How a Podcast Sparked a National ADHD Community | Laura Mears-Reynolds

Laura Mears-Reynolds didn’t set out to build a charity. She didn’t even set out to build a movement. She just started talking honestly about ADHD, late diagnosis, and the reality so many women live through in silence. And then something unexpected happened. People listened. People related. And people started finding each other.

In this episode of MarketPulse Pros & Pioneers, Laura shares the real story behind ADHDAF+, the Leopard Print Army, and how a podcast recorded in a small room in North East Scotland turned into a national community with real-world peer support groups across the UK.

We talk about what it feels like growing up always feeling different, being labelled as “brilliant or terrible,” being crushed by self-loathing, and living for years with anxiety, insomnia, misdiagnosis, and shame. Laura explains why ADHD in women is still so often missed, why that delay can be dangerous, and how diagnosis and treatment didn’t just improve her life, it saved it.

This is also a conversation about activism. About building something “about us, by us, for us.” About refusing to let ADHD become a trend, while still shouting loudly enough that the right people finally pay attention. And about how community in real life can change everything.

Thanks for listening!!

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If you want to feature as a guest, and you're either a business owner who does most of their own marketing, or you're a marketer with a passion for sharing your knowledge, current trends and adding value, reach out to me directly.

This show is brought to you by Javelin Content Management.

We're a husband and wife team who specialise in helping fascinating people launch amazing podcasts, where we extract all of the content 'juice' by squeezing their episodes and repurposing the clips.

We manage podcasts across lots of industries and sectors for our clients, specialising in hosts with ADHD and neurodiversity (like us!)

We also work with existing podcasters who just want to get the hard work off their hands, or who are finding the whole process tiring and dull!

Transcript

Paul 0:10

She survived ADHD. Then She set out to become an activist and to raise as hell and then started a movement accidentally, to make sure that others didn't have to do it alone. Laura Mears-Reynolds is the founder and CEO of ADHDAF+. Born from her globally Successful podcast, ADHDAF and a community that refused to stay invisible. Diagnosed with combined type ADHD at 38, after a lifetime of being misunderstood, mislabeled and mismanaged Laura turned late discovery into loud purpose. What began as a podcast became a movement, the Leopard Print Army, a place where shame is dismantled. Truth is spoken plainly and lived experience finally counts as expertise. Through UK tours, peer support groups, a growing charity and a marketplace celebrating neurodivergent creators. Laura has built something rare, community in real life, not just online. She's raw, funny, outspoken and deeply serious about one thing. ADHD is not a trend. It's real. It's dangerous when ignored. When understood, it can change lives. Laura, that is some bio! welcome to the show.

Laura 1:30

She sounds great. Who's that? Hello. Thank you very much for having me, I was sitting here like, this is amazing. Who's this person?

Paul 1:38

I did it in my best marks and Spencer's advert voice.

Laura 1:40

honestly it was great, I was hooked.

Paul 1:41

This is not just a podcast, this is MarketPulse I love it. I love it. So a little bit of Background. for this episode for the viewers of this show. You'll know that we partner with ADHD, Liberty. It was run by Sarah Templeton. And Laura, I met through some work that Sarah Templeton was doing on some top secret videos I'm not allowed to talk about at the moment, but you will find out in good course. And having read Laura's background on LinkedIn, I just couldn't avoid. Asking her to become a guest on the show, because I think Laura has an absolutely amazing story, background experience that I wanna share with everybody who's on here. And I'm just gonna dive straight into it, if that's all right with you, Laura.

Laura 2:20

Yeah, that's totally fine. Let's do it. I'm still sorry. I'm still still just enthralled after that intro and it feels really weird because Sarah Temperton is such a hero of mine, so I'm always like, yeah, that's. She's like

Paul 2:31

I know, right.

Laura 2:32

She's the chief of all things. I can only aspire to be that amazing. But yeah, let's do it.

Paul 2:37

Sarah is the boss, no matter where she goes. She's the boss. I love it. Yes, she a hundred percent is,

Laura 2:42

sparkly talons as well. She's literally my idol. I love her.

Paul 2:45

but no black pens. Good grief, no black pens. So let's go back to when you were a kid, Laura. Did you always know that you were a little bit different?

Laura 2:54

Yes, I always felt very, very different. but interestingly I'm mixed race, so my dad is Irish and my mum is Caribbean. They both met in London and so when I was about, I can't even remember how old, I'm not very good with numbers. We moved to Norfolk and I, all of my friends' parents were born and bred, I already felt sort of really inherently different and I was very tall for my age as well, so I just kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. And yeah, I just thought it was that for quite a long time that I just kind of felt, yeah. Different, like the odd one out, but I've since learned over the last few years that's such a common experience for people with ADHD to just feel inherently different or neurodivergent people generally. Yeah.

Paul 3:45

And I guess it's not something you'd have had the language for or the, probably even the cognisance at that age to understand that, other than the fact that you felt a little bit on the edge, a little bit on the outskirts of other people. And, it's something I hear a lot of people talk about.

Laura 3:59

Yeah, definitely the outsider, but also, obviously statistically speaking, neurodivergence, it runs in families and so my family were a bit different. And obviously it's not just the case of so many people experience when they find out that they have ADHD, they'll tell a parent and they'll be like, yeah, well I do that. Well, I do that. That's because that's normal right

Paul 4:21

Yeah.

Laura 4:22

But actually, I was really aware that my family were different. It was really intense. My dad is really eccentric and no, everyone else just seemed to be getting on all right and it not be this kind of chaos I was living with.

Paul 4:37

Yeah.

Laura 4:38

I kind of put that down to the fact that they were from different parts of the world and we had this different kind of life,

Paul 4:46

and how did that work out for you at school? I mean, the question I sent you originally was emotionally more than academically. But actually I'm quite interested in both because I know there's significant impact on both, right.

Laura 4:57

Do you know? It is really funny because I. So it said people with ADHD, the disparity, the difference between the things that we can do well and the things that we don't do well can be much bigger than neurotypical people. Again, I dunno how that's measured, but. I know that I was either brilliant or terrible like a lot of people I, you'd excel in one area and not in another. So I'm good at writing. I could do English history, occasionally get into languages, but I did bunk off a lot, so I did miss a lot. But you know, all of that side of things, drama, art, and then. Maths, not so much. I've got dyscalculia, all of that stuff. But what was really interesting, well, interesting in hindsight, what was really challenging at the time was that actually I could go into the same lesson. On a different day and be a completely different person in terms of what I could, how much I could concentrate, what I could get done, how much I could, would contribute, if I could even understand what was going on, if I was just completely distracted and laughing with a friend. But for me, because my parents were quite strict, I really never wanted to get in trouble. My mum was a teacher, so education was really important. So. I know that I was always going into those rooms and doing my very best,

Paul 6:21

Yeah. or at least

Laura 6:22

doing my very best not to get in trouble. But on any given day, that would look so different and very often I would get in trouble.

Paul 6:30

Yeah. and

Laura 6:31

the thing is, I used to say before I knew about any of this, I was born with a capital T for trouble on my forehead. I never go looking for it, but it always finds me and I'll always be the one that gets the blame. It, it's that and it still follows me now. But I remember one very specific situation with a teacher in English literature teacher. I really liked her. We got on well I do like writing and I do all right at it and. coming up to my GCSEs. I had to hand in my GCSE coursework and I hadn't handed in literally any of it, like none of it, and it was literally like, I'm not kidding. I think I did. All of my GCSC coursework in about a week or even just a couple of days, I can't remember exactly. I handed it in and she looked at it and I was expecting her to go like, done. You've done so well. She was absolutely fuming. She was just like, this is disgusting. Like, do you know how hard some people have been working on these things for months? And you've le, I know that you have just done this. I know that you've literally just done this. And then of course the next thing is imagine what you could do if you actually applied yourself, if

Paul 7:42

you actually

Laura 7:43

tried. And so the emotional side of it for me was that I really was trying, and I found it so incredibly, not just demoralising but actually quite frightening to be like, I can't understand why on Monday I've got laser beams shooting outta my eyes and I can turn out 1500 words in like two seconds. And on Wednesday I can't even connect pen to paper.

Paul 8:12

Yeah.

Laura 8:12

Quill.'cause we're that old, you know what I mean? Like

Paul 8:14

Yeah. it

Laura 8:14

was literally, it was like that. I couldn't understand it. And the weirdest part is because I've never been good at sleeping. I would lie awake at night just worrying about it. Oh my God, I have to get this done. I have to get this thing done. And if I don't hand it in tomorrow, I'm gonna get in loads of trouble. What can I say? What can I say? How can, and I'm talking like 8 hours.

Paul 8:36

Yep. of

Laura 8:36

that, instead of just doing the thing, I was worried sick about not doing the thing and exhausting myself so much. Just in all of that worry and panic that you almost feel like you've done it sometimes.'cause you

Paul 8:47

Yeah. spend so

Laura 8:48

much

Paul 8:48

thinking about it Mm-hmm.

Laura 8:49

And I think, and I will be honest here. I just wanna say like, I'm going to use some not very nice words here, but that it is the language that I had at the time. So my dad, it is very clear now what is the most ADHD man alive, right? when we were children, he and he himself would refer to himself in this way. He would say, I'm mad. And I grew up with a very real fear. that I might be too. And so those little things, the things that didn't make sense, I'd be like, oh my God, I'm mad. And that, is it's such a horrible thing to say, you've got these ideas in your mind of some like Victorian bloody, whatever. We'd all get locked up for being crazy. It's horrendous. we, my dad did have poor mental health. I struggle with my mental

Paul 9:42

Yeah,

Laura 9:42

but all of that is a knock on effect. Of unidentified, unmanaged very badly mistreated, ADHD. Cool. I've been talking for a long time. Sorry about that.

Paul 9:52

But. Oh I could jump off on tangents on almost everything that you've said there, right? Like, I, I identify, so I laughed a little bit when you mentioned about being a troublemaker, right? Like having trouble on your forehead. Right. At not that long back, I was at a funeral and I drove my car. Not for my family, from my no, I didn't know. I'm not, I wasn't that bad. It was, but I'm parking the car up. There's not enough space outside of the, oh, double check. Sorry. Just, I thought I thought I'd lost you a second there. Right, we're back. We're all good. Right, so yeah, I was at a funeral and I'm driving my car to pick us, to pick everybody up, transport everybody, and I'm parking, there's no space outside the church, so I'm gonna park over the road and there's like a petrol station with a shop and stuff on it. And everybody's saying, just park inside the petrol station. There's some customer bays in there. I'm like. what in the customer bays?. Yeah. And I, as I'm, so, I'm right, okay. I've got the family in the car and I drive in and I'm looking at the wall and it's got signs up saying, you are only allowed to park here if you're a customer. And it's only for so long. And I'm like nah. And I drove round out the car park and back down the side street and park there. And her dad's, my wife's dad's outside. He's furious. She's like, why didn't you park in there where I told you to park? I'm like, because I find trouble. Right. If there's something bad to happen to anyone, it's gonna happen to me. So I'm gonna play it safe. And I'm parking there'cause I know I'm allowed to park there and I park there. I know Sod's Law, A traffic warden will come past. They'll look at what I'm doing or somebody will report me or something. I don't know but I'm not doing it.'cause I have too many experiences where I'm the, guy that gets caught doing these things that everybody else does and doesn't even worry about. Right. 100

Laura 11:30

The other side of that as well is that I kind of get picked for everything. So A couple of years ago we went to London Dungeon, my husband and I, and not only. Did I start the Great Fire of London? I was also tried as a witch, so there you go.

Paul 11:47

In two separate exhibits, right? Yeah.

Laura 11:49

that one.

Paul 11:51

Yeah. The, we can have fun with that one. Yeah. But it isn't it? Like, like I, I love being the class clown. I loved acting out. I love like not to a point where I ever not until I went into senior school that I started getting in trouble.'cause I took things too far. When, once I got to a teenage years as a young kid, I was always quite diligent with my schoolwork and stuff. But everything you've said there around, coursework and I don't think this, I find again, I could just jump off into so many different things and I need to Structure. this conversation. I'm in danger of doing my very ADHD thing and just. Going off you what

Laura 12:22

Structure. whats that

Paul 12:23

it.

Laura 12:24

So bringing it back to you, Laura, bringing it back to you. So I imagine, again, just kind of as I've said there, right, as a young kid, there's worries there and it's hard, but it's manageable. But then as you become a teenager and hormones get thrown in the mix and social circles become very important and friends and partners and boyfriends and girlfriends and all of that sort of jazz. How did you feel at that? age knowing that you thought about things a bit differently to everybody else? Well, I guess I've, I guess I felt like I came into my own really. I was like, well, this is great because like I, can talk and I like going out and I don't really need to sleep and like I really thought that it was great that sort of period of time. But obviously. The inevitable. I ended up getting a load of trouble. Of course I did. and that, that's it. It is like, it's such a funny thing to look back on. You sort of say, well, I don't regret the choices that I made, but I definitely could have made better choices. But I think, I just think in all honesty, like I count myself incredibly lucky that I just didn't get in more trouble. I didn't get arrested. I definitely could have been. Do you know what I mean? Like, I made lot of bad decisions for the fun of it. But, in terof personal relationships and even just, well, actually all relationships, I think. In those sort of teenage years was when the RSD just became really prevalent. I remember being very anxious if i had a day off

Paul 14:03

rejection

Laura 14:03

sensitive dysphoria. Yeah. So the rejection sensitive dysphoria just became really prevalent. it's, as we know with RSD, it's not just an extreme reaction to rejection. It's the thought, the perceived rejection that might not ever happen that can cause us to feel even like physical pain. And so I remember as a teenager especially, If I had a day off school, I would be worried that everyone was talking about me, that I was gonna come back to school and everyone would hate me, or that I'd be in loads of trouble. I really did react very intensely to any kind of conflict or anything like that. I spent a lot of my time upset or angry. And the thing is. The thing that's really, really strange and often with us people with ADHD, we, can be so contradictory. So like, here's me really wanting to like everyone and to be liked and to not have any conflicts. My life is stressful enough. I just want things to be easy and straightforward. But do you know what you, what did you say? I would have you like, and I don't mean that in terms of physical fight. I've never been a physical altercation in my life, but like, you wanna have an argument with me? No, you don't. I'll tell you now you don't like, and it's as simple as that. And I don't even mean in terms of like, oh, I mean, I know I sound like a chipmunk. I don't exactly sound very threatening, but I, it's it when I am angry. I am, I can get very articulate and I'm not afraid of confrontation. I'm not going to back down like that's it. So there was a lot of arguments and the fact that, yeah, I can actually handle myself in them, it just makes it even more ridiculous that I would even worry about it, you

Paul 15:45

See I'm the exact opposite. I'm awful in an argument. I'm like, I just get so emotional and then I start tripping over my words And, every fact and figure and stat that I've ever thought about just pops outta my head, and I just have to go for the jugular verbally. And it's not fun. It's not pretty. I, avoid that like the plague.

Laura 16:00

And it isn't fun for me either. And I will always cry afterwards. Always. But what I think is really interesting about what you said there is like. With ADHD, we'll often talk about like overstimulated or understimulated. Right. And a lot of people like the kind of general consensus of neurodivergence. If we're gonna say something that's like neurodivergent friendly, then we are gonna make sure that it's more calm because we don't want people to be overstimulated and that cause like I am the exact opposite, being overstimulated. makes me concentrate. Like, it's like I can't even begin to concentrate unless there is like an element of danger or shit. Loads of stimuli all around me and then I can

Paul 16:40

focus Yeah.

Laura 16:41

And so actually yeah, in that heightened state, when there is an argument, I'm actually really articulate everything. I can go straight in and now I can concentrate because I'm furious. But yeah, it's really interesting.

Paul 16:53

So then

Laura 16:54

what the question was at this point,

Paul 16:56

that's fine. I think we got there. I think we got there. Career then. So you're at school. What did you aspire to be when you were young and at school, and what do you think you were gonna end up doing?

Laura 17:41

I wanted to be a marine biologist

Paul 17:45

Ooh.

Laura 17:45

or

Paul 17:45

Oh,

Laura 17:46

An air hostess basically just wanted to get away. But I really like the ocean and I always have, but I just didn't do well enough. So that wasn't, that was a no go. I nearly became an air hostess, but I realised that, well, actually I just ended up

Paul 18:00

And you were almost a scuba dive instructor, right?

Laura 18:03

I was a scuba diving instructor. I'm a master scuba diving instructor. Thank you very much. Yeah, no, I'm the worst scuba diving instructor in the world because I have absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever, and I make terrible, impulsive. it's really sad. It's really genuinely very sad because. I love it so much. Like it is literally like, this is what I'm meant to be doing. Oh no, but you are absolutely fucking terrible about it. Sorry. I swore

Paul 18:33

It's fine. absolutely

Laura 18:34

terrible at it, but like at least now I know why.

Paul 18:38

Yeah. whereas

Laura 18:39

actually when i

Paul 18:40

nearly Yeah.

Laura 18:41

Got a few people killed by accident, by making terrible decisions. Everyone was fine. Everyone survived. But yeah, there was a couple of close shaves that was just like, do you know what? I can't do this anymore and I don't even know why I can't do this anymore'cause I'm trying so hard. At least now I know

Paul 18:56

Yeah. that

Laura 18:57

with all the will in the world, I'm never ever going to be able to find the boat. And if you show me a really massive, exciting fish over there. I'm not going to give a second thought to my depth. Air time, nothing. It's just like that. is Wicked. Let's go look.

Paul 19:12

Bye.

Laura 19:13

Like, that's it. That's it.

Paul 19:15

I can, but I can align with that and I think a lot of people who challenge themselves with sensory perception for whatever reason, for whatever the, like a lot of people found that. Calm underwater in the water. And I certainly like snorkeling. I've never been diving, but snorkeling is, I loved it. I loved it off the reef in the Dominican Republic and left my wife on the beach for about four hours and I can't even swim. And I was out there like diving down under the, sunburnt to

Laura 19:44

a crisp?

Paul 19:45

Oh I was fine. yeah. I'm I've got polish blood, right? Like, I don't really burn. So I was like I'm fine. I, my pirate bandana on and I was diving underneath and it was amazing. Just a whole different world, but like The peace. of being

Laura 19:59

The peace

Paul 20:00

The peace in that place. Yeah, it's beautiful. I

Laura 20:02

think there's so many different elements to it, especially with scuba diving is the weightlessness, the weight of the world is literally lifted off your shoulders. The sensory seeking, I actually like the sound of the bubbles and how it feels when I breathe in and out. It's all really sensory, but also the main one is, we've you've got a key to another world. You don't fit into this one. And go down there. Ah, this is alright. I'm not bothering anybody in theory. I can't get in trouble over under here. I did though.

Paul 20:31

You found it anyway so you got diagnosed at 38 then.

Laura 20:37

Yes.

Paul 20:37

It's not far off the age I got well, I got self-diagnosed, I'm not, I'm not officially diagnosed yet. So 38

Laura 20:43

That's

Paul 20:45

What led to that and why, how?

Laura 20:47

So a friend of mine told me, I think I was about 35. A friend of mine told me that she had just been diagnosed with ADHD and just like everyone else, I thought it was just naughty little boys. I didn't, yeah, I didn't think. Anything other than that. I thought it was a boys thing. You grow out of it, it meant that you were hyperactive, couldn't sit still. And she didn't fit the bill, not just in gender, but she was very successful to my mind. Got it all together kind of person. And when she started to explain the ways in which it impacted her life, I was like, well, if you've got it, I've definitely got it. And she was just like. Yeah, that's why I am telling you this now. But I kind of just put it down for a bit. I was like, all right, that's interesting. Okay, whatever. Because even though I'd read into it and she'd explained it to me, like many people, many late discovered people. I was in no hurry or had no ability to just get off of my own case. So it wasn't like I went, oh, that's why I do these things, or that's why I'm terrible with finances and can't hold down a job, and really over emotional and all these things. I just went. well, I still have a choice though. I'm still making bad decisions. I'm still this terrible person, because I've got in trouble all my life. I let everyone down, I let myself down, etc I didn't just go, oh, it's that. I went, oh, that's interesting. And then hormones started to kick in at the same time as I lost a friend to cancer, very good friend of mine, and we moved to Scotland. in the midst of the pandemic, thinking that the pandemic would only be, it's gonna be over soon. Right. And it wasn't. And so I was just stuck in this place. And I mean that very literally, I sat down on the sofa and I didn't get off it for 2 years, pretty much. I just couldn't do anything. I was like completely crushed by self-loathing and despair, and I couldn't. Pull myself out of it. So my husband had I went on a waiting list just before, just before we moved to Scotland because I thought, well, I might as well find out more about it. That it.

Paul 23:04

Yep.

Laura 23:04

I just went, I thought, okay, that's it. I will find out more about it. I'll go on the waiting list. So the NHS waiting list. So what is it now? It's like 2 and a half years later or something. We go to Scotland. I'm there and really depressed, really in a bad way, and things just got worse and worse. Like I literally could not see. My way out of it, I'm 38 years old. and I genuinely felt like a completely inept human. Like I, looked around me and I felt like everyone else was getting on. All right. from what I could see, everyone else can pay their bills, manage bank account, not trip over when they walk down the street, find their way home, all the shit that I just can't do. And it was just so demoralising and I genuinely just believed I was completely alone in my struggles and I was, yeah, the worst person in the world. And it basically nearly resulted in me not being here anymore, which is very common statistically, unfortunately. I think it's 1 in 4 ADHD women has made an attempt in on their life. It's either 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 but it's horrific. So anyway, when we were in Scotland, my husband had. My husband's work gave me access to getting a private ADHD assessment, and so I jumped at the chance and it came just at the right time, like literally just at the right time. So at this point I've been on the waiting list 3 years for NHS and it was 3 months private and I just got there and I got diagnosed with severe combined type ADHD. The woman was literally just like, how. How, like you cannot, like my, I'm sitting here, my feet are like intertwined together. They're going like this a million miles an hour.'cause I'm pretty much sitting on my hands trying not to knock this microphone. My brain is just going at a million miles an hour all of the time. And at that point with so little awareness because it's one thing to get diagnosed, it's quite another to actually. figure out what that looks like and what that

Paul 25:08

means Yeah.

Laura 25:08

for you.

Paul 25:09

Yep. but

Laura 25:10

with so little awareness, I wasn't, I was just blurting out and feeling everything and taking offense at everything and kicking off at everything. And it was just all the time in every aspect of my life, just destroying it completely. But yeah, when I got diagnosed. I kind of woke up the next day and that horrible fog that I'd been feeling for all that well, years of very serious depression. It kind of rushed in as it does when you open your eyes in the morning and I was like, wait a minute. Did I? That actually happened yesterday. I have ADHD, like I don't have to. I don't have to let this play out like this today. I'm not saying it was like I get a free pass and I'm all right now, but it was like actually the way that I have perceived this up till now, it doesn't need to stay this way. I can start to think about this in a different way. I don't have to hate myself and everything. Doesn't have to be my fault and everyone doesn't have to hate me. We can just start to pick this apart a little bit. Bit by bit it did, and luck very luckily. Responded really well to ADHD medication, really very well. And yeah I can honestly say that ADHD diagnosis and treatment has saved my life. Absolutely not just given me a new one or giving me a new chance. Like I couldn't have gone on as I was like, genuinely. And the fact that it did save my life. And the fact that it was through that privilege, that fluke, as I said, I had no money, I wouldn't have got a private assessment. I was like, this is unfair. And there's one thing I'm, it's very justice sensitive, so I was like, right, well, as I'm alive with, no. The most ridiculous CV of all time is if I've ever written one, of course I haven't. this is what I'm meant to do with my life. This is what I can do, is I can give back, I can talk about how unfair this is and hopefully help some people like me because the list has only got longer,

Paul 27:11

Yeah.

Laura 27:13

Anyway, that's

Paul 27:14

Yeah.

Laura 27:15

15 hours I've been speaking for, sorry.

Paul 27:17

No, but it's beautiful.'cause you've kind of, whilst you have it, you've stayed on point and you've actually answered 3 questions in A row that I didn't need to ask. It's brilliant. I love it. so efficient and effective. I love it. But at the same time though, I think there's much more value to that conversation than most people will even understand at this point. before we move on to the rest of the podcast. Like I would happily say to anybody who's sitting at home, who's resonating with any of this, if you are listening along thinking could, that could be, oh, maybe that, that feels familiar. That sounds familiar. Go and get checked. Go and speak to someone, speak to a friend, speak to somebody who's, ask around. There's plenty of people who are diagnosed, who are more than happy'cause anybody who accepts that they have it is more than willing to help others who are yet to accept it or yet to be diagnosed and to offer support And I do that as a parent, right? Like for other people who have ADHD kids as an ADHD person with kids, like that's so much fun. It's so much fun. But like I know what I'm probably at this point through most of the worst of what I was going through and probably cycle back around. And I'm there for other people who are going through that. So, just a quick thought to anybody who's watching along, just please do. We'll put some notes in the show notes and if nobody else, you've got ADHD, Liberty the charity partners for the show, And

Laura 28:32

And also I do have to say, even though we haven't got there yet ADHDAF+ charity support groups, are anybody at any stage of their discovery. Or diagnosis. So you absolutely do not need to be even anywhere near getting an assessment to attend.

Paul 28:48

As it should be. As it should be. I love it.

Laura 28:51

As it should be.

Paul 28:51

So then let's move towards that then.'cause I think that's a great next segue for the for the episode. So you decided to start. A podcast, right? As everybody does. As everybody does,

Laura 29:03

No. So I wanted to do local campaigning right to my mind, and do you know what? I will say this because it's Sarah Templeton. Out of all the people that I've interviewed on the podcast. Sarah Templeton is the only person who has directly agreed with what my opinion is on the podcast. I say like, what would you change about the diagnostic process? Whatever. My opinion is that of all the different periods in my life. Oh yeah.'cause we skipped a huge bit here. There's so much for your structure. I'm sorry. Always going rogue. In my teens. I, yeah. In my teens, I went to the doctor a million times. Literally co-occurring, disorders, insomnia, anxiety, depression, all of this stuff. So I've had all of these doctor's appointments and to my mind, when it came down to it, the actual assessment really should just be a different set of questions and a different pot of pills. What's the difference to identify these things, right? Depression, anxiety. Well have anti-anxiety meds, Prozac, whatever. And actually it was ADHD all along. Anyway, but it's Sarah Templeton who's like, completely agree. I completely agree. I love her, love the bones of her. But yeah, so anyway, I wanted to do some local campaigning for that. What I wanted to do was get my local doctor's surgery to just basically ask like 5 or 6 screening questions that would, which would sort of sign towards ADHD just as a starting point, right? So anybody who came in with anything that could be a co-occurring condition, that was my idea. And at the same time. I was listening to the ADHD adult podcast and my neighbour across the way who I'd just met, she had just found out that she had ADHD as well. And I was like, oh, you've got to listen to this podcast. It's really good. And she said, well, we should start our own. And I went, yeah, that could work. That could work for, campaigning. Absolutely. Why not? So we started this podcast and it's really funny'cause I know we were talking before about kind of faited things or serendipity and all of that stuff. And when I think back to the day, the first day that we recorded that podcast, it was ridiculous. We both just sat down, barely knew each other, and we were like, right, what should we do then? And I went, well, why are we just ask each other some questions? Gimme a pen. I'm telling you, I wrote out 10 questions in 2 minutes. Those are the same questions that I still ask in interviews. It all just happened.

Paul 31:30

just fell into place.

Laura 31:31

It was just meant to be. And randomly people started listening. And so, yeah, two complete weirdos in a box room in Northeast Scotland and suddenly, you've psychiatrists in New Zealand recommending our podcast for everyone they diagnose. It's like, it just exploded it, it went absolutely everywhere

Paul 31:50

Amazing.

Laura 31:51

And it was really surreal.

Paul 31:53

You went on tour as well, right?

Laura 31:55

Yeah. So yeah, that was again, a very me thing to do. Basically, one one of the people we interviewed said, we, you should go on tour. And I was like, oh, yeah, great. That's a great idea. Let's go on tour. And what they actually meant was. Let's come to Manchester, like let's go for beers. And I organised a 17 day tour which only had like one night off in it called the Too much tour. Not even ironically, I was trying to tell people it's okay to be called too much. You're not too much for the right people. And actually I did too much because I always do.

Paul 32:28

Because why wouldn't you? yeah,

Laura 32:29

was brilliant. So yeah, I went on tour. I've since done another couple, so yeah, I've done 3 UK tours now, which is nuts.

Paul 32:37

Wow, What a journey. what a journey. I prefer the term safari cause of the leopard print. Right? I love it. I love it.

Laura 32:46

so Talk to me about the charity then, like Okay.

Paul 32:49

What is the vision and the purpose of your charity that you've built on the back of all of that?

Laura 32:53

Okay. Yeah. So the charity basically, through the podcast, we were getting lots of messages day and night from people all over the world, and it was literally breaking my heart that I would be dismissing these people that I know have RSD, that have already been dismissed, they need help. And I just, it was really hurting me. So I would get up at like 3 o'clock in the morning and sit for like 5 hours every morning trying to reply to Instagram messages and still not breaking the back of it at all. And then. The ADHD adult started a Discord server. I was like, oh, what's this about? Maybe this is a good idea. So we started this like Patreon community with a Discord server mostly just so that people could speak to each other and that people could be there, but we could speak to people on mass and. It just got really out of hand because it just, it wasn't the plan. But what you've got to understand is when the podcast started, we were literally just explaining what we were learning in real time. I didn't know anything about peer support. I didn't know that I'd created a peer support community, but I had, and through that. Witnessing what happened, watching this thing blossom. All of these incredible people, mostly women coming together and just validating each other and sharing this knowledge of like, I've been dismissed by my gp. You should try this. I've been recommended these, this HRT you should try that. Like, honestly just mucking in together and supporting each other. But really that validation and community and what I have witnessed,'cause it's now. Over, well, it was 3 years of morning body doubling last week, so every single day at 7:00 AM. Not always me, but I did start at 7:00 AM We'd log in and we'd body doubling to the day, which means that people get to work on time, get their kids to school on time, or people that are isolated, lonely, they get some comfort in the morning. They're not alone. always have a Christmas day Zoom, like this whole online community. It's just been incredible. And so that was sort of building in the background. The tours started and the two things combined have basically inspired the charity because through the live events, what I noticed was that people were saying, oh, love to come by. I don't have anyone to come with. So I started like a welcome party at the door, and I was like. Well, you should have somebody to come with because there are all these people in your area. It's really important that you connect together. And people did, and friendships were made and these little communities were born out of these events. And so I was like, right, we need to tie this together. Basically, like I have 3 and a half years worth of true lived experience from late discovered people on all of these very, most talked about topics. So, we've got hormones, relationships, rejection, sensitivity work all these different topics. I have all of this lived experience from these people and actually know the empowerment that comes from connecting people in their local areas. So, ADHDAF+. Is all about in-person meeting. So there are lots of charities doing incredible things. I know ADHD UK for example, they have loads of online webinars and stuff happening all the time. That's not what we do. We are about. Getting together in real life and connecting a ADHDers in their local communities. So we only started in March of last year and we've already set up 9 cities, have got peer support groups. There's another 5 about to start. And each month a facilitator, which we have trained and we work with hosts a peer support group to connect and empower ADHD adults of marginalised genders and all of the groups that run. Each month are focused on one topic, and that topic is one of the topics from the Discord server of the Leopard Print Army of listeners of ADHDAF podcast. So you know, when you hear people talk, say nothing about us without us. This charity literally about us. By us. For us, it continues to

Paul 37:16

be informed Yep.

Laura 37:17

by the very people, and it's just, yeah, like I feel quite emotional when I talk about it. It's really amazing and I can't believe it really. I've not, I, not been able to believe anything that's happened because as I said, I'm just a troublemaker. I'm just Ibiza raver. I'm the dickhead who lost the boat. like I'm that person Yep. to have actually ever even been listened to. Like I got a. tattoo of the podcast logo when we hit 200,000 downloads. And somebody said to me, Laura, that's not really that many downloads. Like 200,000. Like, why would you get a tattoo? I was like, you fucking kidding me? Nobody's ever listened to me my my entire life. Like, that's insane. So yeah, so for it to all have come just so organically, so serendipitously and really. Just be, not just grassroots, but completely community informed and community led. Like it's been really amazing and I'm so excited for what's come this year.

Paul 38:17

And I think if there's anybody out there listening along who's considered starting their own podcast, and we discussed at the beginning, we talked about why would anybody want to listen to me and why should anybody listen to you. Above the noise of everybody else because there are lots of podcasts, but I think what you've described there is a perfect storm that maybe not everybody can replicate, but we should be listening to because podcasting should be fun. You should enjoy doing it, and you should be passionate about what you podcast about. Whether that's industry, some topics are a lot more boring than others, but it might excite you, right? Like it's not a scene.

Laura 38:54

Yes. It doesn't

Paul 38:54

have to be about something incredibly excited by everyone's standards, as long as you are excited by it and there's a bunch of other people that get excited by it. But all too often what I see is people ignoring that in favour of a way of creating a podcast that'll make them money or trying to. And then secondly, completely ignoring that community aspect. And I think that is a beautiful lesson for everyone at home to think about is how can you turn what you are doing into a community of some sort? Because that community is what will inevitably, if we move away from the charity aspect, that it's the community that builds your business as well. So from every angle, a community is something we should all be striving to create. And I know how hard communities are to build Laura, so I actually believe that 200,000 downloads I'd be over the moon as well. I'd be getting A big hairy MarketPulse tattoo on my back. Absolutely. So no, like, and I think success is different things to different people. if you are happy with that, then brilliant. Well done.

Laura 39:51

Yeah, I've, never had any advertising in the podcast and I've been really like, criticised for it, but I'm so glad I didn't now. I'm so glad I didn't. There were so many times people were like, well, you could just vlog this or you could just have this, and it was like, no, because I have never. Seen ADHDAF as a podcast. It's pirate radio. I had people in the community when the medication shortages first kicked off. I had a spy. I had an NHS spy giving me intel. I was like, right, you need to do this. Like, that's literally what I've done. Like, none of it, even the charity, it's never been what it would I, ugh. Because I do think differently, and I know that I'm aware of that. I've never seen any of it as I would imagine most people would see it. It's all activism,

Paul 40:41

Yep. all of

Laura 40:42

it. Like

Paul 40:43

I love it. that's

Laura 40:44

all it is.

Paul 40:46

And what do you think that little girl who was. Feeling like she was a bit weird at school. How do you think she would feel thinking she grew into you now?

Laura 40:54

Oh gosh. Do you know, like, I think that we are all kind of shaped by some special people in our lives, right? when I was little, my mum had to go straight out to work. and my dad's worked away as well, so I was put with a neighbour and my neighbour Was this woman called Mary and she was an activist. and she had a leather jacket. She was very cool, even though she was older. She had a leather jacket and she had a little badge on her that said, don't blame me. I voted labour when labour meant something. And she'd go on these marches and stuff and my mum would say, go on, tell him what Mary taught you. And I'd be like, I hate Margaret Thatcher. And I was like, two. Right? And at the same time, my mum she is a really was, she's passed away this time last year. She's a really strong woman and ended up getting an MBE from the Queen for her services to education. Basically, she was keeping kids in education, so whether they knew it or she knew it or not, ADHD. Right. And so I think you are kind of shaped by these kind of heroes that you have, these idols that you have. And I think from that perspective I can say, yeah, she'd be really really,chuffed that I'm like Nana Mary and that I'm doing good in the same kind of way that my mum was and that I'm working hard. think it's a tricky question In order for me to fully accept that, I would have to fully accept that. And unfortunately little girl was so damaged by all of that, that I don't think that I will ever be able to fully go like, yay, I'm doing a good job. But I'm working on it, I'm working on it. And I think. It's a shame that so much rage is what has to propel me forward all the time. But I'm grateful for it because I know that it has made a difference and I really hope that this push, we're all part of this push for change and there will be change. Yeah.

Paul 42:55

It is a fantastic way to end the episode. Laura I've enjoyed every moment of this episode. Thank you so much for coming on and absolutely sabotaging my plans. It's been brilliant. Thank you for taking me on Safari.

Laura 43:06

Yeah, we've been on Safari and I brought trouble. I always

Paul 43:09

I love it. I love it. It's been brilliant. Laura, when we get off the episode, please send me any other contact details that you'd like people, ways people can reach you for various reasons or get in touch with a charity, whatever that looks like for you.'cause I'd love to have those in the show notes and,

Laura 43:23

Wonderful. thank you much.

Paul 43:25

Thank you everyone at home for watching, listening along, whether you're in the car, whether you. are sat watching it on the tv. It means a lot to us that you're watching the episodes anyway, but this episode and some of the others are particularly, part of our passion and part of the good things that we're trying to spread with the podcast so please subscribe, share the episode if you found it useful and interesting. Hopefully we can reach some other people and share the message a bit wider. And I will see you next week on the MarketPulse Pros and Pioneers.

Laura 43:54

Thank you.