From Stage Lights to Safe Spaces: What My ADHD Tour Taught Me About Community
If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be standing on 27 different theatre stages across the UK, sharing stories, laughing and sometimes crying with hundreds of strangers about ADHD, I’d have probably laughed, panicked a little and then impulsively agreed to do it anyway. Which, true to form, is pretty much exactly what happened.
On the first night of the tour, I had NEVER stepped foot on a theatre stage. I didn’t do drama when I was younger, I can’t sing, I haven’t been involved in local am dram – so I was SCARED!
Yet three weeks ago I wrapped up ADHD Unmasked, a 27 date UK theatre tour across England, Scotland and Wales and connected me with thousands of incredible humans.
Every show was a whirlwind of emotion: part talk, part comedy, part group therapy session with audience members supporting each other, which was quite frankly magical. I stood on those stages as someone with lived experience, as a neurodiversity coach supporting their employees and as a mum of two neurodivergent teens (Autistic / ADHD / Dyspraxic / ARFID) and a wife to my autistic / ADHD husband. Every night I was met with this wave of recognition.
People laughed, nodded, cried. There was this collective sigh of “Oh… it’s not just me.”
Everyone Just Wants to Feel Understood
After each show, I would get so many DMs. Telling me their story. Or their child’s story. Or to say they think they might have ADHD but aren’t sure and don’t know where to start.
And over and over again I heard the same themes:
“I’ve never felt like I fit in.”
“I thought I was just broken or lazy.”
“This is the first time I’ve heard someone say what I’ve been thinking for years.”
It made me realise: we’re not lacking awareness or information, we’re lacking safe spaces. Spaces where we can be messy and honest and vulnerable without shame. Spaces where we don’t have to explain ourselves from the ground up. Spaces where someone else just gets it.
Why I Created the Speedy Brain Society
Coming off tour, I kept thinking: How do we keep this feeling going? How do we take the sense of connection from a theatre land bring it into everyday life?
So I created The Speedy Brain Society. I had done a quiet launch just before the tour. It’s a community for fast thinking females with speedy brains who want support, tools and above all, connection.
It’s a mix of:
Live Zoom sessions (casual, practical, always full of laughs)
Downloadable tools and resources to help with everyday life
A brilliant, supportive WhatsApp group that runs 24/7
Themes and challenges like our Self-Care Bingo
A proper sense of belonging
What started as a little idea has now become a lifeline. And I say that not just as the founder, but as a member. Because I need it too.
What I’ve Learned
Being on tour and running the Speedy Brain Society side by side has taught me more than any book or webinar ever could.
People don’t just want advice. They want relatability.
They don’t just want a diagnosis. They want language for what they’ve lived through.
They don’t just want strategies. They want solidarity.
So many of us grew up internalising the idea that we were too much, too chatty, too emotional, too disorganised. The truth is, we were never too much, we were just never in the place, with the right people.
Now, we’re finding the right place. Whether that’s in a theatre, a WhatsApp group, or a Zoom chat at 7pm on a Tuesday night, people are starting to find each other. To say, “I feel like that too.” And that changes everything.
If You’re Looking For Your People…
The Speedy Brain Society is open. If you’ve ever felt like your brain works on a different operating system and you’re just trying to make it through the day without forgetting your own name, you’re welcome here.
If you want community, connection, and coaching that doesn’t feel clinical or patronising—you’ll fit right in. We chat work, parenting, hormones, the menopause, life and more.
This isn’t about fixing you. It’s about reminding you that you were never broken in the first place.
👉 Click here to join the Speedy Brain Society
We’d love to have you.
P.S. I’m working on some exciting next steps—a secret squirrel project, more workshops and training with big organisations across the globe. Some exciting coaching programmes. But right now, I’m soaking in everything I’ve learned from this last chapter and using it to build something even bigger and even more supportive.
If you’ve been part of this journey so far—thank you. You’re the reason I do this.