The APS Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Psychology Interest Group is a national Interest Group which is primarily focused upon promoting ADHD-relayed clinical and research excellence in the profession of psychology. It aims to foster meaningful dialogue, professional development, and innovation in the assessment, formulation, and support of people with ADHD/ADHDers across the lifespan.

The committee plays a role in advocating for awareness of ADHD, working for both clients and clinicians working with ADHD, and those clinicians with lived and living experience. 

As a committee we are open to feedback, and realise that we are all learning and growing as clinicians, regardless of experience. Many members of the committee have both lived and clinical experience of ADHD, and welcome the opportunity to engage with members from a position of empathy and understanding.  We commit to ongoing reflection and awareness of changes to language, approaches, and other norms regarding ADHD. 

Our Position

ADHD is no longer considered to be simply a childhood behavioural disorder or a question of “attention span.” We recognise ADHD as a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental profile involving both challenges and strengths, often intersecting with trauma histories, emotional dysregulation, sensory sensitivities, learning differences, mood and anxiety disorders, other neurodevelopmental differences, sleep issues, cultural and gender diversity, and systemic barriers.

Our stance is strengths‑based yet impairment‑aware, supporting functional participation (education, employment, relationships, daily life). Psychologists are uniquely positioned to move discourse beyond narrow deficit models, and toward compassionate, evidence‑informed, person‑centred, and culturally safe practice. We recognise increasing public demand for ADHD assessment and support, alongside barriers to equitable, affordable care and the need for clear professional guidance on roles, standards, and reasonable adjustments. This group exists to help clinicians navigate complexity, stay current, collaborate across disciplines, and amplify accurate, destigmatising understandings of ADHD within the broader community.

For 2025/26 the committee’s strategy and key priorities include:

• Raising awareness of ADHD, including contemporary understandings, and emerging
• Advocate for the APS to directly respond to ADHD misinformation shared in the public domain.
• Support psychologists to engage in training activities associated with recognising and screening for ADHD and best practice assessment.
• Supporting psychologists to advocate for clients in schooling, higher education, and the wider workforce.
• Advocacy for lived and living experience of ADHD, including support for members who identify/have diagnoses of ADHD.

ADHD and Psychology Interest Group Terms of Reference 

• To provide a network within the APS to establish, maintain and promote excellence in ADHD clinical practice, research, and education.  

• To provide a network to enable discussion, collegial peer support and information/resources on the topic of ADHD.  

• To increase training and professional development opportunities in ADHD assessment and supports across the lifespan.   

• To promote lived-experience co-production and collaboration into ADHD clinical practice, research, and education.  

• To promote an understanding of ADHD to reduce stigma and ableism when working in this area.  

• To provide an avenue for early career psychologists and psychologists with less experience in ADHD to upskill and build confidence and skills in ADHD assessment and supports.  

• To provide local and national groups a mechanism to collaborate with international groups in the area of ADHD and psychological clinical practice.  

• To provide a network to update members on up-to-date research in the area of ADHD relevant to psychology practice.   

• To facilitate connections and/or collaborations with other medical and allied health professionals in the area of ADHD.