Therapists for ADHD

This page highlights therapists who list narrative therapy among their approaches and who work with ADHD. Browse the profiles below to read practitioners' approaches, languages, credentials and areas of experience.

Seeing ADHD through the lens of story

When people speak about ADHD they often rely on familiar stories that shape how they see themselves and how others see them. Those stories can be simple labels - inattentive, impulsive, disorganised - or moral judgements - lazy, careless, not trying hard enough. A narrative approach starts from the idea that these are stories you have inherited or learned from schools, families, workplaces or cultural messages. The work focuses on how those stories influence everyday life - how they arrange what is noticed, what is blamed, and what possibilities seem available - rather than treating you as a bundle of symptoms to be fixed. Narrative therapy, which developed in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s under figures such as Michael White and David Epston, aims to open up space for different stories to be told about your skills, values and commitments. For people with ADHD this can mean shifting attention away from a fixed identity and toward more flexible accounts of how you live, cope and pursue what matters.

How narrative therapy works with ADHD

In narrative practice the therapist helps you to externalise the problem - to talk about ADHD-related difficulties as something that affects your life rather than as the whole of who you are. Externalising language gives you room to describe the problem's effects, its history, and the contexts that sustain it. A familiar story in ADHD might be that you are unreliable or that you "can't focus"; a narrative clinician will map where that story came from - which conversations, policies, or events helped build it - and consider alternative descriptions. The therapist will also work with thin and rich description, paying attention to the small, specific moments that contradict the dominant story. Those contradictory moments are called unique outcomes - times when you followed a commitment, completed a task, coped well under pressure, or used an unexpected strategy. Gathering and thickening those unique outcomes is the raw material for re-authoring, a gradual process of constructing a preferred story that aligns with your values and actual achievements. Other narrative practices you might encounter include re-membering conversations that explore important relationships and loyalties, outsider witness practices that invite others to listen and reflect on what they have heard, and definitional ceremony-like processes that solidify changes in how your story is told. Throughout, the emphasis is on collaborative meaning-making rather than on correcting thoughts or teaching skills alone.

What to expect in narrative sessions for ADHD

A narrative session is largely conversational and inquiry-based. Early meetings tend to focus on naming and mapping the problem - exploring how the story about ADHD shows up in work, relationships and daily routines - and on externalising language that separates the person from the problem. Your therapist will ask questions that invite specificity: when did the problem show up, how does it act, who notices it, and what are the effects? Over time conversations shift toward identifying unique outcomes, unpacking small successes and exceptions, and experimenting with new storylines. Re-authoring occurs gradually as you and the therapist co-construct accounts that make room for your commitments and capabilities. The pace is collaborative - some sessions may dwell on history and context, others on current tactics and relationships - and many therapists who list narrative therapy among their approaches combine it with other modalities to meet particular needs. Because listings only record an approach rather than an amount of work in that style, it is useful to ask directly how much of a therapist's practice is narrative and what a typical session looks like for them. Video sessions often work well for narrative conversations because the work relies on dialogue and reflection rather than hands-on techniques.

Is a narrative approach the right fit for you?

There is no reliable way to know in advance whether a particular approach will suit you. People who are often drawn to narrative work are those who feel boxed in by diagnostic labels, who want to separate their identity from the problems they face, or who are curious about how family, school and cultural stories shaped their current difficulties. Narrative work appeals to those who value meaning-making and who prefer a conversational, exploratory style rather than an emphasis on changing thought content or learning specific behavioural skills. By contrast, approaches that focus primarily on cognitive patterns, such as CBT, tend to concentrate on thought content and structured skill practice, and skills-focused modalities emphasise behavioural strategies and emotion regulation. Psychodynamic approaches often focus on linking present difficulties to relational patterns and past experience. Many therapists integrate elements from several traditions, so you may encounter a blended approach that uses narrative practices alongside skill-building or insight-oriented work. Because every therapist structures their work differently, most people use an initial conversation to decide whether the style, pace and focus feel like a good fit.

How to choose a therapist who works narratively with ADHD

When you look through listings, focus on the elements that help you judge fit: the ways therapists describe their approach, the populations and age ranges they mention, languages they speak, and any professional credentials or registrations noted for your region. Ask direct questions in a first conversation about how much of their work is narrative and what a typical session involves. You can ask how they use externalising language, whether they employ practices like unique outcome gathering or re-authoring conversations, and how they integrate narrative ideas with other approaches. It is reasonable to ask where they hold registration or licensure and to verify that for your jurisdiction. Pay attention to whether they listen to your story and whether they invite your perspective on what matters most. Narrative work tends to be conversational and reflective, which makes it well suited to video and in-person formats that support dialogue. Use the first meeting to get a sense of pace, tone and how the therapist frames the problem - that conversation is often the best indicator of whether their style will resonate with you.

Choosing how to work is a personal process. Narrative approaches offer particular tools for reshaping the stories that influence your daily life, and many people find that exploring those stories opens up new possibilities for action and meaning. If you decide to contact a therapist who lists narrative therapy among their approaches, ask about their usual methods, how they describe early sessions and what collaborative steps they take to build a preferred story. Verifying credentials where you live and discussing practicalities like session format and frequency are sensible steps before beginning. Ultimately, the most useful measure of fit is whether the conversations you have begin to reflect your values and to reveal options that feel more aligned with who you want to be.