In 2014 I optimistically began my MPhil in Medicine, Psychiatry, at the University of Cambridge. With the support of my ADHD coach and my study skills tutor I made it through this degree but found that all of the tools that had served me well during my undergraduate education were insufficient to the task of graduate education. Although, I made it through, this was not without having to overcome many obstacles along the way. There are no books or published research on how to appropriately support graduate students with ADHD or to successfully study as a student with this type of specific learning disability. I found the most challenging component of this to be the critical writing skills necessary to succeed in graduate education and as a researcher. However, I am nothing if not tenacious and I sought out every short course the university offered on writing skills and tools to assist me in overcoming the barriers I faced in the context of my challenges with focus and translating knowledge into a linear format. 

It was not until 2019, well into my PhD, that I discovered the University of Cambridge Writing Group and this initially was a lifesaver. I finally had a construct under which I could apply the tools I had learned, focus in chunked segments and create an external method of daily accountability that helped me achieve my writing goals. It was in this group that I first heard about Marcella Sutcliffe and her Writing Retreats at Chapelgarth Estate. I was very interested but had yet to prioritise my time to attend one. 



Then in March 2020 the world changed, Covid-19 put us in lockdown, and I was frankly panicked. Not so much about the virus, as I felt we were doing the right thing in response but about my complete inability to work from home and now…I had no choice. After the first few weeks of getting nothing done and feeling somewhat hopeless about it. I received the invitation through my writing group to attend one of Marcella’s Virtual Writing Retreats, that she had generously organised free of charge to support women academics during this challenging time. I could not have been more grateful, and hope returned!

Since I’ve begun attending, I’m working effectively again and getting a remarkable amount done. Although the days we have writing group are certainly my most productive, it has even helped me get in a productive cycle that I’m able to build on the rest of the week. I’ve taken to meeting virtually with another member of our virtual writing group and we attempt to replicate this another day during the week. Although, it’s never quite as good as the days guided by Marcella, it is a huge help! I can’t imagine how I would have gotten my work back on track without these remarkable retreats and I can’t wait to attend one in person when we are again able to do so.

For those of us with ADHD there are two times, now and not now. Without a system of external time tracking, accountability, and positively focused short-term goals…we are lost. Despite all the intellectual aptitude and dedicated intention to achieve our aims, we find ourselves spinning our wheels and failing to complete the most important tasks in our lives. The most efficacious solutions I have found to combat this are those applied in structured writing groups, like the ones Marcella so effectively facilitates. This allows me to create a positive external time tracking and accountability system. I can utilise this to be functionally aware of the passage of time and slowly chunk my way to the successful completion of large bodies of well-articulated writing.