A Letter To My ADHD Brain: ADHD Awareness Month
To my ADHD brain,
I love you and I hate you. You exist as a total contradiction. You are both what makes life feel worth living but also why I am drowning.
It is because of you that I feel so alive…
Girl Unmasked - Signed and Dedicated Limited Edition
A limited number of signed and dedicated copies of Girl Unmasked are now available to order exclusively from Coles Books!
Thank you to everyone who has asked for these. I am really excited to be able to dedicate these, sign them and get them into your...
You Are Allowed To Make Your Own Adjustments: How I Managed a Hen Do as an Autistic Person
It was my friend’s hen do recently and I was worried about how I would manage it. I struggle socialising in big groups, I don’t enjoy bars or clubs and there was lots of things that I felt anxious about, but I really wanted to go and celebrate my friend...
The Misdiagnosis of Autistic Distress in the Mental Health System
When I am asked why I wrote Girl Unmasked, I say that I was angry. Which is true. I was angry at finding myself sectioned on a psychiatric unit at the age of 16, at the doctor there telling me I just had high social anxiety not autism, at the fact they described my autistic meltdowns as ‘hysteric attacks when she doesn’t get her own way’…
The Good Within The Broken System
Amongst the brokenness of the system, the difficult experiences, and the trauma, there is also good. And sometimes the smallest things make the world of difference. What about…
The nurse on the CAMHS unit who sat in my room night after night talking to me about her rabbits because…
Graduating ADHD Coaching!
From August 4th 2023 to April 26th 2024…I have graduated ADHD Coaching! (if this is even a thing…i have made it a thing).
Nine months ago, I was struggling to come to terms with my fairly new ADHD diagnosis and had no sense of how to make life (which just felt constantly stressful) easier for my ADHD brain. Access to Work…
GIRL UNMASKED: Q&A
GIRL UNMASKED is officially out in the world (and somehow at number 12 on the Amazon bestseller chart!?). It is an incredibly surreal experience!
Last week I did a Q&A on my Instagram story, which I thought I would pop into a blog post.
Moving Through an OCD Blip: Reflections and Reminders
One of the things about living with OCD is that you never know when it is going to strike. I know that it hits most when I am stressed, tired or feeling low. I expected it when I lost my dog Coco in October, and moved through it. I was NOT expecting a new OCD theme to hit three and a bit weeks ago. I almost forget the pain of OCD until it returns…
I Was Not a “School Skiver”
Dear Good Morning Britain (and the government),
Following your news segment yesterday, I would like you to know that I was not a “school skiver”.
I was a child traumatised by school and exhausted from…
Reflections on 2023
2023, a year of the highest highs and lowest lows.
The first year of having the comfort of the routine of a 9-5 job and my body no longer being in a constant state of anxiety. The year I learned I have ADHD and started life-changing medication. The first year of…
‘Anxiety Recovery’ whilst Autistic
I spent my teenage years chasing the idea of ‘anxiety recovery’ that I later discovered didn’t exist. I wanted a life without anxiety, because all I understood was that it was limiting, destructive, painful, and stole too much from me. I also thought that was what I was meant to want. At church, year after year, people prayed for my anxiety to go…
My Journey of Discovering My ADHD
My journey of discovering my ADHD has been very different to my autism one (which you can read about here). Although there have been moments of imposter syndrome, from the moment I was told that I was autistic aged sixteen, I knew that the diagnosis was correct. And I knew…
Book Announcement - ‘Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering My Autism Saved My Life’
I can’t believe I am FINALLY able to share this (believe me, it’s been a secret for a long time!!!). My book ‘Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering My Autism Saved My Life’ is out 28th March 2024 and is available NOW to pre-order!! Link here.
I feel like I’m dreaming. I spent most of my childhood with my head…
Grief after Pet Loss: Losing Coco
My dog, Coco, died on the 9th October. He was six and a half and the centre of my family’s home and life. He loved absolutely everyone and he was so incredibly loved.
I don’t usually write blog posts like this, but I don’t know how to process this, and writing has always been my outlet. Telling…
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - by someone with OCD
My first memory of OCD is of eight-year-old me, consumed by the worry that I was going to catch nits. I worried about it all day every day, for weeks at a time. I wouldn’t want to go near other people, tried hard to stop my clothes from touching anyone else’s, and would spend excessive amounts of time looking through my hair. Of course…
Autistic Pride
Today, Sunday 18th June, is Autistic Pride Day 2023. This is a day which was started by, and is still led by, autistic people to celebrate autistic people.
This year’s theme is ‘Transforming the Narrative’. Whilst it is…
Constantly Confused - Life as an Autistic Person
Being autistic in this world can result in feeling constantly confused. Let’s talk about what that can be like.
This confusion is present in many parts of my daily life. Mainly when interacting with other people, which is something which tends to be unavoidable, of course…
Autistic Masking
Masking is a survival strategy for many autistic people. Let’s talk about it.
Whenever the topic of masking comes up, there is usually the reply, "But doesn't everyone mask to some degree?". And yes, most people do put on a mask at work or when…
The War In My Mind: Fighting Anxiety
Anxiety is not just an emotion for me. It's a daily state of being. It's a feeling that lives within me that I can't quite describe. It never goes away. I don't know what life is like without anxiety as a companion. I don't know what it's like to not be at war with my mind.
Why Autistic People Can Struggle With Instructions
Being given an instruction instantly doubles my anxiety level. It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be really simple. The simple act of my brain registering that an instruction has been given to me and then having to process this is a BIG deal. To begin with…