Seeking an Online Adult ADHD Assessment for someone in your life ? 
 
Driven to distraction 
You Mean I’m not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy? 
Smart But Scattered 
You’re Brain’s Not Broken 
The Disorganised Mind 
Living Without Brakes 
These ADHD book titles give a glimpse of what it’s like to have ADHD. And of course ADHD affects not just the individual themselves but their family, partner, friends and work colleagues. Day to day tasks, such as making a telephone call, writing an email, completing a form, making and remembering to attend an appointment, are things that people who are neurotypical will take in their stride. 
However, they can present an insurmountable brick wall to someone with ADHD. Ironically, booking and attending an ADHD appointment involves most of these tasks! Therefore the first contact I receive enquiring about an Online ADHD Assessment, is often not from the person who needs the assessment but from someone who cares about them and wants to support them. Many people who decide to book an appointment with me, will also choose to have someone they know well, copied in on emails in order to have some additional help through the assessment process. 
If you are the parent, partner, friend or close colleague of someone with ADHD, you, like me, will be familiar with the joys and tribulations which this brings. There was a Sunday Times Bestseller published in 2023 called: Dirty Laundry: Why adults with ADHD are so ashamed and what we can do to help. It was written by husband and wife, Richard and Roxanne Pink. One reviewer stated that it was essential reading: “for ALL ADHDers and those who love them” and another wrote that it was: “Soul-soothing reading for anyone in an ADHD affected relationship”. If you are neurotypical, then supporting someone with ADHD can be a precarious balancing act of learning to see the world from a radically different perspective and being non-judgemental while hanging on to your own sense of reality; trying to offer encouragement and practical support while remaining respectful and not taking over. And of course, being supported by someone neurotypical and trying to be non-judgemental about it, is not always bundle of fun for the person with ADHD either! 
If at all possible, it’s good practice in an ADHD Assessment for someone who knows the person being assessed well, to be involved in the assessment. I meet with the friend, family member or colleague chosen by the person being assessed, for about an hour on their own and I also ask them to complete some questionnaires. My understanding of the contract between this person and the person being assessed for ADHD is that they have been given permission to be honest about how the individual being assessed is: whether they struggle to turn up on time, what they’re like with important routine tasks that they’re not interested in, whether they interrupt in conversations and finish sentences, whether they forget to use their “inside voice” when they go into a restaurant or pub. This can be a challenge for both people. It’s hard to be that honest about someone you care about – it can feel ask if you’re being critical, and it’s hard to be spoken about so honestly – you can feel as if you’re being criticised. 
If you are the parent of an adult “child” with ADHD, then the dynamic may be even more complex: you want to offer support but without treating your adult son or daughter like a child. I will ask you about how your son or daughter was as a baby, child and teenager. Their challenges and behaviour within the family have probably often been put down to “That’s just Steve being Steve!” rather than considered as a potential aspect of neurodiversity. You may be anxious about “labelling” or “pathologizing” their behaviour and being honest may feel complex and fraught with challenges rather than straightforward. You may want to help them and validate them by not minimising their lifelong struggles, but you also don’t want to hurt their feelings by naming things which may never have been spoken about between you or discussed in your family. Also as a parent, you may have very natural questions such as: “Should I have asked for them to have an ADHD assessment when they were a child or teenager? Have I failed them in some way?” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So, in the process of an ADHD Assessment, the person who is being assessed and the person who is supporting them are both doing their best to navigate a new situation. It’s not necessarily easy but it is possible! Also, ADHD has a strong genetic component, so a parent or other family member may already know, or may suspect during the assessment process that they also have ADHD, but that’s another story and a different blog! 

Shared experiences  

Two people have generously shared their experience in which one of them, Robert, had an Adult ADHD Assessment with me and the other, Julie – his mother, supported him through this process: 
Jenny has been really helpful in my adult son’s ADHD diagnosis. It took some time to find someone who would help him and we were let down a few times but as soon as we contacted Jenny, she got back to us straight away and explained the whole process. She was very easy to talk to and managed to engage my son so that he could give her the information she needed to assess him properly. I would totally recommend Jenny for anyone looking for help with ADHD.  
 
Julie Sheridan 
Multiple occasions I sought help going private for an ADHD diagnosis and bumped into issue after issue.  
 
As soon as I contacted Jenny her professionalism, clarity and clear devotion put me at ease. If only more people operated at a level similar to this. I couldn't recommend the services Jenny provides enough.  
 
Robert Sheridan 

ADHD Adult Assessment 

If someone close to you could benefit from an Adult ADHD Assessment then contact me to today for advice. 
Tagged as: ADHD Assessment
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