Our AGM enjoyed fantastic feedback from members after kicking off with ADHD comedian Victoria Melody and ending with heart felt poem by Tamsin, Aged 18.
ADHD Aware held our 6th Annual General Meeting last Thursday, 25th February 2021, our last one being November 2019 – and a lot has happened since then. In addition to the usual business of voting on the committee and hearing the news of our support to the ADHD community, we were also entertained by ADHD comedian, Victoria Melody who broke the ice in the unusual zoom setting for our event this year. We then ended the event by launching our new short film ‘Understanding Children with ADHD – Let’s hear from their families‘ which opened with a moving poem written by a young woman from one of the families supported by our organisation.
“Exceptional support in an extraordinary year”
As part of the news sharing, members acknowledged the challenges of the last year and heard about the increase in our support to match that need. Our mailing list has doubled to almost 750 and we provide 40 monthly peer support sessions per year. We have introduced new sessions supporting ‘Parents’, a 10 week pilot and relaunched a session for ‘Partners’. Members learned that 1,139 individuals have been supported through our support in person, through social media and by email throughout the year and almost 44,000 people supported in total when counting the website hits!
Funded by Brighton & Hove City Council, the new film has been made by the organisation with involvement from the families who attend our ‘Parent of Children & Young People with ADHD’ group which happens monthly – you can find the event advertised in our e-newsletter and on the calendar of this website.
The idea behind the film is to raise awareness and get beyond the limited and sometimes negative understanding of ADHD and glimpse the experience of young people and their families. The film opens with an insightful and moving poem by Tamsin, and outlines her own experience of having ADHD as well as her brother: “It is sincere, uplifting and the perfect way to set the scene for our little film.” said Chair of the organisation, Linda Saltwell.
Making the lockdown film was not simple, with restrictions on social distancing in place; in addition not all family members wished to be identified due to the stigma still sometimes associated with ADHD. So the film had to overcome these challenges and used zoom interviews and animations to get the main points across.
The intention is that the film, the second the organisation have made, will be made available to schools and professionals who may benefit from its personal insights into ADHD family life. Watch this space to see the film.