ADULT ADHD ASSESSMENT

I offer assessment for adult ADHD (age 18+) and psychotherapy and behaviour strategies for the management of ADHD in adults. I do not prescribe or provide special authority numbers for ADHD medication. This has to be done by a psychiatrist, GP, or nurse practitioner.

A standard assessment includes:

1. A 50-minute in-person or Zoom appointment to screen for ADHD symptoms and other relevant mental health and lifestyle factors before booking an ADHD assessment if appropriate. This is a paid ($210) appointment with payment due at the end irrespective of whether an assessment is booked.

If the assessment goes ahead...

2. Completing a self-report questionnaire about current ADHD symptoms and completing an observer report form by someone who knows the person well. Screening tests for mental health issues are also performed depending on the issues present (e.g. depression, anxiety, eating issues). These are all completed online.

3. A two-hour-and-a-half-hour assessment that includes a semi-structured clinical interview for ADHD, discussing other significant life history events and current symptoms of other mental health problems.

4. A review of symptoms present before age 12 by interviewing someone who knew the person as a child (such as a parent, caregiver, or sibling) and any available documentation such as school or other assessment reports.

5. A 50-minute feedback session regarding the assessment, recommendations, and the next steps (medication, therapy etc.)

There are two important things I need to know, and which you will need to confirm before I offer a screening interview appointment:

That you have evidence of symptoms prior to age 12 (that you have a parent, or other person who knew you well as a child that I can talk to, and ideally who you have already spoken to, and who can remember some symptoms and/or that you have school reports that show possible ADHD symptoms). Please note if the person I speak to cannot recall symptoms, it's likely you won't get a diagnosis which is why I suggest you talk to them first about what they remember, before contacting me.
That your GP or nurse practitioner has confirmed to you that they would consider prescribing stimulant medication based on a psychologist's assessment report. Click here to see a non-exhaustive list of medical practices in Canterbury and whether they have declared they will accept a psychologist assessment report. If your GP will not prescribe meds, you will need a second assessment from a psychiatrist or GP who assesses ADHD - this will cost you substantially more money, so it is generally best to go straight to them rather than to me in this scenario.

Please also note that if you are regular drug user, including prescribed cannabis, I will likely not consider an assessment and there are few doctors who will prescribe stimulant medication in this scenario, and also daily drug use makes it difficult to attribute symptoms to ADHD.

If there is evidence that ADHD is present, a report will be provided to the person's GP who may decide to prescribe stimlant medication. Alternatively, the report can be provided to a psychiatrist. A GP or psychiatrist are under no compunction to provide medication on the basis of this assessment report and I suggest to enquire about this with your GP or a psychiatrist before seeking a psychologist assessment. Other behavioural options for treatment can also be discussed. See the Common Problems section for more information about the symptoms and consequences of adult ADHD.

The fee for this service is $1800. $210 is due following the screening interview, with the remainder payable two weeks before the assessment appointment. Payment is accepted by EFTPOS/credit/cash/bank transfer for the screening interview (in-person), and bank transfer for the assessment, if this goes ahead.

AI Tools in Assessment

To provide the most comprehensive and efficient experience, I use several AI tools utilised by health professionals. Here is a summary of the tools I use:

Turboscribe: I use Turboscribe, a transcription tool that creates a comprehensive and accurate transcript of our conversations. This allows me to give you my full attention without the distraction of writing comprehensive notes.
Claude Pro: The AI assistant Claude extracts key information from the transcript related to the ADHD symptoms I am assessing, as well as other relevant life and mental health information.
Grammarly Pro: Grammarly is a writing assistant that helps to review and improve the quality of writing in the assessment report, making it easy to understand for you and other professionals.

These tools ensure that the assessment is accurate, detailed, and presented in a report of high quality. These services follow international standards for healthcare information privacy and security, which you can read about by clicking on the links above. By using these technologies, your information can more faithfully be recorded and included in the assessment and report. You can still access an assessment with me without use of AI tools, so please speak to me about this if this is your wish.