ADHD therapy for adults across Wisconsin.

Before I was a therapist I spent more than ten years teaching in K-12 schools. I have watched what ADHD does to a kid who is otherwise bright, who gets called lazy in fourth grade and starts believing it by ninth. I have also watched what happens when the same person leaves the routines of school and tries to build a life with no syllabus. Most of the adults I see with ADHD did fine until something (a job change, college, a new baby, a move) removed the external scaffolding that had been doing half the work.

ADHD therapy with me is not a pill, and it does not replace one. Most of my ADHD clients are also on medication, and that is the right call for many but not all. What I add is a regular conversation about the parts of your life that medication does not touch: the shame stacked on top of the missed deadlines, the relationships that have absorbed the brunt of the disorganization, the version of yourself you keep promising you will become in January.

What we work on

The work splits into roughly three areas. We can do any of them or all three.

• Executive function and the practical scaffolding around it (calendars, task systems, the parts that don't require willpower)
• Emotional regulation, including rejection sensitivity, irritability, and the all-or-nothing mood swings
• The story you carry about yourself from being undiagnosed for a long time, which is often the heaviest piece

Late diagnoses

A lot of my ADHD clients did not get diagnosed until their twenties or thirties or forties, sometimes after their own child got diagnosed and they recognized themselves. The diagnosis is a relief and a grief at the same time. Both feelings are real and both deserve a room.

You are not lazy. You have been doing twice the work to look half as functional, for years. That is not a personality flaw. It is a tax.

College students with ADHD

A particular subset of the work, common enough that I treat it separately. The structure of high school is gone, the structure of college is loose, and the systems that worked for you on adderall in your bedroom do not necessarily work in a 300-person lecture hall. Telehealth from the dorm or apartment is the format that works best for most students, and we can build the practical scaffolding semester by semester. See also the college student page.

Medication

I am not a prescriber. I am an LPC, which means I do talk therapy. If you are looking for an ADHD evaluation that includes a prescription, you need a psychiatrist or your primary care doctor. I can help you find one. If you already have a prescriber and you want a therapist to work alongside them, that is what I do.

What to do next

If ADHD is the topic that brought you here, the next step is to schedule the consultation or intake session. We talk about what's been getting in your way and what you've already tried. No pressure to book past the consult.

Schedule a free 15 minutes consult →