ADHD in adults is still widely misunderstood as a ‘childhood behaviour issue’ or a ‘lack of discipline’, when it’s a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference affecting attention, impulse control and emotional regulation. This article explores what ADHD Awareness Month is trying to correct, and what that means for adults starting to make sense of their own minds.

Every October, ADHD Awareness Month rolls around, and every October I notice the same gap between what many people think it is and what ADHD looks and feels like for those who live with the condition.

Most people still hold the stereotype of a fidgety child who can’t sit still in class. That&#...

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Most people spend more time researching a restaurant than they do choosing a therapist.

A quick search, a glance at qualifications, a check that the fee is within budget, and a decision is made. For the general population, that approach sometimes works out. For neurodivergent people, it is much more likely to result in a therapeutic relationship that feels wrong from the start, and a quiet conclusion that therapy simply isn’t for them. Especially where so much therapy hasn’t landed before, and the person has no more to go on than they had all the other times.

The pain point is straightforward. Most people have a generic checklist for choosing a therapist: qualification, regulation body, modality, cost, availability. What that list almost never includes are the questions that matte...

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You got good at your job. Really good. You mastered the technical side, built credibility, delivered results. And now someone is suggesting it is time to move up.

So why does that feel less like an opportunity and more like a threat?

If you are autistic, ADHD, or AuDHD, the answer might be simpler than you think. Most promotions eventually require managing people. And most neurodivergent professionals have not yet had the support to fully understand who they are in relation to others, let alone how to lead them.

Don’t get me wrong. Most managers and leaders are not taught to manage or lead. But as a ...

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Have you spent your life with a quiet but persistent sense that you are too much or not enough?  Too intense, too sensitive, too distracted, too much in some rooms and utterly invisible in others?  Or the opposite: not enough. Not focused enough, not socially fluent enough, not meeting the  unmarked standard that everyone else seems to reach without trying. 

These are not simply feelings of low self-esteem. For many neurodivergent people, this results from decades of being measured against a template that was never designed to include them. And  when we look at this experience through an existential lens, something interesting happens. We  stop asking what is wrong with the person and start asking what kind of world produce...

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Have you spent a large part of your existence feeling like you were somehow doing life ‘wrong’? Exhausted by social situations you could not quite navigate, overwhelmed by things others seemed to find easy or secretly convinced that you were broken in some way nobody could name? 

Perhaps these feelings have led you to receive a diagnosis of either ADHD or autism. If you have recently been diagnosed, you might be experiencing something many of my clients describe as a profound shift. A diagnosis is neither the beginning nor the end, but rather a way of naming something that has always been present. 

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You have tried harder. You have created routines, written lists and set reminders to stay on track. You have taken on an excessive level of responsibility, worked beyond standard hours, and pushed through sensory overload and social exhaustion.  Yet, something still doesn’t seem to be working. 

Here is what may not be obvious: you might not be the problem, your environment might be.

As a neurodiversity specialist therapist and coach, and as someone who is AuDHD, I often meet clients who arrive believing they are ‘broken’. They are not. More often, they a...

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As December disappears at rapid speed and we hurtle towards the “main event” of the season, many of us, especially those who are neurodivergent, feel a familiar sense of dread rising in our chests. The festive season can be jubilant, but it can also thrust us back into old family dynamics, long-forgotten roles and the emotional dance of earlier versions of ourselves.

If you’ve ever walked through your family’s front door and suddenly felt twelve years old again, you’re in good company. For me, I was an eternal 15-year-old, not dissimilar to Kevin and Perry. 

Now that I am more fully embracing my adult self and working as a therapist and coach, I offer ...

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Not all  challenges we experience as neurodivergent individuals can be attributed to our neurodivergence. 

As both a neurodivergent person and a Neurodiversity Specialist, I am careful not to ascribe every difficulty to neurodivergence alone. Doing so risks overlooking critical factors, elements that are often essential to understanding why certain strategies or interventions have failed. 

Neurodiversity provides a powerful foundation for understanding ourselves, yet it is not exhaustive. Where medical professionals have identified additional factors, or where other complexities are evident, it i...

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Do you ever leave work feeling utterly drained, wondering why everyone else seems to cope so easily? For many neurodivergent people, whether autistic, ADHD, dyslexic, dyspraxic, or otherwise wired differently, the modern workplace can feel like an unspoken maze of rules, noise, and expectations that were never designed with your brain in mind.

As a neurodivergent therapist and neurodiversity coach at Zoe Clewes & Associates, I frequently support clients in navigating their workplace needs. I see bright, capable people who give everything at work yet feel constantly on the edge of burnout. And it’s not because they’re failing, it’s bec...

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Telling someone you’re neurodivergent can feel like a huge leap into the unknown. Will they understand? Will they be supportive? Or will they dismiss your experience entirely?

Whether you’ve been recently diagnosed with ADHD, autism, or another form of neurodivergence, or have come to understand your ND-self through self-identification, deciding who to tell, how, and when is deeply personal. For many, it’s a milestone that brings relief, vulnerability, and fear all at once.

As a neurodivergent therapist and neurodiversity coach at Zoe Clews & Associates, I support clients navigating the co...

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