Adult ADHD support and therapy, online across New Zealand

What is adult ADHD?

ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is a neurodevelopmental condition that begins in childhood and, for many people, continues into adult life. In adults it affects attention, organisation, impulse control and restlessness, and often travels with difficulty managing emotions, disrupted sleep, and anxiety or low mood. It is diagnosed by a trained clinician and managed with medication, psychological therapy, or both.

What Mindwell offers for ADHD, and what we do not

Mindwell does not provide ADHD assessments, does not diagnose ADHD and does not prescribe medication. What our psychologists offer is psychological therapy and practical support for adults who already have a diagnosis, who are waiting for an assessment, or who recognise ADHD traits in themselves and want help with the day-to-day impact now.

The two are easily confused. An ADHD assessment is a structured process that looks back to childhood, gathers information from people who knew you then and rules out other explanations. Therapy looks forward: it works on what is happening in your week. If you need the first, the next section explains where to find it. If you want the second, the rest of this page is for you.

You do not need a diagnosis or a referral to book. If your psychologist thinks a formal assessment would help, they will say so and point you towards the right pathway.

How ADHD assessment works in New Zealand

The usual starting point is your GP. Describe what you have noticed and when it started; old school reports, or a parent who can remember you at eight, are useful. Your GP can refer you to a psychiatrist through the public mental health service or privately, and since 1 February 2026 the pathway has widened.

Under changes made by Pharmac and Medsafe, specialist (vocationally registered) GPs and nurse practitioners working within their area of practice can now start stimulant medication for adults with ADHD, and those with a special interest in ADHD may offer assessments. Before then, a GP could only start an adult on stimulant medication on a psychiatrist's recommendation. Not every GP offers this, and those who do book longer appointments: the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners estimates 60 to 120 minutes of assessment, often across two visits, plus information from someone who knew you as a child. Ask your practice whether anyone there assesses adult ADHD, or refers to a GP who does.

Psychiatrists continue to assess and diagnose, publicly and privately. Psychologists trained in ADHD assessment can also assess and diagnose within their scope of practice (the College's guidance lists them among the clinicians competent to do so), although they cannot prescribe. Mindwell's psychologists do not offer this service.

ADHD New Zealand (adhd.org.nz), the national support organisation, publishes plain-language information on assessment, runs support groups and events and keeps a directory of practitioners, though it does not recommend individual clinicians. Our guide to psychologists versus psychiatrists in NZ explains who does what.

Living with adult ADHD: more than attention

Most adults who find this page already know about distraction and lost keys. What brings someone to a psychologist is usually everything that travels with it.

Emotional dysregulation

Many adults with ADHD say the hardest part is not focus but feelings: irritation that flares at a slow checkout, tears over a mild comment from a manager, a surge of anger at a partner that has passed twenty minutes later while the damage remains. Healthify, New Zealand's health information site, lists mood swings, angry outbursts, irritability and difficulty tolerating frustration among the ways ADHD shows up in adults. Our emotional dysregulation page goes further into how these skills are taught.

Sensitivity to rejection

Many people with ADHD describe an outsized reaction to perceived criticism or rejection: rereading a short text for hidden meaning, avoiding a friend after one cancelled plan, abandoning a project at the first lukewarm response. It is not a diagnosis, but it is a common experience, and it responds to the same emotion-regulation and self-compassion work.

Anxiety and low mood

Anxiety and depression are among the most common companions of adult ADHD. Sometimes they grow out of years of missed deadlines and being told to try harder; sometimes they are separate conditions needing their own treatment. A psychologist will want to work out which is driving which, because the therapy differs. See our anxiety therapy page.

Burnout, sleep, relationships and work

Running a brain that needs twice the effort for ordinary admin is exhausting, and many adults with ADHD cycle between intense productivity and collapse. Sleep is often disrupted: putting off bed, lying awake with a racing mind, then a foggy morning that makes everything harder. A partner can end up as the household's project manager, which breeds resentment on both sides. At work, the person who is brilliant in a crisis may be on a performance plan over expense claims. See burnout and work stress and sleep.

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What psychological therapy adds, with or without medication

Medication is effective for many adults with ADHD, and for some it is enough. The UK's NICE guideline on ADHD (NG87) recommends considering non-pharmacological treatment for adults who have chosen not to take medication, who find it hard to stick with, or who cannot tolerate it or did not benefit, and in combination with medication for adults who have benefited but still have significant impairment in some area of life. It describes the minimum to offer as a structured, supportive psychological intervention focused on ADHD, which may involve elements of or a full course of CBT.

The evidence behind that comes largely from trials of CBT adapted for ADHD. A 2020 meta-analysis of randomised trials found CBT reduced ADHD symptoms with a moderate to large effect compared with waiting lists, and a small to moderate effect compared with active comparison treatments. The Cochrane review of cognitive-behavioural interventions for adult ADHD found that CBT added to medication improved core symptoms and overall functioning more than medication alone, with modest improvements in anxiety and depression too. The reviewers rated this evidence as low or very low quality, so these are promising findings rather than certainties.

CBT for ADHD involves less "challenging your thoughts" than people expect, and more engineering. Typical elements include:

• External structure. One calendar, one task list, one place for keys, and a routine for checking them, built around how your attention actually works rather than how it should.
• Breaking tasks down and getting started. Procrastination in ADHD is usually about the wall between intention and action, so sessions work on the first five minutes, not the whole project.
• Managing distractibility. Noticing the pull, parking the thought, returning; practised in session, then at your desk.
• Adaptive thinking. Catching the "I've already blown it, so why bother" spiral that turns one missed deadline into a lost week.
• Emotion regulation skills. Borrowed from DBT: naming the feeling, checking it against the facts, riding out the urge, repairing afterwards. Our DBT page describes the skills.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) adds something different: working out what matters to you and building a life around that rather than around avoiding failure, and holding self-critical thoughts more lightly. Many adults with ADHD arrive with decades of "lazy" and "careless" in their heads, and some of the most useful work is on that, not on the planner.

Support while you wait for an assessment, or after a diagnosis

Public assessment can involve a wait (the February 2026 change was made partly to improve access and timeliness), and private assessment is a cost many people have to plan for. Neither is a reason to put the rest of your life on hold. Therapy does not require a confirmed diagnosis, and the skills above help whether or not you turn out to meet the criteria; they are good skills for anyone whose attention and emotions run hot.

Before an assessment, a psychologist can help you prepare: organising your own history, thinking about who could describe your childhood, and working out what you actually want from the process. They can also help with the anxiety the wait itself produces, and with the question many people find hardest: "What if it isn't ADHD, and I'm just like this?"

After a diagnosis, common experiences are relief, grief for the years before, anger at the people who missed it, and a burst of reading that then stalls. Therapy in this period is partly about making sense of your own story and partly about turning what you have learned into changes that last. If you have started medication, the first months are also a good time to build the routines that medication makes possible but does not create.

Doing ADHD-focused therapy online

Video sessions suit many adults with ADHD for practical reasons: no travel, no waiting room, and no forgetting the appointment once it is in your calendar with a link attached. The session also happens in the place where the problems are, so your psychologist can see the desk, the pile and the calendar system, and help you adjust them in real time rather than hearing about them second-hand.

A few habits make it work better:

• Set a reminder 15 minutes before the session and another at 5 minutes.
• Keep a running note on your phone through the week of what you want to raise, so the session is not spent reconstructing it.
• Agree with your psychologist on a short written summary, or a photo of the whiteboard, at the end of each session so the plan survives the week.
• If you lose the thread mid-session, say so. Your psychologist expects it, and it is useful information.

Our guide on whether online therapy is effective covers the research. For ADHD in particular, the practical gains often matter just as much.

Who this suits, and when you need something else

This work suits adults who have ADHD or suspect it and want help with the day-to-day effects: emotional reactivity, anxiety, low mood, burnout, sleep, relationships and work. It suits people on medication who still struggle in some area, people who have decided against medication, and people who are waiting.

It is not the right route if what you need is an assessment or a diagnosis, if you are under 18, or if you want to start, stop or change medication. Medication decisions sit with your GP, nurse practitioner or psychiatrist; a psychologist can help you prepare for that conversation but cannot have it for you. If you are in crisis, Mindwell is not an emergency service: call 111 if there is immediate danger, or call or text 1737 for free support at any hour.

If your psychologist thinks something else is going on, such as bipolar disorder, a sleep disorder, substance use or trauma that needs its own treatment, they will talk with you about it, and your GP is usually the best place to start for other services.

What to expect at Mindwell

Every session is a 50-minute video call through Carepatron, which runs in your browser without a download. You can book online at any hour, choose a psychologist or take the first available, and first sessions are usually within 7 days. No referral is needed. After booking you receive a confirmation email with your video link, and a separate email with a short intake form that takes about five minutes.

In the first session your psychologist will ask about your history, what ADHD (or suspected ADHD) costs you week to week, what you have already tried, including medication, and what you want to be different. Together you agree a plan and how often to meet; weekly or fortnightly is usual. Sessions are $199 + GST ($228.85 including GST), paid at booking, with a receipt for health insurance claims. Mindwell is not an ACC provider.

Two of our psychologists have a particular interest in ADHD. Jeremy Mason, Clinical Psychologist, works with ADHD alongside anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD, OCD, sleep and insomnia, and work stress and burnout, using CBT, ACT, DBT and CPT. Jezebel Machado, Clinical Psychologist, works with the emotional and relational impacts of ADHD and autism, relationships and attachment, complex trauma, anxiety, emotional dysregulation and self-criticism, drawing on psychodynamic, relational, attachment-based and parts-based approaches alongside CBT and ACT-informed work. Both see adults 18 and over anywhere in New Zealand.

Related support: Emotional dysregulation · Anxiety therapy · Stress and burnout · Psychologist vs psychiatrist in NZ