San Francisco – The Hallowell Center of San Francisco, located in the downtown area, is seeking to expand. We are seeking part-time clinicians (Educational Therapists, Board certified psychiatrists, licensed psychologists, social workers, or nurse practitioners) to join our team.

Candidates must have experience in working with:

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder;
• associated disorders including anxiety;
• depression; and,
• demonstrate excellent diagnostic and clinical skills.

The Hallowell Center is a multidisciplinary private practice with offices in New York, Boston, and San Francisco.  Consequently, our Centers provide comprehensive evaluation and treatment for a full range of emotional, behavioral, and developmental issues in children and adults.

The San Francisco office primarily treats adolescents and adults. However, we’re considering adding services for children as well. Founded by Dr. Edward Hallowell, the Hallowell Center uses a strength-based model to help all of their clients recognize and reach their full potential. 

Applicants must align with our strength-based approach and have the ability to work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team. Since our San Francisco office is small,  applicants must be flexible and fairly independent. We are looking for self-starters interested in growing with and helping us build our team.

There is room for growth and flexibility within our practice and the position could conceivably expand to full time. The position is fee for service. Anyone hired must be willing to work some evenings and/or Saturdays.

We’re recruiting clinicians with the following skills:

• Psychiatrists or Nurse Practitioners who can provide medication evaluations and ongoing medication management. Training and/or experience in integrative approaches a plus
• Couples therapists experienced in working with couples where ADHD is an issue
• Clinicians/educators/coaches who are knowledgeable and skilled in helping clients develop executive function skills, including high school and college age students 
• Group therapist that has used protocols for ADHD
• Clinicians trained in DBT or EMDR, who have used these models to treat ADHD.
• Neuropsychologists

Candidates have the option to bring their current clients into the practice.

If you are interested, please reply to: gabrielle@hallowellsfo.com

Please forward this message to potentially interested colleagues. Thank you.

I’m excited to welcome you to Season 4 of Distraction. It’s great to be back and to have my wonderful wife Sue join me for our first episode. Her speciality is working with couples where one or both partners have ADHD.

So if your partner has ADHD, you’ll want to listen to this week’s DISTRACTION Podcast S4 Ep 1. Sue talk about the realities of being married to someone with ADHD. Her insights shed light on how to navigate the frustrations of being the “non-ADHD” half of the couple, and what predicts whether a relationship will succeed.

More on ADHD and Relationships:

Dr. Hallowell shares his 20 Relationship tips HERE.

You can learn more about ADHD and Relationships HERE.

Tips for Getting Children with ADHD Ready for Back to School

The weather will soon be turning cooler and those long, lazy days of lounging poolside or spending every waking moment with best friends while away at summer camp are quickly coming to an end. But with every end, comes a new beginning and an opportunity for change. Back to school time brings bright possibilities and the chance for a clean slate to introduce new organizational strategies into your home.

Getting Organized

Organization doesn’t just happen and children with ADHD need scaffolding and support to help organize themselves and their environments. Each family will have their own way of setting up certain systems and it is important to communicate as a family so that the systems are clear to all family members. The first day of school is no time for drastic changes in household schedules. Hold a family meeting 2-3 weeks prior to the first day back at school. During your meeting discuss expectations, consequences, and brainstorm ideas to help each day flow more smoothly.

Children should be eased back into their school routines gradually.

A major change in routine for most kids over the summer is sleep. It is scientifically proven that sleep affects mood, behavior, attention, learning and all biological function; therefore, it is critical that children get enough (quantity) and quality sleep. During the last 2 weeks of summer, reintroduce a school year bedtime and spend the hour before relaxing, talking about the day, reading books, or singing songs to wind down. This time should help the child physically and emotionally transition to a calmer state. Set the alarm closer and closer to the time he or she needs to wake up in the morning.

If mornings are chaotic, agree as a family what everyone needs to do to be out the door and when. Try doing as much the night before as possible. Have a visual schedule posted for kids to know exactly what is expected of them and how long each task should take. Try to do practice runs in the last few weeks of summer and make necessary adjustments so that everyone is set up for success when school starts.

Another thing that changes in the summer are meal times. Plan meals and snack times according to the school routine and get your children used to these times and eating the types of foods they will have at school.

Creating a Central Calendar

Create a central calendar that you color code for each family member and post his/her activities, responsibilities, etc. Predictability, structure, and routine are the keys to success for all children, and especially those with ADHD. The calendar also relieves parents from answering repeated questions regarding the schedule!

Before school starts, make a list of school supplies to be purchased. Pick a day to do back to school shopping and STICK TO YOUR LIST! Otherwise, it can be hectic and overwhelming for all, but mostly to your wallet!

Be sure to make time each day for FUN and connect with your child!

Spend time playing a game, walking in the park, reading a story, or anything that works for your family and is specifically time spent bonding with your child. When children feel connected, they are less likely to worry or be anxious. As a parent, you need to be positive! Beliefs determine behaviors. Be optimistic, be loving, and try to help your child get over their fears of transition and change so that they will look forward to the new school year ahead with enthusiasm and vigor!

Prepare for September!

Is it Time to Address Your Child’s Emotional, Cognitive and Academic Concerns?:

–    Problems with learning, slow processing speed
–    Academic underperformance
–    School work overwhelm
–    Attention and concentration problems
–    Emotional regulation and self control difficulties
–    Self-esteem issues
–    Overwhelm, panic, worry or anxiety feelings
–    Trouble sleeping
–    Test, public speaking or social anxieties
–    Difficulty implementing executive function strategies

The Hallowell Centers offer Neuropsychological and Academic Testing, and the EARS program, designed to help your child dramatically improve their school grades in short time frames. 

Greetings from Wellfleet, on Cape Cod. It’s a Sunday, the weather is generously beautiful, and I’m here for a week with my wife, Sue, and various relatives and guests to teach the course I’ve been teaching for how many summers now, is it 15?, to finish up the new book about ADHD John and I have been working on for quite a while, and to have fun.

This is as close as I get to what most people think of as a vacation.  The fact is, I don’t take vacations.  Sue goes away with girlfriends with some regularity for weekends or longer periods, and then we have two weeks, one our summer camp in Michigan in July, and one this course on Cape Cod in August, when Sue gets to read on the beach (her passion) and rest up (she works harder than anyone I know).

Why I Don’t Take Vacations

The reason I don’t take conventional vacations is that, for me, every day I’m doing what I love best.  I love my three jobs.  I see patients, I write books and I give seminars and talks.  Each one of those is a passion for me.  You might think I really ought to get away and go fishing.  Of course, I have many good friends who fish, and I love their stories about fishing, but the times I’ve tried it, I get bored pretty quickly.  Plus I have so little talent for it that I just get in the way or bring bad luck.

I do love golf, but that’s only because I play it with my sons, Tucker and Jack.  Whenever I can, I love getting out on the course with them, which is not very often, due to the schedules the three of us keep.  But when we can, we get out and ruin a good walk, as Mark Twain put it.

Doing What You Love

I once wrote about this in my newsletter and someone I respect a lot took me to task, telling me I should not model over-working.  I do not mean to do that.  What I mean to model is doing what you love.  I love what I do.  I’ve discovered the three things in life I’m good at, good enough so that people will pay me to do them: see patients, write books, and give talks.  So that’s what I do with my time, most of the time.

Sue loves to travel, and someday, if we can afford it, I’ve promised her we will travel to wherever she’d like to go.  I will bring my laptop so I can work on a book.  That’s the great thing about being a writer; all you need is your laptop and your imagination.  I just have to pray my mind holds up.

My wish for all of you is to do what you love as much as you can.  If people will pay you do what you love, then you’re lucky.  Or if you don’t need money, then you’re very lucky. I still need money, as most of us do.  But I have my three talents that God gave me, which I have worked hard to develop as I’ve grown older.

Family Time

In December I will turn 70.  Sue and our 3 wonderful kids, the stars in my sky, want to take me away to Aruba, an island I used to love to go to before I even met Sue, and an island I vacationed with—yes I took conventional vacations way back when—Sue on before we got married, to celebrate my 70^th. birthday. 

Just their wanting to do it is plenty of present for me.  Believe me, to have reached 70 years—assuming I do get to December 2 intact—with Sue and those 3 kids with me will be, for me, to have reached the tipmost top of Mount Olympus.

So, as I think about it, I suppose what I’ve really been doing all these days when I’ve supposedly been seeing patients, writing books, and giving talks is doing whatever it is a person does to make sure a marriage burns bright as a bonfire for 30 years, and three children, one glorious girl and two fantabulous boys, grow into all that they ever wanted to be, still counting, still growing.

Whatever it is a person does to do that, that’s what I’ve been doing instead of taking vacations or doing whatever else I might have done.  Because that’s what’s mainly been on my mind.   

I can’t end without thanking whoever you thank for all the help I needed and got every day along the way.

Dr. Hallowell shares his thoughts on A Celebration of Life in his blog post.

ADHD Parent Tip: Try to change the family “reputation” of the person with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD.) Reputations within families, like reputations within towns or organizations, keep a person in one set or mold. Recasting within the family the reputation of the person with ADHD can set up a fresh start and brighter expectations. If you are expected to screw up, you probably will. While, if you are expected to succeed, you just might.

Having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can be a Gift

It may be hard to believe at first, but having ADHD can be more a gift than a curse. Try to see and develop the positive aspects of the person with ADHD and try to change their family reputation to accentuate these positive aspects. Remember, this person usually brings a special something to the family, special energies, special creativity, special humor. He (or she) usually livens up any gathering he attends, and even when he is disruptive it’s usually exciting to have him around. He or she has a lot to give; and the family, more than any group of people, can help him/her reach their potential.

Click HERE to learn more about ADHD for Parents.

Parenting a child with ADHD? Listen HERE to learn Dr. Hallowell’s Top 3 Tips for Managing Your Child’s ADHD.

When he eventually became depressed — common for kids with ADHD — I made it my mission to ensure Nick’s teachers knew what interventions were working at home and what could help at school. Here’s what I’ve learned, and what I think every teacher should understand, too.

Some classroom interventions are helpful and others only make things worse. Parents can be a valuable resource.

Read More in the Boston Globe.

Dr. Hallowell’s ADHD Tips for Teachers

If the teacher can master the following tips, teaching students with ADHD should become much easier and more effective. These students can transform over the school year. They can change from being your most frustrating students to your most rewarding.

The following tips on classroom management of ADHD were presented in Driven to Distraction. They are revised, updated, and reprinted here because we have heard from many teachers that they have found them to be very helpful.

Learn more with the 10 tips on the classroom management of ADHD.

Learn about Dr. Hallowell’s online ADHD videos, designed to help teachers effectively manage ADHD in the classroom HERE.

If you’d like to have Dr. Hallowell speak at your school, learn more HERE.

Screens are sucking up so much of our time that people aren’t able to do what they really want, said Edward Hallowell, a psychiatrist who lives in Arlington and runs centers focusing on ADHD in Sudbury and around the country. This can put people in “survival mode,” making them impulsive, angry, inflexible, humorless, and unproductive.

“It’s exhausting to live a disconnected life that doesn’t have meaning,” he said. “Now more than ever . . . you have to be able to say no. You have to be able to say, ‘I’ll get back to you on that.’ ” The Boston Globe

Learn more tips on how to “feel less busy” here.

Get Dr. Hallowell’s “10 Tips on Managing Your Time” here.

Celebration of Life Theme

College and ADHD: If you or a student you know has ADHD, his or her ability to get work done, done well and on time could be compromised. Success in college is more about getting work done, done well and on time (“executive function skills and routines”) than IQ!

Summer CollegeCore Coaching prepares students’ executive function skills and routines in advance to secure a happier, healthier and more accomplished academic year.

CollegeCORE Coaching (by phone, Skype or in person) helps high school upperclassmen and college students conquer the most common problems associated with ADHD or Executive Dysfunction. Rebecca provides effective, practical and non-medication solutions for getting things done well and on time. She has worked with ADHD students and entrepreneurs for over 20 years. Read more at www.MindfulCommunication.com. Rebecca’s coaching and training approach builds the core skills and routines that enable success in school and greater marketability for the workplace.

CollegeCORE students will learn:

• core skills and routines for managing anxiety and improving focus, follow through and communication
• to become more independent, and how to be the CEO of YOU, even if you don’t plan to be an entrepreneur
• basic organizational skills
• problem-solving skills
• note-taking skills
• more efficient study and test-taking skills
• why good sleep is a major ally for the ADHD student, sleep’s powerful role in learning and ways to improve sleep quality
• how exercise regimen best promotes clearer thinking and improved productivity
• tips to apply Rebecca’s 80/20 approach for managing procrastination
• how to self-advocate – a competitive life skill.

How CollegeCore Coaching works:

The process begins with a complimentary 15-20 minute inquiry call with Rebecca. Call to set up that inquiry session (978) 287-0810 or (978) 255-1817. This is a brief discussion to answer questions about the program. This discussion helps to determine whether the CollegeCore coaching approach is appropriate for the student.

A 90 minute meeting (in person, Skype or phone) follows to get background information, identify personal strengths and establish personal objectives,  deadlines (if imposed) for improvement, and to determine best approaches. Fee: $325.00

Based on that meeting an action plan is created and the frequency of coaching sessions is determined. The goal is to identify the best starting point(s) and select a couple small steps that are fairly easy to implement consistently. Our goal is  that these steps will yield some early and notable results. These new routines become habits. Minor adjustments are made along the way. For some, the compound effect will work best, for others a multi-target approach is better.

The process is customized to the student and his/her needs. Coaching sessions are $150/hour, $75/30 minutes. Sessions may be 1-3x a week; duration and frequency is determined by Rebecca and the student. While not mandatory, a spouse, partner or co-founder may also be involved, if desired. Progress is addressed at each session. As the gains become more consistent and the student more independent, the coaching sessions wind down. Consequently, check-in sessions are monthly or bi-monthly, then every six months or as needed.

To set up a CollegeCORE inquiry session or to make an appointment with Rebecca Shafir, Speech/language pathologist, voice coach, executive functioning coach and author, contact:

The Hallowell Center BostonMetroWest in Sudbury MA at (978) 287-0810 or her

West Newbury office (978) 255-1817 to schedule sessions in person or by phone or Skype.

How to Explain ADHD to a Child – If your child was just diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, it’s important to remember that ADHD isn’t a death sentence. In fact, it’s a condition that can bring incredible gifts.  Of course, you may worry that the diagnosis can make your child feel labeled or set apart from other kids. So it’s important to that you not let ADHD define your child.   

Don’t Let ADHD Define Your Child 

Having ADHD is like being left-handed; it’s only a part of who you are. Try to answer any questions your child has about ADHD, but keep the answers simple and brief. Some older children may want to read a book about ADHD, but they don’t need to become experts on ADHD – just experts on living their lives as fully and well as they can.

One of the most important things for the parents to do is to help that child feel good about who he or she is. You’ll need to search out and promote the positives – both about life and about your child – even as you deal with the all-too-obvious negatives. If your child feels good about who he is and about what life has to offer, he will do far better than if he does not.

“In my 30-plus years, I have learned that the moment of delivering the ADHD diagnosis ranks among the most crucial. It can determine the arc of a person’s life.” | In Dr. Ned Hallowell ADDitude article on “Your Brain is a Ferrari,” provides pointers for professionals and parents on how to explain ADHD to a child in a way that emphasizes strengths and builds confidence.  

Read all of Dr. Hallowell’s ADDitude articles on ADHD here. Dr. Hallowell is a member of ADDitude’s ADHD Specialist Panel.