Why we should all think differently about ADHD
A project aiming to change the lives for the better of young people with ADHD and neurodiversity in Gloucestershire is about to be launched, thanks to the efforts of former businesswoman Jane Roberts.
Good afternoon,
A very warm welcome to the first edition of the week of The Raikes Journal - a digital magazine supporting Gloucestershire’s businesses, its charities and vital education and training sectors.
It might be Monday, but we are on a bit of a high. We’ve really only been promoting our three editions of the week through LinkedIn so far, as we find our rhythm, flagging them a day after our subscribers get them via email. However, this morning we discovered our last week’s three social media posts have received more than 13,000 views.
As we’ve been doing this rather a long time now, we know that’s outstanding and we hope means that although it is early days for Raikes’ re-launch it is already delivering something people are very interested in.
As we keep saying, our mission statement is to champion Gloucestershire. We know that a sizeable portion of the views from last week came from outside of the county. Hopefully we’re doing our small bit to spread your stories further afield than you or we could ever have imagined.
Thank you for all your support so far!
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* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (who we will be revealing over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable! To get in touch email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
Why today’s main story?
This story moved us on all sorts of levels. It is interesting as a sign of just how far we have come as a society in accepting ADHD as something many of us live with and deal with daily, but it also shows how far we have to go to a better level of understanding.
But the news that a three-year project to help educate the county to be able to better support young people with ADHD and neurodiversity so they can move into education, training and work and lead fulfilling lives is also a very personal and moving story for one woman in particular.
Jane Roberts will be the first to tell you that the project is here, in the county, because of the work of many, many people – but for the retired businesswoman it is also very personal. She has poured consider amount of her own money into making this happen. For Roberts, if it improves the chances of just one young person it will be a joy.
Our chosen charity: Winchcombe Arts & Community Hub (WACH)
👏🏽 The event in the picture above was staged by one of Gloucestershire’s newest charities, Winchcombe Arts & Community Hub (WACH), outside its new headquarters. It is proof of the power of community. Formerly established in March 2023 this is the people of Winchcombe determined to create a space for people of all ages to use for all manner of events. It took 16 months of fundraising, grants from the Government’s Community Ownership Fund (£250,000 towards purchase and upgrades plus £32,000 towards running costs), Gloucestershire County Council (£100,000 towards purchase) and support from local individuals, charitable trusts and businesses - who together committed nearly £130,000. It was another Gloucestershire business that helped make not only the charity but the property deal possible. WACH turned to the expertise of Cheltenham firm Willans, and in particular from Charlotte Cowdell, who told Raikes: “It’s been a pleasure to help WACH at the start of its journey as a charity.” Read more here.
Your Raikes’ briefing
🏗️ We imagine this press release will be picked up across the county, just because it is about one of the most exciting developments in the centre of Gloucester for years. This is the latest of The Forum, which when complete will see a new hotel, offices, retail and accommodation on the site of the former bus station – or if you go back further, the site of the former Whitefriars monastery founded in 1268! Anyway, according to Reef, which is developing the site on behalf of Gloucester City Council, almost three-quarters of the space is already filled!
💷 Businesses, organisations and residents who fell victim to January's Storm Henk can still apply for grant money from Tewkesbury Borough Council and the Forest of Dean District Council. Both local authorities are continuing to promote the funds, which range from £500 for a community recovery grant - up to £5,000 - for households to £2,500 for businesses. There is also the possibility of 100 per cent relief from business rates for three months. Agricultural businesses should also check out the Farming Recovery Fund from Defra.
🏁 Supporting those involved in education and training - at all levels - is part of Raikes' pledges. So, here's one that ticks that box. It's a round-up for exciting apprenticeship vacancies with employers from the county being made available through Gloucestershire College. The college has roles ranging from dental nursing to business administration at Cheltenham's cyber centre, Hub8, from ground works at Wills Bros Civil Engineering to early years educator at Family Tree Nursery. And more. You can find out more right here.
🏘️ We’ll flag this one in our Reports & Deals channel, where we also stash our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire stories (the latter for members eyes only). This is Tewkesbury-headquartered housing association Bromford announcing it has just secured a £75 million credit facility with HSBC. The agreement is to help fund investment in existing homes and new-builds. It could also be the tip of the iceberg in terms of funds for Bromford, which has declared ambitions to raise more than £1 billion of new cash by 2031.
Why we should all think differently about ADHD
By Andrew Merrell
A project that hopes to change the lives for the better of everyone with ADHD and neurodiversity is about to be launched in Gloucestershire, thanks to the efforts of former businesswoman and entrepreneur Jane Roberts.
This story has an awfully sad beginning, but we start here to explain the origins of the determination and passion that is bringing a project to Gloucestershire that could transform the lives of the many.
According to the ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity, an integrated health and education charity, one in 40 or us have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
For some with, those moments - those funny looks, comments, murmurings, put-down’s, knock-backs - they mount up, and up, and up and impact their mental health.
In the worst cases the damage becomes so compounded that no amount of love from those close to them and who care dearly for them is enough anymore.
Ben Brimley’s story went something like that.
He was a young man from Stroud in Gloucestershire who lived with what we now describe as ADHD and who in 2020 took his own life after years battling issues his family now believes stemmed from his condition.
In March, just a few short years after that tragedy, a three-year project is about to launch to support young people across the county to try to help them avoid the same difficult path Ben took.
The ADHD Foundation and the Universal Coaching Alliance (UK) will come together to provide fully-funded education and training to schoolteachers, parents, the third sector and other organisations to help them better understand people with the condition.
Webinars will cover a wide selection of themes and topics including understanding ADHD, autism and dyslexia and strategies for supporting young people with anxiety and what are called ‘executive functioning difficulties’ to create inclusive environments that celebrate neurodiversity.
It feels we are at a tipping point where the label that was so unwelcome and misunderstood in Ben’s youth has become a diagnosis people seek out – with individuals finding huge relief in discovering the reasons they are who they are and behave how they do, allowing them to better understand themselves and in turn for others appreciate them more.
There is a long way to go, but positive change is happening.
In the place of work, businesses and organisations are not just realising they need to do more, but also the benefits of diversity in the workplace. Schools, colleges universities are fast-developing a better way forward too.
Tell someone with ADHD how optimistic this all sounds and they will tell you it is still the case that many simply cannot get that diagnosis, (the NHS waiting list is years in some cases), that the only route to diagnosis is to pay and it is expensive, that they have not been fortunate enough to meet someone who understands them and who they can relate to them, and that they have employers who give no quarter or they are too afraid to speak to – even though they want to give everything to that company.
Jane Roberts is the catalyst who has helped bring the innovative project to Gloucestershire to help try to change things for the better.
A former software consultant from Stroud, she was one of the architects of Innova Software, which had success in the United States of America, and for 20 years was a director of Toplevel - a digital case management solutions provider with a number of public sector contracts - which she sold to Equiniti Group plc in 2017 before retiring.
In June 2021 she became a trustee of ADHD UK in June 2021.
Roberts is determined to make a difference – and make Gloucestershire “the best place to grow up in and live and work in if you have ADHD”.
And she believes so much she has given tens of thousands of pounds from her own pocket to help bring the ground-breaking initiative overseen by ADHD Foundation to the county.
The three-year project follows a successful pilot scheme run in 2021, which Roberts also helped fund, which delivered free training for 500 parents and 500 teachers, involving 25 schools in the Five Valleys. It also saw the iconic coloured umbrellas representing neurodiversity hung above the Stroud and Cheltenham high streets.
Roberts had been saving the money she has pumped into the ADHD project for another purpose, to help her son buy a house, but he doesn’t need it any more.
Ben Brimley was Jane’s son.
“He was such a happy boy, especially when he was at primary school,” she said.
We are sitting in Woodruffs cafe, on Stroud High Street. It’s her birthday and she has an appointment to get her hair done ahead of a meal with her husband, Steve Brimley, but she has paused everything to make sure Raikes hears first hand about the mission and understands. And it is a chance to talk about their son.
The couple had begun their careers in Bristol before relocating to Stroud to start and grow what became a very successful IT businesses - and to enjoy family life.
She laughs, remembering why they decided to become self-employed: “I foolishly thought that if we worked for ourselves I would have more time with Ben, more time as a family.
“It did mean I could do the school run and that sort of thing, but you have to catch up with the work at some point – it doesn’t do itself.”
Roberts describes Ben as a ‘happy child’ at primary school, but hindsight has also made her realise that was where his issues were beginning to become apparent.
“It wasn’t that he was not well-behaved, but we were told very early on he possibly had ADHD.
“Of course, we didn't know much about it then, but then when he saw a specialist they decided he didn't afterall.”
A lot of time passed since that unconfirmed diagnosis, and Ben struggled on through school and then into the world of work.
“It is only when we look back now that I realise the issues he went on to have are probably all rooted in his ADHD.”
Would a diagnosis at that young age, before he became the inevitable teenager who wanted to take on the world himself, have really helped and didn’t need or would never admit to needing any help?
“I think it would. I would say it is vital for so many people,” said Roberts, thinking back to her son’s last days.
Ben was back in Stroud working, doing gardening, saving up to travel and doing well, said Roberts.
“And then the pandemic came and everything shut down,” she recalled. With no support available, no outlet, with work on hold, it was too much.
Ben took his own life in 2020.
Roberts and her husband’s journey goes on and the couple found their way to the ADHD Foundation, which has its headquarters in Liverpool.
It is a leading neurodiversity, mental health and education charity and the largest ‘user-led’ ADHD agency in Europe, supporting more than 5,000 families every year with children and young people living with ADHD.
The foundation is the leading training agency for ADHD in the UK, delivering training to over 15,000 professionals across the UK annually, including teachers, nurses and doctors and hosting an international multidisciplinary conference annually attended by over 800 professionals.
Dr Tony Lloyd (pictured above), chief executive of the foundation, knows a thing or two about how ‘treatments’ and society's attitudes have changed over time.
Now a lecturer at Liverpool John Moore’s University, Lloyd’s late teenage years saw him subjected to electroshock therapy to ‘help’ him ‘get better’.
Speaking to Raikes from his office near the northern city’s famous docks he is a knowledgeable and passionate advocate of changing everyone’s understanding of what ADHD and neurodiverse means and the benefits for everyone – from individuals, to business.
“We are launching a three-year project in Gloucestershire in March after two successful Neurodiversity Umbrella Projects in Stroud in 2021 and 2022 in Cheltenham,” said Lloyd.
“Training was also offered to a lot of small businesses on why neurodiversity is good for business and good for the one in five of your customers who 'think differently'.
“This involved providing training for thousands of teachers on enabling them to improve educational attainment for young people in Glos with dyslexia (one in 10) ADHD (one in 20), dyscalculia (one in 10), autism (one in 67) and dyspraxia (one in 10) making the point that such prevalence – 20 per cent of the human population suggests that there is an evolutionary purpose as to why one in five people 'think differently'.
“Fifty six per cent of those who are autistic are also ADHD and that 42 per cent of those with ADHD are also dyslexic (it rarely travels alone).
“This implies moving away from ideas such as 'disorder' to embracing diversity of mind and celebrating this as we now learn that over 30 per cent of entrepreneurs have ADHD, 40 per cent of millionaires are dyslexic and that our STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) industries are full of autistic minds and that this talent has been there hiding in plain sight - but we never seen it because our education system told us that SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) children where not intelligent and were less employable.
“We now have secured a three-year funding programme to develop skills, knowledge and access for teenagers in Gloucestershire so they can benefit from the range of services and activities offered by voluntary groups, charities and youth centres across the county.
“The objective is to support their educational achievement and support their successful transition from school to employment or higher education, their transition to adulthood and independent living and active citizenship in their communities.”
Roberts said: “Neurodiverse individuals thrive when given the right support. They are frequently creative, imaginative, energetic and good leaders.”
In her home town, Stroud, she said great work was already underway.
“The Stroud Neurodiversity Project seeks to help everyone recognise and harness their strengths and achieve their potential.”
The official launch of the project will be Wednesday April 10, from 9.30am to 3pm at Playhouse Theatre, Cheltenham, GL53 7HG. Raikes will follow up with more information here when we have it too!
Our weekly ideas list of things to do
Tuesday
💻 There are a couple of cyber-related events to flag this week. This one is all about empowering cyber and tech founders with informed decision-making, expert advice, and diverse investor engagement for effective fundraising. Due to take place at Hub8 at Cheltenham's Brewery Quarter from 6pm to 9.30pm. Keynote speakers will be Daniel Bond, from Hazlewoods, and Tim Ward, from HCR, with a spotlight on Cyber Security Associates.
Wednesday
🎶 For those who are loud and proud about their classical music or like a touch of class to their heavy metal this could be for you. The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight returns with an epic new 90-minute concert, ‘breathing beautifully dark energy into legendary rock and metal’ tracks. Due to take place at Cheltenham Town Hall from 9pm to 10.20pm.
Thursday
💻☕ Cheltenham’s monthly networking morning for all things tech, Cyber Sips, is due to take place today, supported by the mighty CyNam and fuelled by sponsor Brink coffee. Guest speaker this month is the rather mysterious sounding ‘Charlie K’, from the UK arm of the US firm CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas.
Friday
💪🏽 Gloucestershire College will be one of many organisations and businesses gathering at Gloucester Guild Hall on Friday February 23 from 9.30am to 2.30pm to stage the Futures Fair - an event aimed to help people get into work. Not only will you be able to access extra support and advice to secure a more positive future, but you can also find out more about job opportunities, skills development, advice on debt, energy and living costs, volunteering and learning opportunities.
* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (who we will be revealing over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable!
🔓 You’ve been reading a free edition of The Raikes Journal, for which we are grateful. Please do spread the word about what we are trying to do - create a real, journalistically-led, community-orientated, Gloucestershire-focused digital magazine. If you upgrade to paid, you will get on average eight extra members-only editions every month and will be able to see beyond any paywalls, as well as read Raikes’ rolling Top 100-plus Businesses in Gloucestershire series. You will also be allowed to comment on stories, make suggestions for what we should be writing about, vote in our awards, and might even be invited to our roundtable events. And you’ll be supporting the rebirth of high-quality journalism in Gloucestershire on a website championing the county you love — all for just £2.30 per week (£12 a month or £120 a year! Ask us about 20 per cent off for groups of two or more subscribers).