Monthly Newsletter November
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Living in a neurotypical world when you are not a neurotypical girl series.
It has been Neurodiversity Celebration week 2024 (March 18-24) this week which is all about educating and promoting worldwide neurodiversity acceptance, equality and inclusion in schools and workplaces.
I, Michelle Shavdia, was late diagnosed with ADHD, dyspraxia and dyscalculia at 37 years old, and ever since have been on a mission to raise awareness into the misunderstood condition of ADHD as well as shining a lens on the overlapping neurodivergent conditions so that we are all better informed and getting better support.
This blog is going to focus on neurodivergence at work. Did you know that 20% of employees are neurodivergent?! And that 1 in 5 people have experienced harassment or discrimination due to this?! ADHD people for example are often excluded or dismissed, on the receiving end of negative comments/jokes; demoralised, humiliated or degraded. ADHD adults are 30% more likely to have ongoing employment issues, 3x more likely to impulsively quit and 60% more likely to be fired. 24% of adults on long term sick leave due to stress exhibit ADHD symptoms!!
Clearly this is not okay or acceptable and is something that needs to change. Similar issues can be found in schools as well. This is why we need to celebrate neurodiversity and learn how best to support it (please see picture). And given the world of work is zooming forward at fast speed we need fast ADHD brains that can keep up with this rate of constant change and thinking outside the box. This therefore may be the most valuable skill a business can have in 2024!
Find Your Spark supports children, their parents and adults with ADHD. With my professional background and Masters qualification in coaching psychology and from my lived experience, I get just how difficult it can be to live in a world that is not set up for your brain and the problems that come with that so am able to effectively listen to and understand the experience. I am therefore able to provide brilliant bespoke support to people in how best to look after your needs pre and post assessment. These services include psychoeducation, pre assessment for ADHD and ADHD coaching post diagnostic support. These services can be delivered one to one or in a public group and either online or in person as well as in schools and to organisations.
WE are running our ADHD Awareness session once again on 15 April for adults to learn more about ADHD and how it applies not only to the world of work but also life generally. Currently there is an early bird discount till the 26 March where you can buy one ticket for £50 and get one ticket half price.
A testimonial received from the last sold-out group in January: ‘We attended the awareness session, and it was so informative, and we have now come away more confident and knowledgeable. Thank you so much, it was amazing and such a lovely bunch of people.’
We are also running the ‘Let’s talk about Neurodiversity’ group again with autism assessor, Rhiann Marchant, on 15 May. Please get in touch by email [email protected] and she can send the Eventbrite link for both groups plus expression of interest form for future coaching groups for adults and teens.
If you require further details these can be found at www.findyourspark.co.uk and via Eventbrite. You can also follow us on @FindYourSparkADHD on Instagram and @FindYourSparkUK on Facebook. We look forward to hearing from you in due course.
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Did you know that had Einstein, one of the greatest inventers of all time with huge intelligence, been born at this time, he would have been diagnosed ADHD?!
I, Michelle Shavdia, 39 years old, am on a mission to raise awareness into the still misunderstood and stigmatised condition of ADHD, breaking it down one myth at a time such as people with ADHD are not intelligent.
I recently spoke on the panel at an event in London for a fantastic charity called Digital Boost who have been supporting and helping me this past year. It was well attended, organised and good energy. I wanted to share what I spoke about regarding my entrepreneurial journey with the audience of start-up entrepreneurs as it may help others too. I am also including some excerpts from a newspaper article I wrote to give further information into ADHD:
‘I took the brave leap of faith to become self-employed in 2011 and set up my business Find Your Spark soon thereafter. I did this through choice as I really wanted to use my skills to coach and support at risk young people and the job I was in, was not suited to my strengths. Also, as is unfortunately the case due to us living in a world that is not quite set up for those who are neurodivergent still (which I did not realise I was at the time), I was not a great employee as I didn’t like to being told what to do as I had my own innovative, creative ideas that I wanted to put into place, which my employers weren’t so keen on!!!
So, I resigned from this job and started a Masters in Coaching Psychology at University for three years from 2012-2015 after having done a Psychology degree.
One of my greatest wins, which in part was due to the support I received from Digital Boost, has been taking the brave leap of faith for a second time to specialise in being an ADHD coach, which I started full time this year. This followed on from having supported young people with ADHD in 2018-2019 not knowing that I had ADHD myself!! I received my own late ADHD diagnosis in 2021 at 37 years old after years of not knowing what was going on with my brain that made me so different to my peers.
I now specialise in the condition of ADHD and am supporting those with and without ADHD one to one and in groups so they can manage living in a neurotypical world better. I understand just how difficult it can be and the problems that come with having this condition despite there certainly being strengths as well.
There are still many misconceptions about ADHD. One of these is that having ADHD means you don’t have enough attention and therefore are unable to concentrate. The fact is people with ADHD have TOO much attention and notice EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE (much like the Oscar winning film of that name!!).
One way to describe ADHD is like having squiggles in the brain firing off in all directions, which is what makes it that much harder to concentrate. But when we ARE focused on something that we are REALLY interested in, we can be known to hyper focus on it, much to the neglect of everything else around us (there have been countless times I have forgotten to eat as I have been so engrossed in what I am doing!!!)
ADHD isn’t something we grow out of; it doesn’t go away, and it is not something to be fixed. Rather it is something to be managed and given ADHD is now thought to affect 6% of the population, it is important people understand what it is. There are currently 110,000 people waiting for an ADHD assessment and the average waiting time is between 3-10 years. So, the current system is not working clearly.
In business, as in life, we face challenges and let downs. I have faced many and this year there were two that knocked me off my feet a bit and set me back somewhat. However, I now see these setbacks as lessons and challenges to overcome. Whilst disappointing I am now grateful for them as I truly believe that whatever is meant for you, won’t go past you so focus your energy on your interests, passions and what flows and don’t worry so much about things that don’t.
People with ADHD tend to experience imposter syndrome daily despite the qualifications, professional experiences, and accolades. This is because they have spent much of their life, particularly if they are late diagnosed with ADHD, being told that they are mad, bad, crazy, lazy and stupid and compared to your peers and told, ‘why can’t you just be like them?!’ If you are told something enough times, you will begin to believe it. Even at this Digital Boost event I felt like an imposter before, during and afterwards and yet I was invited to speak at it!!! The way I overcome this now is to focus on what has worked well for you and the successes you have had and use that to motivate and drive you forward. Share this with others and don’t think it is boastful as on the whole, people love celebrating and helping people as not only can it make them feel good doing so but also it can inspire them to improve their lives. We all just human beings having an experience through life so it’s important just to do your best and believe in yourself and the rest will fall into place.
Here are some techniques I have learnt to stay motivated and keep my growth mindset through the challenging moments:
If you would like to learn more about ADHD, what it is and how best to manage it, get in touch by email or phone. We have two groups coming up for adults with ADHD and family members who wish to learn more on how best to support it. Or if you prefer one to one, we offer ADHD coaching. Here are the Eventbrite links to book onto a group:
ADHD Awareness Group – Tuesday 30 January, 7pm-9pm (Colchester) Buy One Get One Free Offer for £40 till end of December. Then Buy One Get One free till end of January for £60.
Alternatively email [email protected] and she will send you further details. Further details can be found at www.findyourspark.co.uk and @FindYourSparkADHD on Instagram.
We look forward to hearing from and meeting you in due course!!!
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