Registered Charity: 1124090
Registered Charity: 1124090
ADHD Lincs is a registered charity which provides support and information to families and individuals who are living with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and associated learning differences.
We are committed to raising awareness of ADHD and educating the public and professionals about the impact of ADHD on the individual, home life and society.
Our ultimate goal is to enable people with ADHD to realise their full potential. We have built an excellent reputation since 1996, providing training and support to the ADHD community.
In 1996, a group of parents with newly diagnosed children got together for peer support while they navigated their way through the education system and local services.
Sharon O’Dell was one of those parents.
Together they met monthly to support and learn from eachother in an environment that, at the time, hardly recognised the condition.
They attended conferences allover the country to learn as much as they could about ADHD and other co-morbidities.
They ran family activities for their children and invited speakers to come and educate them all.
The network grew as more people heard about them.
They began to run their own conferences and because their network had grown so much they began to invite International speakers to come and talk at their events.
In 2002, Sharon was asked by ADDISS (The National ADHD Information and Support Service, UK) to be a trustee, she agreed and has held that position ever since.
Large, international pharmaceutical companies began inviting Sharon to deliver talks to their companies about her experiences of living with ADHD.
In 2007, the Support Group became a registered charity known as Lincoln ADHD Support Services and found their own premises and things grew from there with the charity supporting thousands of individuals and families each year.
In 2020, the pandemic hit – all funding was pulled and the premises were lost and Sharon became a one-man band trying to support people throughout the pandemic from home.
But the charity survived the pandemic and is flourishing again.
We have rebranded and have taken ADHD Lincs online to reach out to and support as many people as possible.
We are now part of ADHD Europe where we work together with other European countries to share best practices and collaborate on research to help to give people with ADHD a louder voice.
We work with ADDISS (the National ADHD Information and Support Service) and collaborate with other organisations around the UK.
We sit on many professional boards and panels across the country and have excellent relationships with the Support Services, the NHS and the Local Authority.
We are recognised by Lincolnshire County Council, Education Authority and Lincolnshire NHS Partnership Foundation Trust as THE support and advocacy service for ADHD in Lincolnshire.
Our focus is to provide support and resources to individuals and families living with ADHD.
We aim to strengthen relationships and bring the family together whilst promoting independence in the person who has ADHD.
We support families with various concerns including behaviour management, family issues, the diagnosis process and school issues.
The core of everything that we have always done comes from listening to what our community is asking for.
Our focus is to build much needed bridges between schools, parents and children with ADHD.
Referrals can be made by all schools/organisations and also by self-referral
We work extensively with adults, young people and their families to help minimise the risks of them entering the criminal justice system, providing a holistic approach that includes health, education, social aspects and home.
Sharon Taylor CF (was O’Dell)
– CEO and Founder
Sharon Taylor (was O’Dell) is the CEO and a Co-founder of ADHD Lincs and has built the excellent reputation of the ADHD Lincs Charity into what it is today.
She is diagnosed with ADHD herself and is a mum to two children who have ADHD, autism and other co-morbidities.
She has helped, supported and advocated for thousands of individuals over the last 28 years.
She has supported families at school, Children’s Services and Paediatric meetings and has designed and delivered creative and meaningful sessions for children, families, parents and adults with ADHD.
She has also designed and delivered effective training to schools and teachers, police officers and PCSO’s, Prison Officers, Social Workers, Children’s Services, Fire Services, Lincolnshire County Council staff and many other professionals.
She has affected change in Lincolnshire by sitting on several boards including the Parent Carer Council, the Lincoln Disability Forum, Carers Work streams, NHS Stakeholders meetings and Children’s Services workstreams.
Through her work Sharon has become highly recognised in the field of Neurodivergence. She has sat on many panels all around the Uk and in Europe and has been awarded many accolades.
She has been a Trustee of the National ADHD Organisation, ADDISS, since 2002.
Sharon is a Churchill Fellow, a highly acclaimed title which supports people to follow their passion for change, through learning from the world and bringing that knowledge back to the UK. Sharon’s research topic is ‘Preventing School Avoidance in children with ADHD’
She has also received the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire Award in 2011 for “great and good service to the County of Lincolnshire”
Did we mention that she is also one of the very few Licensed 1 2 3 Magic Practitioner’s in the UK and is also a Certified WhyTry Practitioner?
Alison Whiteley, BSc (Hons)
– COO
Formally diagnosed with ADHD at age 51, Alison became involved with ADHD Lincs in 2022, after returning from overseas. She has been instrumental in carving a new way forward online for the charity to support the rapidly growing number of people seeking support.
Alison has developed the new branding, website and social media pages.
Her background is as a functional and technical consultant in software development but she is also a trained Counsellor, NLP Practitioner and Behavioural Tic therapist.
At the age of 10 her son was diagnosed with ADHD, shocked to discover how much more there is to this condition than the classic symptoms, she immersed herself into learning as much as she could about ADHD, the science behind it and how our brains and nervous system’s work.
She has become passionate about neuroscience and exploring brain development, emotional management, belief patterns, external behaviour and patterns of thinking with a particular interest in Neurodivergent brains.
Together with Sharon, Alison attends National and International conferences learning about the latest developments in the Neuroscience around ADHD and together they use this knowledge to create training and support programs and packages.
In doing this we are combining 30 years worth of experience and evidence-based support with the very latest information and knowledge and bringing it direct to you.
ADHD Lincs will continue to be a centre of excellence and facilitate collaborative working with other Community Groups and charities. Initially this will be predominantly online services made accessible through our website and social media.
We will provide support to people all over the world with practical strategies to support the mental wellbeing of individuals and their families.
The website will be helpful for anyone who has ADHD and associated conditions, lives with, cares for or works with people living with ADHD. It will provide those who are isolated with access to much-needed resources and support.
This would include live, interactive, virtual training accessible from home.
ADHD Lincs will provide holistic support for carers and individuals with ADHD, from pre-school children to adults. We will provide the tools for them to understand and manage the condition through psychoeducation and workshops. We will support them to improve their own mental wellbeing, through specialised counselling and/or our practical and wellbeing programmes.
We will continue to work closely with schools, children’s services and other voluntary organisations to support them with appropriate and effective strategies to provide appropriate interventions for children at school.
We will continue to work together with all support services in Lincolnshire to identify gaps between services
ADHD Lincs Turns 30 – Join Us in October 2026!
This year, ADHD Lincs is celebrating 30 years of supporting the ADHD community in Lincolnshire! Since 1996, we’ve been working with families, schools and professionals to improve understanding, advocacy and support for children and adults with ADHD.
To mark this milestone, we’re hosting a special conference at The White Hart Hotel in Lincoln on Friday 16th October, during ADHD Awareness Month. The day will include guest speakers, panel debates and opportunities to connect with others in the ADHD community.
We will also be holding a 30th birthday party in Lincoln to celebrate on Saturday 17th October.
We want to celebrate not just 30 years of ADHD Lincs, but 30 years of stories, achievements and resilience from the families and individuals we support.
We’re inviting families and individuals we’ve previously supported to complete a short questionnaire to help us celebrate.
Keep an eye on this page and our social media for more details – we can’t wait to celebrate with you!