Is it ADHD, or is it everything else?

You've had this visit.

A patient sits down and says she thinks she has ADHD.

You hand her a rating scale. She scores high.

Now what?

Do you diagnose off that? Go looking for what's underneath it? Or refer her out for neuropsych testing, knowing the waitlist is months long and she'll pay out of pocket?

Adult ADHD diagnosis comes up constantly and we rarely learned it in school. We got the criteria. Nobody gave us the process: how to run the interview, pull a developmental history that actually means something, sort ADHD from anxiety and trauma and sleep and substance use, make the call, and document reasoning that holds up.

So we muddle through a screener, refer out, send for testing, or quietly avoid it.

Meanwhile ADHD is one of the most treatable conditions in all of psychiatry, and both misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis are common.

It isn't just you.

We asked prescribers one question: when an adult in front of you says they think they have ADHD, where does it get hard?

The answers were almost identical.

"Almost each person scores high on a self screener, so how do I rule out ADHD?"

"Separating a lifelong pattern of ADHD symptoms from attention problems caused by anxiety, depression, trauma, sleep issues, substance use..."

"The amount of overlapping symptoms with other possible diagnoses... so hard to pinpoint where the symptoms are coming from."

"Comorbidities, no collaborative data, poor childhood historian."

"Difficult telling the patient that I don't believe they have ADHD when they are dead set on the diagnosis."

"...neuropsychological testing, which is booked out 9 months in my state right now."

"Knowing where to start."

Not one person said the hard part was knowing what ADHD is.

The hard part is the process. That's what we built this around.

You can't learn this from a video.

Nobody gets better at clinical reasoning by watching. You get better by working a real case and being asked why you reached that conclusion.

So each week has two parts.

The teaching session. Jean works through one piece of the evaluation in depth.

The case consult. We work through real cases from Jean's thirty years of practice, including the ambiguous ones where the information doesn't add up. You'll watch an expert reason through them in real time. You're welcome to bring your own de-identified patients too.

Between sessions, you can send us questions by voice message and get answers back within two business days.

If you've been through the Mental Disorders Crash Course: that covers treating mental disorders broadly. This goes deep on one condition, starting earlier in the process at the evaluation itself and carrying through to the treatment plan.

Thirty years of doing this, every week.

Jean Tidd, MSW, LISW-S, ADHD-CCSP, SAP

Jean has spent thirty years evaluating and treating ADHD, and coauthored a chapter in Assessment and Treatment of ADHD: A Practical Guide for Nurse Practitioners.

She isn't teaching theory. She has the interview structure, the instruments, and the judgment that only comes from sitting across from this many people. Jean leads the assessment and diagnosis work.

Claire Ellerbrock, DNP, PMHNP-BC

I've spent a decade in mental health as a psychiatric nurse practitioner and founded Stress Free Psych NP to help prescribers practice without fear. I'm in every session, teaching treatment planning, medication selection, and monitoring, and going through the evaluation training alongside you.

We need far more clinicians who can tell who has ADHD and who doesn't, and do it well.

Become the whole visit.

Right now the adult ADHD patient gets handed around. A screener here, a nine-month testing waitlist there, a prescriber who inherits a diagnosis nobody can explain.

You can be the entire thing: evaluation, diagnosis, documentation, treatment. One clinician, start to finish.

A comprehensive adult ADHD evaluation is substantial clinical work and is priced accordingly. Jean charges $900 for hers, and she's on the low end. Many practices charge closer to $1,500.

What we cover

We built this from what prescribers told us they actually struggle with. We start with the myths, the facts, and the history, because a lot of what we absorbed about ADHD is wrong. From there:

Recognizing adult ADHD

How it presents across adulthood, including the presentations that don't look like it. Symptoms versus functional impairment.

So you know which patients warrant a full evaluation instead of guessing.

Conducting the evaluation

The clinical interview, developmental history, impairment across settings, observer input, and how to actually use rating scales.

So you have a start-to-finish process instead of a screener.

Working the differential

Sleep, anxiety, depression, trauma, substance use, learning differences, and when it's more than one. Including what to do when the patient is a poor historian of their own childhood and no collateral exists.

So you can separate ADHD from everything that mimics it.

Reaching and explaining the diagnosis

Applying the criteria, weighing conflicting information, documenting your reasoning, and explaining your conclusion, including when the answer is no.

So you can defend your call in the chart and in the room.

Building the treatment plan

Shared decision-making, medication and nonmedication options, baseline assessment, patient education.

So the patient leaves with a plan rather than a referral.

Monitoring and adjusting

Follow-up visits, measuring benefit and adverse effects, adjustments, adherence, controlled-substance safety, and what to do when the first plan doesn't work.

So you can manage ADHD over time, not just diagnose it.

What's different in six weeks

You sit down with an adult who thinks she has ADHD and you know exactly what to ask, what the answers mean, and what to do with them. You're not hoping the screener is enough. You're not sending her out because you aren't sure. And when the answer is no, you can tell her that and show her why.

Your adult ADHD toolkit:

• Initial visit guide
• Evaluation template and interview structure
• Differential decision guide
• Documentation template
• Patient explanation script
• Treatment planning worksheet
• Follow-up and monitoring checklist

Plus:

• Weekly case consults working real cases out loud
• Questions answered between sessions by voice message, within two business days
• A pre and post assessment so you can see exactly what changed
• Recordings of every session

Who this is for

• Prescribers who see adults asking about ADHD and want a process instead of a screener
• Clinicians who come open to learning and to rethinking how they've been doing this
• Anyone who can attend live. The case consults are the point

Who this isn't for

• Anyone planning to watch recordings instead of attending
• People who want a broad overview rather than one condition in depth
• Anyone who already feels settled in how they assess adult ADHD

The details

When: Six weeks beginning January 2027. Two live sessions each week on Zoom, evenings Eastern. Exact days and times announced shortly.

Recordings: Included.

Between sessions: Send questions by voice message, answered within two business days.

Investment: $2,797 paid in full, or $2,997 with a payment plan. Paying in full saves you $200.

The payment plan is three payments: $1,097 to hold your seat, $950 on January 1, and $950 on February 1.

Our commitment to you. If you complete the cohort and still don't feel you can confidently evaluate an adult for ADHD, we keep working with you until you can.

This is an application, not a checkout button. Seats are limited, so we want to know who's in the room. It takes about 10 minutes, and we review applications as they arrive and reach out once decisions are made.

Questions

I've already taken the Mental Disorders Crash Course. Is this repetitive?

No. The Crash Course covers treating mental disorders broadly. This goes deep on one condition and starts earlier, at the evaluation itself, then carries through to the treatment plan.

What if I can't make a session live?

Every session is recorded. But the case consults are where most of the learning happens, and if you plan to watch recordings instead of attending, this isn't the right fit. We'd rather say that now.

Do I have to bring my own cases?

No. We work through real cases from Jean's practice. You're welcome to bring your own de-identified patients, and most people find that's where the biggest shifts happen, but it isn't required.

What if I don't prescribe?

This is still a strong fit. Many therapists were never trained to assess and diagnose ADHD, and that's the heart of this cohort. Understanding the medication piece from a non-prescribing role also makes you far more useful to the prescribers you work with.

Can my employer cover this?

Worth asking. This is clinical training, and a practice that can evaluate and diagnose adult ADHD in house rather than referring out keeps that work, and that revenue, in the building. Doing it competently and from the evidence is the part employers care about. We'll send an itemized receipt you can submit.

What happens if I apply and don't get a seat?

We'll let you know, and we'll tell you when the next cohort opens. Seats go to the people who are the strongest fit for this particular group, so applying again later is genuinely worth it.

What's the refund policy?

The deposit is non-refundable, since it holds a seat someone else wanted. Our real commitment is the one above: if you finish and still don't feel confident evaluating an adult for ADHD, we keep working with you until you do.