Adverse Aspire

Lived experience that doesn’t sit quietly on a panel.

I’m Gemma Edwards, founder of Adverse Aspire – a lived experience expert and resilience speaker using CPTSD, ADHD, care experience and adversity to move rooms, not just tick boxes.Organisations bring me in when they’re done with surface-level “inspiration” and want honest stories, hard stats and practical change for care-experienced people, survivors and neurodivergent communities.I’m also an author, creating digital guides, eBooks and a forthcoming book that turn lived experience into practical tools for staff, students and frontline teams.→ Bring Gemma in to speak, train or consult.[email protected]

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Who I work with

Adverse Aspire works with organisations who want to do more than an awareness day:- Universities and colleges (Social Work, Nursing, Education, Psychology)
- Schools and alternative provision
- Local authorities, social care and the care sector
- NHS and mental health services
- Charities, housing providers and community organisations
- Employers, HR teams and brands serious about inclusion, not just opticsIf you’re responsible for people, policy, training or culture, and you know something is missing between what’s written and what people live, that’s where I come in.

What I do

I am a Lived Experience Expert and Public Speaker. My expertise is built on a lifetime of navigating neglect, abuse, the care system, addiction in the family, sexual assault, and neurodivergence (ADHD and dyslexia), and then working inside mental health and charity spaces.Through Adverse Aspire, I offer:- Keynote talks and resilience speaking
High impact talks on care experience, trauma, CPTSD, ADHD, resilience and growing up in chaos. No sugar coating, no trauma for shock value, just reality, reflection and hope.- Insight workshops and training
Sessions for staff, students and teams that connect lived experience to practice, what helps, what harms, and how to actually adapt support for people who have grown up in adversity.- Panels, guest lectures and lived experience input
Honest, grounded contributions to panels, campaigns and curriculum development so lived experience is part of the design, not an afterthought.The value is simple. I say the things people feel but do not always have the words, or permission, to say, and I turn that into learning your organisation can act on.→ Enquire about speaking, workshops or guest lectures

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My story (and why it matters to you)

I did not arrive here through a neat career ladder. I arrived here through neglect, abuse, the care system, toxic relationships, young motherhood, CPTSD, ADHD and dyslexia.Those experiences could have stayed a sad backstory. Instead, they became my training. They taught me how trauma, inequality and social disadvantage actually show up in bodies, behaviour, education and work, in ways services and systems often miss.Working in mental health and volunteering with charities, I saw the value of lived experience in shaping support. I also saw how often lived experience is invited in as a token, asked to share, put through a process, and then quietly dropped. That is not just unkind, it is a waste of expertise.My mission is to challenge tokenism in social care, education and mental health, and to position lived experience as a professional asset that improves services, policy and practice.

Evidence of impact

The impact of my work shows up in real settings, not just in theory:- Hearts and Minds at Vitality
A wellbeing initiative I created after one honest conversation. It is now a recognised part of the business, built into onboarding for every new starter, with engagement tracked so it is not just a nice idea but sustained involvement.- Professional workshops
Work with organisations such as Empower Access Thrive has helped professionals better understand the overlap between adversity, ADHD and complex PTSD, and adapt how they support people.- Schools and families
A local school in a low income area brought me in to work with parents and teachers, improving communication and strengthening support around students who were struggling.- Community spaces and online events
Community events, panels and online lives have opened up conversations where people report feeling less isolated, more understood and more confident to use their voice.This blend of lived experience, practitioner insight and real world results is what I bring into lecture theatres, training rooms and conference stages.

The Community

Alongside the organisational work, I run The CPTSD and ADHD Realities, a community and resource hub for survivors, parents and neurodivergent adults.Here, I create:- Digital guides and eBooks
Jargon free, practical resources like Understanding the ADHD Trauma Gut Link, which unpacks how CPTSD and ADHD can affect digestion and everyday life, and what people can start doing about it.- Honest online community
Spaces where people can talk about the embarrassing or taboo realities, not just the palatable bits, and feel seen rather than shamed.For organisations, this side of the work shows that my input does not end at a one-off talk, there is ongoing support and resources people can keep coming back to.→ Download Understanding the ADHD Trauma Gut Link (ideal for staff teams, student support or CPD libraries)

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Why lived experience is an asset (not an add on)

Care-experienced people and those who have grown up in adversity are over represented in poor mental health, unemployment and the criminal justice system, and under represented in education and stable work. Yet their insight is still often reduced to a one-off case study slot.Adverse Aspire exists to change that by:- Embedding lived experience into training, teaching, campaigns and policy work.
- Challenging tokenism and tick box engagement.
- Showing, with real examples, how organisations can create spaces where people with lived experience are respected as equal partners.

Inclusion and accessibility

Every session, resource, or talk I create is designed with accessibility and inclusion at its core.- Neurodivergent aware communication, ADHD and dyslexia friendly formats, plain language, clear structure.
- Culturally aware, acknowledging stigma, shame and 'don't talk about it' culture that keep people away from support.
- Intersectional, engaging people across ethnicities, faiths, sexual orientations, disability and neurodivergence, making sure voices are not reduced to tokens.People who take part in my work often go on to share their stories more openly, move into training, education, advocacy or work they are proud of, and that benefits your organisation as much as it benefits them.