Our Story
We did not build this from theory.
We built it from life
Mushroom-Z-Hack was born from a glass door, art, a son who did not fit the script, and the day someone finally asked a different question.
The Founders
Michiel van den Heever
Co-Founder & Lead Coach
For most of my life, I lived what felt like a glass door, I can’t open.
I would start a project with explosive energy, dive into the heart of it, and then—poof—the interest would vanish. To the outside world, I was the kid with "horsepower" whose horses were just standing in the water getting lazy. To my teachers, I was "not applying myself." I spent decades trying to "willpower" my way through a brain that simply didn’t run on the same fuel as everyone else’s. I thought I was broken. I didn't realize I was actually in training.
The Science of the "Struggle"
While I was "failing" to finish projects and hitting that invisible glass door, something fascinating was happening under the hood. My brain was engaging in Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) and Myelination. Which I didn’t know existed at that stage. Every time I jumped into a new interest, every time I obsessed over a new topic, and every time I pushed against my limitations, I was building neural pathways. I wasn't just "quitting"—I was rapidly acquiring diverse skills and learning how to learn at lightning speed. I was building a high-performance engine; I just didn’t have the right map to drive it.
The Turning Point: Two Negatives Make a Positive.
It took 35 years and my own children’s diagnoses for the lightbulb to finally flicker on. When the doctors told me I had Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, I looked at the words. In math, two negatives make a positive. I decided that Deficit and Disorder would be no different.
I stopped trying to "fix" my differences and started researching how to capitalize on them. I realized that the "glass door" wasn't a wall—it was a signal. My journey through a failed marriage, raising neurodivergent children, and navigating the corporate world wasn't a series of mistakes; it was the ultimate research lab.
Why Mushrooms? Why Now?
My path eventually led me to the world of fungi. Much like the neurodivergent brain, mushrooms operate through complex, invisible networks (mycelium) that thrive on connection and specific environments. I realized that to grow optimally, you don't change the mushroom; you optimize the environment. I applied this same logic to coaching.
My Mission at Mushroom-Z-Hack
Assist one person at a time to build a life they want-and not what the world told them to be.
Mushroom-Z-Hack was created because I’ve walked the path you’re on. I know what it feels like to have your "willpower batteries" run dry. I know the frustration of being told to "just focus." I understand different is not broken — different is the future.
Narine van den Heever
Co-Founder & Coach
For a long time, ADHD and Autism were just words I heard in passing—abstract labels that didn’t seem to have much to do with my world. That changed when the "abstract" became my reality. I received my own ADHD diagnosis late in life, a revelation that finally provided the "why" behind years of feeling different. Simultaneously, I stepped into a beautiful, complex family dynamic: I married a man with ADHD, and together we navigate a household where both ADHD and Autism are part of our daily rhythm.
From Research to Reality
When I first realized the depth of the neurodiversity in my home, I’ll be honest: I spiralled. I felt unequipped. I became a seeker, devouring every book and clinical study I could find, desperate for a "manual" on how to handle our unique minds. I wanted the "right" way to do things. The turning point came when my husband looked at me and said: "There is no manual for this. You don't understand these conditions through books; you understand them by living them, through trial, error, and connection." That moment changed everything. I stopped looking for answers in ink and started finding them in experience.
The Birth of Mushroom-Z-Hack
As we embraced our neurodivergent lives, a parallel journey began. My husband, Michiel, delved into the world of mushroom cultivation, fascinated by the intricate, invisible networks that allow fungi to thrive. At the same time, I launched a creative project called Mushroom Shack, where I transformed Reishi and other species into ethereal lamps and fairytale art. But the art was just the beginning, my passion for art merged with my lived experience to create Mushroom-Z-Hack.
Why Trust Me with Your Journey?
I don’t coach from a pedestal of perfection. I coach from the trenches. I know the frustration of the "system" not fitting your brain, the exhaustion of masking, and the beauty of finally understanding your own internal wiring. At Mushroom-Z-Hack, we don't just "manage" symptoms; we hack life. I am here to help you move past the "right way" and help you find your way, turning your unique neurodiversity into your greatest creative asset.
Same genetics. Different expression. Both Beautiful. both functional
The Reishi Revelation - Heidelberg SA
"Same species. Same genetics. One grew a stem — one did not. Same tree. Different conditions. Different expression. Both beautiful. Both functional. Both perfectly themselves." Heidelberg — the observation that became the framework
The Mycelium Mind Framework
We draw on three ecological roles that fungi play in nature — and show how they map exactly onto how neurodivergent minds grow, connect, and are drained.
Three learning types. One philosophy.
Saprophytic Learning Breaking down limiting beliefs, outdated labels, and toxic narratives to create nutrients for genuine new growth. You cannot build on a foundation of old assumptions.
Mycorrhizal Learning Growing through connection. The coaching relationship is a symbiosis — both parties grow. No extraction, no one-way teaching. This is mutual.
Parasitic Patterns Identifying what drains energy without contributing to growth — toxic environments, masking behaviours, energy-draining comparisons — and reclaiming that energy for something real.
Our values
Transformation
Transformation is neurological, structural, and measurable. It is not a mindset shift that fades after a week. It is the deliberate rewiring of established patterns through science-backed methods
Authenticity
We say what is true, not what is comfortable. With clients, with each other, and about the science.
Cultivate
Cultivate means we create the conditions for growth: safety, repetition, rest, correct information, and a relationship that makes the nervous system feel it is finally in the right environment.
Gratitude
Gratitude in our context is not a journal practice. It is a reframe. It is the moment a client looks and begins to see that it was never a defect it’s an asset.
Empower
The goal of every session is to make itself unnecessary. We do not create dependency — we build capability
Acceptance
Acceptance is not resignation. It is the refusal to waste energy fighting what is true. Acceptance is the first act this is what the network looks like right now, and this is what it can become.