Stronger Than The System: Mum on a Mission

She Almost Lost Everything. Then She Built a Village.

What do you do when the system fails your child?

When Lisa Cowan's son Luca was five, he was being sent out of class almost every day. She had no idea. It wasn't until a little girl in his class asked, "So Luca, are you going to stay in class today?" that Lisa found out what was really happening. What followed was years of waitlists, wrong turns, stand-downs, and moments so dark that Lisa didn't know if she could keep going.

But she did. And what she built on the other side will move you.

In this episode, you'll hear:

💥 How Lisa fought the public system for years — falling off waitlists, being told "that's just normal" — until she finally got Luca the diagnosis that changed everything.

🫶 Why she started It Takes a Village Papamoa…and how 56 local businesses showed up before she even had an audience

🛠️ The LEGO moment that told her the medication was working

🧠 Why lived experience might be more powerful than any parenting course

🎓 The school assembly that made her cry…four years in the making

🧩 Her vision for one place where neurodivergent families can come and never feel like a number

❤️‍🩹 And the stat that should shock every parent: up to 95% of young people in the worst statistics — crime, imprisonment, self-harm — are diagnosed or undiagnosed ADHD

This is a raw, honest, and deeply human conversation about what it really looks like to fight for your child when no one else will. It's about shame, exhaustion, isolation…and the extraordinary things that happen when you simply refuse to give up.

Connect with Lisa on Facebook: It Takes a Village Papamoa here.

>>>>>>

EPIC Families is part of Bay Paediatrics, New Zealand’s leading child Neurodevelopmental clinic.

Discover more about our award-winning ADHD and ASD assessments, family therapy support, and our free tools and resources here: https://baypaediatrics.com/

We believe every family deserves to be an EPIC family with Extraordinary Parents and Incredible Children.

Join the free EPIC Families community here. Be seen, be heard, and discover strength in neurodiversity.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.