Making holiday gatherings more welcoming

Two weeks away, and we know many of you will be getting your homes ready for guests. We have some tips on how to make guests who are neurodivergent comfortable. We want to try to bring in clinical psychologist Dr. Ben Morsa. Dr. Ben, thanks for sticking around this morning. Good to be with you. Good to have you with us. Walk us through, first of all, what does being neurodivergent mean for someone who might not know? Sure. Being neurodivergent often refers to experiences like autism or ADHD. Those are the most common ones. It's a wider set, but I'll name those too. All right. So, you know, one of the tips that you say is don't be afraid to ask families, what do you need before you arrive? I know a lot of people kind of tiptoe around it. Walk us through how that's helpful. Absolutely. I mean, when you tiptoe around something, it's going to show up anyway, and then you're less prepared to respond to it. So leading in advance, now's a great time, given that the holiday is just two weeks out, by reaching out to family, by reaching out to family of neurodivergent family members, asking them what you could do to make the experience more supportive, more comfortable, asking them about anything they might need or they might have in mind All right. And another thing that you say is ask them what they want to get from the event. So walk us through that. How important is, you know, I guess, to make that intention of what would you like to get from this event? Sure. People have different goals for any experience, including the holidays. And so for a neurodivergent family member, let's say a child, there might be a couple of family members that they particularly enjoy. They might really love playing with their cousins, or there might be an aunt or an uncle that they have a good one-on-one connection with. Asking about that can help you to identify it and prepare some space to make sure it happens and make the event an It's an inclusive success for everyone. All right. Making sure also that they're feeling included. How just I know that sounds maybe like a simple topic or a simple point, but how important is it and how key is it that people just feel included in the plans and what they're coming to? Oh, absolutely. I think everyone wants to feel included around the holidays. What inclusion can look like here is recognizing that some experiences might be different. So for a number of neurodivergent folks, a large gathering, a party, the sound, the smells, these are things that they might both value and want to be a part of, but it could be a bit overwhelming for them. So they might take some space or need a little more one-on-one time. And so inclusion is just recognizing that that's something. That they need and honoring it, that can go a long way to helping the person feel like they're part of the family exactly as they are. I know you said some one-on-one time, but sometimes they might need alone time. You know, what are some things that people can do around their house? I know you mentioned earlier, maybe a quiet corner. Talk about that importance of just taking some time for them to be alone. Absolutely. So many neurodivergent folks have strong sensory sensitivities or can just lose energy much quicker in large social gatherings. So having a room in the home or a space in the apartment, something that's a little bit quieter where someone can go and take a breather, take a break and reorganize, can really help them to stay connected throughout the experience. All right, Dr. Ben Morsa, thanks so much. We'll put more information on our website, Website, fox5atlanta.com. Thanks for sticking with us throughout. Throughout this morning and hour there. All right, going to toss it over.