Is the back of your phone screen cracked? Do you work well under pressure, because you don’t know any other way? Were you a really hyper child? Do you go on a lot of side quests? Is zoning out a given during every meeting?
Are you stressing out about that thing you need to do, can’t stop thinking about, and know you would feel better if it was done, but you just… can’t?
…when was the last time you, ya know, finished a project you started? (People do that?!)
Therapy for ADHD-ers,
are we reading your mind right now?
Yeah, we thought so — it’s because OUR minds are the same. (And, yeah, our minds are as messy as our junk drawers, and cars, and desks, too.)
by therapists who are ADHD-ers.
Most of the time, having ADHD feels as overwhelming as reading that long list of questions we just rattled off at you.
So, when you’re searching for a therapist to help you navigate life as a neurodivergent person (or someone who thinks they may have ADHD), finding someone who actually knows what it’s like to deal with attention deficit hyperactivity is extremely validating.
And unless you HAVE it, you don’t UNDERSTAND it.
SO — ALLOW US TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES:
The Curious Collective:
Therapists With ADHD
(…and also a “No, seriously, learning new hobbies IS my hobby” Hobby Hopper.)
My late diagnosis of ADHD-Combined Type with OCD traits led me to find my sense of self, my purpose, and my people. Getting to know my ADHD mind, brain, and body completely changed my life for the better — in the least cheesy way possible, of course.
What I couldn't find, though? An Adult ADHD Therapist to help me figure out what to do next. So, I became that therapist for YOU.
Specializing as a therapist for late-diagnosed neurodivergent adults has been the single best impulsive career move my ADHD mind ever made. But, hey, sometimes impulsivity is just curiosity and creativity gone right!
I founded The Curious Collective in 2021, left my old dream job as an Emergency Room and Intensive Care Unit Hospital Social Worker to pursue this new dream job full-time in 2022, and it went so well that I found myself on the TEDxMcMasterU stage in 2023.
Now, I’m finding out what being a parent is all about, and I’m not taking on any new clients (yet!) — which is why I have found you THE BEST TEAM of ADHD therapists. You can get to know them below!
BA/BSW, MSW, Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist, Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance Member, & The Curious Collective’s Founder
sessions starting at $170/hr
My ADHD experience still feels new, as a more recently diagnosed woman. I do know it’s why I have worked at four different organizations in my ten year career so far, as I have a zest for change and new challenges!
I have a BSW from the University of Waterloo, and met Krista at the University of Toronto in 2018 where I obtained a Master of Social Work. My work experience includes community mental health & addictions counselling/case management, outpatient group facilitation and inpatient discharge planning at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health, and counselling at a family health team. I joined The Curious Collective last year!
Living and working as a therapist with ADHD helps me stay passionate about learning and following desires - sometimes quite impulsively. I see each of my work experiences as personal growth and more tools in my compassionate toolbox that I can then effectively share with others!
I know the feeling of often shifting between boredom and burnout, and thinking I’m “too much and yet not enough”. This helps me relate more deeply to folks with ADHD or who are ADHD-curious, knowing we are not alone & can together can build more self-compassion & self- acceptance.
Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist and (Mostly Terrified) Rock Climber!
sessions starting at $160/hr
My ADHD experience still feels new, as a more recently diagnosed woman. I do know it’s why I have worked at four different organizations in my ten year career so far, as I have a zest for change and new challenges!
I have a BSW from the University of Waterloo, and met Krista at the University of Toronto in 2018 where I obtained a Master of Social Work. My work experience includes community mental health & addictions counselling/case management, outpatient group facilitation and inpatient discharge planning at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health, and counselling at a family health team. I joined The Curious Collective last year!
Living and working as a therapist with ADHD helps me stay passionate about learning and following desires - sometimes quite impulsively. I see each of my work experiences as personal growth and more tools in my compassionate toolbox that I can then effectively share with others!
I know the feeling of often shifting between boredom and burnout, and thinking I’m “too much and yet not enough”. This helps me relate more deeply to folks with ADHD or who are ADHD-curious, knowing we are not alone & can together can build more self-compassion & self- acceptance.
Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist and (Mostly Terrified) Rock Climber!
sessions starting at $160/hr
My ADHD experience still feels new, as a more recently diagnosed woman. I do know it’s why I have worked at four different organizations in my ten year career so far, as I have a zest for change and new challenges!
I have a BSW from the University of Waterloo, and met Krista at the University of Toronto in 2018 where I obtained a Master of Social Work. My work experience includes community mental health & addictions counselling/case management, outpatient group facilitation and inpatient discharge planning at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health, and counselling at a family health team. I joined The Curious Collective last year!
Living and working as a therapist with ADHD helps me stay passionate about learning and following desires - sometimes quite impulsively. I see each of my work experiences as personal growth and more tools in my compassionate toolbox that I can then effectively share with others!
I know the feeling of often shifting between boredom and burnout, and thinking I’m “too much and yet not enough”. This helps me relate more deeply to folks with ADHD or who are ADHD-curious, knowing we are not alone & can together can build more self-compassion & self- acceptance.
Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist and (Mostly Terrified) Rock Climber!
sessions starting at $160/hr
I suppose I could tell you I’m a hobby collector extraordinaire (I’m a ‘jack of all trades, master of absolutely none’ type of gal), but maybe you could’ve guessed that, given the ADHD of it all?
I was asked to keep this brief, but I oop-
Getting to know my own ADHD identity has been a journey. It was something I was aware ~might be a thing~ for a while, until eventually things spiraled and I couldn’t ignore my symptoms any longer.
This experience has led me to having a deep sense of connection with fellow ADHDers who find themselves struggling to manage symptoms in the day-to-day, and especially when those symptoms suddenly become unmanageable because something either internal or external has changed.
School was tough for me, but I managed to complete a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) at McMaster University in 2018. I went on to work in community mental health - with a focus on crisis work and suicide intervention - before going back for my Master of Social Work (MSW) at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2020.
Since then, I have worked in the ICU and Palliative Care, providing support to individuals and families facing end-of-life and life-altering experiences, and I come to this work with special care for experiences of grief and loss (and how they intersect with ADHD - a lot).
Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist, and… oh ****, what else do I do??? They didn’t tell me I’d need a catchy bio!
sessions starting at $160/hr
I was officially diagnosed with ADHD on my birthday eve at 32. I forgot to ask which type at the first two (or three?) follow-up appointments… So eventually, once I remembered to ask, my psychiatrist just said "Combined." That day, I also received letters I didn't expect and didn't believe at first: BPD. Borderline Personality Disorder.
The glass box I didn't know was built around me shattered as I started to see how I'd been perceiving the world, my place in it, and myself through a lens I didn't even know I had. I've worked with ADHD and BPD for years as a therapist. I have studied it, supported clients through it, and taught Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skills to others. Knowing about both AND living it without knowing? LET ME TELL YOU, I was having a crash course in dialectics, right there in my DBT course, where I was learning about dialectics. I was updating my reality in real time, while in the room, learning that two things can be true at the same time. oof.
Honestly… even as a mental health therapist who should “know better”, I realized I held a stigma about these letters, and there is so much more to them than I knew. I read, watched videos, listened to podcasts, asked professionals I trust, AND looked deep into the parts of myself I'd locked away. I'm learning how to radically accept my stigmatized letters better, now that I know. With learning came unimaginable healing AND pain. Because two things are true.
Now, I get to do the work I know I was always meant to do. I work to help people who might feel like they're "too much”, who've been searching for a therapist who truly gets it, AND who are tired of masking just to show up. I don't want to be another place you have to perform. I want you to be able to say, "This isn't working for me — can we try something else?" Because that's the space I was searching for, AND it's the space I'm committed to creating.
Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist for ADHDers and folks impacted by BPD, AND someone who's actively replacing BUT with AND every single day.
sessions starting at $160/hr
sessions starting at $160/hr
I always knew that I approached life "a bit differently" than others. I consider myself to be creative, intuitive, funny, “take charge” kind of person - who LOVES to have multiple "irons in the fire", just not always striking while those irons were... still hot.
My understanding of my approach in life as being shaped by ADHD... well, that started to fully surface after having children! I'd run out of new adaptive strategies, and my old strategies didn’t work anymore. I couldn't ignore my patterns, behaviours and symptoms any longer.
I hit the wall. You know, THE WALL: the overwhelm, the fatigue, the burnout, the job precarity, the divorce. Hitting THAT WALL ultimately led me to a diagnosis of depression and ADHD.
Naming my neurodivergence with a late diagnosis is one thing; claiming my neurodivergent identity is another. Owning my ADHD and depression is an evolving process, and so far, it has given me a deep sense of compassion. Compassion for myself and all of us out here managing our walls.
You know, OUR walls: the families, the work, the partnerships, the friends, and all the related commitments that go along with the numerous “hats” most women wear.
When I stop, breathe and reflect, I still know what I always knew: I approach life "a bit differently" than others. I've learned how to scale a wall or twenty while wearing a tower of hats. I'd love to support you in approaching your life a bit differently, too.
Let's start here: by giving ourselves a little more grace, a lot more kindness and all the permission we could ever need to stop and take a nap.
Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist and creator of lots, finisher of some.
sessions starting at $160/hr
sessions starting at $150/hr
Curious How The Curious Collective Came To Be?
And we wanted to contribute to the cause of making ADHDers feel less alone.
As late-identified ADHDers, it took a while for us to find — let alone feel like we truly fit into — the neurodivergent community. Something about the years spent questioning, and the late-twenties official diagnoses, and the “am I imagining this?” back-and-forth made us feel like we didn’t quite belong.
Now, we’re on a mission to affirm people who know they have ADHD, people who aren’t yet sure if they “belong” in the ADHD community, and everyone in between.
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
We wanted to create what we wished we'd had.
THE CURIOUS COLLECTIVE VALUES
Collaboration
Justice
Equity
(Self-) Compassion
Belonging
Safety, as defined by YOU
We also believe that curiosity and creativity equal innovation, and that compassion and community equal empowerment. & Above all else, we’re all about creating the most affirming, safe, and supportive environments.
Accessibility
Playfulness
Learning
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT WORKING WITH NEURODIVERGENT THERAPISTS
Being effortlessly understood.
Never having to apologize for your ADHD.
Getting the tools you need to navigate neurodivergence.
The occasional joke about focus beans.
Does that sound good to you?
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