For the 3rd day of Volunteers Week we spoke with Nathalie, founder of ADHD Bristol Collective about her relatively new, entirely volunteer run, organisation.  

Nathalie, hello! Please can you tell our readers a bit about ADHD Bristol Collective, why you formed and what you’re hoping to do? 

So, ADHD Bristol Collective came out of a need I recognized for people living with ADHD, whether diagnosed, waiting for a diagnosis or opting to remain self-diagnosed, in Bristol, to have more peer support in their local community. I was fairly recently diagnosed myself, and like many others found options for support, beyond medication or standard mental health services, to be massively lacking and I felt really passionate about doing something about this. 

Luckily for me, through running the support groups, I found 54 other equally passionate ADHDers! Our team currently is myself, Jack, Holly, James, Kate and Lisa. We’re currently an informal group, but we’re working with Voscur towards registering as a CIC – now that we’ve done some work firming up and getting down on paper our vision, mission and service offer. 

At the moment we run peer facilitated informal support groups, to provide a safe, friendly space for people experiencing some of the challenges that living with ADHD can present to share, learn from others and feel heard and seen. We share our highs and lows, our knowledge, and we discuss things that help us. We have a dedicated support session for women every month. When we're able to, we also host events such as Yoga for Anxiety and Walk & Talk. 

We have grand ambitions to eventually expand our services to act as educators and trainers for organisations, and individuals, wanting to better understand and support people with ADHD or ADHDers wanting to learn more about the condition and latest developments, ideas etc that may help them day to day. We also hope to offer specific groups for women with ADHD, people with both ADHD and Autism and the families/partners/parents of people with ADHD. Eventually we’d also love to be able to offer people with ADHD lived experience ADHD coaches, support people into meaningful employment, and/or other 1to1 support along the way such as a ‘body doubling’.*  

This all sounds so amazing! Are you looking for more people to be involved? 

YES! We are, we’re currently working with Voscur on what our organisation team structure looks like. So far our small team has been doing everything – thinking big picture but also running the sessions, and we are at risk of burning out. We’d like to restructure so that we have a small team of directors, an operational team and a delivery team. In the immediate we’re probably going to be recruiting for more session facilitators. Which we will offer guidance and training to. For now people interested can email us at: adhdbristolcollective@gmail.com. We’re particularly wanting to hear from people with lived experience of ADHD, who can hold a talking space safely, with boundaries and with empathy. 

So, importantly, who do you want to thank this #volunteersweek? 

My incredible team! Holly, I couldn’t have progressed the group without your support and knowledge of ADHD which you showed me from the very beginning. James, you have championed my goals from the minute we met and your knowledge of team management and all things tech have helped me so much. Lisa, your dedication, empathy and incredible ability to make everyone in group feel safe and validated is something I will always be in awe of! Jack, you joined the team and you've never been afraid to put your opinion across which has made me respect you even more, not just for your amazing creative talent with our branding. Kate, you weren't shy about wanting to be involved with ADHD Bristol Collective along with your ongoing counselling training, you naturally fit in with the team and wider community. Thank you for being my go-to on safeguarding and keeping our group safe! Finally, I just wanted to say that the ADHD Community in Bristol is slowly but surely finding the support it so desperately needs. None of this would be possible without the 5 of you and I will never stop telling you how grateful and proud I am of all of you. Thank you so much for everything you do, you're all SUPERSTARS! 

* ‘Body doubling’ is a tool some adults use to help them start and complete projects. It is a technique for better productivity.  (source: https://chadd.org/adhd-news/adhd-news-adults/could-a-body-double-help-you-increase-your-productivity/)