What if the child everyone called "naughty" was actually struggling all along?
For years, Kelly-Marie Janusz believed she was broken.
She was the teenager who ran away from home, mixed with the wrong crowds, took risks, experimented with drugs, struggled with her mental health and seemed incapable of making the "right" decisions. In the early 2000s, terms such as ADHD in girls, emotional dysregulation and executive dysfunction were rarely discussed. Children like Kelly were often labelled difficult, lazy, disruptive or simply naughty.
This book is the honest story of what happened when a late-diagnosed woman finally began to understand her own mind.
Now a qualified Social Worker and Family Court Adviser working with vulnerable children and young people affected by exploitation, addiction, trauma, criminality and risk-taking behaviour, Kelly found herself recognising many of the same struggles in the young people she supports every day. The difference is that she now understands what can sit beneath those behaviours.
Part memoir, part self-discovery and part practical guide, this book explores:
• Growing up misunderstood and struggling to fit in
• ADHD, trauma, mental health and masking
• Risk-taking behaviour, impulsivity and addiction
• Gambling, alcohol and self-destructive coping strategies
• Relationships, shame and self-worth
• Working in a professional career whilst battling difficulties behind closed doors
• The realities of late ADHD diagnosis in women
• Learning to manage life differently rather than trying to be someone else
Written with honesty, humour and compassion, this is not a book from someone who has it all figured out. It is a book from someone who has lived it.
Whether you are navigating ADHD yourself, supporting a loved one, working with vulnerable young people or simply trying to understand why life has always felt harder than it should, this book offers reassurance that you are not alone.
Because sometimes the child everyone thought was naughty was actually fighting battles nobody could see.