Enneagram Resource Guide for Special Needs Parents

The Enneagram is a personality typing system with ancient roots but only introduced in the United States around the early 1970's.  It describes nine ways of being in and experiencing this world.  In other words, it is a map for understanding ourselves and others. It works around 3 centers of intelligence, Thinking, Feeling, and Doing. What makes The Enneagram different than other typing frameworks is that the Enneagram types are driven, not by our behaviors, but by our core motivations which fundamentally shape who we are and how we respond to the world around us. This allows for an infinite number of ways that each personality type can be expressed.  

The 9 Personality Types of the Enneagram are...

1. The Reformer
2. The Helper
3. The Achiever
4. The Individualist
5. The Thinker
6. The Loyalist
7. The Enthusiast
8. The Leader
9. The Peacemaker

The reason I am so passionate about using the Enneagram as a tool in my business and in my life is because it helps us gain a better understanding of ourselves as parents while we navigate the sometimes-very-difficult and lonely path of parenting someone with disabilities, neurodiversity and or medical complexities. Not only can this tool help us all be better parents under these circumstances, but the Enneagram can also serve to provide a useful window into our child’s world, especially when it can be difficult to discern our loved one’s true desires through the more typical ways, e.g. if a child is unable to fully express themselves (like my 20-year-old daughter) or understand emotion.