ADHD Parent Support Group

Focus: Building a foundational understanding of ADHD through a strengths-based, brain-based lens.

-Warm introductions & group norms – Collaborative setup of expectations and boundaries to create safety.
-What ADHD is and isn’t – Reframing ADHD as a neurodevelopmental condition, not a behavioral problem.
-Psychoeducation – Using accessible metaphors like 'the traffic controller brain' or 'a fast car with weak brakes' to explain executive dysfunction, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation.
-Discussing developmental delays – Helping parents understand lagging skills and asynchronous development.

Reflection prompt: 'What has been the most confusing or frustrating part of parenting so far?'
Take-home idea: Begin noticing how your child communicates needs beneath the behavior.

Focus: Offering practical, adaptable tools that make daily life with ADHD more manageable.

What doesn’t work (and why):
-Repeated instructions, punishment cycles, unstructured transitions
-Why these approaches fail: working memory, impulse control, and motivation differences

What helps (and how to implement it):
-Anchor routines – Creating visual and predictable morning/evening routines to reduce stress
-Externalization – Using timers, charts, sticky notes, and color coding to support executive
function
-Positive reinforcement – Teaching parents how to give specific, meaningful praise and use
rewards systems that actually work for ADHD brains
-Meltdown planning – Mapping out triggers, early signs, and recovery strategies
-Collaborating with schools:
-Scripts for communicating with teachers
-Accommodations that support regulation and focus (e.g., movement breaks, seating flexibility)

Focus: Supporting caregivers in noticing, naming, and navigating their own emotions.

-Guided emotional check-in – Helping parents tune in to where they are before responding to
their child
-Naming the load:
-Exploring common experiences: parental guilt, grief, overstimulation, and feeling judged
-Holding space for conflicting emotions like love and resentment, pride and helplessness
Tools & strategies:
-Window of Tolerance – Teaching parents to identify their own zone of regulation
-STOP skill – A four-step practice to pause, observe, and respond rather than react
-Boundary mapping – Helping parents define what’s okay and what’s not okay for them
-Body-based regulation – Quick strategies to ground and recharge (e.g., stretching, breathing,
tactile anchors)

Reflection prompt: 'What’s one small way I can be kinder to myself this week?'

Focus: Reflecting, integrating key insights, and building a support system beyond the group.

Reflection round: 'What’s something I’m taking with me from this space?'
-Recap of key tools & ideas – Shifting the lens from reactive to responsive parenting
Creating your ADHD parenting survival kit:
-Go-to tools, mindset reminders, emotional anchors
-Strategies for advocating in school and family systems
Letter to Future Self or Child: A gentle prompt to consolidate growth and hold on to clarity
Support pathways post-group:
-Peer spaces, professional help, school collaborations
-Encouragement to check in with their own needs going forward