(via CB Counsellor Training) Working with and supporting ADHD clients in therapy

When he was diagnosed aged 42, BACP-registered counsellor David Levy carried the same preconceptions and stereotypes about the condition as everyone else – isn’t ADHD a thing for hyperactive kids? Is medication going to take away the best parts of who I am? Are people just going to think I’m using it as an excuse?

The reality, as he would come to learn, was very different.

In the immediate aftermath of diagnosis, David went looking for help – and instead found an alarming lack of knowledge, some concerning cases of false advertising, and, as many on similar journeys have ultimately found, a need to work it out himself.

In the time since, David has developed a specialist knowledge of ADHD and its causes, its effects, and how to put into words the innumerate un-named behaviours and thoughts which comprise ADHD.

This broad-ranging day of training and presentation for counsellors and trainee counsellors splits ADHD in two, with the morning session covering the technical aspects of ADHD including symptoms, diagnosis, medication and diagnostic pathways, and the afternoon session focussing on the ADHD lived experience, including common comorbidity, the role of counselling and therapy, and the past, present and future challenges which come in the aftermath of diagnosis.

Morning session:

• What ADHD means (and what it really means)
• History and origins
• Symptoms, causes and prevalence
• What ADHD is not, and not caused by
• Why we’re not all ‘a little bit ADHD’
• Brain activity and ADHD
• Why ADHD is different for women and girls
• Diagnostic pathways and medication

Afternoon session:

• The ‘real’ lived experience and symptoms
• The signs of ADHD
• Common comorbidity
• ‘The ADHD Tax’
• ADHD and impulse – crime, addiction, relationships and why.
• The reality of the diagnostic pathway, available options, and the role of therapy
• Recent developments in ADHD treatment and science

This day promises to take on an in-depth journey of how ADHD effects every aspect of living in a predominantly neurotypical world and the impact this has on your clients.