Hello
I'm Shelley. Welcome to the ADHD Compassion Classroom. I'm a junior high teacher from Alberta, Canada, with over 31 years of classroom experience and (finally!) a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis. I created this space for women and teachers like me who spent years wondering why everything felt harder than it "should". Here, we lead with compassion - not shame, pressure, or perfection.
My ADHD Story
For more than a decade, possibly even longer, I had suspected that I had ADHD. I saw the patterns - I recognized the signs - the overwhelm, the working memory problems, the constant compensating, the masking that got heavier each year.
But like many women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, I learned to cope so well that no one saw how hard I was working behind the scenes. This year was the catalyst - I was experiencing extreme menopause symptoms, which were exasperating my ADHD symptoms, creating a perfect emotional time bomb.
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Then I finally looked into and received my official diagnosis. And it came with both grief... and enormous relief.
I wasn't "lazy".
I wasn't "forgetful".
I wasn't "scattered".
I was neurodivergent - and no one had ever taught me how to support my brain.
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It was then that I knew I needed to advocate for my own well-being and that of others like me. So this journey begins...
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Teaching for 31 years
Three decades in the classroom shaped my mission
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I've spent 31 years teaching various grades of students in a wide variety of subjects. Over the years, I've guided them, advocated for them, and continually helped them develop the confidence and skills to be who they are meant to be.
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What I didn't realize until recently was that my own students and children were teaching me about ADHD long before I understood my own brain.
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My diagnosis didn't diminish my teaching experience - it reframed it. It allowed me to see that my creativity, empathy, adaptability, and passion for helping struggling learners weren't accidents.
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They were ADHD strengths that I had been using all along.
Contact
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.
Email me