Adult ADHD Support – Beyond the Diagnosis, Toward Understanding

More Than Distracted

You may have spent years wondering why it’s so hard to focus, to finish things, to stay organised, to feel calm. Perhaps you’ve been called lazy, scattered, or unreliable - not just by others, but by your own inner voice. Or maybe this exploration began while supporting your own child — their diagnosis opening a window into parts of yourself you hadn’t fully seen before. A recent diagnosis might help some pieces fall into place, but labels alone don’t tell the whole story.

Living with ADHD as an adult often carries a quiet burden: the shame of missed deadlines, forgotten appointments, emotional overwhelm, or simply the sense of always being “too much” or “not enough.” Yet the traits so often framed as dysfunction may in fact be deeply intelligent responses - the imprint of nervous systems shaped by environments that didn’t know how to hold them.

This isn’t about what’s wrong with you. It’s about what’s happened to you - and how we can begin to meet those patterns with understanding, not judgment.

What If This Isn’t a Deficit?

Like Dr. Gabor Maté and others, I see ADHD not as a genetic disorder or hardwired flaw, but as a developmental response to stress - particularly early emotional stress. When a child grows up in an environment that is overstimulating, neglectful, chaotic, or emotionally unpredictable, the nervous system learns to fragment attention as a form of protection.

In this light, ADHD is not a malfunction - it’s a brilliant adaptation. One that helped you survive, but may now be interfering with the life you long to live.

Support That Goes Deeper

Rather than focusing on productivity tips or rigid strategies, I offer a relational space to explore how ADHD lives in you - not just as a list of symptoms, but as an emotional and embodied experience.

We look at the ways you’ve been shaped by your environment, by the labels you’ve carried, and by the systems that weren’t built for your brain. We also tend to what often gets overlooked: the grief, the anxiety, the loneliness of having tried so hard, for so long, without being met.

Emotional Dysregulation and Rejection Sensitivity

Many adults with ADHD experience not just challenges with attention, but waves of strong emotion — feelings that can arrive suddenly, and with great intensity. You may find yourself reacting quickly, feeling deeply hurt by criticism, or struggling to steady yourself when emotions rise. These patterns aren’t signs of weakness — they are the nervous system’s way of protecting what has been tender for a long time.

In our sessions, we don’t try to fix or manage emotions. We stay with them, together. With time, through the safety of genuine connection, new ways of experiencing and making sense of emotion can naturally emerge — not through pressure, but through being met with care, patience, and authenticity. No shaming. No pathologising. Just presence.

Celebrating Strengths Without Ignoring Struggles

ADHD often comes with unique gifts: creativity, intuition, energy, humour, and deep empathy. But these can be hard to access when you’re in survival mode. Therapy becomes a space to reconnect with what’s strong in you - not through insincere positivity, but through genuine, grounded reflection.

We also explore practical ways to live more sustainably: not by becoming hyper-efficient, but by tuning into your own rhythms, your body’s needs, and the kinds of environments where you thrive.

A Different Kind of Attention

What clients with ADHD often need most is a different kind of attention - not one they have to earn, but one they can rest into. Our relationship becomes a safe place to be seen fully, without performance or apology.

If you’re ready to move beyond the shame story and begin understanding your ADHD in a way that honours your whole self, I’m here to support you.