Our Team

All our Trustees have families with ADHD or related neuro conditions and so fully understand the challenges and opportunities for those with ADHD.   

Annette Wilson – Chair and Founder 

Annette is our Chair of the Board of Trustees.  She set up ADHD Embrace (previously ADHD Richmond & Kingston) in 2002 to create a support community for parents of children and young people with ADHD and to promote a better understanding of ADHD.  She has two children and, as a parent of a son with ADHD, is passionate about providing parents and professionals with knowledge and support to help children and young people with ADHD excel.  

Annette is a chartered accountant and spent her working career in financial services & investment management. Today she is actively involved in the tech start-up and scale-up space. In addition to her involvement with ADHD Embrace, she is also Chair of the Air Cadets, 39F Barnes and Richmond Squadron and previously was school governor and Founding Chair of another local charity.   

Dr Bozhena Zoritch – Trustee

Bozhena joined the Board in November 2022.  She is a Consultant Paediatrician and has extensive knowledge of ADHD having worked with young people with ADHD in diagnosing and treating them for over twenty five years.  She used to lead one of the largest ADHD clinics in the UK at St Peter’s Hospital and is today in private practice.  Bozhena is an advocate for ADHD and has been involved in giving seminars and teaching on ADHD related topics, setting standards for diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and in lobbying for services.  She continues to work in this area and has recently obtained a PhD on ADHD and mother blame.  Bozhena is passionate about ensuring children with ADHD and their families benefit from well organised public and voluntary services to help them strive and succeed. 

Clare Mullane – Secretary 

Clare is our Secretary and a Trustee. She been involved with ADHD Embrace since 2018.  She has two children, where her son has ADHD.  With a young family, she is very aware of the challenges of balancing the demands of home and work for ADHD families.  Clare previously worked in a large telecommunications group, where she focused on change management.    

Dav Frank – Treasurer 

Dav is our Treasurer and a Trustee of ADHD Embrace, joining us in February 2021.  He has two young boys, one who received an ASD diagnosis at an early age.  He believes that, with the right support, children, parents, families and communities can ensure our neuro diverse groups thrive and not just survive.  Dav has had an extensive career within banking & financial services as COO, CFO and director, also previously served as Treasurer Trustee of CVS Richmond, another key Richmond based charity.  

Katie Virdi – Trustee

Katie joined the Board in October 2023. She grew up in the local area and now lives in Hampton with her husband and two sons, the eldest with ADHD. Katie has a passion for healthcare and in particular increasing equity of access. She has extensive experience in strategy, transformation and change. For the last 4 years she has focused on how technology can accelerate change and enable people to thrive.

Sarah Woods – Trustee

Sarah joined in the Board in October 2023. Sarah lives in New Malden and has two sons; she has direct experience of ADHD through her family. Sarah has worked in the charity sector for over 25 years; she is currently Chief Executive of a charity called Help Musicians and prior to that worked in a number senior roles at the Royal Albert Hall.

Jenny Cooper – Executive Director

Jenny is our Executive Director overseeing the day to day running of ADHD Embrace.  She has a strong marketing background spanning many years, mainly working in the Financial Services industry. She has been part of the  ADHD Embrace community for many years, initially attending seminars and events as a parent of a child with ADHD and thereafter volunteering by running Saturday parent and child meet-up sessions.  She is passionate about ensuring that children with ADHD, and the community around them, receive the support they need in order to help them thrive. 

Cristina Peraleda – IT Manager

Cristina is responsible for the day to day operation and development of the charity’s IT systems. She has more than 20 years of experience working in the IT sector as a systems analyst. More recently, and after working in the corporate world for many years, Cristina has found a more meaningful purpose contributing to ADHD Embrace’s cause, where she started as a volunteer helping to enhance our IT platform.
She has a particular interest in mental health and has completed a mental health first aid course, and her passion in this area has led her to a Level 2 Certificate in Counselling and training in Mindfulness.

.

Sallie Crook – Schools and Community Outreach Manager

Sallie is the pillar of our Schools Outreach Programme, going into to talk to schools about ADHD and running our special Closed Facebook Forum for Teachers, our confidential, community for Teaching Staff. Sallie believes that through training and greater awareness, teaching staff and schools could better identify and understand ADHD. She has direct experience of ADHD in schools as she is the parent of a son who was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 15 after many years of challenges at school. Sallie also volunteers with community fundraising.

Jemma Davis – Operations Coordinator

Jemma is our Operations Coordinator and will be one of the first points of contact for all of our community who contact us through our inbox – often seeking help, support and guidance. She is a mother to three children, with her teenage son having ADHD and has a passion for helping others and providing parents with the best information to help with their ADHD journeys – having gone through it all herself..

Sonja Whitticase – Marketing Manager

Sonja joined ADHD Embrace in 2021 and manages all the marketing and communications activities. Sonja is passionate about spreading the word about the wonderful support ADHD Embrace can offer. Sonja has extensive marketing experience spanning 20 years from multinational brands to running her own small business. 

Claire Burnell – Family Support

Claire works alongside parents, carers and families by delivering our 1:1 Advice Clinics. With over 20 years’ experience working with children, young people, and families, Claire’s areas of specialism including supporting neurodivergent young people in mainstream and alternative education settings. She is an executive function coach and a trauma informed practitioner. Other experience includes working as an PSHE and Educational Consultant and as a primary school teacher in inner London primary schools. Claire is a champion for ADHD awareness actively promoting the interests of young people with ADHD by working with them, their families, and the school to help them to thrive.

Jennifer Watson – Finance Administrator

Jennifer joined us in 2023 to look after the financial administration of ADHD Embrace. Jennifer has over 20 years of experience in finance with over 5 years within the not for profit and charity sectors. Jennifer has a passion seeing children flourish and reach their potential despite any obstacles they face. She is delighted to part of ADHD Embrace supporting all that we offer to families and young people and those supporting our future leaders.

We couldn’t provide the services to our ADHD community without the help of our volunteers who have huge impact on the services we deliver to families and professionals who care for and work with children with ADHD.

From providing specialist IT knowledge to helping out at coffee mornings, our volunteers are treasured members of our small and friendly team. Sometimes volunteers come to us looking to build their CVs which we are more than happy to support or sometimes our volunteers simply want to give back to the community.

We advertise our roles on our Facebook page or on our Reach volunteering page. If we are not advertising anything currently, please do get in touch with us anyway! The sorts of roles we need help with are:

• Help at events such as fairs and coffee mornings
• Taking part in fundraising and challenge events
• Or maybe you have a specialist skill or experience in areas such as IT / database management, HR, social media, communications or fundraising experience. 
• You may even be a trainee coach or psychologist who could help us with one to one sessions providing support to our families
• Help with social media & writing communications
• Help with managing our inbox
• Assistance with writing fundraising bids

But if you have something else in mind, please do get in touch – we can almost always accommodate you in the team – and we are flexible with any amount of time you may have.

Become a Volunteer

Email us at info@adhdembrace.org. You will have a little chat with someone in the team, aswell as read our policies and complete our volunteer forms before starting.