Adult ADHD & Late-Diagnosed ADHD Counselling.
In Upper Heyford, near Bicester, Oxfordshire & Online.
ADHD can affect far more than attention or concentration.
Perhaps you've recently been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and suddenly find yourself looking back at years of experiences through a completely different lens.
Or maybe you've known about your ADHD for some time but still struggle with overwhelm, procrastination, emotional intensity, burnout or the feeling that everyday life requires more effort than it seems to for other people.
Counselling offers a space to understand these experiences, make sense of longstanding patterns and explore ways of working with yourself rather than constantly feeling you're fighting against yourself.
As someone who was diagnosed with ADHD later in adulthood myself, I also bring personal understanding of what it can be like to make sense of longstanding patterns through a new lens.
ADULT ADHD COUNSELLING
When everyday life can feel harder than it looks.
You might be highly capable, successful or able to function exceptionally well in certain areas of life, yet find seemingly simple things surprisingly difficult.
Perhaps you can focus intensely when something interests you but struggle to begin a task you genuinely want or need to do.
Maybe you procrastinate until pressure creates momentum, repeatedly overcommit or find yourself moving between periods of intense productivity and complete exhaustion.
Why can I manage something incredibly complicated but struggle to reply to an email?
Why do I know exactly what I need to do but still can't seem to start?
When these patterns have been happening for years, they can become deeply connected to confidence, identity and how you see yourself.
LATE-DIAGNOSED ADHD
When a diagnosis changes how you understand your past.
Receiving an ADHD diagnosis as an adult can bring an enormous sense of recognition.
Experiences that once seemed unrelated may suddenly begin to make sense - difficulties at school or university, procrastination, periods of burnout, emotional intensity, relationship challenges or years spent wondering why you couldn't simply be more organised or consistent.
That understanding can feel validating, but it can also bring complicated emotions.
There may be relief alongside frustration, sadness or even grief for the support and understanding you didn't have earlier.
What might have been different if I'd known sooner?
Counselling provides space to explore those experiences and develop a more compassionate, integrated understanding of yourself - without reducing everything about you to ADHD.
You may recognise some of these experiences.
Struggling to start tasks, even when they're important to you
Procrastinating until urgency or pressure creates momentum
Becoming intensely focused on things that interest you
Feeling overwhelmed when too many things compete for your attention
Being highly productive at times and completely depleted at others
Starting things enthusiastically but struggling to maintain momentum
Frequently feeling behind or as though you're constantly catching up
Difficulty switching off from ideas, plans or unfinished tasks
Feeling frustrated when intentions don't translate into action
Years of self-criticism or feeling you should simply "try harder"
Experiencing emotions strongly or finding criticism particularly difficult
Masking difficulties or working hard to appear organised and capable
Overcommitting, pushing through and eventually becoming exhausted
Struggling with time, routines, organisation or competing priorities
Questioning your identity following a diagnosis later in life
How counselling & psychotherapy may support you.
Understand your patterns
Explore how ADHD-related patterns may show up across work, relationships, emotions and everyday life. Greater understanding can help replace years of frustration and self-blame with greater awareness, acceptance and choice.
Work with yourself
Explore approaches that reflect your individual strengths, difficulties and circumstances rather than continually trying to force yourself into systems or ways of functioning that don't seem to work for you.
Reduce self-criticism
Explore the beliefs you may have developed about yourself after years of struggling with things that seem easier for other people, building a more compassionate and balanced understanding of yourself.
Create sustainable change
Develop realistic ways of navigating overwhelm, procrastination, motivation and competing demands — focusing on changes that can fit into your life rather than becoming another system you're expected to maintain perfectly.
LOOKING AHEAD
Imagine working with yourself rather than against yourself.
Understanding why certain things feel difficult without immediately criticising yourself.
Recognising overwhelm earlier, rather than only noticing when everything becomes too much.
Finding ways to approach tasks that work more naturally for you.
Feeling less dependent on pressure, panic or last-minute urgency to get things done.
Creating healthier boundaries around your time, energy and commitments.
Recovering from setbacks without immediately falling into shame or self-criticism.
Feeling more confident communicating what you need at work and within relationships.
Recognising your strengths alongside the areas where you may need support.
Counselling and psychotherapy aren't about removing ADHD or turning you into somebody you're not. They can provide an opportunity to understand yourself more deeply, process the emotional impact of your experiences and develop ways of navigating life that feel more sustainable and authentic to you.
PERSONALISED ADULT ADHD COUNSELLING
Working together in a way that feels right for you.
ADHD isn't experienced in exactly the same way by everyone.
Two adults with ADHD may share the same diagnosis whilst having very different experiences, strengths, challenges and reasons for coming to therapy.
Alongside my professional training and therapeutic experience, I bring lived experience of late-diagnosed ADHD. I recognise that ADHD can look and feel very different from one person to another, and I don't assume that my experience will be the same as yours.
That's why I don't approach ADHD counselling as a fixed programme of productivity techniques or expect you to fit a particular way of working.
I work in an integrative and pluralistic way, which means our work is shaped around you.
Depending on what brings you to counselling, we might explore current patterns and practical ways forward alongside earlier experiences, relationships, self-esteem, anxiety, perfectionism, burnout or beliefs you've developed about yourself over time.
Our work may draw upon Person-Centred Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Psychodynamic Therapy, Solution-Focused approaches and mindfulness-informed practice.
Where appropriate and mutually agreed, hypnotherapy may also be incorporated into our work.
Important to know
Counselling is not an ADHD assessment and I don't diagnose ADHD through counselling.
You may already have a formal diagnosis, have been diagnosed later in adulthood, be awaiting assessment or simply recognise ADHD-related patterns in your own experiences.
Counselling isn't a replacement for medical assessment, medication or medical treatment. Instead, our focus is on you — your experiences, emotional wellbeing, relationships, confidence and the ways ADHD may be affecting your everyday life.
Ready to take the first step?
You don't need to have everything figured out before getting in touch.
Perhaps you've recently received an ADHD diagnosis and are beginning to look at your life through a different lens.
Maybe you've known about your ADHD for years but recognise patterns you'd like to understand or approach differently.
Or perhaps you're awaiting assessment and simply want somewhere to explore what's happening for you right now.
Whatever has brought you here, counselling can provide a space to reflect on your experiences, better understand yourself and identify meaningful ways forward.
A few things you may be wondering…
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Counselling can provide a space to explore how ADHD affects your emotions, confidence, relationships, work and everyday life. It can also help you understand recurring patterns such as procrastination, overwhelm, self-criticism and burnout, and explore more sustainable ways of working with yourself.
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Yes. Being diagnosed with ADHD later in adulthood can bring relief and understanding, but also questions about identity, past experiences and what might have been different. Counselling can provide space to process your diagnosis, make sense of longstanding patterns and develop a more compassionate understanding of yourself.
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No. You may already have an ADHD diagnosis, be awaiting an assessment or simply recognise ADHD-related patterns in your experiences. Counselling with me isn't an ADHD assessment, and I don't diagnose ADHD, but we can explore what's happening for you without requiring a particular label.
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Adults may seek counselling for ADHD-related experiences including overwhelm, procrastination and difficulty starting tasks, emotional intensity, anxiety, low confidence, self-criticism, perfectionism, relationship or workplace difficulties, masking and repeated cycles of pushing themselves towards exhaustion or burnout.
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There can be some overlap, but counselling provides space to explore the emotional and psychological impact of your experiences, including self-esteem, relationships, identity, anxiety and longstanding patterns. ADHD coaching tends to focus more specifically on practical strategies, organisation, goals and everyday functioning.