And welcome. We're excited to have Moonlake Lee from unlocking ADHD Singapore and Henry Shelford from ADHD UK. Welcome, Henry and Moonlake.

Thank you. Thank you. Nice to be here.

Welcome. Moonlake, I understand you've got a couple of slides to share with us in and around what Unlocking ADHD Singapore are doing at the moon?

Sure. That'd be great. I figure sometimes picture paints a thousand words. I'll just share what we're doing first and then we'll can chat about it. So, I hope you can see my slides. Okay. We're gonna share about what we've been doing in Singapore and, you know, the situation may or may not be different from where you guys are. But in terms of Singapore, about three percent of adults are impacted by ADHD. And, you know, the problem statement that we identified is that ADHD impairs relationships causing work underperformance, also for school and for life leading to lost potential. So that's what we're trying to address in Singapore. And the fact that, you know, there's so many other issues with ADHD.

That a lot of people are not aware of, and that's where we're doing the advocacy. So in terms of unlocking ADHD itself, actually, October returned two years old. So we're really a baby. You know, we just received our charity status in Singapore earlier this year, and also membership as a social service agency.

Very much appreciating the hard fought because in Singapore, you have to be in existence two years before you can apply for membership as a social service agency. So we were very grateful that we were fast tracked, you know, because of the gap in the services in the space that we are working in. And we are ADHD driven. We're an inclusive employer. About fifty percent of our Board of Directors have ADHD or are parents of children with ADHD. And our mission really is to empower ADHDers and their families so they fly to the fullest. And we're hoping to address the problems I mentioned earlier through our four pillars of awareness, accessibility, access to mental health professionals familiar with ADHD, access in terms of the.

You know, support group systems that are needed, as well as tools to manage day to day to make life better. And in terms of achievement, we're always focusing on incremental change, you know, they all build up and lead to, you know, bigger change. Yeah. And then in terms of advocacy, it's really in terms of the in terms of, you know, like, what can people do to advocate for themselves, in terms of knowing what their strengths and weaknesses are, and also in terms of advocacy, you know, in terms of general society. So, you know, how we're actually, you know, having a model of services support is really what we call the step care approach through our three e's, enlighten, enrich, enable. Enlighten really is to do with ADHD literacy.

Awareness about ADHD, whether it's through schools, corporations, parent groups. Enrich is really the peer to peer support that we're trying to grow in Singapore. And right now, we have different communities from the low touch kind of masses, like, say, our Facebook virtual support group and our Discord server. But now we're growing the physical, the smaller groups, and we're starting right now in the collaboration to test a pilot for youth ADHD support groups. And then in terms of the enable part, it's more equipping. We're looking at workshops and coaching, particularly group coaching for ADHD.

And what we're really excited about as well, which will formally launch next month during ADHD awareness month is we've come up with our own ADHD starter kit. We call it restart for adults. And you can look at the picture there, you know, it's origami, you know, lots of like mistakes crumpling it up and then finally you find what you need. And, you know, we're opening up things like self assessments so that people can, you know, check out whether they may have ADHD first And if they do score pretty high, they can take it to see the psychiatrist and that helps to give the framework, you know, to have a very productive conversation about diagnosis. And, you know, our starter kit is free for download and has a lot of local resources.

And in the past two years, you know, our website was built all through the help of volunteers, Roundup, got it up and running in seven weeks. And within four months, the National Library Board in Singapore actually wrote to and said, can we archive your website as something, you know, quite significant for Singapore? So we're really happy about that. And then last year, had a crazy shower idea to actually have a microsite in the official languages. So we have the microsites in Mandarin, Tamil, and Malay. And we launched that with YouTube webinar in those languages featuring a psychiatrist or psychologist, a parent, and a youth on adult ADHD. So we really wanted to make it 360.

Degrees. The way we work is we partner with mental health professionals and we combine it with the lived experience. So they really are both sides of the coin so that people get a more comprehensive view. Back when we first started in 2021, we worked with our regional broadcaster, CNA, and we did a a documentary on women with ADHD. So there were three women, myself included, who shared about our journeys, and we weren't the typical phase of ADHD. I mean, I'm I'm like I was diagnosed when I was 50, you know, and I had a very varied career, four degrees, so not typical. I had another lady on the the documentary who was a vet.

You know, with ADHD and also one more lady who was pursuing her PhD at that time. So not typical, but, since it was first broadcast, over 235,000 views on YouTube. But it's not so much the eyeballs, but the fact that a lot of people actually went for a diagnosis. So to me, was pretty much life transforming. So we do try to work with the media a lot because we can see the power of the media to share stories and to change lives. More recently, two weeks ago, we were featured again on the regional broadcaster. A little bit of my love story, but also, you know, the journey.

Founding Unlocking ADHD in Singapore and how my husband supports me in that. So now we're going to the physical events post COVID. So we're doing fireside chats where the community comes and, you know, sort of like a fly on the wall for conversations. And, we are trying to make testing for ADHD more accessible to people in Singapore. We have a YouTube library of resources, all from the different webinars we have done in the last two years on a variety of topics from marriages to school, parenting, medication, and so on. And again, that's our website. We have a lot of local faces, local stories. We did our first annual report, so it's there. And we've also been trying to engage with the different government ministries.

Stakeholder engagement, so that they have a better understanding about ADHD and how is a multi ministry lifespan approach that's needed. So next month, we'll have the first ever ADHD Awareness Day in Singapore, and it's going to be a stakeholder engagement event. So pretty much a whirlwind tour of the last two years and yeah, just open to any questions that you have.

Fantastic. Well, thank you because I know that I get the first question after the slides. It's wonderful what you're doing. It's really exciting. And it's also wonderful having three ADHD charities here together, Australia, unlocking ADHD in Singapore, ADHD UK. And I think the strength of us learning from each other and taking the best from each other is is just wonderful. So it's great everyone being here or being part of the conference. I just So want to say you for the opportunity to share. Well, thank you for being part of it. I just wanted to celebrate that. You talked a little bit, and I think we've talked in the past about your personal diagnosis story, so you know, getting getting diagnosed at.

50. But could could you share more about your story?

Sure. Well, you know, in our community, a lot of parents are diagnosed after their children. So we always talk about the the genetic link. And I was diagnosed a year after my child. She was diagnosed at 15, and I was diagnosed at 50. And, you know, at a certain point in your life, you always think, you know, what's you know, you don't need to get diagnosed even if you suspect, you know, that you might have ADHD because I'm not in school anymore, you know, that kind of thing. So I was really struggling whether I should do something about it. But I'm the kind of person that tends to bite off more than they can chew. So I'm always dealing with overcommitment.

And I think at that point in my life, it was just too many things going on and I felt the overwhelm. And I was thinking, you know, if there was a way to get more clarity to prioritize or even squeeze extra minutes in a day, you know, to get things done. And I I was hoping maybe the diagnosis would help me with that. So that's why I went for a diagnosis. But the interesting thing is that didn't change too much, but what changed post diagnosis was actually my relationship with my husband. That was quite unexpected. I've been married just past thirty years now. And I I think that that was a significant change for me. And the other thing that was quite significant was just the self acceptance, you know, the context about my past, right.

That I never really processed. So so, I think to me, it's quite liberating.

Thank you.

What a wonderful story. I think, the name of just around unlocking ADHD and what that means in Singapore, you've described of truly a story that unlocks, as you've mentioned, you know, just from about your past. Is that how you came up with, you know, the organization and and its premise?

I I think I don't know whether you guys can see the logo behind me clearly, but there's a story behind that. Okay? And you can see that it's a a stylized brain. Okay? And if you notice, there's a yellow part there. And and we color yellow because we wanna call attention to it, but to be also color yellow because yellow is a color of hope. That part is the prefrontal cortex. So we believe that actually the executive function is one of the ways that we can unlock potential for those with ADHD. And the orange, of course, a, you know, is a color of energy, vibrancy, and ADHD awareness. And if you look at the lock, it's an unlock.

But the top part of the lock looks a bit like a question mark. It's basically to answer the questions that we have had about ourselves all these years. Right? You know, like if we think we're capable, how come we don't we're not able to show it? And the top part of the lock also looks like an earlobe, a listening ear, peer support. Support groups are so important in this journey. So that is sort of the story of our logo, but it's our DNA as well.

Thank you. It's not a lot yeah. It's a lovely yeah. It's a lovely story. You talked about the stakeholder engagement. So Singapore is very different in terms of how you set up a charity, and you have a lot of different hoops to go through. It'd be I think it'd be great to tell people a bit about the stages you've got to go to, the stages you've done, and where you hope to get to.

We're we're still in in this journey. I think for those with ADHD, sometimes paperwork, you know, SOPs, manuals are all very painful for us. Okay? And definitely, I think many times before I went on this journey. But I think for us, the the biggest thing was because there wasn't that much awareness in Singapore, and we do know there's so much impact on our lives from ADHD that is undiagnosed and unmanaged. So the impetus to do something that was not just for the now, but also for decades to come was there. And in terms of all the different vehicles in which you do it, we came to the conclusion that having a charity was actually the most strategic way because then you are actually part of government and you can actually.

Be able to have those conversations and be able to plan. We have something in Singapore called the master plan, you know, for the five year, ten year master plan, and we wanna be part of that. So I think we saw a charity being as the way to do that. But to get there, we really had to make sure that in terms of compliance, in terms of, you know, all the governance stuff, you know, we had to check all the boxes. So we've already passed the first level, the basic charity. But the next level now that we're aiming for is something called IPC, institution of a public character. So in Singapore, if you're an IPC, then you can give tax deductible receipt.

So for many charities, this is something that they aim for because it makes fundraising a lot easier. Because at this moment, in terms of fundraising, because we can't give that receipt, we're only limited to either people in the community who really feel what we're doing and understand and wanna support us or the maybe the philanthropy organizations. But in terms of regular person in the street, it's not as attractive to them. So that that's where we're going, but we know that it's a lot of paperwork, a lot of compliance to get there.

Thank you.

I wanted to ask, and as Henry mentioned, Singapore is different to The UK, but then also to Australia. We've noticed here in Australia that there's an increasing number of adults being diagnosed with ADHD. How are you finding that within Singapore?

I think it's similar and I've noticed a trend worldwide actually and it could be because of COVID. You know, I think it changed a lot of the routines that we had and also because we all spend more time online, there's more time to Google and and learn, of course, TikTok, we heard about the explosion of searches for ADHD on TikTok. So I think it in Singapore, we also have that same kind of phenomena. But there are differences and one of the things that we're really pleased about is that, you know, ever since we came on the scene and, you know, we did some of these government engagement, there's been actually more discussions about ADHD.

By ministers and even recently by the president of Singapore, the former president of Singapore. So I think to us, that's something quite meaningful, and we hope to have more of these conversations to come.

And what is yeah. That's in really interesting. What did the president the former president of Singapore say?

Well, in in Singapore every year, we have a national newspaper. It's called the Straits Times. And every year, there is something called a nomination for Singaporean of the year. I think well, the So, yeah. So, I was nominated last year and as one of the finalists for Singaporean of the Year for the work that I'm doing in the area of ADHD. Didn't thank you. I didn't win it. That someone else was way more deserving. You know, I'm the new kid in the block. Okay? But someone else got it, very well deserved. But I was very grateful for the opportunity because, you know, when the president of Singapore officiated.

You know, and in her speech, she talked about all the different nominees, the straight times covered by stories on YouTube. So it really opened us up not just the ADHD community, like, on social media, but mainstream. So people who didn't know we that we existed, you know, hopefully, you know, they had that knowledge now. We still have a long ways to go because, you know, we're only two. But just all these things are to me are very big blessings in life and also make life fun, you know, and happy. Yeah.

Fantastic. And you said you went mainstream. That's that's fantastic. But what kind of what kind of engagement were you getting from your community? What was what were some of the stories that you were receiving from your, you know, from Singapore community itself?

Well, you know, one of the things that we did that was quite interesting is I changed psychiatrist back in August 2021. I went to see a government psychiatrist in the National University of Singapore. And the first thing he did when I walked into his office was he said, may I scan your brain? And I said, You know, like, what for? And he said, he was actually doing some research to see whether infrared brain scans could be used as a diagnostic tool for adult ADHD. Because, you know, there were other countries like Japan where they were doing that, and he wanted to just check it out to see whether he could look at the biological side because we know usually it's either the psychiatrist appointment or a lot of testing by psychologist.

So I sat there and I looked at him and and I said, do you need volunteers? And then he said, yes. I said, oh my goodness, you know, I believe in serendipity. Right? I had a community of about 2,000 people on our private Facebook page that, you know, didn't know where to go to get a diagnosis. They couldn't afford it because I think like everywhere in the world, it can be pretty expensive in private clinics. And suddenly, this professor is saying, I need subjects, you know. And then when when you see him, he actually covers transportation.

Fees, about $30 per person. So in the end, not only is it a free kind of diagnosis, but it's part of research subject, but, you know, people at least knew where to go after that. So one of the stories is that a friend of mine, you know, who has been seeing a private practice clinic for for years, right, and was having some financial struggles. When she went through as a as a volunteer and and got her paper diagnosis again, right, from this process, the first time she went through the subsidized route to see a doctor at the public hospital and get her meds, she cried because the bill was so different, the amount on the bill. You know, and that to me is is, you know, excess is one of our pillars as I mentioned earlier.

So to me, that's excess. And so since the research was done, they're now opening it up as a service. So people will actually go and, you know, do that and and the doctor now has introduced an eye scanner as well. So there's an eye scanner, there's a brain scan, there's like a questionnaire, and it's also an interview with a psychiatrist altogether maybe one and a half hours.

Wow. It's it's wonderful that sort of pioneering research is happening that you've obviously, as as both as an individual and a charity, have promoted it. There's there's some similar research going on at, I believe, at King's King's College London. My understanding at the moment, which is obviously what the research is trying to under understand is that the brain scans, whilst interesting, aren't diagnostic. Correct. But that's where where they're trying to trying to get to. Now I had a question. I got two young kids. This is this is and remember my own school days. Singaporean schools are famously disciplinarian. And, you know, so children struggling to contain their hyperactivity, their impulsivity and inattention can be.

It's can be tough anyway. I imagine it's even tougher in Singapore. So what's it like being a kid with ADHD in in Singapore right now? And and and add on question, what how do you want it to change?

I think it is tough. I mean, you know, I have two girls, you know, now they're 19 and 20, but they didn't go to the Singapore system. And, you know, there was a whole litany of phone calls from teachers when they were in primary school saying, you know, missus Chang, your daughter didn't do her homework, she forgot her things, you know. She, like, left out a whole page of exam questions, you know, like that kind of stuff, which probably is familiar to you as well where you are. And it can be tough. It can be tough because I think this is expectation that people's executive function is the new term I learned. Right? That people's executive function should be at a certain age, their their biological.

Age. But we also know from research that for those with ADHD, sometimes they're a bit younger. So they don't really have those skills yet, but the expectation is there. So I think as we understand a little bit more about the wiring now, it's actually trying to be the advocate. You know, I think I didn't do enough of that when I was, you know, at that age when they were younger and some things I do regret, but there's some things I can try and change if not for me, but for other people. I think in schools now, the teachers are a little bit stressed because I think there are some behavioral aspects for ADHD, right, like in the classroom. So teachers don't always know how to manage it, but.

There is more openness to to learn and that's when we've been getting requests to do workshops in schools as well. So just two months ago, you know, I was speaking to the school counselors of some of the independent schools about ADHD. And in these schools, they were like, you know, quite high profile schools in terms of very rigorous standards. So the the talk actually was about, you know, ADHD with high ability students. And they realized that for girls, there were also different considerations. So, you know, there's there's so many ways to talk about ADHD in different populations. So I'm just glad to have more conversations about it.

And that's so wonderful to be, you know, for you to take charge and for you to lead this conversation now. And you mentioned that, you know, you wish you could have done more then. I'm sure your daughters feel that you have supported them enough absolutely to the moon and back. But just in terms of the expectations of what it's like as a mother with ADHD and within the school and the expectations of that? How how did that play for you and Yeah. To always have everything together for your kids?

What was your personal experience with that? I I think if you are an adult with ADHD, it's a double whammy if you're a parent too. Right? Because you've not just got to organize your kids, but you're gonna organize yourself, you know. And so we always struggle with the consistency issue. Right? But I think also we also need to know where to pick our battles.

And and sometimes when you're in the midst of it, it's not always easy to know to, like, relax, you know, things will work out because it just sounds too easy to say. But, you know, having gone through some of these stages now, I think that there is some wisdom in that. So one of the things I learned, you know, the last couple of years is things like, you know, when we tend to get anxious. As you know, anxiety is one of the comorbidities. When we get anxious, it's actually quite contagious. So, you know, we do transfer that to our kids. So part of it is actually catching ourselves when we start catastrophizing their future for them.

And then trying to, like, step back and look at everything in context. Right? Like, what's the most important? And and one of the things I'm I've been learning on this journey is really to work on the relationship. Because sometimes we get so caught up in strategies and then are trying to chase the AEs or the good schools that we forget about that. So that's one of the messages that unlocking ADHD is trying to do when it comes to parents. You know? Yeah.

Thank you. Yeah. I think it's a it's a that particular chance of being an ADHD parents of an ADHD kid, like and, you know, there can be a lot of you know, one of things we struggle with a d with ADHD is, like, there's a group of people who just go, oh, it's bad parenting. Like, that child just needs discipline. And as a parent, you're struggling as well. And I that kind of judgment is tough. Like, it's really, really tough. And so, well, I think that was a really lovely insight on that focus on on relationship. Alright. I've a broader question for you. What what is the thing you'd most like people to know about ADHD?

I think it's important to know that there are a lot of strengths with ADHD that people actually are trying. I think, you know, for most of the people I spoke with, myself included, we should try pretty hard. It's just that it may not always be obvious. And I think that we need to give that encouragement because many times, you know, instead of the encouragement, we actually are saying, why can't you do better? And I think it affects us. So I I think it's to be able to reframe how we look at people with ADHD to know that, you know, there are inherent strengths. You know, sometimes we need a little bit of guidance or support, but we can do well, we can thrive, we can outperform.

And it's to have that inherent belief that that positive outlook that actually helps us to someone said, it's to have those positive expectations and people actually do their best to meet that expectation. So that's the way we're trying to like frame things, you know, on on a more positive psychology basis. Yeah. Wonderful.

And so as unlocking unlock ADHD moves forward, what what do you what's the big agenda? What's next for you, and and what would you like to come to conference saying next year in and around what's, you know, what's been the successes for this year ahead?

Wow. That's a big question. I think for us, you know I mean, the fun thing but also the scary thing is, you know, we can't even predict where we are six months from now. And it's not for lack of planning, but I think things sometimes move very fast for us. Like just a few months ago, we moved into our office and and given up the hope of having a physical office for a long time. But, you know, a wonderful benefactor Singapore Pools came to the picture and has given us rent free office. Right? So the next step, you know, now is I'm building my team because, you know, we do have opportunities to go and impact the community.

But what I find is being needed right now is really people on the team to be able to do that. And to get people on the team, you know, we also need to be able to pay them. So, you know, I think fundraising and and also team building is gonna be my focus for the next half year year so that we can create those support systems and those tools that would be helpful across the board to the community.

Look, the speed at which you're growing, I'm looking at is incredible. If you look at, you know, sort of young charity, already got that sort of prominence of Singaporean of the year, that sort of notice. I know you We're small country. We're a small country. You can always remember that. Okay? Right. It's still great. I and the that's a very modest story and lovely. And the the and I know you've got some big hurdles to get through because I think as you talk to, like, different from other countries, for you to be able to get to that sort of established charity status, the government has to approve you. And that's why you mentioned earlier all about this sort of that stakeholder.

Management issues because what you're really, I think, talking about is that stakeholders, the government, they have to be on board. Everyone has to be persuaded of your your strength and your purpose and your abilities for them to allow that. And it's just the the speed at which you're doing that is is wonderful and extraordinary. I can learn I know how hard it is. Have an inkling of how hard it is. Well, I have a personal favorite last question, so I'm being allowed to do it. What is the the worst thing that's happened to you as a result of your ADHD? And what is the best thing? And if we can do best last and worst first so that we end on a high note.

Worst thing that happened to me. I well, wow, that's a very deep question. Okay? But I think for me, I wouldn't exactly call it worst thing. I'm very lucky. Okay? Because, you know, when we added a inventory of my strengths, one of my top five actually is positivity. Okay? So maybe that's like the natural protection mechanism and insulator. So I know I've had a pretty challenging couple of months in terms of, you know, dealing with interpersonal relationships and all that because as you know, when you're working, you know, with community, there's gonna be a lot of different kinds of experience that people bring to the table and or people having emotional issues and all that. So I think it was tough for me because.

Sometimes you assume that, okay, very clearly a formula. Right? You know, plus b plus c, you should have a d outcome. And life is not so simple. I've learned to question some of my assumptions. I've learned to look at the way I work and then even what I say or tone or whatever and how it impacts on people. So that's been a very humbling experience honestly for me and painful. But I also think that even as I learn, it also gives me an opportunity to do things better. So I I always sort of see it as a you know, I went for a talk yesterday about procrastination and the speaker talked about how we're in our discomfort zone more, it actually builds up the resilience.

So that it actually equips us to do better, right, in life. So, you know, that that is my sort of worst moments that I'm trying to make it into a a good moment. Right? Like character building. In terms of the best best moments in life, I think the the fact that, you know, what started out as a mom. Right? You know, having a lot of pain, you know, with her daughter and herself and and pain through my nose, okay, for all these kind of treatments and specialist stuff, thinking, you know, let's let's try and do some good, you know, and sort of like share more people. This has gone beyond what I originally planned or thought. So so sometimes, you know, it's quite unbelievable. I've never been so tired. I've never been so stressed.

You know, or or or so challenged before, but there's also so much joy in in having people reach out to me and say thank you for doing this, you know, and and keep it up. So so, yeah, I'm just you know, it's always up and down up and down, but overall, it's up and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do what I'm doing now. You know, there's a Japanese term called Ikigai, you know, where you found a sweet spot, you know, into what you're passionate about and what you do well and what people wanna pay you for. I haven't got to pay yet, but, you know, the other part sort of checks the boxes. And I'm actually leaving for Okinawa tonight to learn more about Ikigai.

So I think I found my purpose, and my purpose in life really is to uncover diamonds. And I believe that ADHD is inherently are precious. There are diamonds in the rough, you know, and what we're trying to do is really to put in that work to polish it, uncover it, so they can see the shiny bits inside, you know, and others can see it too.

Oh, how wonderful. Oh my gosh. What a high to end on, Henry. I don't know about you, but you radiate positivity, Moon, and I thank you so much for sharing, unlocking ADHD, your story and your achievements, and then also to what's coming up next. We just can't wait to see what's happening. So stay in touch, again, thank you so much. And Henry, thank you so much for being here, and talking with Moon. Thank you both.