Welcome

to the ADHD revolution where I will help you to break down the myths and

stereotypes of what ADHD is and is not.

In a relatable, down -to -earth way, you will reduce conflict and increase

understanding. Empowering you with the confidence and knowledge to better manage living

with ADHD.

Welcome back to the ADHD revolution. After a short break,

we have for you the approach to delivering this podcast for you.

The new approach means that episodes will be split into seasons and I'll share with

you more detail about what that means but what is going to stay the same is that

new episodes will be published on a Monday but it will be every other Monday rather

than weekly. I'm excited to be back sharing information, insights and inspiration

about living with ADHD. I'm Jean Gibson, author of the Amazon bestselling book,

The ADHD Support Handbook, a real life guide to empowering a child with ADHD and

related conditions. I'm also a certified ADHD life coach,

a mother of four adult children with one of those children formally diagnosed with

ADHD. I'm also a grandmother with three of my grandchildren being diagnosed with ADHD

and one of those being diagnosed with autism and being recommended to take the ADHD

assessment as they have noticed quite a few symptoms of ADHD and they want to make

sure it may be that that's also going to be included in the diagnosis. It's

important to note that more often than not ADHD doesn't come along alone.

They're what were called comorbid conditions and I've talked about this before in

previous episodes but I wanted to share with you that for my family directly as

I've been sharing quite a bit about the impact of ADHD on my family,

that autism has now become one of the other neurodiverse conditions that we are

working with. We also have dyslexia and dyspraxia as additional neurodiverse conditions

that are present in a number of my grandchildren. I will help you to develop the

confidence and understanding of ADHD and related neurodiverse conditions in a down to

earth relatable way so that you can support and advocate for yourself or for a

young person wherever you are on your ADHD journey. So strap in and let's get

started. Today's episode really is to set a scene for you to share with you how

future episodes are going to be delivered so that at least you've got an idea of

what to expect. I became acutely aware of how challenging it can be to produce a

weekly podcast and to ensure that I balance my own self -care and deliver support to

you, I've restructured my approach into following the seasons. So March,

April and May is spring time and it's a time of revitalization,

change and new beginnings. That's where we are now and so that's why I've chosen to

restart the podcast episodes in March. June, July and August are the summer months

in the UK. A time for growth, fun and relaxation. September,

October and November can still be warm and a time to consider challenges,

maybe the challenges that have been experienced and additional experiences.

It's the start of the new academic year for some people as well. December, January

and February are the winter months and I like to retreat to warmer climates when I

can. This is a time for review and reflection and to plan and to strategize for

the year ahead. So I hope that as we move through the coming episodes you'll be

able to relate the topics to the seasons or the seasons may bring you a renewed

sense of understanding perhaps. Let's see what happens. It's important for me to hear

from you, I would love to hear from more of you if you have particular topics that

you would like me to cover. The contact details will be in the show notes,

so do take a look there if you'd like to reach out and share your thoughts with

me. So let's start this new season with talking about neurodiversity and the term

neurodivergent. And this is a term that's used to describe someone whose brain

processes information differently or not typically. Someone who is not neurodiverse is

called neurotypical. So that's a term that you may become more familiar with hearing,

the Oxford Dictionary explains neurodivergent as this, differing in mental or

neurological function from what is considered typical or normal and it's frequently

used with reference to autistic spectrum disorder or ASD for short,

not neurotypical. There are some things that neurotypical people just know or can

figure out and that neurodivergence students may need to have a model for.

So to put that into a simple language that explains what this is saying is that

when you are neurotypical, so you don't have ADHD or a neurodiverse condition,

you're able to work things out, you understand, you can deal with various situations

and you just know what to do and how to deal with situations. When you're

neurodiverse, certain situations, certain behaviors, certain things are challenging for

you. And so you may need to be given guidance, maybe a model to follow so that

you are able to carry out that function, that behavior, that action, understand that

thing because of the way the ADHD or the neurodivergent brain functions information.

It functions differently to the neurotypical brain. I hope that makes sense for you

so that you can understand the difference between neurodiverse and neurotypical.

Neurodiverse is that you have a brain that functions differently to a neurotypical

brain and that is somebody who doesn't have a neurodiverse condition.

One of the things that I'm keen to do with this podcast is to incorporate

information and experiences of some of the wider conditions that come under the

neurodiverse heading. So, and as I said that two more of my grandchildren have been

diagnosed with autism, so I want to bring in more information and share more

experiences of autism because they are connected as I said that they're often you

may have somebody who is experiencing similar symptoms symptoms that are ADHD related

or and have autistic traits. So if this relates to you and if you are happy to

share your experience because you think it might be a value to the listeners and I

think any experience is valuable and important for us to hear. Please reach out for

a chat to share your experiences, to maybe share any questions or concerns that you

have. And as I said, it's important for me to share with you my journey and what's

going on for me. And I mentioned that two of my female family members have recently

been diagnosed with autism, one of them was diagnosed with autism and has been

referred for an ADHD assessment because they also noted there are ADHD symptoms and

the others been diagnosed with autism and ADHD and it's important for me to say

that it wasn't a shock for us to learn of these diagnoses, it confirmed what we

already believed was the case. And now we have the diagnosis, we can put in

additional support in place, especially as one of the two females in my family are

in the workplace. And so it's an opportunity to really think about her strengths and

what she does well and what enables her to be in flow, but also what her

challenges are so that we can make sure that she's got the right support in place

to support her in her work so that she is able to thrive rather than to struggle

because that's what's important here. As I said each episode is going to be part of

a season and what I'm going to be doing is as well as recording on audio you'll

also be able to see me and my guests. So I'm going to be adding the video

recordings to YouTube as well. So not only will you be able to listen to the

podcast wherever you listen to your podcast, so Spotify or Apple for example,

you can also get tuned into YouTube and watch and listen again to the podcast at

your leisure. In addition to that, with everything else that I'm doing for you, I

have an open invitation to you. If you would like to share your experience or you

have an expertise that you think would be of value to listeners, please get in

touch. I would love to have you come on as a guest and share your inspiration,

your expertise, your point of view even, I would love for you to get in touch and

become a guest on the ADHD revolution because ultimately the ADHD revolution is about

changing that negative story of ADHD. Yes there are challenges that come with ADHD

but there are also many positive aspects of having ADHD and I will explore those in

more detail in future episodes. So in addition to that, I'm gifting you all a

digital copy of my book, the ADHD Support Handbook. And as you may already be

aware, my mission is to transform the lives of at least 10 ,000 people living with

ADHD and related conditions. And this book has and continues to change lives so the

details again of how you can gain access to your free copy of my book the ADHD

support handbook will be in the show notes. You can of course email me at gene

@activepersonaldevelopment .co .uk with any questions with any information you'd like me

to share or any requests that you have about topics that you'd like me to talk

about on the podcast. As an advocate for those living with ADHD, I strive to model

strategies and behaviors that may support you. Recognizing how easy it is to become

burnt out, I have streamlined my approach to delivering this podcast, which I've

shared with you. Introducing the seasons helps me consider the emotions that I want

you to feel, the topics that I want to share with you that I think are important

to you and that I know some of you will share with me and have shared with me

that are important to you and the feelings that I want to share with you. I would

like you to feel and be inspired by listening to the ADHD revolution podcast.

Spring is about new beginnings. Summer is about having courage and stepping out of

your comfort zone. Autumn is a reflection time and winter is where you review and

plan what's going to happen going forwards. I want you to remember that you're not

alone on this journey. All you need to do is to reach out and ask for support.

You can purchase my book The ADHD Support Handbook on Amazon. You can support my

cause to transform the lives of at least 10 ,000 people by joining the ADHD

Revolution Facebook group. You can follow me on Instagram

@coachjean _apd, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at jean

@activepersonaldevelopment .co .uk. I would love to hear your thoughts.

In the next episode, I talk with Dr. Radha Missouria about the importance of gut

health in managing your ADHD. You don't want to miss it.

Thank you for listening to the ADHD revolution.

We will together change the story and reduce the stigma of attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder.

Stay tuned for future episodes and do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also follow me on Instagram

underscore APD, join my Facebook group the ADHD revolution or connect on LinkedIn I'm

Jean Gibson. I would love to hear from you with questions or if you're seeking

coaching or you just want to support me on my mission to improve the lives of at

least 10 ,000 people and Change the story of ADHD. Do get in touch.

I'm Jean Gibson, your host, CEO of Active Personal Development, author of the ADHD

Support Handbook and Certified ADHD Life Coach.