Therapy for ADHD in Croydon
When your brain won't cooperate
Key facts
- BACP registered #197852
- Croydon practice
- Individual therapy £70
- Couples therapy £100
- 50-minute weekly sessions
- Couples therapy in person only
You start things with enthusiasm and abandon them half-finished. You promise yourself you'll be organised this time, that you'll focus, that you'll remember. Then you forget appointments, lose things, get distracted mid-sentence. Again.
People think you're lazy or careless. You know you're not - you're working twice as hard as everyone else just to keep up. But the world isn't built for brains like yours, and you're exhausted from trying to function in it.
You don't need more tips
You've tried the apps, the planners, the productivity systems. You know about time-blocking and body-doubling and breaking tasks into smaller chunks. Sometimes they help. Often they don't. Because ADHD isn't a problem you can hack your way out of.
What you actually need is space to understand what it's been like living with a brain that works differently. The shame that accumulated over years of being told you're not trying hard enough. The anxiety of constantly disappointing people. The depression that comes from failing at things that seem easy for everyone else.
And the emotional regulation that nobody talks about. The way feelings hit you like a freight train - zero to overwhelmed in seconds. The rejection sensitivity that makes criticism feel catastrophic. The emotional impulsivity where you say things you regret before you've even finished the thought. You've probably been called "too sensitive" or "too intense" your whole life, as if your feelings were a character flaw rather than a neurological difference.
I can't diagnose ADHD - I'm not qualified to. If you need an assessment, I can point you towards appropriate services. But if you already know or strongly suspect you have ADHD, we can work together on what that's meant for you psychologically.
This isn't about teaching you to be more neurotypical. It's about untangling the shame from the symptoms. About understanding which struggles are ADHD and which are about what you absorbed growing up "difficult." About finding ways to work with your brain rather than constantly fighting it.
What we'll do
We meet weekly or twice-weekly and work with what you're actually struggling with. The relationship difficulties that come from forgetting important things or being emotionally reactive. The work problems that come from chronic disorganisation or procrastination. The sense of fundamental wrongness that comes from a lifetime of not fitting.
The work is understanding how ADHD has shaped your sense of self. Maybe you developed intense perfectionism to compensate. Maybe you learned to be hypervigilant about disappointing people. Maybe you built your whole identity around being "the mess" because it felt safer than trying and failing.
Over time, you might start separating what's ADHD from what's shame about having ADHD. That separation matters. Your brain works differently - that's not a moral failing. But you've probably spent years treating it like one.
Common questions
- Can therapy help with ADHD if I'm not on medication?
- Therapy can be useful whether or not you take medication. Medication helps many people with ADHD, while therapy offers a place to work with the psychological impact of living with a brain that has so often been misunderstood: shame, relationship patterns, emotional intensity and self-criticism.
- What's the difference between ADHD coaching and therapy?
- Coaching focuses on practical strategies - organisation, time management, productivity. Therapy focuses on the emotional and relational impact of ADHD. Why do you feel so ashamed? Why does rejection hit so hard? Why do you keep sabotaging yourself? Both can be valuable, but they do different things.
- Can you diagnose ADHD?
- No. I'm a therapist, not a psychiatrist. If you need an ADHD assessment, I can point you towards appropriate services - either NHS (long wait) or private. But if you already know or strongly suspect you have ADHD, we can work together on what that's meant for you psychologically.
- I was only diagnosed as an adult. Is it too late for therapy to help?
- A late diagnosis can bring a lot into focus: years of internalised shame, difficult relationships, and feeling fundamentally broken without understanding why. Therapy can offer space for grief, anger at being misunderstood, and the slow work of making sense of yourself with a new framework.
The practical bits
First meeting £120
90 minutes, then £70 per session
- 50-minute sessions, weekly or twice-weekly
- In person in Croydon (near East Croydon station, Reeves Corner)
- Open-ended. We work until the work is done.
Note: I can't provide ADHD or autism assessments - I'm not qualified to diagnose. If you need a formal assessment, I can point you towards appropriate services. But if you already know or strongly suspect you're neurodivergent, we can work together on what that means for you.