SPECIALTIES
ADHD Therapy for Adults in Vancouver, BC
If you've spent most of your life being told you're not living up to your potential or working twice as hard as everyone else just to stay even, there's a good chance that story isn't the whole truth. ADHD in adults is frequently misunderstood, often unrecognized, and almost always accompanied by years of conclusions that were never fair to begin with.
Learn More ↓
UNDERSTANDING THE EXPERIENCE
What ADHD Looks Like in Adults
ADHD in adults rarely looks like physical hyperactivity. More often, it feels like an internal motor that never turns off, paired with an exhausting gap between what you know you're capable of and what you can actually get done. Starting a task, staying focused, or finishing project number ten feels like wading through wet cement, leading straight to burnout.
Adults with ADHD are often highly intelligent, deeply creative, and genuinely motivated, and none of that protects against the very real challenges of executive function, emotional regulation, and time management. Many people develop elaborate coping strategies that work for a while, until the demands of adult life outpace them. The result is often burnout, shame, and a long-standing sense of being fundamentally different from the people around you in ways you can't quite explain."
Signs that ADHD might be part of your experience
Difficulty starting tasks — especially ones that matter — despite genuinely wanting to do them
Time blindness — losing track of time, chronic lateness, underestimating how long things take
Hyper-focus on things that are interesting, combined with near-inability to engage with things that aren't
Emotional intensity — big feelings that arrive fast and feel disproportionate to the situation
Rejection sensitivity — a painful reaction to perceived criticism, failure, or disapproval
Restlessness, mental racing, or difficulty settling — sometimes experienced internally rather than as visible hyperactivity
A lifelong pattern of inconsistent performance that doesn't match your actual ability
Exhaustion from the effort of managing, compensating, and appearing to hold it together
MY APPROACH
How I support adults with ADHD
A Neuro-Affirming Approach
ADHD is a distinct cognitive style, not a deficit of character or effort. I don't treat your brain as a problem to be fixed, nor is therapy about forcing you to think like someone without ADHD. Instead, we focus on understanding how your unique brain actually operates and building a life that fits you — rather than constantly forcing yourself to fit it.
How We Work Together
Narrative Therapy: Unpacks the harmful, internalized stories ("lazy," "disorganized," "unreliable") absorbed from a world not built for your brain, helping you reclaim your true identity.
Adapted Mindfulness: Uses grounding techniques tailored specifically to how an ADHD mind engages, avoiding rigid, traditional meditation models that often feel frustrating.
Depth Work: Explores the emotional wake of living undiagnosed or unsupported, addressing the deeper impacts on self-worth, relationships, and identity.
Narrative Therapy
Many adults with ADHD have spent decades internalising a story about who they are that was written by people who didn't understand their brain. Narrative Therapy helps separate that inherited story from your actual identity and find the evidence, often abundant, for a more accurate one.
Mindfulness
Traditional mindfulness practices can be genuinely difficult for ADHD brains and I work with that, not against it. The approaches I draw on are more dynamic, more embodied, and more attuned to how attention actually moves when it isn't neurotypical. The goal is presence, not stillness.
Depth Work
Years of unrecognised ADHD leave marks on identity, relationships, and self-belief that don't automatically resolve with a diagnosis. Depth Work explores what's been shaped by that experience, the protective strategies, the avoidances, the quiet grief and what becomes available when those layers are understood.
WHO I WORK WITH
You might be looking for this support if…
The Late-Diagnosed Adult
You were recently diagnosed as an adult, maybe in your thirties, forties, or later and you feel a complicated mixture of relief and grief. Relief that there's finally an explanation. Grief for the years spent thinking you were the problem. You're trying to figure out what to do with this new information and what it means for how you understand your own life.
“
The Self-Questioning Explorer
You've never been formally assessed, but everything you read about adult ADHD sounds like you. You've been managing for years, but the strategies that held things together are starting to cost more than they give back. You're not sure whether you have ADHD, but you know something needs to change.
“
The High-Functioning Masker
You're high-achieving on the outside. Career, relationships, responsibilities, you've built a life that looks functional. But maintaining it requires a level of effort and compensation that most people around you don't seem to need, and you're quietly burning out. Underneath the capability is someone who's exhausted from having to work this hard just to appear ordinary.
“
THE PROCESS
What to expect from ADHD therapy at Grounded Practice
The First Session
The first session is a conversation about your experience, not a test, not an assessment, and not a list of strategies. I want to understand how ADHD shows up for you specifically, what it has cost you, and what you hope might be different. People enter this work from very different places: some newly diagnosed, some undiagnosed but self-aware, and some still trying to figure it all out. Every starting point is welcome.
Ongoing Work
ADHD therapy with adults works on two levels simultaneously: the practical and the deeper. On the practical side, we look at what is actually getting in your way and what genuinely helps. On the deeper side, we address the identity and emotional material that years of struggling with an unrecognised difference leave behind. Most clients find that this deeper work is where the most significant and lasting change happens. Sessions are typically weekly in the early stages, adjusting as our work develops.
In-person sessions are available in Vancouver, BC. Online therapy is available across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut via secure video.
FAQs
Common Questions about ADHD Counselling
ADHD coaching primarily focuses on practical systems habits, routines, productivity, and accountability. Therapy goes deeper, addressing the emotional, relational, and identity impacts of living with ADHD. While the two complement each other, therapy explores why certain strategies fall apart, what gets in the way of using them, and how ADHD has shaped your self-image. I work at both levels, practical and deeper , depending on what you need.
What is the difference between ADHD therapy and ADHD coaching?
1
Yes. A formal diagnosis is not required. Many people I work with are self-identified, curious, or navigating the lengthy assessment process. Therapy doesn't depend on a label, it depends on your lived experience and what you want to change. If you are unsure whether ADHD is part of your picture, exploring that uncertainty is a valid place to start.
I haven't been formally diagnosed with ADHD. Can I still come to therapy?
2
No. Medication and therapy are separate tools that work independently or together. For some, medication creates the executive focus that makes therapy easier to engage with; for others, therapy alone provides the needed shift. There is no single right path, and I won't push you in either direction, that is entirely a decision between you and your prescribing physician.
Do I need to be on medication for therapy to be effective?
3
Yes. I bring a neuro-affirming lens that accounts for how ADHD impacts attention, emotional regulation, and executive function. This means adapting session pacing, structuring time intentionally, and creating a space where you don't have to mask or suppress how your brain works just to participate in the therapeutic process.
Is ADHD therapy different from regular therapy?
4
OTHER AREAS OF SUPPORT
You may also be looking for help with…
Anxiety & Depression
Anxiety and depression are among the most common co-occurring experiences for adults with ADHD — often the result of years of struggling in systems that weren't designed for how your brain works. These don't need to be treated separately.
Burnout
The effort of managing ADHD in a neurotypical world is genuinely exhausting. For many adults, what eventually brings them to therapy is not the ADHD itself but the burnout that comes from compensating for it for so long.
Neurodiversity & Autism
ADHD and autism frequently co-occur, and many people are navigating both simultaneously sometimes without knowing it. I work with this intersection thoughtfully and without assumptions about what your experience should look like.
READY TO BEGIN?
ADHD is not a character flaw. Let's work with how your brain actually works.
Request a free 15-minute consultation to learn more about working together. Whether you’re ready to start therapy in Vancouver or have questions about how we can work together online across Canada, I look forward to hearing what brings you to counselling