Understanding ADHD has brought enormous peace to me as a mum and wife to an ADHD adult & two kids.

In recent months, my 9 year old son has been experiencing increased anxiety, emotional outbursts, over-reaction and complaining that he finds school boring and keeps getting told off by his teacher.

The GP suggested we find him a therapist and I found a local one. From the first session, she commented “she’d be happy to still see him but that she didn’t think she was right for him and that ADHD is something we should consider looking at”.

At the same time, my husband who has been living with high-functioning anxiety (unbeknown to me) which in recent years has been getting worse, started to see the same therapist. She also mentioned ADHD to him. This was building to a perfect storm!

As an avid listener of audio books I happened to discover via my searches, the book ‘HOW NOT TO MURDER YOUR ADHD KID – INSTEAD LEARN TO BE YOUR CHILD’S OWN ADHD COACH‘.

I almost listened to the book in one sitting! It was truly profound as it described exactly another of my children! I have to say I did cry because, whilst it was a long series of lightbulb moments, I felt so guilty that my child had struggled through secondary school, that I had saddled him with a very flaky counsellor who really didn’t get him, and angry also that a school, who had picked up on his short-term memory problems, had never once suggested ADHD.

It is from this book, which I have listened to numerous times now, recommended to EVERYONE, including my 9 year old’s school, I found ‘Headstuff ADHD Therapy‘. I can say honestly, as a family, our experience with them has been life changing.

My husband is now diagnosed, starting medication and has Greg as his Coach, who he describes as “one of the most decent human beings he has ever met”.

My 9 year old has gone through an ADHD/ASD Pre- assessment with Kelly, which highlighted other possible neuro-diversities we’d not considered. We will soon be going to see a Paediatrician to get the formal diagnosis and hopefully start medication to help calm that overly busy but clever brain of his!

The pre-assessment with Kelly was very insightful and continued to trigger more light bulb moments. Kelly handled my son brilliantly, negotiating with him for his time and attention to get the information she needed. You can see why the Headstuff team having ADHD themselves is so important. The report back was detailed but easy to read and the school very appreciative of it. My son now knows he has this superpower, which he’s OK with although would prefer teleporting as his superpower!

My husband feels liberated and a lot calmer and happier. As for me, I am relieved and thrilled to have all this information, and empowered to help my perfect little family be the best versions of themselves.

I want you to know how great yesterday was for Lucy. You worked so nicely with her, and she opened up to you. I haven’t seen her open up like that with anyone else! I asked her what she thought of the appointment, and she replied, “Sarah is cool.”

Lucy felt understood by you, and she left feeling optimistic about her future diagnosis of ADHD

I look forward to reading your book and moving forward, knowing that I can support Lucy all the way. Many thanks

It was fantastic to meet you with our teenage daughter You’re the first person she has actually engaged with and felt she was being listened to; it’s been quite an incredible few days since seeing you.  I can’t explain how relieved we are all feeling. 

We’re keen for her to start meds as it’ll be a game changer for her I believe.  She has taken so well to meeting and speaking to you, it’s must be incredible for her to know she’s understood finally and being listened to. We’d like our 16 year old to be assessed too please? Listening to you talk made us realise she probably has this condition too. 

My sister (Deputy Head at a school) has ordered and read your book – she found it amazing, an eye opener and a game changer. She’s going to talk to her Head and Staff at school about ordering and reading your book.  She can spot the boys with ADHD coming into Year 1 but the girls are much harder with their ADHD.  My sister is an amazing primary school teacher, she’s so passionate about learning and helping, supporting all her pupils.

My parents (83 & 82) are now ordering your book too.  It’ll certainly help them to understand what our girls have been living with as they don’t get it !!

Thanks again Sarah for your time, help and support.  You’re the first person who’s listened to us, to our daughter and helped us understand what we’re all living with. As a Mum I can’t tell you how helpful & emotional it has been since meeting you.  

Just to let you know, Kelly was amazing. She was patient, kind and very helpful. Many thanks.

Sarah,
I am sitting here with a prescription!  We have come a long way since your pre-assessment.
You were right – with no uncertainty at all, Scott has ADHD and the assessments from school and me  indicated he may have HF autism (which probably surprised me a little).
I want to thank you for guiding us, and for the fab pre assessment that was completed. Dr Sawhney came through for us, so I’m sitting here just relieved that I haven’t been going mad all these years. Many thanks.

We could not be more relieved and grateful to have Greg in our son’s life.

Pre-diagnosis we were certain our then 12 year old had ADHD but like so many families we were waiting and waiting for assessment.

During those months, Greg helped our son understand what ADHD was and how his ways of thinking and behaving came not from a place of ‘naughtiness’ but from how his brain is wired.

He helped him see ADHD as a positive, as a condition with so many brilliant traits, and as something that’s just who he is, not a deficit.

This meant that by the time my son got a diagnosis, he was so at peace with the label – he pretty much shrugged it off and got on with his day!

Our son finds new people and situations very stressful but the relationship Greg very quickly established meant our son had almost instant trust and respect. He goes above and beyond to keep our son at the centre of everything, and at the same time to support us as his parents.

Putting our child in touch with Greg has given him a role model and mentor who completely understands him – there can’t be much more valuable than that for a young teenager with a new ADHD diagnosis. We can’t thank Greg enough and would recommend him to any family in a similar position to us.

We had completed Connors ADHD questionnaires earlier in 2021 however his school scored him low, in contrast to our own scores which were high.

Our Community Paediatrician was therefore unable to diagnose him with ADHD. He really began to struggle in Year 10 with the greater complexity of the work & the amount of homework that was expected and had started to miss a lot of school owing to anxiety.

Kelly from Headstuff conducted a 2 hour pre-assessment and produced a very comprehensive report which was sent to school and used as a referral to a consultant paediatrician they work closely with.

Kelly was lovely and immediately put my son at ease at the assessment which was conducted over Zoom. She explained that she herself has ADHD. He was so relaxed that all his ADHD traits came out – mimicking me, rolling his eyes at me, annoying the dog, spinning & wheeling himself up and down on the office chair and eating 4 packets of crisps! He said afterwards that he “felt heard and understood”.
The report covered topics such as inattention, disorganization, procrastination, time blindness, overthinking, impulsivity, fidgeting, hyperactivity, losing things, not following instructions, emotional issues, anxiety and sensory issues. The conclusion was that my son was showing several traits of ADHD and should be seen by a paediatrician for assessment ASAP. It also listed several accommodations that should be adopted by the school.

I am convinced that the Headstuff pre-assessment report made a big difference as the Connors & Vanderbilt questionnaires returned by school now showed far greater evidence of ADHD traits.

My son received his ADHD diagnosis last Thursday which was just 2 months from the pre-assessment and I am over the moon. We will now be able to get him an EHCP and the help that he deserves. Our GP was able to take over shared care for the ADHD medication so my son is getting this on the NHS and has just started taking it.

Kelly is very knowledgeable about ADHD and related conditions and is very empathic and understanding about the difficulties kids have. Kelly has an excellent manner and immediately put my daughter at ease. Kelly allowed her to express herself freely, but also ensured that all of the key issues were addressed. My daughter and I both found the session very informative and helpful.

My 8 year old son was finding it very hard to concentrate and focus at school. We had also noticed this at home during daily activities.

We decided we wanted him to have a pre-assessment and a friend had suggested Headstuff. We paid for the assessment online and promptly received an email and arranged a Zoom meeting for the following week.

Kelly was great and made us all feel at ease instantly. My son engaged really well when answering the questions and it was all very informal, more like a chat with a friendly face.

Kelly is very knowledgeable and was able to link us up with a very good paediatrician. The detailed report was written up and sent across to us within a few days.

We are now on to the next stage of diagnosis and meetings with the school. I believe the pre-assessment has helped enormously in making the process easier and move along a lot quicker.

I would definitely recommend Kelly and the team at Headstuff to anyone thinking of having their child pre-assessed for ADHD or any of the comorbidities.

Thank you for this pre-assessment report. You have really captured the essence of Lucy’s difficulties. It is incredible the difference it makes talking to people who actually understand and know about the challenges neurodiverse people face daily.

You are an excellent advocate and I’m so happy we met you! Lucy enjoyed talking to you and she rarely talks to anyone.

We don’t often tell people how good they are at what they do, we too often make complaints. This is definitely one of the instances when someone has not only done their job but done it to a very high standard – I can’t thank you enough and this is only the beginning.

Your report will certainly open up lots of avenues to be explored with Lucy and begins the road to understanding and accepting herself and finding happiness.

Kelly – I just wanted to thank you for today. After our session finished, my husband and I cried!

I have been saying my eldest has ADHD and ODD for over 13 years! I have studied childcare and worked with children for over 20 years. I’ve had schools, health professionals and numerous agencies tell me they’re just ‘naughty boys’ and it’s my parenting skills and my lack of consistency.

They’ve made me attend numerous parenting courses over and over again. They made me doubt myself and almost give up trying to parent my boys because I felt I was constantly failing them and that nothing I did was right.

My eldest’s mental health has suffered so badly that he’s self harming and even Young Minds Matter won’t help him.

It’s cost us our mental health and nearly cost us our marriage. I can’t thank you enough for lifting such a huge weight off my shoulders.

I’m not sure where we go from here. I think I will probably get the eldest assessed as well so he has peace of mind transitioning into college in September.

But honestly THANK YOU. I can now start to re build my own confidence and help the boys with theirs and hopefully help them understand themselves a bit more. And help my husband understand the whole situation. We are truly grateful.

Kelly,

Thank you for the report, I’m hopeful that this will be useful to our daughter’s teachers in terms of highlighting some of the more subtle difficulties she is having.

I wanted to thank you again for how lovely you were with her in the assessment. She was quite anxious about it beforehand but you had such a lovely calming manner, and your humour and ability to make it feel like a friendly chat was really fantastic 🙂

Sonya was excellent at putting both me and my daughter at ease.

She engaged brilliantly with my daughter, whilst remaining professional and focused on the ADHD pre-assessment.

She was thorough, patient and friendly. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

I got in touch with Sarah Templeton regarding our 6 year old daughter who had been for triaged out of the NHS pathway because she wasn’t exhibiting enough traits in the school setting despite being a completely different child at home and struggling (the usual story for girls). Sarah conducted a pre-assessment and indicated SPD, traits of Autism and ADHD. 

Following a formal complaint to the NHS provider and submission of Sarah’s pre-assessment document,  our daughter’s ADHD referral was finally accepted and she is awaiting assessment and we are positive it will result in diagnosis.

Sarah was also able to signpost us to Kelly, Head of Headstuff’s Pre Assessment service, in relation to our eldest daughter who is 12. Our daughter struggles to talk to people she doesn’t know and was really reluctant to speak about ADHD or any of her feelings.

On the day of the pre-assessment Kelly made her feel comfortable and spoke about her own lived experiences which we found really beneficial and our daughter responded well to. She explained exactly what she would be doing to ensure she understood the process. 

Our daughter coloured a picture throughout the assessment and her creativity was acknowledged by Kelly. At one stage our daughter left the room crying because she clearly felt embarrassed about some of the topics discussed. Kelly was really accommodating and reassured her she didn’t have to be present or if she was – she could be off screen. 

After a hug she continued with the assessment and finally felt comfortable enough to resume on screen.

Kelly provided our daughter with validation for how she feels and thinks in relation to some of her behaviours. She was incredibly knowledgeable around not only ADHD but a whole range of neurodivergent conditions such as autism, dyspraxia, dysgraphia and dyslexia. 

She was also very knowledgeable as to how her secondary school could and should help support her in school and the adjustments we could ask to be considered.

Kelly’s communication was fantastic and the final report was thorough with advice on what steps to take next. She also provided information on a number of options for assessment such as a private pathway or via the Right to Choose. 

Due to our daughter’s struggles and hormones playing a part we made the decision to pay privately for a quicker assessment. As a result our daughter received her diagnosis of Inattentive ADHD yesterday. This was 8 weeks from our appointment with Kelly. In reflection we could’ve waited and saved ourselves the cost but there was no guarantee due to changing criteria for ‘Right to Choose’ that she’d get seen.

As our 6 year old has a little time to go before hormones start to impact her further, we have followed Kelly’s advice and been successful in getting her onto the Right to Choose pathway and she should be seen within 7 months as opposed to the 2-5 year current NHS waiting list in our area.

We are incredibly grateful to Sarah and Kelly for their help and cannot recommend them enough.

Thank you