And before that, let's bring on Lauren.

Hi Lauren. Hello. Hello.

Great to have you here and, yeah, just so excited. Well, and what people don't know is that you've been in the background for this entire time. So she's been helping. She's been welcoming guests into the conference, helping answer questions, deal with the issues around, My slides won't upload, like how can I connect them? And then in some cases, messaging as we've sorted it out. And it's all the little things that, well, without Lauren, it would be big things and huge problems. So she is, and I have to say, has done that throughout. So in many things, getting involved and making a difference. Right, you're here to talk to us about the ADHD UK ambassador programme, which Sam is one. You are the lead.

What do you wanna tell us? So I'll just tell you a little bit about myself. So I'm I'm the lead advisor at ADHD UK alongside Jamie Jamie Gordon, and I was diagnosed with combined ADHD in my mid twenties and first connected with ADHD UK back in early twenty twenty three. I actually knew about ADHD UK beforehand because I looked at their resources when I was going through my own journey. And I wanted to help raise awareness from my own lived experience in order to help others and for the current generations and for those to to follow. Becoming an ambassador gave me an avenue to channel that passion into real action from awareness campaigns to community projects. Every action counts and, you know, amplifying change and understanding.

That's what all of ambassadors do in their own individual ways. And so a little bit about sort of how the program has grown. So when I first started back in 2023, there was, I think, less than 10 of us, and now we have over a 100 ambassadors across The United Kingdom. It's it's absolutely incredible, and the ambassadors program brings together passionate individuals from all over the country that wanna make a difference whether that's through their own lived experience of being diagnosed with ADHD or whether it's loved ones lived experience or just people that are passionate for for change. And we we do things such as fundraising, advocacy, campaigning, speaking with politicians, public speaking.

And attending local events in schools or owning individual local projects like community coffee mornings or holding support groups in local individual areas. It's just incredible. And every single ambassador is just amazing. It is so inspiring. It really is a community. Even though we're based on in different areas across The UK and we complete our own individual work, it really does fill up on on community. And we've recently launched the junior ambassadors program. So I know some of you may have seen some of our junior ambassadors videos just before Sam's talk there, and they are just absolutely incredible as well. And they are the future of of advocacy, and their energy is just brilliant. So what ambassadors.

Do within their their role, their statutory role is fundraising. So, we all fundraise in our own individual ways, like Hannah mentioned as well, raising over £800 at ADHD UK, which is just incredible. We've had fundraising challenges completed individually by ambassadors, and some notable ones have been Andy's coast to coast challenge, which was just absolutely phenomenal. And human's half marathon, Rebecca's Manchester marathon, Laura's ab sell, Abigail's bake sale, and there's just so so many incredible, fundraising initiatives that ambassadors have, completed. And it's honestly just so inspiring to see the incredible work that that everyone, completes in their own ways. And as well as fundraising, ambassadors do wear many, many hats.

Ambassadors also focus on community outreach. So giving like I said earlier about giving to in schools and workplaces and organizations, and they raise awareness through social media as well. So, you know, social media is such a great tool because we're able to connect with people all over the world. Like this conference today, we're able to connect in all in all different parts of the world. So we do use our voices on social media as well to to create change and, obviously, signposts because ADHD UK has so many resources, including the online support group that are really, really valuable for people to to know about as well because.

Not everyone knows knows about them. So that's why we need to raise as much awareness of ADHD UK as possible. And, obviously, with the fundraising, it goes towards the the five pillars of ADHD UK with information support, research, awareness, and advocacy because we don't get any government funding or logical donations. So every single penny counts. And then and then We're all passionate passionate around It's just beautiful. We Correct. Change. We we do.

You are an amazing, and I have got to know you through the ambassador program. Know you are an incredible person. You are doing in helping and managing that is is something very, very special. And as you said, we've grown, what, by 10 times. Thanks, Jorraine. Do sign up. So it's the ambassador program. You can sign up on the main site. Just go to how to get involved. And I think our goals are to do more and more and more. We've seen lots of ambassadors. We get a number of press requests, a number of ambassadors are interested in doing that and have ended up being interviewed by the BBC and others, which has been a great thing to see. We were asked by Parliament to put people forward to help Parliament be more ADHD inclusive.

And a group went there, which was also fantastic. And it belies the wonderful community aspect that it is an extraordinary community of people looking to make a positive difference for ADHD, and that is great. You've got some videos there. We've got many ambassador videos that were kindly recorded about their experience. Who do you want to queue up? So I would like to introduce.

Summer. So Summer is our first junior ambassador, and we're gonna see a little bit about Summer's journey now through the next video. Hi. Thank you. I'm Summer's Dean, and I'm the very first junior ambassador for ADHD UK. I'm 17 years old from The United Kingdom.

The reason why I became a junior ambassador is because I want people to understand that ADHD isn't something to hide. Yes, it has its challenges, but it also brings creativity, energy, and unique ways of seeing the world. For me, I struggle with the attentive side of ADHD and sometimes I process things more slowly. At school, I often felt like I didn't fit in or have any friends. If you felt like that too, please know it's not because you're unlikable, it's just hard sometimes and that's okay. What I've learned is you don't have to change who you are. The right people will come your way. As a junior ambassador, I've been raising awareness and sharing my experiences to help people understand ADHD better. My message is simple.

You are not broken. Your brain is super powerful, and your differences are your strengths.

Fantastic. And Lauren, you've got more for us to watch.

Yes. So we've got a couple more more videos from ambassadors as well. I think next up is ambassador Chris. So if we could get Chris' video queued up as well. It's so amazing to be able to share these videos as well with you all because it's it's really great to be able to see the ambassadors and what they do, and and then you can also see, them on the website.

So if we chew up Chris' video, that'd be great. Thank you. We're gonna have to do Chris afterwards because as you know, we've had some video challenges, so we need to upload his. I think did you say Shell after that? Yep. Shell after. Do you want to introduce Shell?

Yes. So Shell Douglas is an ambassador for ADHD UK, and we're gonna see a little bit about Shell's reason for wanting to become an ambassador and a little bit about Shell now.

Hi. I'm Shell Douglas, and I run a coaching practice that supports both children and adults with ADHD and executive function challenges by helping them explore how their unique brain works. Now this really drives me in seeing the difference it makes when someone begins to truly understand their own brain, you know, really connecting, why they think, feel, and respond the way they do. I'm very passionate about creating a safe, supportive space where clients feel understood and then working alongside them to uncover strategies that bring more ease, more confidence, and joy into their daily lives. I believe that no two brains are the same, and that's exactly where the power lies, you know, in finding opportunities, approaches.

That really celebrate those differences rather than trying to fit into one box. Through my coaching, my goal is very simple, to empower children and adults, to not just manage their challenges, but to recognize their strengths, build resilience, and thrive in their own unique way.

Amazing. And we should have Chris' video now as well. Yeah. At least I'm I'm hoping so. It's loaded up. I can I can see that?

And we do. Over to Chris. Hi there. My name's Chris, and I'm a proud ambassador for ADHD UK. I was diagnosed last August with combined type ADHD following years of pressing for what I felt was a fair assessment. I've always had a sense of being different, misunderstood, lazy, not good enough, and so for me, receiving my diagnosis was everything, and I had the clarity that I wasn't broken like I thought I was. As cliche as it sounds, it really gave me a sense of purpose and a desire to help others so that they wouldn't have to go through the same struggles that I did. So when I saw an opportunity on ADHD UK's Instagram to apply to become an ambassador, it was an instant yes. I've got to do this.

And honestly, it's one of the best things that's ever happened to me, and personally, the most positive thing that's come from having ADHD. As well as raising money for such an incredible charity and being able to advocate for change on a national scale, it's provided me a platform to raise awareness by speaking with people in my community who may suspect that they or someone close to them could have ADHD, but also to educate those who are generally curious or may have misconceptions of the stereotypes surrounding ADHD, but in a positive and understanding way. Since becoming an ambassador, I've spoken on my local radio station about my ADHD, represented the charity at various events, both nationally and locally.

And I'm currently organizing a local peer support group as well as talking in local schools to parents and students. Ultimately, for me, being able to share my lived experience and to have somebody relate to it, if I can give them that light bulb moment I have myself to think that they may have ADHD and then look to getting themselves assessed, that can be life changing for them. And to me, that's everything, and that's really made my journey worthwhile.

Chris is amazing, and he's he's absolutely fantastic. I'm thrilled that he's an ambassador to have got to know him through the ambassador program. So thank you. And Lauren, thank you to you. It's only a dear because you're gonna go backstage. You've continuing to help. And she's obviously just wonderful. So thank you.

I just wanted to say, Henry, we wouldn't obviously be in this in this group altogether without you. So thank you so much for everything you do for all of us as well. I know I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that. We really do. This feels like a sense of community and also friendship, and it's it's really great to be a part of ADHD UK's ambassador program. Thank you.

Thank you. You're amazing. At this point, I'm going to cry. It's going to be so thank you, Lauren.