you about like neurodiversity and relationships?

SPEAKER_02 31:35

Um again, uh, chaos is my comfort zone. We uh we try and and uh and from a business and logistical point of view, we are quite good at splitting things in the clinic. I am I have a massive aversion, and I'm not afraid to say this, to the self-styled ADHD neurodevelopmental coaches who uh did a weekend course, printed off their certificate, and now they claim to be some expert in helping families and especially taking families' money for giving them advice and guidance. Do you think they're doing more harm than good? Yes, 100%. Um, I think um I always say when you wouldn't if you whether you want to, you know, fix your house, your car, your bike, your eyes, your teeth, uh, your your anything in life, you want the best expert to do it. Why would it not be the case for your children's life? This is no different. Yeah, exactly. So um I would never proclaim I would never proclaim to be uh a medical expert, clinical expert, you know that. So she looks after the medical side, I look after the business side. So what we kind of say is if you think of our, you know, we have our clinic now, the New Zealand Neurodiversity Centre of Excellence. It's my job to bring patients to the front door. As soon as they walk through the front door of the clinic, that's her job. She leads that side, I lead the business and the marketing side. And I think my role, I wouldn't call myself an expert, I'd call myself uh an advocate and a parent who's maybe a couple of steps ahead from other some parents just because I've revealed so much and lived it and had to learn some hard lessons along the way. But yeah, everything that we do in terms of our podcast, our events, our training, I love what we do and I believe it's unique because we take all of this medical expertise, this neurodevelopmental expertise, the psychological expertise, the psychiatrists, the pediatricians. We take all of that amazing world-class expertise, but then I put the lens of a parent who hasn't got a clue on it. And again, when I was a dad who was struggling, I was, you know, you get Dr. Google, and then these doctors who say this stuff I don't understand, and then someone else is saying something else, and this book says that. And I just felt dumb and stupid.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Yeah, almost deeper into that.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Yeah, and a failure. So that's what we say. We take all this world-class knowledge, and it's my job to say, right, I'm a parent who hasn't got a freaking clue. I just know that I feel like a failure most of the time. How do I take that and turn it into something that can really help? And that's kind of what what my job is. Well, yeah, Sarah and the team, they they deliver the best um ADHD and autism assessments in New Zealand and the aftercare and the medication and everything that comes with that. And I I've learned very early on the best thing I can do as the managing director of A Pediatrics is give them space and let them do what they do best.

SPEAKER_03 34:38

Just on that.

Illuminate And Objective ADHD Testing

SPEAKER_03 34:40

It took you a long time to get diagnosed with your ADHD diagnosis, and you witnessed your son go through it when you realised there was something different. I came across the word illuminate, the illuminate um procedure, which takes it down almost to like seven days. Can we talk a little bit about that just to give folks out there a bit of context of what is actually possible for them?

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Yeah, absolutely. So our child ADHD assessment is called ADHD Illuminate because effectively we want to shine a light on ADHD and on what's happening in a child's brain. I know, again, as a parent, it could be confusing. Sometimes you're not there as a parent saying, Well, yes, hello, I'd like to come for an ADHD assessment, please, and we'd like to go through this step and this step and this step, and then we'll go forward. As a parent, you're just saying, shit, help me. I don't know what's going on, but I need some answers here. Yeah, we talk about clarity, certainty, and confidence at Bay Pediatrics. Illuminate is what I believe to be the difference and the leading ADHD assessment in New Zealand. I'll I'll try and kind of keep the science short. First thing we do at Bay Pediatrics is we will we will review and screen any child who comes through our door for free. Um yeah, we are a private clinic. Parents were saying, look, I don't know, is it ADHD? Is it autism? Is it dyslexia? Is it something else? We don't know. Um parent comes to our door or through our website, we'll send them out some forms to complete. Forms for parents, forms for teachers. We receive those forms back. Our uh pediatricians and psychiatrists will review that information for free, and then we go back to the parent and we say, okay, we recommend an ADHD assessment. We recommend an autism assessment. Sometimes, you know, you get parents saying, it's definitely ADHD. Google told me it's ADHD, or this Facebook group told me it's autism. Our doctors take a look and we say, you know what? It actually looks like your child's sleep is terrible. Poor sleep shows up very similar to ADHD. Dyslexia shows up very similar to ADHD. Okay. We will not allow any family to invest time and money in any assessment before we've given it the green light. Um, again, as parents who spent way too much money on this stuff, I don't want anyone paying if it's not the right thing for them.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

If they get through, you know, we say, okay, ADHD, we think, let's all move forwards on this pathway. Illuminate is a two-part assessment. You've got uh the deep dive consultation, which is the child, the parents, the pediatrician, or the psychiatrist, because we've got both. Um, yeah, that's really the deep dive understanding what's happening for the child in home, in school. It's a 90-minute consultation.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

The game changer is our digital ADHD screening tool. Um, we actually bought this technology into New Zealand. It's been used in Tauranga Hospital in the public system, and we are the only clinic in the in New Zealand currently, the only private children's clinic who use it for our assessments. Anywhere else you go in New Zealand, whether it's public or private, if you go on this ADHD assessment pathway, they will give you a load of forms to fill in. Usually, we're here in 2026. The forward-looking uh public system will give you usually some paper forms and a pen and say, go and fill these out. Forms for parents, forms for teachers. All these questions, you know, is your child, does your child move a lot? Do they talk a lot? Do they run around as if driven by a motor? It's all based on people's opinions. They fill out the forms, they either email them back, send them back. The forms get reviewed. That takes a long time. Oh, this is this is why the the public system has got wait lists of of years in, because it takes so long. So, and again, let's let's break that down into all this this form filling. So, firstly, it's long, it's slow, it's expensive. We know, because the research tells us, and as I know, if you've got a child with ADHD, you're probably more than likely going to have at least one parent with ADHD, uh, or at least undiagnosed ADHD. Okay. So remembering to fill out forms, remembering where you put the forms, remembering to send the forms back, it ain't a strong point. I've got stuff in my fridge from two years ago that I should have sent back to my child's school. Um, so returning those forms isn't going to be a strong point, especially if a child comes from a more of a chaotic household. Yes. Then let's say that the dad uh the child's got a parent, and sorry, but it's in my experience, it's always the dad who says, they haven't got ADHD, they just need some discipline. Or I was like this when I was growing up, or ah no, ADHD is made up. So they're gonna score that form, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Or let's go say a teacher. The teacher fills out their form and they say, Oh, this kid's from a bad family, or this kid's got an uncle who's in prison, or this kid's dad's in a gang, they haven't got ADHD, they're just naughty, they're just lazy, they're just disruptive. So they're gonna score their form, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Those forms go back, they review them and they say, Oh, you know what? I don't see any problem here because all of these opinions. It is, and this is the way all private clinics are running apart from ours, or the public system, and it kills me because one thing we say, as a child, once you have got a diagnosis of ADHD or autism, that diagnosis will stay with you for the rest of your life, whether you like it or not. And we are basing these lifelong decisions and potentially putting them on really hardcore medication. I was gonna say, this, it's multi-layered, isn't it? Definitely. But all of these decisions are based on people's thoughts and opinions. Sure. And it's very, very subjective. What we do with with the Illuminate Assessment, we still do the paperwork, but the cherry on top is this fully objective screening tool. It's an online screening assessment. We the child thinks they're playing a computer game.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

Yes, it's actually to do with the child itself. Yes, the child's objective.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

The child itself is is running the the online assessment, it's testing for three things um hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and inattentiveness, which is the three main kind of aspects of ADA. And the age group there? Uh we run it from uh from six years old up to 17. Okay, cool. Uh the assessment, it's fast, it's cheaper than the public system, and it's truly objective because we will the child will be uh sitting the test. We're also tracking things like their eye movements, their head movements. So again, if you're a child and you're very distracted and you're playing a very boring computer game in your mind, you're gonna be looking around and kind of like kicking the chair movements, tracking their eye movements. So again, if you haven't got ADHD, you're focused, you're looking. And I've done this this test myself, my son's done it. The most boring thing in the world if you've got ADHD, you've got to be all over the place. Um, we get their scores and then we compare their scores to a child of the same age and the same gender without ADHD. Okay. So we can literally say, your child is here in the red, a child the same age and eight and gender without ADHD is here in the green. So the word prove is a is a is a difficult word to say in the medical world, but we can But it gives you an idea of where the child is based on what normal should be. So we can show that, like the the data, the one page, all the graphs, we can show that to the dad who doesn't believe in ADHD, we can show that to the teacher who says this child's just naughty. And it's this truly objective measure. And we can run this for any child, we can show the data behind it, we can get a child on medication and then run the test again. Because otherwise, again, exactly in the public system, you put a child on medication. How do we know if it's working? We're gonna send you the forms again.

SPEAKER_03 42:41

It's the equivalent of replicate the process with it. Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

I always say it's the equivalent of imagine you were going on a health and fitness journey, but the only way that you knew whether it was working or not was if you had to give a questionnaire to all your friends and family and say, Do I look fitter? Do I look thinner? Do I look healthier? That's the old way. Our way is a 3D body scan. That's purely the difference between it. And what we can do is we can give parents, again, that certainty, that clarity, and confidence that we're giving them the right answers, the right treatment, and the right pathway for the future, and we can show them whether it's working or not. Okay.

Why Diagnoses Rise And What Drives It

SPEAKER_03 43:19

There seems to be a lot more ADHD and neurodivergence diagnoses over the last couple of years. Is that true, first of all? And in your mind, having experienced this and and working at and founding Bay Pediatrics, why? Why do you think this is Freddie? Why do you think there are so many kids being diagnosed these days?

SPEAKER_02 43:45

It's a great question. And it's one that comes up a lot, this whole question of are we getting better at spotting it?

SPEAKER_03 43:54

Or is the technology improving so much that we can spot it? Or has it always been there? Or is this something fundamentally going on here?

SPEAKER_02 44:03

Well, yeah, it's that whole thing of I'm not going to get into the whole thing of that might be part two. Well, no, yeah, there's there's always the because we someone always say on Facebook, is a vaccine related or something. We're not even entertaining that. But there is a valid question around is is ADHD in particular becoming more prevalent in children or young people, or are we just getting better at spotting it? Um there is a lot of different research on this. I would say I think the bay pediatric doctors would agree sometimes. Um I would say the we are getting better at spotting it, and also as a society, we're becoming more aware of it. Sure. Because always the the deeper question is nature versus nurture. So did my child develop ADHD or were they born with it? And the the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. We tend to say, um, in particular with ADHD, genetics loads the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

SPEAKER_03 45:02

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Um, so again, it is very rare to see a child with ADHD where their parents and grandparents have gotten no traits. Diagnosed or undiagnosed, doesn't matter. Um there will generally be traits. Some sort of indication of potentially autism, potentially a learning disability, but there'll be some neurodevelopmental conditions more often than not in their parents or grandparents.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

But, and and and Dr. Gabor Mate talks about this a lot, um, lifestyle, again, ironically, the the lifestyle you grew up in, the chaos you grew up in, uh, did you grow up in a in a happy, healthy, uh productive home? Did you grow up in a home full of arguing, shouting, in an environment where your senses were always on edge, where what we call our fight or flight mechanism was always firing, always triggering. And the research shows that a child who grows up in that environment, if they're already already genetically predisposed, yes, then that is more likely to bring ADHD to the forefront. But as we say, it's a lot more complex than the TikTok coaches would have you believe. Again, especially we're a big abediatrics, we talk about sleep a hell of a lot. If a child is not getting enough sleep, the symptoms will be can't pay attention, can't sit still, emotional meltdowns, can't focus, can't concentrate. Well, what does that sound like?

SPEAKER_03 46:32

How do you sorry, just on that point though, but how do you counteract that with screen time with the youngsters today? I mean, you've got kids, you've got a teenager in the home, I have a teenager in the home. Like, like I fully agree with you. Sleep is a vital part of being human. It's the way that we reset, it's the way that we reconfigure, we restore, we rejuvenate. And if you're not getting enough sleep, obviously something's going to go wrong. So there's a massive education piece here as well, isn't there?

SPEAKER_02 47:01

There is, and this is why while I call this why I am on what I call the neurodiversity revolution, because I believe there's You're an You're an absolute disruptor because you're disrupting the the current course and narrative.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

So I appreciate you for what you're doing. What else can we do?

SPEAKER_02 47:20

I think I say with the screens, again, this is a perfect example. It's um yeah, it's there's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the ADHD truth. So the the truth, again, the the gurus and the TikTok coaches will tell you is screens bad, screens disrupt screens bad, screens disrupt sleep, put the screens down. Which sounds great. It does sound great. It sounds it's easy for you to say, yeah. Apart from if you've got a kid who is highly autistic or has ADHD and their whole life is lived through Minecraft or Roblox and you're gonna take that screen away. I I do I do have a phrase which is, and this applies to adults as well. If you are afraid of losing something, then you are letting that thing control you. Okay. And this can apply to a phone, to relationship, to money, to a job, to a client, whatever. Can you say that again? If you are afraid of losing something, then you are letting that thing control you. So think of all these people who are afraid of losing their current relationship. They'll do anything to keep that relation. Those people who are have got their identity attached to a job. They're afraid of losing that job, so they're letting that control. Money is a key one, but our phones is another one. If you're afraid of losing something, then you are letting that thing control you. And you try and take someone's phone away, or you try and take someone's screen away. So, yes, we know. Screens emit blue light, blue light disrupts melatonin production. Melatonin is the hormone that our brain releases that tells us it's time to go to bed. But for some neurodivergent kids, it doesn't quite work that way. Wow. Because a screen gives them some sensory calmness. As a parent, especially as a parent without ADHD or autism, we see flashing lights, we see Mr. Beastie yabbering away, and we just say, turn that crap off. If you're a child who has been overstimulated all day at school, who has been wearing this mask all day at school, trying to act normal and control their regulations, a screen is their one release valve. I love the reframe. And it's, you know, we can't, I can see the capture now. Freddie Bay Pediatrics says your child should have five hours of screen every day. I'm not saying that, but I know this for my own son. Just go a bit deeper, find out the underlying. Exactly. Screens can be a regulating tool for a neurodiverse brain.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

I didn't think about it like that. So I really appreciate you saying that because it's given me a different way to see see it in a different light, no pun intended.

SPEAKER_02 49:54

And and it's it's funny also, we see you know, a child who's in a in a in a two-parent or two-care giver household. This can screens also add to the chaos in that household because you usually get good cop, bad cop.

SPEAKER_03 50:06

I know. I don't know. Mum it's a creative, it's again, it's layered, like give up the screen, stay out the screen.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

Exactly. Mum is bad cop, mum's the one saying, take that screen away, she'll pull out the iPad, put the iPad away, and that's fair enough, mum, because mum's just trying to do what she knows best. A few hours later, the kid goes up to dad, and the kid's like, Dad, can my iPad back, Dad, come my iPad back, dad, can my iPad back. Dad's usually there on his phone saying, Yep, oh hi Anna, how do I just, you know, okay, don't tell your mum they'll give the iPad back. Mum spends her whole time hating being bad cop. Dad spends his whole time saying, Thanks, mum, you're trying to instill this discipline, and then I'm the one who has to try and implement it, but I don't know how to implement it. So all these different chaos things. But yes, um, okay. Generally, screens are bad, but it isn't as simple as just saying, take the screens away. Because some children, I know for my own son, he loves Minecraft, he loves Roblox. It's a way for him to create this world where he feels safe after living in a world that isn't designed for him. YouTube, short, I hate them. I literally I will walk in, but I'll walk in and I'll say, I hate this crap, I hate this crap. And I'll up 10 minutes later, I'm still watching. I'm still and I can't stop watching it. And I do believe, as you say, kind of the world is designed or is continually being built for shorter and shorter attention spans. We all know that. Like, you know, we we live in this age where everything's on demand. 20 years ago, we had to wait for everything. That's on demand.

SPEAKER_03 51:39

Exactly. I mean, we we were talking, you know, just earlier before we got into the podcast. And listen, there's so much that we could still talk about, but I'm gonna sort of bring this home and land this plane, and then we might have to have part two for that. Definitely. But um, you know, you and I are definitely part of an interesting generation generation X where we were we remember analog, but we also know digital, so we've got one foot in each camp. It must be very difficult now for children to kind of navigate when they have they don't know pre pre-then. And I know that sounds trite of me saying it because we've been living it in for a long time, but there's just so much more information available to us, and it's to be able to distill that information to be able to do something with it and to get the right diagnosis and the right treatment for the kids and for the parents.

Screens Sleep Burnout And Superpowers

SPEAKER_03 52:28

But now you said that you want Touranga to be the Silicon Valley of um neurodiversity. But Freddie, Silicon Valley is also notorious for burning people out. It's got like a again, it's that edge. So it celebrates the dysfunction's genius and it sometimes ignores well-being. Is that the right metaphor? I mean, and does it does it say anything about how we're framing neurodiversity?

SPEAKER_02 52:55

It probably says a lot about how I frame my life, definitely. I um uh I'm a man of many phrases. I do believe that you can't you can't set yourself on fire to keep other people warm. Um No, you can't. Uh but I also believe that the people who the people who shout loudest about burnout are usually the people with the coldest hands. And I have been warned many times to slow down, to take it easy, to worry about burnout. When I started Bay Pediatrics, people said I should lower my expectations, it was impossible. When I decided to run across the Sahara Desert, when at the time I couldn't run a kilometer, people told me that I was going to injure myself, that I should be more realistic. I spent my whole damn life being told to be more reasonable, to lower my expectations, to not dream so big. And I believe that's what our children are being told, especially our neurodivergent children, are being told that every single day. Be reasonable, don't be a tall poppy, don't stand out, don't have big dreams, don't have big goals. And I say statues were not built for reasonable people. And that's what I truly believe your edge is. And people think, and I used to think this, you know, we talk about the edge and growth and everything else. We think that's perfection, but it isn't. It's actually embracing our darkness. And my my one of my personal crusades about this, because yes, you know what, I am gonna stand by this. I truly believe that the Bay of Plenty will become the Silicon Valley of Neurodiversity, even if it does burn me out, even if it means I'm not gonna get out of sleep. I don't know. Neurodivergent brains, we're hunters. We work best when we have something to chase. Yeah. When we have a purpose, when we have a goal, and that goal may be a Silicon Valley of Neurodiversity, it may be a Lego building, it may be a website, it may be a marathon, it may be something. We work at our best when we have a goal to chase. If we if we have nothing to chase, then we stop moving, like water. When you stop moving, you become stagnant. Exactly. And then then you start to again have to create your own chaos, which is never good. I do believe a final part around this whole thing around neurodiversity being a superpower. Yes. Which um, and I get told this a lot because of the you know the world records and the challenges, and I think it's it's difficult because when you're struggling as a parent or a child, having someone come up to you and say, Oh, it's a superpower isn't really freaking helpful because you feel like a failure. But you think of a superhero, a superhero is not perfect. We we love a superhero movie, we love the Marvel movies. Imagine you go and see the Marvel movie, and the superheroes are perfect and they look great every day, and everything goes their way, and life is brilliant, and they have a great time. No one would watch that. We root for the superheroes because the superheroes often curse their superpowers. The superhero often says, I wish I was normal like everyone else. The superhero becomes a superhero because they have to go on the journey where they stumble and they fall and they falter and they fail and they decide to get back up again. And I believe that's what we can tell our children. You look at any superhero movie, both the hero and the villain start their life as the victim. And then they have to make the decision what path am I going to go on? And I believe with Bay Pediatrics, with our visions for our events, our podcast, for the Bay of Plenty, for my own personal heart, mind, and soul, if we can put more kids on the path to a superhero, that path will not be easy. But it was the path that they were born to walk. And it is exactly. And I always say it doesn't matter, again, whether you're five, ten, fifty, eighty-five, it is never too late to become who you were always meant to be. And if we can do that for our kids, they don't have to spend decades trying to find that person. Yeah. They can see that person and we can give them that path to greatness and we can start that today.

SPEAKER_03 57:05

I love that, Freddie. I love that. And and that's a beautiful segue into kind of a couple of more questions.

Regrets Purpose And What Comes Next

SPEAKER_03 57:11

So if you could go back and diagnose nine-year-old Freddie, would you? Or is there something in the undiagnosed struggle that made you who you are today? And you've touched on the superhero and the hero's journey.

SPEAKER_02 57:25

I I do wish I'd had answers sooner because I spent over three decades thinking I was broken. I spent many sleepless nights thinking what's wrong with me. I spent so many hours, days, weeks destroying whatever was good in my life because I didn't know who I was, why my brain was this way, and I thought I was broken. And if I could have saved myself that struggle, it would have been nice. But I also believe that my mess is my message. And I would not be where I am. None of this bait pediatrics, I say the records, the races, everything, all hopefully the positive things I've created, I don't believe I would have created that without the struggle. And if I'm if I'm able to struggle to help hundreds, thousands, maybe one day millions of children avoid that struggle, then I'll choose that any single day.

SPEAKER_03 58:24

What can we look forward to, Freddie? What's coming up for Bay Pediatrics or what's coming up for Freddie?

SPEAKER_02 58:28

Oh, as always, I would love to turn around and say nothing much. We're just going to carry on doing what we're doing. Um, not possible. So Bay Pediatrics will continue to grow. I make no, I do not hide the fact we have our goal and our vision to be officially New Zealand's number one children's neurodevelopmental clinic. New Zealand's number one children's neurodevelopmental clinic. So we want to be in every city, in every town, giving Kiwi children the best assessments, the best care, the best support they deserve. We have something called the Epic Families Program. Epic Families stands for extraordinary parents and credible children. This is where we give the best information to all families. And that's kind of, you never have to have an assessment with us, you never have to walk through our door, you just have to be a family that needs help. We will give you that help. Most of it's for free. Free podcasts, tools, resources. We also have Epic Families Live that's coming back to Tell Ronga 16th of August, where we bring in some amazing speakers. It's New Zealand's largest event for neurodiverse families. Parents and children are welcome at this event, and it's gonna be the biggest, the biggest ever in New Zealand yet again. Uh on a personal note, I'm supposed to say that I'm gonna work less, I'm gonna be more present with the kids, I'm gonna be calmer, I'm gonna get eight hours' sleep. You've said it. Well, but also uh in just over a year's time, I am running 300 kilometres through the Amazon jungle. I love that. Please let me come forward. Everyone, everyone talks about ADHD being a superpower. I want to be the guy who proves to kids what's possible. Kids are so smart. You can tell a child that you love them, or you can show a child that you love them. It always works more to show a child. So everyone else tells kids that ADHD is a superpower. I'm gonna show them again by running 300 kilometers through the Amazon jungle. When is that? Uh June 2027. Next year. Okay. Yeah, next year, so just over 12 months away. Dodging snakes, spiders, scorpions, drug gangs, the whole lot of it. Um, yeah, 300 kilometers, five days. I'm not waiting. Is that an organized event or is that just you? Uh it is an organized race. So it is the it's the toughest race in South America. Okay. So I've done the sand, I've done the snow, jungle's gonna complete the hat trick. And um, yeah, as I say, uh ADHD people, and I know boys in particular, so many parents, so many mums struggle with these boys, these young men. We're hunters, we work best when we have a goal to chase. So by keep giving myself goals to chase professionally, personally, in terms of my health, then I will hopefully be at my best or my version of my best to best serve my family and the families in the bay and beyond.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:27

Freddie Bennett, it's been an absolute privilege and an inspiration to have you in the studio. Thank you very much for your time. And we will continue this conversation. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:36

As always in life, the best is yet to come. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:40

Can I ask you a question? Bolton Ink Effect.

Final Takeaways And Challenge To Act

SPEAKER_03 1:01:46

That's a wrap for today on the Bolton Ink Effect Podcast. The world doesn't need more noise, it needs bold voices, real stories, and people willing to show up. So if something here sparked an idea, made you rethink the rules, or reminded you that you're not alone on this journey, don't keep it to yourself. Share it. Talk about it, better yet, take action. Because at the end of the day, it's not about waiting for permission. It's about showing up, doing the work, and making something that matters. Thanks for being here. Now go build, create, and keep pushing forward. We'll see you next time.