ADHD Care
Specialized telehealth care for ADHD, for adults, adolescents, and children across Maryland, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania. Affirming, strengths-based therapy that works with how your brain actually functions, not against it.
We provide neurodivergence-affirming telehealth care for ADHD across Maryland, DC, and Pennsylvania. Our team works with adults, adolescents, and children navigating the realities of ADHD beyond just attention: executive function challenges, emotional regulation, rejection sensitivity (RSD), late-diagnosed ADHD in women and AFAB people, AuDHD, and the anxiety, depression, and self-worth issues that often come with years of being misunderstood. We don't try to fix you. We help you build a life that actually fits how your brain works.
ADHD Care at Juniper Blu
ADHD is a different way of having a brain, not a character flaw. It comes with real strengths (creativity, hyperfocus on the right things, big-picture thinking, problem-solving in nonlinear ways) and real challenges (executive function, time, follow-through, emotional intensity). Most of what feels hard about having ADHD comes from trying to operate in a world that expects neurotypical brains, while believing the people around you were right when they said you just needed to try harder.
The work isn't about making your brain neurotypical. It's about understanding how your brain actually works, building scaffolding that fits, healing from years of being told you were the problem, and helping you live a life that's sustainable for you.
ADHD Is Not Just About Focus
When most people picture ADHD, they think of a kid who can't sit still or an adult who can't pay attention in meetings. Both are real, but ADHD is much bigger than that. The full picture often includes:
Executive function challenges
Executive function is the brain's system for planning, prioritizing, organizing, starting tasks, finishing tasks, and remembering what you were doing. ADHD doesn't mean these are impossible. It means they take significantly more effort than they do for neurotypical brains. Task initiation (just starting) is often the single hardest piece, even when you know exactly what to do and want to do it.
Time blindness
Time blindness means difficulty perceiving how time is passing. A "quick five-minute task" disappears two hours later. "I have all day" becomes "it's already 6pm and I haven't started." This isn't laziness or denial. It's a real perceptual difference, and it can be worked with once you understand it.
Emotional dysregulation
ADHD brains often experience emotions at higher intensity and with less buffer. Frustration, excitement, disappointment, joy: all bigger, faster, harder to recover from. This is one of the most under-discussed features of ADHD and one of the most exhausting to live with, especially when you've been told your reactions are "too much."
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)
RSD is intense emotional pain in response to perceived rejection, criticism, or failure. For many people with ADHD, RSD is the most life-shaping piece. It can drive perfectionism, avoidance, people-pleasing, social anxiety, and the constant low-grade fear that everyone is upset with you. RSD isn't a character flaw. It's a recognized feature of ADHD that responds to specific therapeutic approaches.
Hyperfocus (when it happens, when it doesn't)
ADHD brains are not unable to focus. They focus intensely on things that are interesting, urgent, novel, or rewarding, often to the point of losing track of everything else. The challenge is that hyperfocus is rarely under conscious control. You can't choose to apply it to your tax return. The frustration of being able to focus brilliantly on the "wrong" things while struggling with the "right" ones is part of ADHD too.
The shame layer
Most adults with ADHD have spent decades being told they were lazy, careless, dramatic, scattered, irresponsible, or not trying hard enough. By the time the diagnosis comes, there's usually a thick layer of shame, perfectionism, and self-criticism sitting on top of the actual neurology. Working with ADHD means working with that shame too, because skill-building alone doesn't reach the part of you that still believes the old story.
ADHD in Women, AFAB People, and Late-Diagnosed Adults
One of the largest groups we work with is adults who realized they had ADHD later in life. This is especially common for women, AFAB people, and anyone who grew up presenting more inattentively than hyperactively. The reasons it gets missed are systemic:
- The diagnostic image was built around boys. The "running around, can't sit still, disrupting the classroom" version of ADHD captured what hyperactive boys looked like in elementary school. Quiet kids who daydreamed, lost things, or struggled silently were invisible.
- Many women masked. ADHD in girls and women often gets hidden under perfectionism, over-preparation, social compensation, and intense work to "keep it together." The exhaustion of masking is real, and it adds up over years.
- Hormones matter. Many women report their ADHD symptoms intensifying in puberty, perimenopause, and the postpartum period. Hormonal shifts affect dopamine, which affects ADHD presentation.
- Coping strategies break down. Many adults discover their ADHD when a life change (a new job, a baby, a partner's illness, grad school, a parent in crisis) overwhelms the coping strategies that had been holding things together.
- A child's diagnosis often surfaces the parent's. Many women recognize their own ADHD when their child is being evaluated, and the assessment questions describe their own childhood.
If you're recognizing yourself in this
You're not late. You're not broken. You're not "making excuses." Recognition often comes with grief (for the years of being misunderstood), relief (a framework that finally fits), and a lot of practical questions about what to do next. We work with adults at every stage of recognizing, exploring, and integrating ADHD. You don't need a formal diagnosis to start.
How We Approach ADHD Care
ADHD therapy works best when it actually fits the brain it's serving. Many people with ADHD have tried standard talk therapy that didn't quite land, because the approach wasn't built for how an ADHD brain processes, focuses, or remembers between sessions. We adjust the work to fit you.
Depending on what you need, our therapists draw on:
- Neurodivergence-affirming therapy: the foundation, treating ADHD as a neurotype and supporting you in building a life that fits your brain rather than fighting it
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy adapted for ADHD: for working with the thought patterns and self-criticism that often layer on top of ADHD
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): particularly useful for identity work, values clarification, and working with the shame that often accompanies late-diagnosed ADHD
- Internal Family Systems (IFS): for parts work, including the protective parts that have been working overtime to compensate, and the inner critic that's been driving you
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills: particularly for emotional regulation and RSD, which respond well to distress tolerance and emotion regulation work
- Trauma-informed care: for the developmental trauma that often comes from years of being misunderstood, and for clients whose ADHD intersects with bigger-T trauma
- Somatic approaches: for the nervous system dysregulation that often comes alongside ADHD, especially with co-occurring anxiety or trauma
- Art therapy: for clients who benefit from non-verbal processing, often a good fit for ADHD brains that find talk-only therapy limiting
For some clients, medication is also part of the picture. We don't prescribe directly, but we coordinate closely with psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and primary care providers when integrated care is helpful. Medication and therapy often work better together than either alone.
Other places to look
ADHD frequently overlaps with other concerns. If you want to read about how we work with related conditions, our Autism, Anxiety, OCD, PTSD, and Neurodivergence-Affirming Therapy pages might be useful. ADHD and autism co-occur often enough that "AuDHD" has become its own area of focus.
Common Experiences We Work With
People with ADHD come to therapy for many reasons. Some of the most common:
The daily life stuff:
- Chronic difficulty starting tasks, even ones you genuinely want to do
- Procrastination that feels involuntary rather than chosen
- Time blindness, missed deadlines, running late
- Disorganization that creates real consequences at work or home
- Forgetfulness that feels worse than other people's forgetfulness
- Difficulty maintaining routines that "should" be simple
The emotional stuff:
- Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)
- Emotional intensity that's hard to manage
- Quick frustration, slow recovery
- Anxiety about not measuring up
- Depression that comes and goes alongside ADHD
- Shame layers from years of being criticized
The relational stuff:
- Feeling like a disappointment to people you love
- Friendships that fade because of inconsistency you can't seem to fix
- Partners who feel uncared-for despite your real care
- Parenting with ADHD while also parenting an ADHD kid
- Tension at work around expectations you can't seem to meet consistently
The identity stuff:
- Processing a new or re-emerging ADHD identity
- Grief over years of being misunderstood
- Reconciling ADHD with other identities (gender, sexuality, profession, parenting)
- Building a story of yourself that includes ADHD as a feature, not a failure
Co-occurring concerns:
- Anxiety running underneath ADHD
- Depression that's responsive to (and tangled with) ADHD
- Autism alongside ADHD (AuDHD)
- Disordered eating patterns tied to executive function challenges
- Trauma that intersects with ADHD experience
- Substance use as self-medication
When to Reach Out
If ADHD is making daily life harder than it should be, if you've been recently diagnosed and don't know what to do with that, if you're recognizing ADHD in yourself for the first time, if RSD or emotional intensity is shaping your relationships in ways you don't want, or if you're tired of trying harder and getting the same results, reach out.
You don't need a formal diagnosis to start. You also don't need to know exactly what you want to work on. Many of the people we work with come in saying "I think I have ADHD and I don't know where to start" and we figure it out together.
What to Expect from ADHD Care
Mapping how your brain works
The first few sessions are about understanding your specific ADHD: how it shows up, what's been hardest, what's been working, what you've already tried, what you actually want from therapy. We don't run a script. Pace and structure are shaped to you, including ADHD-friendly accommodations (writing things down between sessions, shorter check-ins, whatever helps you remember and engage between meetings).
Skill-building
This phase focuses on practical skills that fit your brain: executive function scaffolding, time management strategies that actually work for ADHD, emotional regulation tools, RSD-specific approaches. We don't teach the same things every neurotypical productivity book offers. We work with what your brain actually does, not against it.
Working through deeper layers
Skills alone don't reach the shame, the inner critic, the grief, or the trauma that often layers on top of ADHD. This phase goes deeper into the emotional and identity work, including parts work, trauma processing if relevant, and rebuilding a relationship with yourself that doesn't run on self-criticism.
Sustainable integration
As things stabilize, the work shifts to building a sustainable life: structures that hold up under stress, plans for the moments your ADHD intensifies, knowing your warning signs, and reclaiming the parts of life that ADHD shame had narrowed. Many of the people we work with continue with less frequent sessions to stay grounded through life transitions.
Therapists Who Work with ADHD
The clinicians below have specific training and experience working with ADHD clients. To meet our full team, visit the Our Team page.
Annie M. Sousa
Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor
EMDR-trained with extensive somatic and trauma training. Works with adults navigating ADHD alongside autism, anxiety, trauma, and burnout. Draws on ACT, IFS, somatic approaches, and Linda Thai's somatic trauma method. Particular focus on the AuDHD intersection. Bilingual in English and Spanish.
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Megan M. Herbets
Licensed Professional Counselor
Special education background combined with advanced DBT, ACT, IFS, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Works with ADHD across adolescents and adults, with particular focus on emotional dysregulation, RSD, and the shame and perfectionism that often layer on top of ADHD.
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Batya H. Erickson
Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor
Attachment-based, mindfulness-informed therapy for ADHD across the lifespan, from children and adolescents through adults. Particular focus on the relational and emotional patterns that often develop around years of ADHD masking and self-criticism.
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Jamie L. Jones
Founder · LCPAT, LCPC, ATR-BC
Founder with advanced DBT training and 17+ years of experience. Works with ADHD clients on co-occurring concerns including eating disorders, anxiety, OCD, and the identity work that often accompanies late-diagnosed ADHD. Uses art therapy alongside affirming care.
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Malca R. Gottlieb
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker
C-DBT certified and EMDR-trained, offering relationship-centered psychotherapy for ADHD clients, particularly when ADHD intersects with trauma, attachment work, or family dynamics. Works with ADHD across the lifespan.
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Jenna D. Howard
Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor
National Certified Counselor drawing on attachment-based therapy, CBT, DBT, and mindfulness-based approaches. Works with ADHD alongside anxiety, depression, life transitions, and the relational challenges that ADHD often creates.
View full bio →Insurance, Cost & Where We Work
We see people via secure telehealth across Maryland, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania. We accept CareFirst directly, and for other insurance plans we offer concierge support to help you get the most out of your out-of-network benefits, including most PPO, HMO, POS, and federal plans.
For full details on insurance, payment, and telehealth delivery, visit our Insurance & Payment Options page.
ADHD-Specific Questions
No. We work with people who are self-identified, exploring, recently diagnosed, or long-diagnosed. Formal evaluation is genuinely useful for some people (especially for medication access or workplace accommodations), but it's not a prerequisite for starting therapy with us. Self-identification is valid here.
No, we don't currently offer formal ADHD diagnostic evaluations. We provide ongoing therapy and support, which doesn't require a formal diagnosis. If you're seeking an evaluation, we're happy to refer you to neurodivergence-affirming evaluators in the region. Many of our clients pursue evaluation alongside therapy.
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) is intense emotional pain in response to perceived rejection, criticism, or failure. For many people with ADHD, RSD is the most life-shaping piece of the experience. Yes, we work with RSD as a primary focus. Approaches that help include DBT skills for emotion regulation and distress tolerance, IFS work with the parts of you that get activated by perceived rejection, CBT for the cognitive patterns that amplify RSD, and trauma-informed work when RSD is layered on top of earlier rejection or attachment wounds.
Yes. ADHD presents very differently in different bodies, brains, and life circumstances. The classic "hyperactive boy" image captured one presentation and left a lot of people invisible, especially women and AFAB people, quiet inattentive types, and people who masked well early on. Many adults discover their ADHD when coping strategies stop working under new stress, when a child gets diagnosed, or when they read something that describes their experience exactly. The fact that you weren't identified as a child doesn't mean ADHD doesn't fit now.
The most common reason previous ADHD therapy didn't help is that it wasn't actually shaped for ADHD brains. Generic talk therapy often misses the executive function piece, doesn't account for emotional dysregulation or RSD, and forgets that the client may not remember everything between sessions. We adjust the work to fit how an ADHD brain actually functions, including pacing, structure, between-session support, and the modalities we use. We also address the shame layer that skill-only approaches tend to miss.
We don't prescribe medication directly, but many of our clients use medication alongside therapy. Medication and therapy often work better together than either alone: medication can quiet the neurological noise enough for therapy to actually land, and therapy addresses the patterns, identity, and emotional layers that medication doesn't reach. With your written consent, we coordinate closely with psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and primary care providers.
Yes. Autism and ADHD co-occur frequently, and the combination has its own dynamics that don't show up in either alone. Several of our therapists work specifically with AuDHD clients, including the masking, burnout, identity, and sensory dimensions of having both neurotypes.
Yes. Several of our therapists work with ADHD across childhood and adolescence. We use affirming approaches that support the young person as they are, while helping families understand the child's brain and build accommodations into family life. We don't aim to make ADHD kids "less ADHD." We aim to help them build sustainable skills and a healthy relationship with themselves.
It varies based on what brought you in. Recently identified adults integrating ADHD identity and unwinding years of shame often work with us for a year or more, because there's significant unpacking and re-patterning involved. Specific goals (like building executive function scaffolding or working through RSD) may be shorter. Many clients continue with less frequent maintenance sessions long-term, particularly through life transitions when ADHD demands shift.
Start ADHD Care with Juniper Blu Collective
Whether you're newly identified, long-diagnosed, or just exhausted from trying harder and getting the same results, reach out today. We'll talk through what care that actually fits your brain could look like.
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