Zest owner Lisa Cathro (left) and Dundee & Angus ADHD Support Group CEO Alison Zerouk toast the coming launch of the group with a coffee at Zest. Pic: Zest.
The first adult ADHD support group for people in North-East Fife starts on December 2 after St Andrews social enterprise café owner Lisa Cathro discovered there was a need for a group for adults in the area.
Earlier this year, Lisa, who owns and runs award-winning Zest, which trains young disabled people in hospitality skills to help them find or stay in paid work, was on a Fife employability forum online and read about the many issues disabled people in Fife face.
Several forum users said a support group in North-East Fife for adults diagnosed with, or suspected of having, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was needed because the existing Fife groups are in Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline and they find them too hard to get to and the venues uncomfortable for them as they don’t know them.
Planning
As Zest was founded by Lisa to provide an unmet service for local disabled people, she set about planning how she could help get one for these people. A few weeks later, her research led Lisa to contact Dundee and Angus ADHD Support Group CEO Alison Zerouk to ask if the group she founded in 2013 to help her newly-diagnosed son and others like him would be interested in running a North-East Fife group if Lisa could get funding for it.
The answer was yes and, last month, Lisa secured £5,866 funding from The Kinburn Trust (St Andrews) Charitable Trust for a six-month pilot of a monthly group for people aged 18 and over at Zest, starting on December 2.
Meeting details
The group will meet 6-8pm on the first Monday of each month, led by Alison, who’s a qualified ADHD coach, and another facilitator, to equip participants with tools and strategies to manage ADHD in their daily life via workshops on building essential skills such as time management, organisational strategies, mindfulness and emotional regulation.
They’ll also get the opportunity to share their experiences and coping strategies, learn more about ADHD and other support available as well as meet new people – reducing any isolation they may feel while they wait for diagnosis or live their lives with the condition.
The sessions, which will also include guest speakers, will be held in a relaxed atmosphere in the café after its usual customers have left. Anyone interested who’s not been to Zest before and nervous about going to a new place, is encouraged to pop into the cafe beforehand to get familiar with the layout and bring a friend or family member on the night, if they wish. To find out more, they should go to bit.ly/NEFifeAdultADHDGroup.
Gathering data
Speaking about the new support group, Lisa said: ”Huge thanks to the Kinburn Trust and Alison for supporting the launch of this much-needed group for people living in North-East Fife, which will provide structured support in a familiar location, with topics to come from the group after the first few events.
“This six-month pilot is intended to gather data on what else is needed for this group so we can submit a further funding application to provide those extra needs.”
Alison Zerouk said: “We’re looking forward to meeting and supporting new people with this new location for our group as part of our ongoing mission to provide services to support and empower children, young people and parents/carers suffering from or affected by ADHD. We hope through this to raise tolerance, awareness and acceptance of the condition.. Thanks to Lisa for asking us to run it.”
For more about Dundee and Angus ADHD Support Group, go to adhddasupport.org For Zest, go to wearezest.co.uk