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ADHD And Child And Family Narratives
When Diagnosis And Creativity Collide

This one-day workshop will consider the importance of taking account of childrens narratives and families stories about the cause, career and expectations of the diagnosis of ADHD.Parents are characteristically imbued with mixed feelings of relief guilt failure and frustration following the process of diagnosis. The family that carries the weight of ADHD may lose opportunities to meet and talk with professional helpers in ways which generate conversations about their lives including, but extending beyond, talk of diagnosis, behaviour management and medical prescription. This is a workshop aimed at maintaining curiosity and imagination for both family and therapist/practitioner in encounters with ADHD.

The workshop offers:

• An opportunity for participants to find ways of connecting with the child and family members concerns subdued by the dominance of ADHD.
• A both/and stance to engaging families and professionals from different preferred approaches to the cause, effect and treatment of ADHD.
• An alternative to dead end conversation about ADHD and the exploration of techniques for more resourceful conversational routes for family members.
• Opportunities to develop interviewing skills which will "speak to the family members behind the diagnosis”.

  Typical themes are:

  • Feelings of negativity and/or favouritism towards the child with ADHD
  • The problem of the “invisible sibling.”
  • Confinement or restriction of parents' social lives,
  • The stigma and shame associated with ADHD and experienced in the playground through hostile parents and critical professionals.
  • The submergence of marital or parental conflicts for fear of “making matters worse”

These, and other themes generated by workshop participants, will provide the material to explore and create more humanitarian and resourceful approaches from within a systemic framework. In the UK the presenters will include David Pentecost, UKCP registered psychotherapist and specialist in the field of ADHD.