Heather’s ADHD Story
I’m an Ivy League-trained psychotherapist, and I’m also one of the 15 million people living with ADHD in the United States.
To this day, people never suspect I have ADHD. They don’t describe me as distracted, spacey, or hyperactive, and I don’t experience myself that way either.
ADHD wasn’t on my radar until I was diagnosed as an adult.
I always did well in school – got good grades, had lots of friends, and graduated from a prestigious university. I started a successful private practice in New York City in my late 20s, got married, had a family. Life was good. On the outside, at least.
Inside, I felt like a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. On some days, I’d fit together just fine, a comprehensive, predictable pattern of corner, middle and end pieces. On other days, I’d try to force wrong puzzle parts into empty spaces or I’d be missing pieces entirely. And yet on other days, I’d break apart and have to start all over.
To make matters worse, I pretended I was fine. I hid my stumbles. And I minimized who I was.
As if my square peg brain and its unique machinery didn’t fit the traditional round hole of life.
That’s why I won’t ever minimize you or your child’s ADHD.
Today, I wear my diagnosis as a badge of honor.
My ADHD makes me who I am. I don’t see ADHD as a disorder or a “deficit” of anything, and you’ll never hear me call it a disability. I now see it as a gift…on most days. And like all gifts, it requires attention and fine tuning.
So yes, I’m here to alleviate what’s causing you trouble, AND I’m also here to challenge the way you think about your brain and reframe the narrative of what it means to live with ADHD.
I’ll help you stop pretending, hiding and minimizing who you are, and reauthor your own story.