Experiencing ADHD

ADD ADHD, Currently Offered

This group is here to provide you with the opportunity to co-create a sense of community with peers in a safe space which honours the unique challenges of navigating post-secondary education as a person with ADHD.

Experiencing ADHD:

About the Group

Students with ADHD are invited to participate in group counselling with a disability focus through the ‘Experiencing ADHD’ group. The group will be facilitated by the CAL counsellor, and will provide a space for students diagnosed with ADHD to both provide and receive support around any issues they may be struggling with. This group will provide a safe environment for students to engage in dialogue, give and receive support, and connect with other students with a shared lived experience of ADHD. By participating in this group you will be contributing to the creation of a sense of community amongst students with ADHD at SFU. We will start by creating group norms together, and identifying and exploring struggles currently experienced by group members, and tailor the group to address these specific issues. Interactive activities and discussion will help us to understand our experiences and explore new tools and skills for coping with these and other challenges.

Topics may include:

  • Assessment and Diagnosis Experiences
  • Adaptation to post-secondary demands
  • Strategies for success and coping with symptoms
  • Emotion Regulation
  • Self-Advocacy
  • ADHD, disability, and identity

These and a variety of other topics, including those brought to the group by participants, will be discussed in a way that allows group members to learn from one another in a safe space that honours and is sensitive to the unique challenges of navigating post-secondary education as a person with ADHD.                                    

This group is appropriate for students who:

  • Are registered with CAL with a diagnosis of ADHD 
  • Are experiencing challenges navigating their post-secondary experience with ADHD
  • Are interested in being a supportive part of a group of fellow students with ADHD
  • Are willing to engage in group activities and share at their own pace
  • Can commit to attending all 8 group sessions

How to Register

To register you can contact your CAL disability advisor and indicate to them that you are interested in participating in this group.

Please be specific about which group you are wanting to participate in as there is more than one group being offered this term. Your advisor will then forward you an email referral, which will contain instructions that outline how to book an intake appointment with the group facilitator. Once you have completed those steps you will meet with the facilitator for a 30 minute group screening meeting during which he will discuss with you whether the group would be a good fit for you and the possibility of your participating in the group, and answer any questions you may have.

Space in the groups is limited; once the group has filled it will be closed for the semester, and a waitlist created for those interested in joining future offerings of these groups. Because there is limited space, please consider if you have the mental and emotional energy to participate in this group consistently, as it does run through stressful times like exam periods, and exam stress, which is to be expected is not considered an emergency circumstance. We ask you consider others who may be waiting and able to attend all sessions. Once groups begin, new members will not be admitted in order to foster a sense of safety and consistency for existing group members.

Questions and Concerns

Feel free to email Sean if you have any further questions about individual or group counselling (sean_heaslip@sfu.ca).

Fall 2023: 

Thursdays | 1:30pm - 3:30pm

  • October 5 to November 30

Check out Upcoming Session for any updated times or changes to the sessions.

Note: This is a closed group which means that once the group has started, new registrations will not be accepted. This allows for a sense of safety and comfort to be created amongst group members, allowing participants to open up about difficult topics, and share knowing that fellow group members will be there to support them.

About the Facilitator

Sean Heaslip

Registered Clinical Counsellor
sean_heaslip@sfu.ca

Sean is the Health & Counselling counsellor liaison with the Centre for Accessible Learning (CAL), and works with CAL registrants, providing individual and group counselling services. Sean works in an experiential and emotion-focused way, and incorporates grounding and regulation techniques to help clients move through painful areas in order to regain their connection to their goals and themselves. Sean is partially blind, and possesses a lived experience of disability in both the broader world, and as a student, as Sean is also a Masters level counsellor, and current PhD candidate in counselling psychology at the University of British Columbia, having completed his pre-doctoral internship at SFU in 2020. Sean’s research areas also focus on disability issues, around seeking psychological services as a person with a disability, and the impact on blind/partially sighted people of receiving unsolicited help from sighted helpers.