Stanley Forecast would seem to be a young man with a lot going for him. Highly political and with strong ambitions to one day become an MP, he has recently graduated with a degree in International Business from the University of Kent. He is the youngest councillor on Maidstone council and he has landed a plum job as constituency support manager for Maidstone and Malling MP Helen Grant.
But beneath the surface, Stan, as he is known to friends, has been struggling with difficulties in concentration, high levels of anxiety and excessive impulsivity that, after four years of therapy, have finally led to a diagnosis of adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD.
He has so far kept that knowledge from family and friends, but has decided to talk about his experience to KentOnline in the hope it might encourage others to seek help, as he has done.
When did you realise that something was not as it should be?
“It started in September 2019. I went to university and soon I was struggling with something like mental health problems: anxiety, low mood. Naturally, I missed home and stuff like that.
“The big issue I had was a feeling of intense guilt about not being productive. You know what uni’s like, it’s a limited timetable with a lot of binge drinking, whereas everyone else around you is seemingly doing a bit more with their lives.
“I was lacking a sense of purpose. Covid didn’t necessarily help things for anyone.
“Since that point, I’ve been trying different things, like therapy, which was quite hard for a young man to start doing.
“Then, after the general election in 2024, when things were a bit quieter, I thought I should really pick up on this and see if there was a way that I could start to feel a bit better.
“It was through the therapist. After she heard my list of symptoms or traits, she said, well, maybe you’re suffering with some form of neurodiversity, and she suggested I see a specialist in that area, which I did.
“Several months later, after I paid a lot of money for the report, I was diagnosed with adult ADHD.
“ADHD was always thrown at people who couldn’t sit still or who misbehaved at school, but neither of those really applied to me. I just had a sense that something was a bit off and I was prepared to at least find out if this was the root cause behind some of the difficulties I was facing.
“I hadn’t realised there was anything wrong during my childhood, but in hindsight, I’m not surprised at the diagnosis.
“In primary school, they largely considered that I was dyslexic. Also, my eye-to-hand coordination was pretty bad.
“I can play football and I love that, but I’m in a friendship group of lads who love to play all kinds of sports and when they played tennis or badminton, I couldn’t.
“Reflecting on it now, that was a bit demoralising and I never quite knew why I couldn’t do, when everyone else could.
“I wanted to find out if I had ADHD because of the mental effect it had on me, but I’m not surprised that I was displaying physical traits as well.
“I’m just frustrated, really, that it wasn’t picked up when I was younger.
“When I went to secondary school with my dyslexia, I struggled with English and grammar and all that sort of stuff, but because I was prepared to put in extra hours of work, I could almost get over it.
“I never had an official diagnosis of dyslexia, there was never any effort spent on pursuing that further.
“It never did hold me back massively, because I put in more hours than a normal teenager, but in hindsight, I can see how it all links.
“I’ve gone through this for years without realising what it was.
You’re 24 now, so this wasn’t picked up at school?
“No. I went to Maplesden Noakes School in Maidstone and loved it. I’m not knocking the teachers; I had a really great time. I got three A levels, and was the first person in my family to go to university, and since university, it has been quite a busy but successful period.
“On the surface level, I think people who know me will be surprised to learn of my diagnosis and how I have felt on and off throughout the past four or five years.
“That’s why I wanted to speak to Kent Online to show that people can seemingly be quite happy and doing all right, but can be struggling.
“My parents didn’t pick up on it either. I don’t blame them, because what you are seeing with the wave of adult diagnosis today is that unfortunately, I am not the only one who is having to tackle this later on it in life.
“It was never a thing. A year or two ago, if someone had mentioned I was neurodiverse, I would have thought that was just a label that you are throwing at anyone and there was no way that that was the case.
“But after seeing health specialists, I have to accept that this is very real and this has impacted me.
“A lot of young people get anxious, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a symptom of ADHD in itself, but one of the symptoms that my therapist noticed was the restlessness I was experiencing in my mind. Like my mind is racing 24/7. My mind could be racing and jumping between different things without resting, until I felt that I was at burn-out almost.
“Impulsivity is also something I’ve struggled with; emotional regulation, lack of concentration.
“I do sleep, but if I put down my phone and went to go to sleep, my mind would be racing at 100mph thinking about work, or life, or whatever, and I wouldn’t sleep until I crashed. And then from the second you woke up, it would be the same.
“I was very reluctant to seek help. I was quite a proud young person. I did start with therapy at university, but it was online throughout the pandemic.
“I was at university during Covid. I joined in September 2019, and then in March, there was a lockdown, and we didn’t come out of it until I was in my third year.
“I was having therapy on and off throughout that time.
“Obviously, I wasn’t mixing massively with other students, but even before uni I struggled to meet new people. Then obviously, Covid put everything on steroids in terms of people not socialising.
“In the spring of 2023, I went from having my final exams to a KCC by-election to having a new job, and I naturally had a huge uplift.
“I’d finished my degree, I was busy, and I threw myself into my work, and I felt better than I had done in years. Then in 12 months from May 2023-ish until the general election, I was hyper-focused on work and campaigning.
“It was after that I thought, it’s been a good year, but I could still feel happier.
“So I took up therapy more seriously, with face-to-face sessions, and the therapist picked up on some of these traits and referred me to a specialist, Dr Richard Madronal-Luque, at Kings Hill.
“I booked in with him in December ‘24 and had the appointments with him for my report in March.”
How does the diagnosis work?
“They ask about subtle things in your childhood and you wonder: how is this related? It’s just a very personal Q&A about how your brain and body work day to day.
“I got the diagnosis in March this year.
“My Dad’s aware I got a report, but I’ve probably not been as open with him or my family as I should be. Aside from, that nobody knows, not even Helen (Grant).
“It’s easier for me to talk to somebody like you, who I know on a less personal level, than it is to tell somebody whom I talk to every day.
“I also feel like my friends and family will read this, hopefully. They might wonder why I didn’t speak to them sooner, but this is an easier way for me to speak about it. Which perhaps may be a symptom of having the condition!
“Managing relationships and emotions is something we just do differently.
“I don’t expect society or social norms to change for me, I should change for them, but this is the way I am.”
Did you have an unusual childhood?
“My childhood was a bit non-standard. My parents are not together, but I am close to them both. I live with my dad.
“My mum doesn’t have a clue about this. I want to be there for them and bear my own burdens rather than have them bear them for me. I know that they will both be supportive.
“I’m very close to my brother; he’s 18 months younger. I also have two step-brothers who live with Dad, my step mum and me, and I have another brother who lives with Mum – we have different Dads – who is just turning 17.
“Hopefully, by my opening up, if my own family or anyone who recognises some of the stuff I’m describing in themselves, it will encourage them to go and seek some help.
“I know the NHS is struggling with this subject, and if you go private, there are huge financial barriers. Whatever means you choose, I would encourage people to try to understand some of the feelings you’ve got.
What happened after your diagnosis?
“Since my diagnosis, I’ve been seeing a doctor and he’s prescribed some medication called Methylphenidate, and we are just trialling that.
“It’s one tablet a day. I’ve been on it for about a month. We are trying different dosages. We started low, then doubled it. Now, I think we are going to have to come back down a bit.”
Has it brought the relief you had hoped for?
“I haven’t yet felt that relief I might have expected. The medication has not been the silver bullet I had hoped it was going to be, at least not yet.
“That’s part of the ADHD, you want things to change just like that.
“You need to do stuff now. It has to be right away.
“I am hopeful that things will improve, but no big relief yet.
“I was almost reluctant to take the medication, because I thought, is this going to change who I am? I’d be the first to admit to my character flaws, but I think there are some strengths there, that some of the symptoms give you – hyperfocus and all that sort of stuff.
“I feel like a lot of my inner drive is a product of my ADHD so I don’t want to change completely, but I recognise that foir my own well being, and to be a better councillor, colleague, friend and family member, I should at least try to see if the medication has an overall positive effect
Has your condition affected your career?
“I’ve put forward a couple of motions to the council that have initially been rejected because they have been wrongly worded. That is a product of my impulsivity. I see something wrong and think: Let’s get this sorted out today, but of course, things don’t work like that.
“Sometimes, I‘ll just be walking the street and I’ll get something into my mind and I’ll have to action there and then; it can’t be left. If it is left, I feel real sense of unease.
“And then aside from rushing in and perhaps missing detail, I do have some difficulty concentrating or absorbing information a lot of the time.
“I’m looking at an email or a piece of paper and rather than reading it, my mind is thinking about something else, and you think, damn, I should probably be reading this properly, and you have to read it about four times .
“I’ve had it at work a couple of times, I’ve sent out a draft that’s lacking a full stop in the right place.
“Some people might think it is being lazy, but I resent that hugely. It’s not lazy, I just miss it, but I can’t explain that fully.
“You’re desperately trying, it’s stuff like that that makes everyday life a bit trickier.
“Hopefully, the medication will clear that up.”
Did you go through the NHS?
“I’ve had no interaction with the NHS, so it has been tough financially. The two appointments and report with the specialist – that was £1300. The doctor’s appointments are £100 for 15 minutes.
“The therapist was £60 an hour.
“I have to pay for the medication.
“Hopefully, once we find the right prescription and dosage, I will be able to get it through my GP, which will be cheaper.
Has the medication worked at all?
“It has had an effect. My mind is definitely racing less, my concentration has improved, my moods are more stable.
“It’s a stimulant. What happened before was that I was massively hyperactive to the point where I was too keen and borderline annoying. Or I was shattered and non-existent.
“The strength of the stimulant at the moment is that I’m too close to the borderline annoying level more regularly, so I’m just looking to find a happy medium.
“Something I particularly struggled with was ‘not being in the room,’ that’s how I describe it.
“So I would frequently have meetings or conversations, socially or professionally, but my mind just wasn’t there. So I could be looking at you in the face, but I would be thinking about something totally different.”
But don’t we all switch off like that sometimes?
“Yes, we all experience some of these aspects, but it’s a question of degree.
“Whoever takes the report, nobody is going to score zero. But it is very much a scaling thing, and then it’s down to the doctors to determine a diagnosis.
“I was of the opinion, I don’t really care what the report tells me as long as there is something I can act on and start feeling better.
So is the medication a cure, or something you will now be on for life?
“The doctor and I have not really discussed the long-term yet. We’re still focusing on getting the dosages right. But I think it‘s very much a case of you take it for as long as you feel it is helping.
Is having ADHD going to affect your political ambitions?
“I do have ambitions to stand as an MP myself at some time, that won’t be a shock to anyone who knows me.
“There are symptoms of the condition that won’t help me: lack of concentration, impulsivity, but I also think that being a representative on the council – or one day in parliament and coming from a normal comprehensive school, working class background, and being someone who has actually struggled with an issue that is seems to be impacting on so many people in the country today, could also be a plus.”
What does Helen Grant think?
Helen is an incredibly supportive boss and person. Any problems I’ve had, she’s done her utmost to help. I don’t know how much she knows about ADHD, but I don’t think she will be surprised.
“I go to work every day and work hard, that will be the main thing from her view. If she can support, she will.
“But I don’t expect concessions to be made for me, I want to work hard and get on in society as it is.
“For somebody who is quite happy to discuss policy and issues and debate things publicly, my personal feelings have been very much kept to myself all this time.
“It’s only recognising that this is an issue that’s being faced by so many people at this time, that I’m prepared to open up about it in the hope that it will help others.
“There are functioning members of society who have mental health issues or neurodiversity that do struggle with things, and I think any opportunity to raise that awareness is a good thing.
What would you say to someone who might be quietly struggling with similar feelings?
“Life is too short to feel like it’s a continuous slog, so please do seek help — and if I can help, let me know.”
