Mel Phillips is the creator of Wonderfully Made World, a story-driven resource that helps children with ADHD feel seen, understood, and proud of who they are.

Through engaging narratives, practical tools, and an empowering strengths-based approach, Mel equips schools, families, and pastoral care workers to build emotional literacy, confidence, and belonging.
Mel Phillips is an author, speaker, and ADHD advocate with lived experience as both a neurodivergent adult and parent. She is the creator of Wonderfully Made World (WMW), a story‑driven children’s book series designed to help children with ADHD feel seen, understood, and confident in who they are.

Diagnosed with ADHD later in life, Mel brings a compassionate, strengths‑based perspective to conversations around neurodiversity, emotional regulation, identity, and belonging. Her work bridges storytelling, education, and wellbeing offering practical tools for children, families, educators, and chaplains to support neurodivergent kids without shame or stigma.
Mel works across schools, communities, and professional spaces, delivering author visits, parent talks, and professional development sessions. Her heart is to help every child discover their value and to create communities where difference is understood, supported, and celebrated.

Lauren is a neurodevelopmental consultant and the founder of Somenté, a neuroscience-led practice supporting neurodivergent children and their families. With a background spanning rehabilitation, mental health, and paediatrics, she brings an integrated perspective that connects brain, body, behaviour, and environment.

She is recognised for her ability to shift the way people think about neurodivergence. Rather than focusing on behaviour as the problem, Lauren’s work centres on understanding the underlying neurological experience—how the brain interprets sensory input, demand, safety, and connection—and how this shapes regulation, learning, and daily life.

Through her work, she challenges traditional behaviour-driven models and offers a more effective, neuroscience-informed approach that is both practical and deeply human. Her ability to translate complex science into clear, actionable insights has made her a trusted voice for parents and professionals seeking clarity in an often overwhelming space.

Lauren’s work extends beyond individual families. She is building a broader movement to reshape how neurodivergent children are understood and supported—equipping adults with the knowledge, language, and confidence to create environments where children can genuinely thrive.

Nathan Muller is an ADHD coach who also has ADHD, dyslexia and autism.

He knows what it's like to wonder if you're missing something. Like there's a way of living and working that fits everyone else, but never quite fits you. For Nathan, that question surfaced during a major health scare. Everything stopped, and in the pause he was diagnosed with ADHD.

At first the diagnosis felt like the answer. It made sense of so much. But the real change didn't come from the label. It came from learning, through coaching, how to understand his brain and support it in ways that felt natural and his.

Now he coaches neurodivergent adults to do the same. Get the clarity first, then design what actually fits you, rather than forcing someone else's system. He's an ICF CCE ADHD Specialist Coach (Gold Mind certified) and an ADHD Research Advisor at the University of Auckland, and runs ADHD New Zealand's Ask a Coach sessions for adults.

Steffi Christie is an ADHD coach who helps adult ADHDers move from chaos to calm. Steffi has lived experience of ADHD, and is a trained ADHD coach. Steffi has spent hundreds of hours of talking with ADHDers about the challenges of living with ADHD, while supporting them to implement ADHD life strategies that actually work. At the same time, Steffi has helped them identify their strengths, shift their mindsets, and change their stories, so they feel better about themselves. You can find some of Steffi’s ADHD-friendly tools at www.steffichristie.com.

Event MC

Jen Lewis-Preston is an ADHD specialist, ADHD and executive coach, and founder of JLew HQ, with a particular focus on adult ADHD and Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. An ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and Advanced Certified ADHD Coach through ADDCA, Jen draws on additional training in applied neuroscience, brain-based coaching, trauma-informed coaching and mindfulness, alongside many years in senior People, Culture and Learning & Development leadership roles. Her work focuses on helping ADHD adults better understand their unique systems and develop greater awareness, regulation and choice in how they navigate their lives.