How I Work with ADHD

ADHD work is about learning to stop fighting your brain and start working with it.

A big part of our work is getting to know how your brain actually works:

• Understanding how dopamine, the brain’s motivation and reward chemical, often ends up in the driver’s seat when it comes to focus and follow through.
• Making sense of why your brain can feel stuck when you are trying to juggle all the different tasks and responsibilities in your life. You are managing a lot!
• Understanding why getting started on tasks can feel so hard. There are real reasons you may find yourself thinking about something for hours before doing it, even if the task only takes a few minutes.

Learning strategies for the ADHD brain

• Breaking things down into smaller, more manageable steps so it feels easier to move forward.
• Exploring what you care about and how your values show up in your life. Values and goals can be powerful motivators, but can also add pressure or make things feel heavier. We’ll work on moving toward what matters in a way that feels more sustainable.

Emotional regulation

• Understanding how to navigate intense feelings, which can feel like having a very fast emotional accelerator and brakes that do not always kick in when you want them to.
• Slowing things down and responding in ways that feel less impulsive and more manageable.
• Practicing how to sit with discomfort without becoming overwhelmed and irritated by it.

Energy and capacity

• Using ideas like spoon theory to understand how your energy builds, how quickly it gets used, and how to work with your actual capacity instead of constantly pushing past it.

Self compassion

• Making space for the parts of you that feel like they are always in trouble, behind, or not doing enough, and getting to know them with more curiosity and compassion.