Welcome to DISTRACTD for May. I hope you have all had a wonderful few weeks since we last saw each other. Easter Break and public holidays have been fantastic although they added to some of the chaos with planning and routines in my home. Any time off to be with family is welcomed however so Im not complaining.
Thankyou so much for coming along tonight. If its your first night here, WELCOME. It's because of you and the regular attendees we are able to make this happen. If no one came to these events there would be no DISTRACTD. As I always say. Imagine if we could get all the family members, teachers, bosses and friends here to get an understanding of what ADHD is? How different our lives would become. Even though we have been doing this for over a year now I still find it hard to explain why I am the way I am and why I do the things I do. Having these experts help us to understand ourselves, Our loved ones and learn about the many aspects of ADHD is so valuable.
Some of my ADHD reflections from the past month to keep it real.
I have been invoiced for so many repeat subscriptions that I have impulsively bought and then not really accessed after the first week of using them ( including and ADHD App ) I also did a bit of an impulsive shop in an Easter online sale but was super excited and equally ashamed on their arrival. Yes Im wearing the offending threads tonight . What do you think?
Has anyone done a TOVA test? Its a tool to measure your attention and aids in ADHD Diagnosis. I recently did one with one of our experts and it was the most boring 20 mins of my life and yep you guessed it. Well we already know it but my test results flagged quite a bit of inattention.
Other ADHD things that have happened this month for me:
I missed an appointment entirely.
I almost took my child to school on a student free day ( thank goodness to friends who know to mention it to me last minute)
Have managed to not lose my keys all month due to my new Hook and latch system in the handbag ( Yipp Hee )
Learnt some new art skills and took on some exciting and scary projects .
All in all not too bad this month.
I am so pumped for tonights event. Please make sure you guys shoot me a text or email, say hi and if you want to catch up for a cuppa please let me know.
my number is 0409 997 285 (I'm a shocker at answering my phone. Ive heard that is an ADHD thing. But text and let me and tell me you are calling and I'll answer. I dont know why I do the things I do but I do ) and email is amanda@amandagormanartist.com
My daughter made me the perfect emoji for me. I love it.
Amanda xx
Tonights schedule
6:00pm: Amanda DISTRACTD Founder to do official intro and welcome.
6:15 pm : Speaker 1: Andrea Ohana Physiotherapy
6:30 pm : Speaker 2: Daniell Bennett Tidal Health
6:45 pm : Speaker 3: Dr Chris Soo
7:00 pm : 15 min break
7:15 pm : Q & A starts
8:30 pm : Event officially concludes.
10:00pm: Miami Marketta closes for the evening
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d_istractd
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DISTRACTD
Meet your speakers:
Host
Amanda Gorman - Founder of DISTRACTD
Amanda Gorman is passionate about building an ADHD community where we can connect with like minded individuals , bring our Boss, Work mates, Friends, Tutor, Coach, Teacher, Parent, Sibling,Neighbour or anyone we we think will benefit from learning more about ADHD and of course for US ourselves to all learn more ourselves. Amanda wears many hats and is as busy as you know an ADHDer can be. She is an Artist, Mother, Teacher and is one of the Directors of the Gold Coast Music Awards.
Her Late ADHD Diagnosis has helped her to understanding why she struggled in certain areas and thrived in others in her life growing up.
Speaker 1
Andrea Bagordo - Paediatric Physiotherapist & Co- Director
Andrea is the owner and principal of Ohana Physiotherapy. Andrea is an AHPRA registered physiotherapist, Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) member and on the board of the APA Paediatric Special Interest Group.
Qualifications:
Doctor of Physiotherapy from Bond University in Gold Coast, Queensland, AUS
Bachelor in Kinesiology Health and Human Performance at Saint Mary’s College of California, USA
Andrea completed her Physiotherapy degree with overall First in Class Honours, Dux award and a published research article.
Working life:
Andrea works exclusively with the paediatric population and primarily in NDIS early intervention. She has also held roles in public health in multidisciplinary child development teams and private practice paediatrics amongst other highly experienced therapists.
Andrea has a special interest in early intervention (0-7 years).
Andrea has done extensive professional development in paediatrics and continues to do so frequently.
APA Paediatrics Level 1 & 2
Cuevas Medek Exercises (CME) Level 1
Child development, hyper-mobility, gait and orthoses, toe walking/gait abnormalities, aquatic physiotherapy (hydrotherapy), assistive technology prescription and many more.
More about Andrea:
Andrea is originally from the United States and has travelled a bit before settling in the sunny Gold Coast. Andrea is a bubbly, passionate and enthusiastic therapist who values being a long lasting and positive contribution to her patient’s lives.Andrea is also a qualified mat and reformer Pilates instructor. When not at work, you can find Andrea walking with a coffee on the beach or exploring new markets on the weekends.
Speaker 2
Daniell Bennett - Physiotherapist and Exercise Physiologist
Daniell is a passionate physiotherapist and exercise physiologist, who was also diagnosed with ADHD in 2017. He has special interests in a number of areas involving the brain and body connection including: - Mental health - Neurological/ Brain injuries - Neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders - Concussion - Vestibular disorders - Chronic and complex pain - General musculoskeletal conditions and injuries. Daniell is an avid surfer and combined with his passion for helping people has worked as a classifier at the Ripcurl International Open Para Surfing Competition in France and introduces surf therapy to patients. Daniell has completed a Bachelor of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Queensland, A Graduate Diploma of Exercise Science at Griffith University and a Doctor of Physiotherapy at Bond University.
Speaker 3
Dr Chris Soo : The ADHD Doctor
Dr Chris Soo is one of the Gold Coast’s leading ADHD GPs and is a passionate advocate for people with ADHD and neurodiversity. He has particular expertise in adolescent and adult ADHD.
He is a member of the RACGP Mental Health & ADHD/ASD/neurodiversity special interest group, is a full member of the Australian ADHD Professionals Association and was a presenter at the AADPA 2022 National Conference.
Chris has been supporting people with ADHD for over 20 years and is passionate about supporting people with ADHD on their journey from diagnosis though to mastery.
OurNext Event :
Wednesday June 7th We have the team from Therapywell joining us to discuss their wholistic approach to ADHD treatment.
Click the link below to RSVP for next month so we have correct numbers recorded.
TEACHING STUDENTS WITH ADHD: We are going to be doing an event on the Gold Coast ( date tbc) that will be a ticketed. The event is in relation to teaching kids with ADHD. This will be an event held elsewhere and will have multiple experts doing a more formal presentation on their subject in relation to teaching kids with ADHD. Please register your interest below in attendance so we can get in touch with a specific date and ticketing . Also please reach out of you are teacher as we need to survey the teachers on what specific content they would like covered.
Register your interest in attending our upcoming ticketed event for TEACHING students wtih ADHD
Name
email
phone
Homework : Write a letter with your ADHD issues outlined clearly and either send to us to submit for you with ours or submit yourself
An ADHD inquiry will be carried out by the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs.
If you have any issues surrounding the system and your ADHD it would be great if you are able to send a submission to the senate outlining your issues so they can all be considered.
You can keep your name anonymous if you wish. Its not particularly ADHD friendly to make a submission but I believe if you contact this email community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au.you can request to send a video submission outlining your concerns. Submissions are sought by 9 June 2023. Alternatively if you send your letters to DISTRACTD by Thursday 25th May we will submit them along with ours.
email amanda direct on : amanda@amandagormanartist.com
If you require additional support to make a submission please contact community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au or call
02 6277 3515.
Here is a doc below that gives some tips in what to do and not to do.
What is a submission? What is an inquiry? What’s a committee? What is going on? Where am I? Let’s go back to basics to put this all into context: on top of their work in the chamber, senators sit on what we call committees. Committees are non-partisan – they’re comprised of a small group of senators from across the political spectrum – and they exist to perform functions that are not particularly well suited to the Senate itself.
One of those functions is carrying out inquiries, which is a formal investigation that devotes time and resources to look into a specific policy or issue. The results of these inquiries help senators make better-informed decisions, like shaping legislation and laws.
As part of their investigation, a committee will usually gather evidence for an inquiry by seeking submissions from the public – usually in written form. The committee may then invite people who have made a written submission to appear at a hearing, where they can present information and answer questions.
At the conclusion of an inquiry – which takes into account the substance of the submissions and the hearings – a committee will prepare a report, which often includes recommendations on how to fix the specific policy or issue they were investigating.
More information about Senate committees is available here.
Which committee is undertaking the ADHD inquiry and why? Each Senate committee is allocated specific government departments and agencies that fall within their investigative remit.
The ADHD inquiry will be carried out by the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs, which undertakes the above work in the areas of health, aged care and social services.
SUBMISSION-WRITING BASICS
How should I structure my submission? There is no prescribed format for a written submission – you can follow whatever structure feels easiest or most natural to you.
How long should my submission be? Your submission may be as short or as long as you like. If it’s longer than a few pages, it can be helpful to include a brief summary at the beginning.
What should my submission contain? Your submission should contain facts, opinions, experiences, arguments and/or recommendations in the context of your ADHD experience or expertise.
The most important thing is that your submission clearly tells your story and conveys the reason that you’re making a submission in the first place. It also has to be relevant to the scope of the inquiry, otherwise it could be rejected.
One way to help inform what to write in your submission is through the lens of the inquiry’s terms of reference. These determine the scope/limitations of what the committee will inquire into – they’re like the guiding parameters of the investigation. You definitely don’t need to address the terms of reference in your submission directly or explicitly – though you can if you want to – but it can be a helpful frame through which to think.
Some further helpful hints for writing a strong submission include:
Be relevant and highlight your own perspective
Be concise – generally no longer than four to five pages
Begin with a short introduction about yourself or the organisation you represent
Clearly emphasise your key points – don’t bury the more important information
Outline not only what the issues are but how problems can be addressed, as the committee looks to submissions for ideas to make recommendations
Only include documents that directly relate to your key points
Do I need to include my personal details? It’s entirely up to you. No matter what format your submission takes, you have the option to make it confidentially or with your name publicly attached. Making a confidential submission requires a reason, but in the eyes of the committee it is reason enough that you’re telling a personal story that you don’t want your name published with.
Can I attach supporting documents to my submission? Yes! Feel free to include any documentation with your submission that supports your evidence.
For instance, your submission might be focused on your experiences of having successive healthcare professionals dismiss your suspicion that you have ADHD. If you had a doctor’s report that shows a particularly egregious lack of understanding of ADHD, it might be useful to include it.
Does my submission need to be in electronic written format? If you’re not able to provide a submission as a typed document, the committee can take it in other forms including audio recording, video recording and hand-written.
If you would like to make a non-written submission or you require assistance to enable you to participate in the inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat by calling (02) 6277 3515 or emailing community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au.
If you are Deaf, hearing impaired or speech impaired and would like to make a submission, please call the Parliament House TTY service on (02) 6277 7799.
TERMS OF REFERENCE: PROMPTING QUESTIONS
We’ve pulled together a non-exhaustive list of questions pertaining to each of the key terms of reference. You may find them useful to consider when writing your submission.
Please note not all questions or terms of reference will be relevant to your individual circumstances, which is totally ok!
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Barriers to consistent, timely and best practice assessment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and support services for people with ADHD, with particular reference to:
Term of reference
Questions to consider when addressing the term of reference
(a) adequacy of access to ADHD diagnosis;
Have you experienced any barriers to accessing an ADHD assessment? What are they? Eg cost, lack of support with executive function, not enough practitioners available in your area? Do you have any suggestions for how this could be fixed in a way that would work for you?
(b) adequacy of access to supports after an ADHD assessment;
If you’ve had an ADHD assessment/diagnosis, have you experienced any barriers to accessing follow-up care? This could include medication, ADHD coaching, provision of information, psychology etc. Do you feel the person who diagnosed you provided you with enough support afterwards? How do you think the barriers you’ve experienced could be addressed?
(c) the availability, training and attitudes of treating practitioners, including workforce development options for increasing access to ADHD assessment and support services;
Have you had any negative or harmful experiences with the healthcare professionals you’ve interacted with through your ADHD journey? Has your healthcare provider expressed outdated or offensive views about ADHD? Have you been gaslit, dismissed, laughed at? What kind of steps do you think the government should take to fix this?
(d) impact of gender bias in ADHD assessment, support services and research;
Have you been refused ADHD support based on your gender? Have you experienced medical misogyny? What would you suggest to address this?
(e) access to and cost of ADHD medication, including Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme coverage and options to improve access to ADHD medications;
Have you struggled to access ADHD medication? Can you identify why? Is the cost of medication a barrier for you? Have you been left without medication because your healthcare provider wasn’t available to prescribe it in a timely manner? What would help you to access medication more easily?
(f) the role of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in supporting people with ADHD, with particular emphasis on the scheme’s responsibility to recognise ADHD as a primary disability;
If you are an NDIS participant, does the scheme support your ADHD needs? If you’re not a participant, do you think you would pursue it if you could? How would getting support from the NDIS improve your life with regard to your ADHD?
(g) the adequacy of, and interaction between, Commonwealth, state and local government services to meet the needs of people with ADHD at all life stages;
Through your ADHD assessment and support journey, have you noticed any clear gaps between different service providers? Is there anything substantively missing? How could each level of government improve its approach to ADHD services?
(h) the adequacy of Commonwealth funding allocated to ADHD research;
Do you feel the government should invest more into ADHD research? Why/why not? How would more/less funding impact outcomes for people with ADHD?
(i) the social and economic cost of failing to provide adequate and appropriate ADHD services;
In the context of the support you receive to manage it, how does your ADHD impact on your life more broadly? How does it impact on your education, employment and/or relationships? Have you lost jobs or income that could have been avoided if you’d had better access to ADHD services? How would better ADHD supports improve these parts of your life?
(j) the viability of recommendations from the Australian ADHD Professionals Association’s Australian evidence-based clinical practice guideline for ADHD;
Do you feel strongly that the AADPA guidelines are a useful blueprint for how to address ADHD access in Australia? Why/why not? Do you have any experiences that you can correlate to the guidelines and your views on them?
(k) international best practice for ADHD diagnosis, support services, practitioner education and cost;
Do you have any exposure to ADHD assessment and support services in other countries? Have you sought out ADHD assessment or support elsewhere, and how does that process compare to Australia? Is there a particular jurisdiction you know of that has the legislation right and from which Australia could learn?
SUBMISSION WRITING – STEP BY STEP
While you can approach writing your submission however you like, you might also like to follow our helpful formula below.
Step
Example
Step 1. Begin your submission with the name of the inquiry and by providing a brief explanation of your experience with or interest in access barriers to ADHD assessment and support services.
“I am writing in response to the call for submissions to the inquiry into Assessment and support services for people with ADHD. In 2016 I was formally diagnosed with ADHD after seeking an assessment for two years, during which time I experienced a range of challenging experiences with the healthcare system that I’d like to share with the committee.”
Step 2. Directly or implicitly address the terms of reference. What do you want to communicate to the inquiry about your experience, and how does it relate to the terms of reference?
If you can’t draw a parallel between a reference term and your experience, that is entirely ok. In this example, you could simply omit the first paragraph that identifies the reference term.
“The primary challenge I experienced in seeking an ADHD assessment pertains directly to reference term (c): the availability, training and attitudes of treating practitioners, including workforce development options for increasing access to ADHD assessment and support services.
In the two years it took for me to get a diagnosis, I went through six different healthcare practitioners. Firstly, their availability was a significant issue – the longest wait I experienced for one of them was nine months. In instances where I did not have to wait quite that long, the attitudes I encountered were appalling. One psychiatrist told me ADHD is a made-up condition concocted by pharmaceutical companies, and another refused to assess me in the belief that if I “really” had ADHD it would have been picked up by now.”
Step 3. Explain how these experiences have made you feel, how they have affected you and your family financially or psychologically, and/or how you think they have impacted your health, wellbeing, and employment outcomes.
“Encountering such attitudes by people who are supposed to be experts in human health has been incredibly upsetting for me personally, both in terms of compounding the stigma I felt and in terms of my progression to a diagnosis and therefore access to life-changing medication. After coming up against so many hostile doctors at one of the most vulnerable periods of my life, I lost all hope and motivation. My untreated ADHD meant I was already struggling at work, but ended up losing my job and becoming homeless.”
Step 4. After you’ve shared your experience, you might like to provide your recommendations for how the barriers/issues you’ve experienced might be fixed. It’s not mandatory, but it’s a valuable opportunity for people with lived experience to have their say on the solutions that will impact them directly.
“My experience shows me that there is a significant gap in understanding of ADHD among healthcare practitioners – one that poses a clear danger to people’s lives. I believe this needs to be addressed by mandating an ADHD assessment training module for all healthcare providers who will likely be dealing with people seeking support for ADHD. It’s also critical in my opinion that medicine courses at university need to provide clinical training on neurodiversity.”
Recommended reading / Viewing / Listening:
BOOKs: List of best books thanks to Healthline
https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/adhd-books#A-quick-look-at-the-10-best-ADHD-books
Best classic: Driven to Distraction
Best for women: A Radical Guide for Women with ADHD
Best for adults: Thriving with Adult ADHD
Best for everyday life: Order from Chaos
Best for parents: What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew
Best for couples: The ADHD Effect on Marriage
Best for getting organized: Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD
Best for harnessing your strengths: ADHD 2.0
Best for teens: Smart but Scattered Teens
Best for children: Thriving with ADHD Workbook for Kids
PODCAST List of Best ADHD Podcasts thanks to Feedspot.
https://blog.feedspot.com/adhd_podcasts/
Amanda's Ted X talk discussing her ADHD diagnosis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AB0NBeTIjY
This months attendee quote
"I first came to distractd as my daughter was diagnosed but I sat in tears thru most of the night feeling like I was with my people after a lifetime felling like I lived in a world I wasn't meant for or just wasn't good at doing. I went to Drs soon after for a range of things and discussed the possibility of an assessment . It took months but here I am. So thankyou for providing this space"
Miami Marketta is a proud sponsor of DISTRACTD, to see their upcoming gigs and events click here . https://www.miamimarketta.com/
Thank you for joining us . Please follow us, keep in touch and come along to our monthly events.
We would love to hear of your recommended podcasts, books, videos, groups etc to share with the audience. Email Amanda on amanda@amandagormanartist.com or Slide on into the DM's on socials. Promise we wont find it creepy.
TO, YOU for attending, THE SPEAKERS Andrea, Daniell and Chris for their time and knowledge and MY FAMILY for supporting me with DISTRACTD.
Enjoy your May. I so wish it was the 4th so I could do the " May the 4th be with you !"
See you next month.
Amanda and the DISTRACTD crew xx
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