Sarah Templeton is an English Accredited Counsellor, CBT Therapist and Coach. She set up and runs the biggest ADHD specialist counselling and coaching company in the UK - Headstuff ADHD Therapy. Sarah wasn’t diagnosed ADHD until two months before her 52nd birthday. This came as a huge shock to her as nobody had suggested she was ADHD - EVER! And she had absolutely no clue that she had any condition whatsoever. Since that diagnosis in 2015 she has dedicated her life to helping ADHD children and adults. She is especially passionate about changing the shocking lack of recognition and understanding of ADHD in schools and the criminal justice system. She is amazed that ADHD is not routinely screened for in schools and is pushing for this to be changed. Had she been screened as a child she wouldn’t have failed her 12+ due to undiagnosed Dyscalculia and spent four years at a secondary modern school she shouldn’t have been at. Had she been screened for the ADHD comorbidities or ‘coexisting conditions’, somebody would’ve picked up her now diagnosed Severe Dyspraxia with 1% processing and 1% motor skills and also her Sensory Processing Disorder. Sarah spent four years working in young offender units and adult male prisons as a counsellor. She could not believe the amount of ADHD boys and young men who are locked up behind bars. Some of these were diagnosed ADHD, but not on ADHD medication, but the vast majority didnt have a clue they even had ADHD. Sarah now works closely with the police, head teachers and teachers and is pushing for ADHD to be screened for in infant, junior and senior schools. Since 2015, she has also been campaigning for ADHD to be screened for in police stations and on induction wings in prisons. Sarah has volunteered and worked with the homeless and young offenders for 25+ years. She has always felt a great empathy for people marginalised in society and suffering. She is CEO of the charity ADHD LIBERTY which aims to help ADHD adolescents and adults who are in any sort of difficulties, especially involving addiction and the criminal justice system.Sarah set up the charity to help ADHD children and adults affected by addiction and crime. The ADHD LIBERTY team work alongside solicitors and barristers to keep ADHD & ASD people out of prison. Sarah is passionate about raising ADHD awareness. Having not been diagnosed herself until she was nearly 52, she campaigns for ADHD to be included in Teaching and Counselling training. Her biggest passion is reserved for the thousands of mostly boys, but also girls, trapped in the prison system because nobody has identified their ADHD. So their risk-taking, thrill-seeking, loathing of authority and thinking they know best ADHD traits have landed them up behind bars. When she left the prison service in 2016 to go into private practice, she vowed to never forget all those ADHD teenagers and young adults trapped inside and now dedicates her life to pushing for change at government level. She won’t rest until everybody entering a police station or going into prison is tested for ADHD. Sarah‘s bestselling book ‘How NOT to Murder Your ADHD Kid - Instead Learn to be Your Child’s Own ADHD Coach’ was released in April 2020, and is now a best seller worldwide. Her book to help teachers recognise and work with ADHD kids was released in December 2022. ‘Teachers! How Not to Kill the Spirit in Your ADHD Kids - Instead Understand their Brains and Turbo Charge our Future Leaders & Winners’ She wrote her third book ‘How NOT to Damage your ADHD Adolescent: Instead, Coach them Through their Turbulent Teens to Win at Life!' that was released in January 2024. ADHD adolescents are a different breed apart and Sarah is more than keen for parents to understand how puberty affects ADHD kids. What she wants more than anything is for ADHD teenagers to be understood, cherished and encouraged to be the success stories they absolutely can be. She is currently working on the book she has wanted to write since leaving the prison service ‘The Prison Counsellor - She was ADHD. So were they. She got them and this is their stories’ Sarah is a passionate speaker on ADHD and welcomes media enquiries. More information on Sarah and her determination to improve things for ADHD children and adults can be found on her website.
