ADHD SEMINARS & Skills WorkshopS

As a psychologist who specialises in ADHD, one of the most common conversations I have after diagnosis is “Well, now what?”. While it is true that there is no “cure” for ADHD, a better understanding of ADHD and how to manage it has been life changing for so many of my clients.

Unfortunately, most of the advice out there for people with ADHD either fails to understand why certain tasks are difficult for people with ADHD or are completely unsustainable, forcing you into cycles of sprinting and crashing over and over.

  • This course is for anyone with ADHD who wants to create a sustainable and achievable relationship to their ADHD and become more effective in their daily life, work, and relationships. People with ADHD have spent their lives, often without knowing, being forced to fit into a neurotypical world, with neurotypical expectations. They learn that if you keep shoving that round peg into the square hole, eventually it will fit and if it doesn’t, it’s the round peg’s fault. After a while, it is hard to not feel either helpless or ashamed.

    This course is about agency and making informed decisions from a place of acceptance and compassion. This starts with being able to identify tasks that are challenging for people with ADHD and why they are difficult. Then, instead of trying to force your brain to be neurotypical, we will instead learn how to structure and approach tasks in a way that works for your brain. Then, we will identify which tasks can’t be structured in that way and learn to scaffold those tasks instead of avoiding or setting yourself up for failure.

  • ADHD diagnosis is complicated and blocked by many costly and time-consuming steps. To me, the exact label matters much less than (a) that you’re struggling or want to improve in certain aspects of your life and (b) that you deserve support irrespective of the label. You may even find that understanding ADHD better throughout this course helps you to identify why it is or isn’t a useful label for yourself, and develop skills that will help you either way.

  • When I designed this course, I didn’t want it to become a list of “tips and tricks” to “hack your

    ADHD”. Easy answers and oversimplifications only serve to set people up for failure and then feel like it’s their fault when it doesn’t work.

    Additionally, people with ADHD face challenges in multiple domains in their life. ADHD affects not just work productivity but relationships, mental health, self-image, and countless other aspects of daily life. There are many invisible challenges that you may not even realise are related to ADHD that you deserve support in managing.

  • Here is a shortened version of the course outline. Please note that this does not include all aspects of the course but is instead a sense of the breadth of topics we will discuss. While not all topics may appeal to you, you may be surprised by aspects you relate to that you don’t realise yet and this course is designed to have many transferrable skills.

THURSDAY 19TH JUNE 2025

  • $180

  • Run by Michael Susman,
    Clinical Psychologist (Registrar)

  • 7pm-9pm AEST

  • Online

course outline

week 1

1. Psychoeducation – ADHD symptoms

2. Managing Symptoms – The basics
a. Routine
b. Sleep
c. Managing limited resources

3. Psychoeducation – Introducing Mindfulness for people with ADHD

week 2

1. Psychoeducation – Hidden Struggles/Identity
a. Why we are focusing on psychological impacts first.
b. Growing up with ADHD
c. Shame/laziness/stigma/relationship issues

2. Psychoeducation – Shame

3. Self-Compassion and Mindfulness

week 3

1. Psychoeducation – Dopamine and Rewards
a. The role of dopamine in ADHD
b. Multitasking
c. Reward sensitivity

2. Managing Symptoms – Productivity
a. Gamification/Working to time
b. Dopamine as a limited resource
c. Task blindness
d. Lists/Scheduling/Planning/Procrastination
e. Accepting when things are hard.

3. Activity - Productivity Planning

week 4

1. Productivity

2. Managing Symptoms – Relationships
a. Does ADHD affect your family/social/romantic relationships?
b. What challenges does it pose?
c. Linking back other issues to challenges in relationships: emotion regulation, forgetfulness, chores/responsibility sharing, communication.
d. Communicating about your ADHD – clear communication of intent
e. Managing stigma/judgments

3. Activity – Problem solving relationship challenges

week 5

1. Reflections on what we’ve learned/lingering questions

2. Grieving/Accepting ADHD

3. Bringing it all together

ADHD Skills Workshop

Starts Monday 13th Nov, 2023