A locally run support group for adults with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) held an event in Stormont’s Long Gallery last Tuesday, aiming to break the silence and raise awareness of adult ADHD.

Adult ADHD NI was set up by Fermanagh couple Niall Greene and Emma Weaver. The group operates support groups across Northern Ireland that provide information and support to adults with ADHD and parents of children with ADHD.

Last Tuesday’s event was attended by political representatives from across Northern Ireland. Guest speakers included co-founder, Niall Greene; psychiatrist and Adult ADHD expert Rob Baskind; and Sinn Fein MLA, Michelle Gildernew. The event also heard from local parents Dympna Colgan and Lilian Rosborough, who gave heartfelt accounts of the impact ADHD has on their families. They outlined how they feel let down by the health service and the education departments in the western trust area and called for all MPs, MLAs and influential figures to join the organisation in raising awareness and working together to provide support and services to help individuals and families impacted by ADHD. 

Participants at the event were asked to sign a pledge to have at least one conversation about ADHD. The meeting heard that Adult ADHD NI is now working with the Phoenix Project in Coleraine to provide adult support in the Coleraine area in addition to support for children and young people in Fermanagh. 

Co-founder of Adult ADHDNI, Emma Weaver said: “The aim of these events are to create awareness of Adult ADHD and to collaborate with other organisations to work together to provide sufficient support to those affected. The event over all was very successful.”

DUP Councillor Raymond Farrell, who attended the event, commented: “It was a valuable and worthwhile opportunity to lobby and support not only those with a diagnosis of ADHD as adults in my district but in Northern Ireland as a whole. This meeting in Stormont sought to highlight the real practical and emotional issues which adults with ADHD have to deal with and greater awareness and support is needed in this area.”