
361: Getting on the Same Page with Your Co-Parent, with Martina Nova, MCP, RCC
From Beautifully Complex by Penny Williams
June 4, 2026 · 33 min · Episode 361
About this episode
This episode discusses the challenges of co-parenting a neurodivergent child and how to navigate differing parenting approaches.
Parenting a neurodivergent kid is already one of the most demanding roles a person can hold. Add a co-parent with a completely different approach, a different upbringing, and a different nervous system, and the friction can feel relentless. Whether you are parenting side by side under the same roof or navigating two separate households, those differences in how we each show up as parents can create real strain, and in families raising neurodivergent kids, the stakes feel even higher. In this episode, I sit down with Martina Nova, a registered clinical counselor, co-parent, and author of Same Page Parenting, a book of conversation starters designed to help partners understand each other more deeply before, during, and long after having kids. Martina brings both professional expertise and lived experience. We explore what actually drives those differences in parenting approaches, hint: it goes way deeper than personality. We talk about the invisible mental load that so many parents are quietly carrying, often alone, and why one parent becoming the default parent happens gradually, without anyone choosing it. Martina walks through how to have the conversations that actually get…
People in this episode
Host: Penny Williams
Guest: Martina Nova
Topics covered
- co-parenting
- neurodivergent kids
- parenting approaches
- mental load
- communication
Keywords
- co-parenting
- neurodivergent
- parenting differences
- mental load
- communication strategies
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Same Page Parenting
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