I have recently finished some enlightening training on working with ADHD in the counselling room with the lovely Deborah & Ruth at Aspire Autism Consultancy. I have done alot of training courses over the years, and this has felt like one of the most important.
I often work with queer, trans or LGB clients who either have diagnoses or identify with the traits of ADHD and Autism.
Mainstream counselling training does not often account for neurodiversity in the same way it doesn’t account for sexual and gender diversity and so my process over the last few years has been one of un-learning and re-learning.
One thing I was really struck by is that (according to the training) adults can often be mis-diagnosed with things like Borderline Personality Disorder or bi-polar disorder because there is an overlap of traits between these conditions and ADHD. For some of the people who shared their stories during the training, finally landing on the more accurate diagnosis of ADHD and access to the right treatment brought a sense of life finally making sense.
I am not so much interested in the diagnoses element, but rather my interest in doing this course is to better support my clients, to understand how traits of ADHD may come into my work with clients so I am able to adjust and be flexible around a clients needs.
More information on Deborah & Ruth’s work can be found on their website: https://aspireautismconsultancy.co.uk/
Nat Creighton Counselling 