EP. 50: How to Work with ADHD Clients: What Therapists and Clients Need to Know

You keep wondering why ADHD is so hard when everyone around you makes it look like a simple brain difference, and you're tired of wondering if you're just bad at life. If you've spent years blaming your executive functioning for the overwhelm, the procrastination, and the freeze, this episode is for you. I'm an ADHD therapist who has ADHD, and after working with well over 1,200 people, I've seen that much of what gets called ADHD is a nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight. I walk through how hypervigilance, defensiveness, people-pleasing, and ADHD paralysis all come from the same place, and what changes when your body finally feels safe enough to let your brain do its job. Join my free workshop, Why Is My ADHD So Hard?, on October 20th. Grab your spot here. https://jennafree.com/free-workshop 01:05 – Why ADHD Feels Overwhelming and Challenging 11:01 – ADHD Paralysis Explained as Fight, Flight, or Freeze 12:06 – Avoidance, Procrastination, and Stress in ADHD 08:27 – People Pleasing, Boundaries, and the Fawn Response 20:02 – The Benefits of Regulation for Executive Functioning Let's stay connected! Want to thrive with ADHD? Come hang out with me on Instagram! Get out of paralysis, be more productive, and enjoy your life again! Join an upcoming group!

You keep saying yes when you mean no, then spend the rest of the day resentful about something you agreed to in the first place. If you've been told your ADHD people-pleasing is a boundaries problem, and that explanation hasn't actually changed anything, this episode is for you. I break down the four explanations coaches and therapists usually give for people-pleasing and ADHD: rejection sensitive dysphoria, the automatic yes, penance for old mistakes, and chasing a quick dopamine hit. None are wrong, and none go deep enough on their own. I walk through why the fawn response takes over before you're even aware you've said yes, and what nervous system regulation for ADHD actually has to do with finally being able to say no and mean it. If you're caught in that yes-then-resent cycle and want to work through it directly, I'm hosting a Healing People Pleasing workshop on October 9th. 00:00 – Understanding People Pleasing and ADHD 03:07 – People Pleasing as a Protective Shield Against Rejection 04:56 – The Fawn Response: Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn Explained 07:20 – Digging Deeper: Rejection Sensitivity and the Nervous System 21:15 – How Regulation Brings Freedom from People-Pleasing Check out the show notes and other resources at https://jennafree.com/blog/4-reasons-behind-adhd-people-pleasing Let's stay connected! Want to thrive with ADHD? Come hang out with me on Instagram! Get out of paralysis, be more productive, and enjoy your life again! Join an upcoming group!

You've been told to take a deep breath and get regulated, and it didn't stick, so you're stuck wondering what you're missing. If tips and tricks have stopped working, this episode is for you. I get into why nervous system regulation for ADHD isn't one action but three layers stacked together: the body, the mind, and behavior, and why skipping straight to behavior is where most people get stuck. I walk through the ADHD fight-or-flight response, whether meditation really helps, and what healing from chronic dysregulation requires when a single breath isn't enough. For therapists, counselors, psychologists, doctors, coaches, social workers, and occupational therapists working with ADHDers who have been leaning on coping tools and external strategies without seeing the shift stick. I'm hosting a free ADHD Regulation Method training on September 21st, where we'll dive into how to do this work with your clients. 00:00 – What Does ADHD Regulation Really Mean? 05:58 – True ADHD Regulation: Nervous System Retraining 07:09 – Step 1: Teaching Your Body Safety 03:35 – The Limits of Routines, Yoga, and Meditation 22:14 – Recognizing Physical Signs of Dysregulation Check out the show notes and other resources at https://jennafree.com/blog/how-to-regulate-with-adhd-when-tips-and-tricks-dont-work Let's stay connected! Want to thrive with ADHD? Come hang out with me on Instagram! Get out of paralysis, be more productive, and enjoy your life again! Join an upcoming group!

Your relationship with time feels broken, and you've probably filed it under ADHD time blindness and left it there. If rushing, scrambling, and never having enough time has started to feel permanent, this episode is for you. I get into why time blindness isn't one problem but two: the ADHD piece and the fight-or-flight piece stacked on top of it, and why that second layer changes more than people realize. I walk through the time scarcity mindset, why ADHD procrastination often starts with feeling like time already ran out, and my time container concept for how to manage time with ADHD without fighting the clock all day. For clinicians working with ADHDers who have been trying to help them time-block or use these external tools to get time under control. I'm hosting a free ADHD Regulation Method training on September 21st, where we'll dive into how to do this work with your clients. 00:00 – Understanding ADHD and Time Blindness 01:20 – How Fight or Flight Distorts Time Perception 03:47 – The Scarcity Mindset Around Time 09:37 – Shifting from Task Lists to Time Containers 18:38 – ADHD Clinician Training and Final Thoughts Related Episode 75: Scarcity Mindset in ADHD: Why Nothing Feels Like Enough Check out the show notes and other resources at https://jennafree.com/blog/adhd-time-blindness-stop-fighting-the-clock Let's stay connected! Want to thrive with ADHD? Come hang out with me on Instagram! Get out of paralysis, be more productive, and enjoy your life again! Join an upcoming group!

You know the label. ADHD, anxiety, OCD, autism, whatever you have been diagnosed with. You know the symptom, and it still hasn't changed anything. If a diagnosis has started to feel like a wall instead of an answer, this episode is for you. I walk through why holding a diagnosis too close, ADHD or otherwise, can quietly stop the regulation work that helps. I get into what fight-or-flight does to executive functioning, why "that's just my ADHD" can shut down a search worth continuing, and how I use the hiking trail versus the hiker to explain what can shift and what can't. For therapists, coaches, and clinicians, learn more about this approach at the free ADHD Regulation Method training I'm hosting on September 21st. 00:00 – Why Put Aside Your ADHD Diagnosis to Improve Symptoms 02:47 – How Fight or Flight Worsens ADHD Symptoms 07:34 – ADHD Overwhelm: Diagnoses vs. Dysregulation 13:19 – Essential Tools and Supports for ADHD Regulation 15:44 – The Regulation vs. Diagnosis Analogy: Hiking With ADHD Check out the show notes and other resources at https://jennafree.com/blog/3-reasons-set-adhd-diagnosis-aside Let's stay connected! Want to thrive with ADHD? Come hang out with me on Instagram! Get out of paralysis, be more productive, and enjoy your life again! Join an upcoming group!