The short answer is yes; I am competent in assessing for ADHD.

The longer answer addresses different reasons someone may be seeking assessment and diagnosis.

Diagnosis to support job accommodations, disability benefits, medication, or medical leave: You will need to consult those decision makers regarding their requirements for accepted diagnoses. They may require a specific type of provider and/or type of assessment measure. Sometimes, a letter from a licensed mental health professional suffices. Other times, they want rigorous psychological tests and reports from a doctoral-level provider.

For your reference, I am a master’s level (MS) Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). I often provide screeners, self-report scales, and inventories to clients, and we review the results together. One of the more comprehensive assessments I use is called the Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in Adults (DIVA 2.0), which entails a semi-structured clinical interview and can include observations and reports from other people in the client’s life (friends, family members, partners, etc.)

Diagnosis for self-understanding, clarity, and management:

Along with the formal tools mentioned above, I also provide psychoeducation on many of the nuances of ADHD/neurodivergence that medical assessments often overlook, such as aspects of emotion regulation, the nervous system, co-occurring disorders, and masking. With that information, clients are often able to view their ADHD neurotype through a more holistic lens, factoring in other variables that may not be as obvious to the outside viewer.

No, I am not able to prescribe medication, though I am more than happy to provide referrals to those who can!

Neurodiversity refers to the diversity of human minds and all the unique ways people can exist, think, act, process, feel, and function. We are diverse in our minds, just like we are diverse in our ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc. Families, schools, and communities are neurodiverse.

Neurodivergent: While most people equate “neurodivergent” with ADHD and Autism, the originators of the term had a broader population in mind. Neurodivergent was meant to describe an individual whose mind or functioning diverges from dominant societal norms, standards, or expectations, including learning, processing, interpreting, feeling, behaving, communicating, and more. Neurodivergence may be genetic or acquired. It is not meant to describe the specific biology or wiring of a person’s brain but to describe the experience of “square pegs” living in a “round-hole” world.

Neurodivergence may be strongly associated with Autism and ADHD because the term was popularized by Autistics in the disability justice movement, and both Autism and ADHD were originally only considered as child development disorders. Diagnosis with a child development disorder thus impacts their experience navigating the world, starting early on in life.

For more education on this topic, check out my page Understanding Neurodiversity or my Resources page to learn more!

ADHD and Autism have long been defined by deficits, limitations, and impairments. Rather than a variation to be appreciated in a beautiful neurodiverse world, it has historically been viewed as an affliction or burden, an illness to cure. Neurodiversity reflects a more holistic view that values differences, emphasizes strengths, and acknowledges the challenges of being disabled.

In my practice of neurodiversity-affirming therapy, managing ADHD is more than just executive function “hacks.” While I assist in managing the challenges identified by the clients, whether that means managing sensory overload, burnout, or disorganization, it is just as important to consider how society and neuro-normative standards have marginalized a neurodivergent client. I support clients in accepting and loving their square peg self and help them carve out their square hole in the world—or with whatever shape they identify!

Depending on where a client is on their journey of self-understanding or knowledge of neurodiversity, therapy with me may include:

Education: Challenging misconceptions and providing different frameworks around neurodivergence.

Neurotype Assessment: While I may not always be able to provide formal assessments that meet requirements for disability accommodations or medication, there are many other tools to help understand your unique modes for receiving or processing information, expressing and relating to others, experiencing sensory input, and meaningful engagement with people, places and things.  This helps inform your needs, values, limits, and boundaries. 

Self-advocacy and adapting systems: Whether you desire to prevent or reduce burnout or optimize your functioning in certain settings, establishing your needs as important and worthy of being accommodated is often challenging for neurodivergent folx.  I reinforce their importance and help strategize ways to have them accommodated whether it is through communication with employers or family members. 

Self-Regulation:  This can include exploration of sensory profile, budgeting your energy, maintaining basic physiological needs, developing techniques to manage dysregulation, and honing the way you connect to emotions. 

Healing Shame:  Exploring early life experiences, family relationships, and current stressors, I help clients identify painful core beliefs and shame narratives to adapt and cultivate compassion and self- acceptance.  These pain points can often be deeply embedded in our nervous system and may benefit from a referral to specific trauma processing interventions. 

Clarification of values:  One way to dispel the “shoulds” and measure what is “good enough” is by defining what matters through values.