9: Energy accounting: Finding balance for neurodivergent lives with Sandhya Menon 

How do you find balance as someone who is neurodivergent?

In this beautifully grounded episode, Laetitia is joined by Sandhya Menon, an AuDHD developmental psychologist, author, and creator of the beloved books The Brain Forest, The Rainbow Brain, and My Body’s Power Pack.

Together, they unpack energy accounting, a gentle, practical approach for understanding how your nervous system gains and loses energy throughout the day.

Whether you’re a parent, teacher or therapist, Sandhya offers powerful tools to help neurodivergent children (and ourselves!) stay in the black, not the red, when it comes to our daily energy needs. They explore how burnout builds invisibly, why rest is as important as activity, and how we can design systems and rhythms that honour every person’s power pack.

✨ Try Understanding Zoe free for 30 days – the neuroaffirming app turning every report, observation and meltdown into an actionable next step.

KEY TAKEAWAYS 👇

🧠 How energy accounting works like a bank.

🧠 Why not all “chargers” actually recharge

🧠 How school takes more energy than we think

🧠 Why predictability protects energy

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ABOUT THE GUEST 👇

Sandhya Menon is an AuDHD Developmental Psychologist and Author of the much-loved kids’ books The Brain Forest, The Rainbow Brain, and her latest creation, My Body’s Power Pack. She spends her days helping children and families build strong self-identities that celebrate and know their neurotype before the world tries to tell them otherwise.

Her work is a mash-up of sharp clinical knowledge, lived experience, and just enough whimsy to make even the trickiest concepts feel human (and yes, actually fun). She also draws from her collectivist family roots in Singapore and her neurodivergent self to call out Western and neuronorms that don’t serve our communities and make conversations truly inclusive and representative of our different realities.

💻 Website: www.onwardsandupwardspsychology.com.au

📸 Instagram: @onwardsandupwardspsych

📘 Facebook: @onanduppsych

ABOUT THE HOST 👇

Laetitia Andrac (Autistic & ADHDer) is an award-winning entrepreneur, international speaker, and podcast host.

She is the bestselling author of Light It: How to Trust Your Intuition and Build a Thriving Business. With over 15 years of experience in consulting, strategy, and innovation, Laetitia has worked with industry leaders like Deloitte and Telstra.

Inspired by my journey as a neurodivergent parent, she co-founded Understanding Zoe, an AI-driven solution dedicated to supporting caregivers of neurodivergent children.

Her passion is creating a more neuroinclusive world, where everyone can thrive—whether in their homes, communities, or workplaces.