Finding Community Through Online Support Groups

Life with ADHD can be hard. Whether it is your own brain, your partner’s or your child’s that ramps up at turbo speeds, the effects can be overwhelming and sometimes confusing. How do you know what is normal? How do you know what to do? How do you share your concerns without fear of ridicule and shame? Add to that a global pandemic, and insecurities overflow.

For this reason, years ago I created a support group for parents of children with ADHD here in New Orleans. We met monthly, shared our stories and concerns, laughed together and cried together. We felt heard and understood. We shared solutions and stayed in touch.

Nowadays the support group has expanded to include adults with ADHD and is run by the NOLA chapter of CHADD on Zoom. With the start of quarantine in the United States, I set up virtual support groups for the ADHD community for adults with ADHD, teen and college students with ADHD, and parents of children with ADHD. While we all enjoyed the support, encouragement and friendships that resulted from these, I learned that ADDA has transferred all of their local support groups to a national online format as well. These are facilitated by ADHD professionals and cover a variety of specific ADHD situations. I am so happy that everyone is stepping up to support our community, both locally and nationally, and all of it virtually. We are in this together and together we will come out stronger.

NOLA CHADD page: https://www.facebook.com/nolachadd/

ADDA support group page: https://add.org/adda-virtual-programs/