August 2024 Update

My Mum's passing

It's been a tough few months with my ADHD; for those of you who don't already know, my mother was diagnosed with a type 4 (incurable) brain tumour last October. She fought valiantly and underwent brain surgery (where they opened her head and removed the tumour while she was conscious) and then an aggressive programme of chemo and radio therapy. With this, we were told that she would have 18 months to live. She only managed to fight it for 9 months. However, we had extra time, including a lovely family Christmas (I haven't spent Christmas with her since 1994). It's been a very humbling experience, and I have learnt a lot about life and how we shouldn't take things for granted. We should treat each day as if it is our last and take every opportunity that life throws at us,

Financial challenges

As a result, I haven't spent as much time on the business as I should have, so things are very tough. Money is tight, and every penny I earn counts. I have had the experience of applying for Universal Credit, which has proven invaluable in keeping me afloat.

I was pleased that they would support me in the early stages of my business, as they recognised that it is a growing concern. They also recognised that I couldn't work full time on my business because of my disability; I was pleasantly surprised by the compassion shown by the Morpeth Job Centre Plus.

This is entirely at odds with my earlier experiences at Newcastle in January, where I felt that I was an annoyance and just a number. This really dented my self-esteem and brought back my anxiety.

I have also set up a Patreon page in case anyone wants to help me out. You'll also get some exclusive content and more of my ramblings! ADHDaptive | Patreon

House Move

During this time, I also moved house from Newcastle to Morpeth. I needed to so this, as I could no longer afford the mortgage. So, I looked for homes in other areas to reduce or clear my mortgage. The house I found was hardly any smaller. It's a modern townhouse in a village close to Morpeth.

I absolutely love it here, in the countryside and close to the sea. Life seems so much slower, and even the bin men turn up at 10.00, unlike the crack of doom in my old house. This is great for those of us who regularly forget (or can't be bothered) to put out the pin the night before. I cleared my mortgage, which means it is much more viable for me to continue with ADHDaptive, where my goal isn't to be rich; I need to pay the bills so that I can continue doing what I enjoy.

Expressing my Individuality

One of the effects of discovering my ADHD was the awareness that I had been masking all my life, pretending to be somebody that I wasn't. Now, I can be who I want to be, who I was meant to be. So, over the last couple of weeks, I have been very impulsive and decided that I was the sort of person to have pierced ears and coloured hair, so I decided to take the plunge and have my ears pierced and dyed my hair red.

I am so pleased with the result and rock the new look. I would have been bothered about what people think in the past, but on my journey, I have realised that what people think isn't necessary. What is important is that I feel happy and confident. This is something I could never have done in the old corporate world without ridicule and discrimination, mainly because I am a man, and these things are considered unusual.

One of my missions is to change that; people should be able to express their individuality in any way that gives them joy and comfort. These outdated attitudes are discriminatory and toxic and have no place in the modern workforce. They are also a reflection of an organisation's attitude to equality and diversity.

ADHDaptive Update:

QB Test

Today, I booked a QB test at the fantastic Celebrate Difference ADHD at The Hub at Consett. This isn't a diagnostic test, but it should provide greater insight into MY ADHD and help me understand and manage my life better. I'll also be finding out what could be an invaluable service I can talk to my clients about. I'll provide a full review, following what I expect to be a fantastic experience.

BBCs Coverage of the ADHD waiting list:

This week, I have been doing a fair amount of ranting, mainly following the BBC's coverage of the ADHD waiting list. There were no surprises in there for many of us, including the following "revelations."

• Rising Demand: Referrals have increased fourfold since 2019, causing long waits.
• Capacity Issues: Some trusts, like Sheffield, have waiting lists of over 6,000, assessing only a few patients annually.
• Patient Impact: Long waits have devastating effects, with some patients resorting to private diagnoses or experiencing severe mental health issues.
• The government acknowledges the delays as part of broader NHS issues, and experts emphasise the need for timely access to life-changing care.

It is very welcome to see this issue finally getting coverage. I regularly speak to individuals who are on that waiting list and who are desperate to move on with their lives, and sadly, some have suiciecidal thoughts. It really angers me that this is going on, for the most part, ignored by society. If this was any other area of medicine, there would be absolute hell on. Imagine having to wait 8 years to get a diabetes diagnosis. Yet ADHD is a potentially life-threatening and certainly dilapidating condition that can lead to relationship issues, work issues, loss of career, as well as other mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.

Around 17 million working days are lost each hear in the UK because of anxiety and depression.

In the UK, it is estimated that adults with ADHD lose approximately 22 days of productivity annually. This figure represents the impact of ADHD on work performance, including absenteeism and reduced productivity.

Good on the BBC for highlighting this. However, I can't help but feel they are being a tad hypocritical, given that just over a year ago, they broadcast an episode of Panorama that highlighted the problem of rogue private clinics giving out diagnoses without the proper due care and attention. They did not mention then the long waiting lists as one of the causes of people using private clinics; instead, they decided to demonise private clinics and the desperate people who use them.

Nor did they mention the broader scandals surrounding how public healthcare is letting down people with ADHD, including the fact that GPs are increasingly refusing to accept shared care plans from private providers, which is eroding the right to choose and creating a postcode lottery, where people can't afford to pay for their medication after a private diagnosis.

Neither did they mention that there is still an ongoing worldwide shortage of ADHD stimulant medication, meaning people are going untreated or looking for ways to self-medicate. There is no support from GPs, pharmacists, or private providers, and people are told that there is no stock and that they should "ring around" pharmacists to see if anyone has any.

I realise there isn't an easy answer to any of this, but an answer will only be found if these issues are brought to the surface. So, I urge the media outlets to continue to campaign for the rights of people with ADHD and for individuals to do anything that they can to highlight their plight, including writing to their MP and local media outlets.

Regulation in the Coaching Industry

I have noticed a lot of infighting and finger-pointing when coaching neurodivergent people. There are two camps; some people come from a coaching background and have formal coaching qualifications and practice coaching in the strictest sense, whilst others, like myself, find me through my journey and a passion for helping others through my own experiences.

I have read a lot of quite venomous stuff on Linked In over the last couple of months where people are accusing ADHD coaches of being negligent in coaching people without formal training, and also those who train ADHD coaches. I have also seen others hitting back against this in a very nasty way. The whole field is becoming very polarised and toxic. This space has no place for this kind of behaviour; we are all here to help neurodiverse individuals and do so in a way that we feel is right. I completely accept that there is a place for formal coaching from certified coaches. Still, there are a great many people out there who believe that this strict approach has failed. Instead, they may need mentoring, therapy, or an accountability or "verbal reasoning" partner. I have many reviews and feedback to suggest that this is the case.

The skills needed to successfully coach a neurodiverse individual differ from those required when coaching a neurotypical individual. It is also essential to have a lived experience of Neurodiversity to fully understand how a person feels and their challenges. We know that neurodivergent folks' brains are wired differently. Hence, it makes sense that coaching and supporting them would be different from neurotypical people. This is also my lived experience from feedback.

I think some regulation in the coaching industry would be a good thing because there are usually chancers out there who see this as a quick buck (believe me when I say it isn't!). As it stands, you can coach anyone with no qualifications. There are no restrictions, so I would join the call for regulation and a minimum standard to ensure that malicious or well-meaning individuals do not exploit vulnerable people.

Anyway, I have decided to undertake training to become a certified coach, partly for my own development and satisfaction, partly to quieten the voices of disdain that I hear (I have enough of those in my head already), and partly to improve my chances of being added to corporate frameworks. I am going to have to borrow money to do this. However, it is something that I need to do for the sake of my clients and my own sanity. I expect to stay the same style, but I am keen to discover if I can improve.

Online ADHD Support Programme

I have been aware for a long time that ADHD coaching isn't affordable to many people who can't obtain Access to Work funding. To this end, I have developed an affordable online ADHD Support Programme, where people can pay £95 for 6 online sessions, which include information on ADHD, diagnosis, group coaching, mindfulness, and coping strategies, as well as an opportunity to meet others in the same situation and find their tribe.

Unfortunately, it saddens me that my reach on Linked In isn't bringing in clients, so I will have to rethink my marketing strategy. I know thousands of people would benefit from this, but alas, I do not know how to reach them!

ADHDadvantage

I am also working on a corporate offering - ADHDadvantage, a retainer service where companies pay a subscription and in return, they get a set number of hours of my time for individual coaching, group coaching, mentoring, consultancy and training. The responses to this so far have been positive, so if you or anyone else is interested in this, which includes a free neurodiversity audit, please get in touch.

Summary

So there you have it. This is a raw and very personal update from me and a view on some of the issues impacting neurodivergent people. I hope you enjoy it, I would love to have some feedback and find out if you would like more of the same! Please also let me know if you have any views or comments on the issues I have covered.

Take care

Andrew

ADHD Coach and Founder

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