When Tools Aren’t Enough: Bridging the ADHD Identity Gap in Therapeutic Practice
- Speaker:
- Marcy Caldwell, PsyD
- Duration:
- 2 Hours
- Format:
- Audio and Video
- Copyright:
-
Dec 18, 2025
- Product Code:
- POS150482
- Media Type:
- Digital Seminar
Description
What if treating ADHD as a ‘problem to solve’ is keeping your clients stuck?
Your clients don’t need another productivity hack. They need to rewrite the story about their ADHD, not despite it.
Too often, ADHD therapy focuses on taming symptoms while ignoring the silent crisis beneath: a fractured identity. Clients may cobble together systems like planners and bedtime routines, yet still choke back tears, asking “Why do I feel like a fraud?”
This isn’t about better coping strategies. It’s about helping clients rebuild their relationship with their neurotype – to stop white-knuckling through life and start owning how their ADHD brain thrives.
In this insightful session, Marcy Caldwell, Psy.D. – a nationally recognized ADHD specialist – will unpack her groundbreaking ADHD Identify Development Model, merging clinical research with client narratives. You’ll understand:
- Why clients with ADHD often reject tools that “should” work
- How to pinpoint where they are in their identity journey (denial, exploration, acceptance, or integration)
- What to do next to help them reclaim their narrative
You’ll walk away from this training with:
- The ADHD Identify Stage Assessment Tool: A downloadable guide to quickly identify a client’s developmental stage during intake.
- Stage-Specific Interventions: Scripts for reframing shame in the exploration phase, exercises to celebrate neurodivergent strengths in immersion, and more.
- Neurodiversity-Affirming Strategies: Replace generic coping skills with approaches that honor ADHD strengths and fit each client’s stage of development.
This isn’t another rigid-protocol – it’s a paradigm shift.
The ADHD Identify Model gives you a flexible framework to adapt to your therapeutic style. Blend it with CBT, mindfulness, or coaching – all while honoring and facilitating your client’s ADHD identify.
By the end of this session, you’ll:
- Confidently differentiate between “resistance’ and developmental stage mismatch.
- Have a roadmap to help clients shift from “I’m just lazy and a failure” to “My brain, like everyone’s brain, has strengths and difficulties; let’s see how we can help each other.”
- Leave energized to reconceptualize your work to align with your client’s stage
Join me – and become the clinician who doesn’t just manage ADHD … but helps clients rewrite their relationship with it.
Credit
Handouts/Brochure
| File type | File name | Number of pages | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual - When Tools Aren't Enough (16.3 MB) | 64 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Transcript - When Tools Aren't Enough (161.6 KB) | 31 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - When Tools Aren't Enough - French (16.3 MB) | 64 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Transcript - When Tools Aren't Enough - French (161.6 KB) | 31 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - When Tools Aren't Enough - Italian (16.3 MB) | 64 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Transcript - When Tools Aren't Enough - Italian (161.6 KB) | 31 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - When Tools Aren't Enough - German (16.3 MB) | 64 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Transcript - When Tools Aren't Enough - German (161.6 KB) | 31 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - When Tools Aren't Enough - Spanish (16.3 MB) | 64 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Transcript - When Tools Aren't Enough - Spanish (161.6 KB) | 31 Pages | Available after Purchase |
Speaker
Marcy Caldwell, PsyD Related seminars and products
Dr. Marcy Caldwell is a clinical psychologist, author, and speaker with over 20 years of expertise in ADHD. As the founder of The Center for ADHD – one of the nation’s premier practices dedicated exclusively to adult ADHD care – she has shaped standards for understanding neurodivergent identity by merging clinical research with compassionate, client-centered approaches. Her work focuses on empowering individuals with ADHD to navigate emotional and systemic challenges, transforming self-doubt into self-advocacy.
Dr. Caldwell’s commitment to accessible care inspired her to create ADDept.org, a digital hub offering free science-backed strategies for adults with ADHD, and Meltdown to Mastery, a low-cost program dedicated to emotional regulation. Building on her decade as a lecturing professor at the University of Pennsylvania, she now trains clinicians globally through workshops and programs, equipping them with practical frameworks to support ADHD clients effectively.
Her expertise extends to the corporate world, where she advises organizations on fostering neuroinclusive workplaces that leverage ADHD strengths. An accomplished author and illustrator, Dr. Caldwell’s insights have been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, and the bestselling book ADHD is Awesome. She recently illustrated The ADHD Productivity Manual by Ari Tuckman and is writing her own book, UnStuck: An Illustrated Guide to ADHD Emotional Regulation, the first book dedicated to ADHD-specific tools for emotional resilience.
Rooted in both evidence-based practice and personal experience, Dr. Caldwell’s work is informed by her life as a wife and mother in a neurodiverse family. This drives her mission to reframe ADHD as a wellspring of creativity and strength. Through clinical practice, education, and advocacy, she continues to redefine how society supports and celebrates neurodiverse individuals.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Marcy Caldwell is the owner and director of Rittenhouse Psychological Services, LLC., and ADDept.org. She has an employment relationship with Tuttleman Counseling Services. Marcy Caldwell receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Marcy Caldwell is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Pennsylvania Psychological Association, the Society of Personality Assessment, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, and the Attention Deficit Disorder Association.
Additional Info
Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)Access never expires for this product.
For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepepesi.com
Questions?
Visit our FAQ page at www.pesi.com/faq or contact us at www.pesi.com/info
Objectives
After attending this workshop, clinicians will be able to:
- Describe the process of identity formation.
- Evaluate the limitations of traditional identity models for neurodivergent clients and describe how societal stigma fuels ADHD shame.
- Identify the benefits of identity integration.
Outline
What’s So Important about Identity Anyway?
- How Identity is Developed
- The benefits of an integrated identity
Why Traditional Identity Models Fail Neurodivergent Clients
- Limitations of Erikson/Mahler
- The Cost of misalignment and how forcing integration via conformity fuels internalized shame
- Disability and Minority Models as a Blueprint for an ADHD Identity Model
- Resource: Infographic Comparative Chart of Identity Development Models
Rewriting the Script: The ADHD Identity Development Model
- The 5 stages of ADHD Identity Development
- Diffusion: “Everyone’s brain works like mine!”
- Exploration: “What’s wrong with me?”
- Foreclosure: “I’m broken forever.”
- Immersion: “ADHD is my superpower!”
- Integration: “I belong everywhere – strengths and struggles”
- Stage-Specific Risks and Benefits
- Stage Stage-specific frequent co-occurring conditions and struggles
- Case Study: A client’s journey from self-blame (Exploration) to advocacy (Integration)
- Resource: ADHD Identity Stage Tracker (visual roadmap + client examples)
Identity Development Stage Assessment
- Why Assessing Our Client’s Stage Matters
- How to Use the ADHD Identity Stage Interview Guide to quickly determine your client’s identity development stage
- Identify development assessment role-play
- Resource: ADHD Identity Stage Interview Guide
Stage-by-Stage Interventions
- Guided symptom exploration in diffusion
- Balanced skill building with the ADHD Strengths/Vulnerabilities Matrix for Exploration
- Hope Anchor Exercise to identify small wins in Foreclosure
- Advocacy Role-play scripts to channel pride into collaboration in Immersion
- System check-in routines for continued reflection in integration
Risks, Limitations, and Cultural Considerations
- Limitations of theory
- Impact of comorbidities and trauma on accurate identification
- Cultural considerations of the model
Question and Answer
Target Audience
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Psychologists
- Physicians
- Social Workers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Social Workers
- Others
Reviews
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